Ghost stories have been around as long as man has. Whether or not we believe in ghosts, we will sit and listen, allowing ourselves to be pulled into the story and the world of the afterlife. Sometimes it's a world filled with awe and wonder, but most often it's one of bone chilling fear.
There is something that grips us while someone begins to spin the tale for us, we'll sit quietly while our hearts beat faster and faster, more than willing to go along with the storyteller whether we believe in ghosts or not.
Why Do We Love Ghost Stories?
Ghost stories are fun, and most of us enjoy a good scare. What better to scare us with than a force we have little power against, and with the added possibility that after we die we may enjoy that power too. Becoming a ghost is a continuation of this life, we are helpless to take any other course, it's a natural right of passage, the natural course of things. You are born, you die and you become a ghost. No harm, no foul, what more could we ask for?
Telling ghost stories fills the need we as humans can't deny, the possibility that we don't simply turn to dust and fade from the earth when our bodies no longer are of any use to us. Even the greatest sceptic is willing to put their view aside, even if it's only subconsciously, and wonder if it's possible to come back after death and pay a little visit to those we love, or perhaps those we were never too fond of.
It's the mystery of unknown in ghost stories we hear that draws us to them. Hearing a story from someone who has experienced something we hope to a visit from the dead. Even though we might say we never want to deep inside we think a tiny glimpse wouldn't be such a bad thing.
It's a reaffirmation of the likelihood of life after death. It's a glimpse into the mystery of something we know very little about but a journey we will all take eventually.
For some of us it's reassuring and for others absolutely terrifying, but in the end ghost stories hold a fascination for all of us whether they are truth or fiction and we'll gladly huddle around the storyteller with rapt attention while he tells us of his most terrifying experience.
Ilse A Turnbull has been interested in ghosts and the paranormal since the time her family moved into a 200 year old farm house and found out it cerita seram was haunted. The adventure began then and hasn't ended yet. You can find some of her true ghost stories right here at