Could i request stubborn whumpee having to be restrained by their team to get them to rest and heal after a traumatic injury?
You absolutely can, Anon! Thanks for requesting this, here you go!
This is a bit long, so I've put it under the cut!
Medic's Fury
“Okay, Whumpee,” Caretaker said, coming in their room with a tray, “do you need help sitting up or… what the heck are you doing!?”
Whumpee stared like a deer caught in headlights. They were halfway out of the window, their bed sheets forming a rope to freedom.
“Hi,” Whumpee said after a long pause.
“Hello,” Caretaker answered.
They set the tray down on the dresser. Neither Whumpee nor Caretaker moved for several moments. Then everything happened at once. Whumpee scrambled to climb down the window as Caretaker rushed over, grabbing their arm.
“I don’t think so,” Caretaker said, yanking them back inside.
“I need to be out there!” Whumpee protested, “I’m sick of just sitting around doing nothing!”
“Yeah? Well, the more you aggravate your injuries, the longer you’ll be stuck in limbo!” Caretaker snapped, manhandling them onto the bed.
“Get off!” Whumpee shouted.
“Whumpee!? What’s going on up there!?”
Caretaker and Whumpee both looked out the window for the source of the voice. Leader stared up at them, dressed in their tactical gear. Teammate was right next to them, similarly dressed.
“Nothing!” Whumpee said quickly.
Teammate grabbed the rope of bed sheets, giving them a gentle tug. The knot at the bed post came undone and the entire business tumbled to the ground.
“Not a great escape artist, are you?” Teammate deadpanned.
“I wasn’t trying to escape!”
“Not a great liar, either,” Leader shook their head, “stay there, we’re coming up.”
Whumpee and Caretaker exchanged glances, and the fight was back on.
“Stay! Put! For! One! Minute!” Caretaker shouted.
“I’ve been staying put for three days!” Whumpee shouted back.
Leader and Teammate burst into the room, Medic right behind them.
“Whumpee!”
Everyone froze, turning to look at Medic, some gulping, others’ eyes going wide. Their face was a picture of calm fury.
“Lay down, Whumpee.” Medic ordered.
“Medic-” Whumpee started sheepishly.
“Now.”
Whumpee lay down immediately, wincing as they did so. Medic crossed the room to inspect them. Blood seeped through their bandages, and while Whumpee hadn’t seemed to notice yet, they were about to feel very unwell indeed.
“Get me the medkit,” Medic said, staring down at Whumpee, “and the medical straps.”
Caretaker, Leader, and Teammate exchanged quick glances, a silent conversation that only lasted a few seconds; any longer communication and Medic’s fragile, practiced calm would explode into an eruption of anger that no one wanted to endure. So off Teammate went to get the med kit, and Leader followed to fetch the restraints. Caretaker stayed behind to test the waters.
“Medic… do we really need the straps?” they asked nervously.
“I don’t know, Caretaker, does Whumpee need to recover? Does Whumpee need bed rest to do so? Does Whumpee need to stop aggravating their injuries?”
Caretaker winced at Medic’s tone. Medic wasn’t one to curse, but in this case, they did. Loudly. Teammate came back with the med kit, Medic tore it open and snapped on a pair of disposable gloves. Then, they started looking for the antiseptic.
“Hold still,” Medic said, preparing a cotton pad.
Whumpee lay stiff as a board. Medic dabbed the pad into their wound gently, which was a testament to their abilities all things considered.
Whumpee winced, their back arching.
“Hold them down,” Medic said, not looking up.
“N-no, I can handle it, I’m sorry-”
“Shut up, Whumpee!” Medic snapped, “I swear I’m going to sedate you in about two seconds.”
Whumpee’s mouth clamped shut. Caretaker and Teammate held Whumpee still as Medic started to redo their stitches and bandages. Leader came in with the padded straps as they worked.
Medic stood, taking off their gloves and discarding them in the waste basket. They turned to Leader.
“Ankles, wrists, and torso. Mind their injuries, because so help me if I have to stitch them back together again-”
“Medic, please-” Whumpee tried quietly.
“Do you want me to go there, Whumpee?” Medic asked, rounding on them, “do you? Because you’ve got me there, oh boy have you got me there, and- you know what? No. I am gonna go there. Do you have a death wish? Do we need to put you on suicide watch? Because your recklessness and complete lack of self-preservation has gotten totally out of hand! As soon as they bring you back from that mission, you’re out trying to get put in the ground for real. You almost died because of Whumper! But if you had actually managed to get out today, your death would have been your own fault!”
