Your Own Personal Residual Haunting

I finally got my hands on Paranormal Activity 2 and watched it the night before last. Fear not, no spoilers, but for those on the fence, it is a prequel, not a sequel. That means it happens before the first movie. One last thing about the movie itself. I like the way that it works to lead into the events in the first movie. That's part of a topic for another day. The following has nothing to do with the movie in particular.

Last time the discussion involved in part two different types of haunting, one of which was unintelligent and repetitious. Apparitions that are an echo of the past or simply repeating events in their life after their death are generally limited to a single location. It is an interesting question to ask, what if they could be attached to an object, or in a real twist, a person. I'm sure there is likely real life lore somewhere about haunted objects with only a residual haunting rather than an intelligent force. As to the other...

One of the theories of repeat hauntings or echoes is that the nature and or structure of a location allows it to retain events and play them back when certain conditions are met. If a residual haunting was due to an anomalous energy source instead that energy might be attracted, like magnetism of a sort, to a living being of a compatible "polarity" such as any human. Such a person would then be haunted. This might not necessarily be enough for a haunting disturbance, whether poltergeist-like or with a looping apparition. It might be that only someone sensitive to the world beyond might witness the ghost or be plagued by moving objects. In a sense psychic energy from the human might be needed to fuel the haunting. It could make the difference between wispy half seen figures and ones indistinguishable from the living, or objects moved slowly in time versus hurtling through the air.

Whether the residual haunting "works" when no one is around is another matter regardless off its attachment to a place or object. The old question of "if a tree falls in a wood, does it make a sound" comes to mind. As far as physics go, the answer is yes that the tree makes a sound. These witness only hauntings may be different at your discretion, especially when speaking of visual apparitions. A ghost might not appear without someone to witness it. It might be something that happens entirely in the mind of the viewer, in which case the ghost will not appear in pictures or on video. Likewise with no human presence objects will not move around. This would separate poltergeist phenomena into being the product of an intelligent haunting or as the RSPK/psychic phenomena. Of course there is always leeway on these ideas and multiple mix and match options are open to the writer.

Mood: amused.
Music: The Game Never Ends by Stratovarius and by Let Me Hear You Scream by Ozzy Osbourne.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #3-1: Science Fiction Horror Feature

A psychic horror setting and magical horror setting are just that, horror settings. Now it’s time to look at something that crosses genre lines. A natural fit for melding with the horror genre is the science fiction genre. People often look at science in wonder, but they also look at it and see things that they don’t understand. They see a great unknown. The unknown is always a perfect jumping off point for fear. That which is unknown is frightening--a pretty standard and correct axiom. Science will always be a point of fear for some. There is always something yet to be discovered. Better yet from the horror standpoint is that scientific discoveries are comparable to double-edged swords. These discoveries can be put to both beneficial and malevolent uses.

In the previous setting discussions the questions that needed to be asked were not exclusive. Most of the options chosen worked together. Answering one question did not make other questions moot. Most of the possibilities coexisted in a cohesive whole. When looking at a science fiction horror setting some of the questions, especially the earliest ones, will exclude other ones from being asked. As with horror, science fiction has its own sub-genres. The science fiction sub-genres though vary in ways that separate settings into entirely different lines that are hard to blur--not impossible--and may be undesirable to merge. Horror sub-genres share a common purpose, to instil an exciting level of fear. Science fiction sub-genres serve different purposes and have their own unique goals.

All of this means that the first question the author of a setting needs to ask is what science fiction setting is necessary for the horror to be injected? This is the first question if the author knows what kind of horror it is to be. If the author doesn’t know then there is some leeway. Conversely the author can know what kind of science fiction the story will be--remember it can be a storyline for a short story, a novel, a script, or for a role-playing game--and then decide based upon that the nature of the horror that will be a part of the final amalgamation. The articles to follow will look at the types of science fiction that work best with horror, how to incorporate the horror within the science framework, and all of the important decisions needed to traverse the line between the two genres.

Mood: sombre.
Music: Science Fiction/Double Feature by Me First & the Gimme Gimmes: Are a Drag and Hangar 18 by Megadeth.

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