Pishtaco Myths

Horror is the genre that keeps the reader on their toes for nights upon end. It keeps them thinking. Thinking about how cruel and disturbing someone, or something, could possibly be. Thinking about what in the world happens to a character after the story drops off in a cliffhanger. Thinking about the probability that the events in the narrative could transpire in real life. Thinking about how likely it is for those things to happen to the reader. Refusing to look out their window in fear of seeing the glimpse of a murderous face, and listening to every sound with acute accuracy, praying that the noise is not one of a stranger creeping up the stairs. Scary accounts make the reader live in fear whenever the

Horror, what is it, according to literary historian J.A. Cuddon, it is “a piece of fiction in prose of variable length…which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing.” This sets the guidelines for how the generic horror piece is written, as long as it can scare the reader in one sense or the other, or cause them to loath a certain part or character, then it can be called horror. The horror today has roots stemming from old folklore and religious traditions which had elements that dealt with death, the afterlife, and the demonic, along with the things or thing that embody a person. Horror during the 18th century was called gothic horror and this particular type of horror was invented in the

People develop multiple reasons to why they like to receive these odd and fear emotions, which now in society we call insanity. In the “Why We Crave Horror Movies” by Stephen King, whose main argument is that we watch horror movies to satisfy our curiosity. In the “How Tabloid Train Wrecks Reinventing Gothic Literature” by Carina Chocano, whose main argument is to prove how gothic literature is very similar to gossip; for example, gossiping makes people turn into ghosts, unnatural. It’s tempting to see Gothic tales as escapism, but these stories will sum up during times of trouble. Fascination with fear or Gothic stories satisfies some emotional need of individuals and of society by making people feed on their inner childhood that is inconstantly needed of satisfaction. People can do that by watching horror movies or reading tabloids and that is why they enjoy scaring themselves.

Horror stories are good for getting kids attention because of suspense and mystery and they will probably learn the moral of the story better because they are interested in that story. Also if the story scares them they will remember the story’s moral because they will remember what scares them and remember the story. It is bad if someone gets scared and get really paranoid

There are many real life horror stories that drew a lot of attention. There are many movies, books and even songs about those real life time horror events.

Humans crave horror as a way to get out of facing our fears. There is a man in the story “Strawberry Spring” that is walking around killing college girls like it is a normal thing that people do. Did you know that people have been burying their dead for at least 200,000 years. Stephen King says in his article “Why We Crave Horror”, that we have certain feelings due to the “human condition”. Stephen King is correct because he states that we as humans crave horror; we watch and read horror to show that we can, to re-establish our feelings of normality, and for us to experience a peculiar sort of fun and experience and adrenaline rush.

Horror is fiction that scares the audience or gives an eerie mood. Each short story develops horror is its own way. “The Tell Tale Heart” is about how an old man is murdered because of his evil vulture eye. “A Rose for Emily” is about how an old woman poisoned her lover to keep him from leaving. “The Lottery” is about how this town has a drawing to see who will be the sacrifice to the crops. Horror is developed in “The Tell Tale Heart,” “A Rose for Emily,” and “The Lottery” with many elements of horror.

What is a horror? What does it mean to be terrified? The definition of a horror fiction is "fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the reader." Since the 1960s, any work of fiction with a morbid, gruesome, surreal, or exceptionally suspenseful or frightening theme has come to be called "horror" (Wikipedia) . "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a great example of a story on the basic level of a gothic horror, in which the element of fear is evoked in its highest form. There are many different elements, such as setting, feelings, themes, and characters, that play an essential role in suggesting this.

In the same sense, "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a study of terror. Poe formulates the story so that the madman narrator paints a vivid and remarkable picture of the fright of his victim:

Horror is designed to scare, cause alarm and dread, while also entertaining the audience at the same time in a cathartic experience (Dirk, 2016). Horror films are meant for a specific type of audience that enjoy scary films. Dirks (Tim, 2016) approach to genre horror, is that films went back as 100 years ago, from the earliest days our vivid imagination in seeing ghosts in the shadows to be connected emotionally of the unknown, and fear things that are improbable. You watch a horror film, it makes you aware of the scary surroundings, the essence of fear itself, without actually being in any sorts of danger. Dirks argues that there is a fun and thrill factor in being frightened, or watching something disturbing. It gives you that feeling of an adrenaline rush, as well as having that feeling someone is actually next to you lurking in the dark (Dirk, 2016).

When we think about horror, we think about death and bad things happening to good people. Horror gives a face to material that generally does not have a face. It gets our blood flowing and you cannot stop thinking about it. When is the next bad thing going to happen? Who is it going to happen to? It allows our minds to be creative and picture what we want. It kind of follows the idea that we are not at the top of the food chain like we always are and most people find that scary. Matthew Lewis does a wonderful job of depicting horror in The Monk.

The story ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ by W.W. Jacobs best fits the horror genre because of the unknown, unbelieveable, and the unstoppable. The unknown is the suspense that drives our imaginations to start drawing conclusions and, begin forming an ending to the story. The unbelievable is how beyond belief something is such as a man saying a giant frying pan will crush the city in one hour, it's beyond belief and doesn’t fit our expectations. The unstoppable is where you cannot change anything so you try to avoid it as much as possible, such as death, humans cannot escape death so we try to avoid it as much as possible, like height, drowning, planes, car crashes, etc. The elements of horror go on but these three are what makes this scary story.

As a master of short stories of horror, Edgar Allan Poe is knowledgeable, learned and imaginative. He could skillfully manipulate the words in his literary works to create everything people can think of. The masterful use of the symbols, objects intensify the readers’ nerve as the typical elements of horror in Poe’s short stories, and therefore it is also a feature which makes Poe 's stories different from other writers.

Horror stories focus on creating a feeling of fear and shock using many sources. There are many sources of horror besides monsters and there are more factors involved in making stories part of the horror genre, including supernatural elements, hubris, and setting. Stories including the “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Outsider” by H.P. Lovecraft, and “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs include these elements.

Chills run up and down your spine and you begin to feel goosebumps on your arms. Quickly, the cold envelopes you and you feel frozen. What is this? It is the effects of horror fiction. You might be wondering, what in fact is the horror genre? The horror genre is not only the stories told at midnight about ghosts and ghouls. It is simply a story with suspense and tensions. Other details could be added such as good versus evil and supernatural versus natural. The setting might be very spooky and the descriptions probably alarm the reader's senses. “The Tell-Tale Heart” fits the horror genre because of the plot and descriptive writing.