Whumpee gulped, then made the mistake of testing the strength of the restraints.
Another curse word. Then, their hand reaching into the med kit. Medic filled a syringe with a vial of liquid. They rolled up Whumpee’s sleeve and injected the contents into their system. Whumpee winced at the pinch. Medic put a band-aid over the injection site.
“Wh-what did you give me?” Whumpee asked fearfully.
Medic didn’t speak for a moment.
“It’s a sedative. It’ll kick in in a couple minutes, and keep you out of trouble. Gosh, Whumpee, do you think we’re just robots? That we don’t care about you at all? That you can just do whatever you want and we’ll be happy to pick up the pieces!? Guess what? We actually don’t like seeing you like this!! We want you to get better! I get you’re bored, but suck it up for a little bit! I don’t want to have to suck up your death!”
Tears were springing into Medic’s eyes as they ranted. They took a deep breath.
“I need to go calm down,” they said, wiping their tears, “no one releases them until I say so.”
Whumpee watched them leave through blurry vision. It was a fight to keep their eyes open. They distantly made out the sound of the door slamming before falling asleep.
Delirium - sudden severe confusion due to rapid changes in brain function that can occur with physical or mental illness.
It involves a quick change between mental states.
E.g., from lethargy to agitation and back to lethargy.
Symptoms
Changes in alertness (usually more alert in the morning, less alert at night)
Changes in feeling (sensation) and perception
Changes in level of consciousness or awareness
Changes in movement (for example, may be slow moving or hyperactive)
Changes in sleep patterns, drowsiness
Confusion (disorientation) about time or place
Decrease in short-term memory and recall
Disorganized thinking, such as talking in a way that doesn't make sense
Emotional or personality changes, such as anger, agitation, depression, irritability, and overly happy
Incontinence
Movements triggered by changes in the nervous system
Problem concentrating
Causes
Delirium is most often caused by physical or mental illness and is usually temporary and reversible. Many disorders may cause delirium. Often, these disorders do not allow the brain to get oxygen or other substances. They may also cause dangerous chemicals (toxins) to build up in the brain. Delirium is common in the intensive care unit (ICU), especially in older adults.
Causes include:
Alcohol or medicine overdose or withdrawal
Drug use or overdose, including being sedated in the ICU
Electrolyte or other body chemical disturbances
Infections such as urinary tract infections, pneumonia, or meningitis
Certain medicines such as pain medicines, sedatives, or anticholinergic medicines
Severe lack of sleep
Poisons
General anesthesia and surgery
Autoimmune disease
Treatment
The goal of treatment is to control or reverse the cause of the symptoms.
Treatment depends on the condition causing delirium.
The person may need to stay in the hospital for a short time.
Stopping or changing medicines that may worsen confusion, or that are no longer needed, may improve mental function.
Disorders that contribute to confusion should be treated. These may include:
Anemia
Decreased oxygen (hypoxia)
Heart failure
High carbon dioxide levels (hypercapnia)
Infections
Kidney failure
Liver failure
Metabolic disorders
Nutritional disorders
Psychiatric conditions (such as depression or psychosis)
Thyroid disorders
Treating medical and mental disorders often greatly improves mental function.
Medicines may be needed to control aggressive or agitated behaviors.
These are usually started at very low dosages and adjusted as needed.
Some people with delirium may benefit from hearing aids, glasses, or cataract surgery.
Other treatments that may be helpful are:
Behavior modification to control unacceptable or dangerous behaviors.
Reality orientation to reduce disorientation.
Modifying the environment to help with orientation. This includes adjusting lights so one can keep track of day and night, clocks, and calendars.
Prognosis
Acute conditions that cause delirium may occur with long-term (chronic) disorders that cause dementia. Acute brain syndromes may be reversible by treating the cause.
Delirium often lasts about 1 week.
It may take several weeks for mental function to return to normal.
Full recovery is usually expected, but depends on the underlying cause of the delirium.
