Episode 544: The Uninvited Guest - Unseen Entities and Invisible Fear in Myth and Modern Horror

Continuing their spooky season, this week the dragons pose a question: what's more frightening? The object of terror can see or the entity you can't?

A fear of non tangible threats is baked into the essential human make up - we would hardly have survived to evolve as we have if our ancestors had not had the capability to 'what if' about predators concealed in shadows or long grass. This is reflected in fairy tales, folklore, gothic fiction all the way up to modern horror. Jules and Madeleine delve into how this trope hits the fear centres in the brain and how you as a writer can use it. On the slab this week - The Invisible Man - H G Wells, The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters, It Follows and many more.

 

Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic