Phasmophobia: A persistent and intense fear of ghosts
We’ve all been there. Arriving home alone to a dark house and quickly flicking on the lights. Sprinting down the hall to use the restroom before we catch sight of something in the darkness. Waking up from a bad dream, afraid to turn over because that pesky red devil of a sleep paralysis demon could still be at the bedside. Most don’t develop this fear of the supernatural, darkness, and the unknown into a full-on phobia, but for many, the concepts of ghouls and ghosts stalk our childhoods, gradually fading as we age.
The Cultural Roots of Ghost Stories
Since before recorded history, stories of spirits and the paranormal have been a part of folklore and human tradition. Those tales have been woven into popular culture through books, television, and film in more modern times. Two conflicting dogmas, religion and science, fuel our fears and allow for endless possibilities in horror: Religion lays the foundation for an inherent belief in spirits and demons, and science provides tools and explanations for contact with the other side. Our families and friends carry on the oral tradition by passing down ghost stories to scare future generations; my mother once innocently told me a story about our basement that still gives me pause whenever I head down its creaky wooden steps. This trust in religion, science, and our loved ones allows people to give in to the thrill of a good ghost story, and sometimes it affects us more than we’d care to admit.
Why Poltergeist Haunts Our Childhood Fears
The movie that did young Alex in, the one that caused him to be afraid of his own home, is the infamous 1982 haunted house classic, Poltergeist. It tells the story of the happy-go-lucky Freeling family living in a newly developed neighborhood that was *gasp* built on top of a burial ground in which the headstones were removed, but the bodies were not. Directed by horror master Tobe Hoober and written by Steven Spielberg, the film stands the test of time, but the real kicker is how innocuous it initially seems. For starters, it’s rated PG! Legend has it that after receiving an R-rating, Spielberg appealed to the MPAA and was able to negotiate it down to the much more family-friendly rating (this was before PG-13) due to it being “all threat and fantasy, no reality” – it seems Spielberg’s tricks aren’t only on screen. The film also employs children in a way many horror stories do, as prey and conduits for the supernatural, consequently taking advantage of their innocence and naivety as much as that of the sorry kids watching the movie. At first glance, it’s a spooky sitcom featuring children gliding across the kitchen floor via invisible forces and backed by Jerry Goldsmith’s whimsical score, enrapturing even its adults with a giddy sense of discovery. Poltergeist lures you in with a false sense of security…and that’s exactly as intended.
How Poltergeist Turns Homes Into Nightmares
As things escalate, the house becomes a death trap. Childhood fears of monsters under the bed, closets, ominous trees, and clowns are weaponized against us. Suddenly things that slightly creeped me out as a child were terrifying. Even the TV, an everyday object that many use, became a connection to the other side – to this day I will quickly shut it off if a fuzzy screen of static noise is accidentally channeled. One sequence involving Mama Freeling running toward her children in an exaggerated and outstretched hallway also perfectly encapsulates that feeling of scrambling through your house as if something is coming for you in the darkness. Once a sanctuary, my home suddenly became a place of anxiety and fear if left alone for too long or while in my bedroom at night. As the film’s medium, Tangina Barrons tells the terrified family in her distinctive voice, “it knows what scares you,” and it’s clear the filmmakers behind Poltergeist do too.
Overcoming Phasmophobia: A Personal Journey
I have since grown out of my self-diagnosed, Poltergeist-induced phasmophobia and now find a fascination in the paranormal. Yet still, I’ll catch myself glancing over my shoulder after a Wikipedia or YouTube deep dive into whichever ghost story has come my way, and a handful of other ghostly flicks have stuck with me over the years.
Other Horror Films That Fuel Ghostly Fears
Following a similarly quaint family in the 1980s, Paranormal Activity 3 piggybacks off of Poltergeist in some obvious ways, essentially a found-footage version of my OG nightmare fuel. Some may turn their nose up at the franchise, but the film’s demonic entity impersonating a child playing as a sheet ghost, only to dissipate in front of the babysitter’s eyes is chilling stuff. Insidious and The Conjuring also provide genuine scares: The former runs with the eerie concept of its protagonists being stalked rather than their house as the problem, and the latter is a masterclass in modern haunted house filmmaking, despite its decidedly less frightening climax involving possession – sorry The Exorcist, possession stories do not scare me, and I don’t think you’re the scariest movie ever made! A special shoutout goes to The Shining after one glimpse at the woman in room 237 caused me to avoid my great aunt’s art deco bathroom for quite some time, and The Sixth Sense for actually making me afraid of Mischa Barton.
Why the Unknown Scares Us Most
Many more frightening things in this life are unequivocally real. Humanity is, after all, its own worst enemy, but for some, our minds and imagination are just as dastardly. By definition, the unknown and the afterlife are inexplicable to us, and for those like myself, those question marks are scarier than a monstrous creature or deranged killer. We understand the horrors based on reality, which are personally less scary than what’s left unseen. Poltergeist and its kin take advantage of this, and when the credits roll, and the party’s over, we’re left alone with our thoughts and the echoes of the night. Sleep well.