POSSIBLE COMPLICATIONS. Problems that may result from delirium include:
Loss of ability to function or care for self
Loss of ability to interact
Progression to stupor or coma
Side effects of medicines used to treat the disorder
PREVENTION. Treating the conditions that cause delirium can reduce its risk. In hospitalized people, avoiding or using a low dosage of sedatives, prompt treatment of metabolic disorders and infections, and using reality orientation programs will reduce the risk of delirium in those at high risk.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES. Acute confusional state. Acute brain syndrome.
a silly hc i have is that all the ARF Scouts in the Coruscant Guard tend to run everywhere no matter the distance of their destination, and after non-Guard clones see that, it becomes a running joke that you can tell who a Guardsman spends the most time under by the way they get somewhere (i.e., Stone's men will find a vehicle-- including strange things that shouldn't be one-- no matter what, Thorn's men, which includes Commander Thire, will skate there like it's a perfect day, Hound's men will run like their lives depend on it, Fox's men will use everything but a main street and seem to teleport).
something about two of the most significant arcs in The Clone Wars that involve having Ahsoka and Fives be hunted down by the Republic, with Wolffe and Fox being the ones to have "caught" them...
I'm imagining being a fast food coffee shop worker on coruscant. Like... the customers you'd get. And their orders.
Like Imagine the Corrie guard coffee run. This poor trooper comes in and orders like a large black with a straw please and thank you he needs a straw (and the employees just about to ask who He is but this poor guy continues), a small iced caf with five shots of espresso and twenty pumps of various syrups, and then like four other monstrosities of a drink order, and then two cups of whipped cream (one is for grizzer but the other is for a trooper and no i'm not saying who) - And then that poor shiny orders himself like a medium regular and he Does Not need a drink tray, he balances those out the door like it's a sport or something all the way back to the corrie guard break room. And imagine if yhat brave caf balanccing trooper was a regular, comes in several times of day for the caf.
Don’t underestimate the planning. "I put everything down on paper. I make copious pages and pages of notes until I am ready to write and by the time I do sit down at my desk, I have a sort of a map of where I'm going and everything is going to work." Horowitz says. Make sure, though, that you leave a little room to surprise yourself when you get to the page: “If I can't surprise myself, how can I surprise my reader?”
Start with a simple formula. Not sure how that plan should begin? There’s a Horowitz Hack for that: “Start with a simple formula,” he advises. “A plus B equals C. A equals one person, B is another person, C is the reason why A murders B. That's your bullseye. If that's original and interesting and surprising enough, then you can tell us who A and B are, and and that's your next ring. Once you’ve got the basics,” he explains, “you can build out into the worlds your characters occupy, who knows them and how they know each other.”
People should be able to guess the twist. Want to know the secret of a killer plot twist? It should be obvious enough for people to potentially guess it – but surprising enough that they rarely actually do. One of the major influences on Horowitz’s work was Agatha Christie, an author who he says always surprises him but “you always feel you could have guessed because all the information has been down there in front of you. When I’m writing my book, I’m very influenced by that. When my publisher or my agent or anybody else reads one of my books, the first question I ask is not ‘Did you enjoy it?’ but, ‘Did you guess it?’ Because that, to me, is the crux of the matter. If they do guess it, I feel a sense of disappointment but at the same time, if they can't get it, then I haven't played fair. What I prefer to do is for them to say, 'No, I didn't get it, but I should have.' That's what I'm aiming for.”
Live inside your book. “There’s one piece of advice I would give to writers: don't stand on the edge of the book, looking over the edge of the chasm. Live inside the book looking around you,” Horowitz says. “What my characters see, I see. What they feel – the wind or the sunshine – I feel. If I'm inside the book, I'm not thinking about it as being something that you or anybody else will read. I am merely inside the world of the book – all that comes later.”
The only rule is originality. “If you ask me what are the do’s and don’ts in writing a whodunnit or a murder mystery? Quite simply, there aren’t any. Never constrain yourself. It is by doing the don'ts and not doing the do’s that you will write the completely original book for you – and find success.”
A kinda specific whump concept I’ve been stuck thinking about:
Doctor has to preform some sort of medical treatment on the field –cauterizing a wound, removing an arrow, it doesn’t specifically matter–on Whumpee. Of course, without any pain medication or anesthesia.
Whumpee isn’t exactly thrilled at the concept. Maybe they’re a rambling mess, giving a pained grin as they desperately try to convince their team that they’re fine. “Th-, ah, this? It’s nothing, I-I’ve taken worse, ya know? So, uh, so let’s just keep going and do this later, yeah?”
Or maybe they’re angry; fear and pain and bone deep exhaustion coalescing into a feral rage. They back away, scowling and looking ready to fight despite their injury. “Just leave it the hell alone! I swear to god–I swear, if you don’t fucking drop it, I’m going to–…Leave me alone!”
