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We all know it when we see it, but what are the ingredients that make it work?
From movies and TV shows to books and stories told around the campfire, there's nothing like a good ghost story to get the heart racing and the mind whirring. There are various elements that come together to make a ghost story truly terrifying.
Here are just a few examples.
Many of the most popular and the most chilling ghost stories are based on real-life events.
The idea that a ghost story is based on something that actually happened can up its fear factor significantly. Even if we don’t necessarily believe the story we’re being told, the notion that this story is based on actual events is enough to plant a seed of fear and doubt in our otherwise rational minds.
The 1973 film The Exorcist, for example, was based on a novel by William Peter Blatty. The author was inspired to write the book after hearing about a young boy in Cottage City, Maryland, who was exorcised in 1949. Many of the most chilling scenes in the film are based on real-life events.
A ghost story set in a real location will automatically be far scarier than one set in a fictional place. The reason for this is simple: seeing a familiar place in an unfamiliar way has the effect of turning the normal into the abnormal, throwing us out of our usual preconceptions.
Even fictional ghost stories can become spookier if they're set in somewhere that genuinely exists. Even scarier, though, are the real stories. This is why hotels and other overnight accommodation providers, like Jamaica Inn in Cornwall, where ghosts have been both spotted and heard in the past, are popular places to visit for those looking for a truly spooky experience.
A feeling of suspense
The scariest ghost stories aren't rushed. Instead, they take their time to build up the suspense, using the power of anticipation to work up a sense of dread and discomfort.
A good ghost story sucks its audience in, not relying on obvious scares but focusing more on what's just below the surface that threatens to reveal itself at any time. It's this build-up that is part of the reason why Michelle Paver's 2010 book, Dark Matter is such a great story. It tells the tale of a group who set up camp on a remote Arctic expedition, the terror closing in alongside the dark polar nights...
If you can see the terror and other emotions that the subjects of a ghost story are experiencing, then it's more likely that you'll feel that same terror too. Whether the story is written, visual or read out loud, for it to be truly scary it needs to show clearly how the characters are reacting to the things they're experiencing.
The same goes for the ghosts themselves. Understanding their emotional states and why they're doing what they're doing can have a big impact on whoever is reading, watching or listening to the story.
Emotion - especially when it comes to family - plays a big part in The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill, with a number of the book's chilling events happening to members of the protagonists' families.
What makes the perfect ghost story for you? Let us know in the comments!