Or maybe they’re just plain terrified. Terrified of being hurt again, especially by people they’ve grown to trust. And they can’t bring themselves to do anything but beg, choking on their own sobs and curling inward. Can’t they just rest? Haven’t they been hurt enough? “Please! Please just stop! I can’t do it, I can’t I can’t–please.”
Whatever the case, it doesn’t matter. As much as the team doesn’t want to hurt Whumpee, there’s no other choice.
And the moment I’m stuck on is the switch. The moment when Whumpee goes from pleading or fighting or attempting to run to simply crying, to weak and exhausted to escape. I want them to cling to Caretaker desperately, even though they were fighting against the embrace moments ago. I want them to break in Caretaker’s arms.
And I want Caretaker to hold them tight. Hugging them close, both to comfort them and to restrain their flailing, desperate attempts to escape. I want Caretaker to whisper assurances into their ear, trying to distract them from the pain for even a moment. I want them to pull Whumpees face into their chest, because if they can’t avoid the pain, at least they don’t have to see it happening.
This is a response to this prompt I made a little bit ago, I hope you enjoy it!
Hero heard the alert go off as red lights flashed. The computer’s voice echoed in their bedroom along with the rest of the hero base.
“Villain has just robbed a criminal defense lab. Police are in pursuit. Villain is in possession of a number of enhanced weapons.”
Hero sprang over to their wardrobe and suited up, as did the rest of the team. They headed to the garage with everyone else. Superhero was in the middle of giving orders to the group, but they stopped as soon as they spotted Hero. The rest of the team followed their gaze.
“Staring is rude, you know,” Hero joked, “what’s the play?”
Teammate 1 and Teammate 2 exchanged uncomfortable glances.
“We need you on base, Hero,” Superhero said.
“Again?” Hero asked, “it’s been a month! Medic said I was cleared for action days ago!”
“It’s true-” Medic started.
Superhero held a hand up. They pulled Hero aside while the others started to ride out on their cycles.
“I know what Medic said, but I really think you should stay here,” Superhero said gently.
Hero’s brow furrowed.
“This is about Supervillain, isn’t it? Superhero- I’m fine! I’m fully recovered! I don’t need to be babied!”
“I’m not babying you, I’m protecting you,” Superhero said, setting their hands on Hero’s shoulders.
“I don’t need to be protected! I’m Hero! I’m the one who should be doing the protecting!”
“Hero, please listen to me-”
“I’m coming with you guys. Villain has water powers, you’ll need an ice hero out there.”
Hero went to move past Superhero, but the grip on their shoulders tightened.
“We’ve got this. Stay home. That’s an order.”
Hero stared up at them in disbelief.
“You never pull the team leader card…”
“Yeah, well, I’m pulling it now. Go back inside, I don’t want to make you.”
Hero snorted.
“You would make me? Really?”
Superhero just stared them down, unwavering.
“You’re serious,” Hero realized.
“I love you too much to see you get hurt again,” Superhero said plainly.
Hero wriggled out of Superhero’s grip.
“You’re being paranoid,” Hero said, “you’re supposed to be the level-headed one! The one with sense!”
“You want sense, Hero?” Superhero snapped suddenly, “three broken ribs, internal bleeding, a concussion, and six stab wounds! A blood transfusion, cryo-pod therapy, rounds of antibiotics, heavy doses of painkillers, and an eternity of nights wondering if you’d ever wake up! And not a week after recovery, you want to go out there and risk it happening again! Who’s not making sense!? You’re reckless, impulsive, and fragile. A dangerous combination at best, a death sentence at worst! I don’t care if being inside is boring, I’m not going to lose you!”
Superhero seemed to realize what they were saying only after they had spewed it out. The tears springing into Hero’s eyes were more than enough to cause a guilt surge in anyone.
“Hero…”
“You don’t think I’m capable. None of you do.”
“It isn’t like that-”
“I’ll prove all of you wrong! You’ll see! I’ll take Villain down and come home without a scratch, maybe then you’ll take me seriously!”
A pinch in their upper arm stopped them in their tracks. Hero’s gaze bounced from the syringe to Superhero and back rapidly.
“How dare you?” Hero whispered tearfully.
Superhero looked down at them apologetically. Hero tried to push them away, but Superhero stood unmoved, probably due to a mix of their enhanced strength and Hero’s sudden weakness.
When their knees buckled, Superhero held them upright. They carefully and gently lifted them into a bridal carry. Hero’s tears fell freely, running down their cheeks and staining their suit with dark splotches.
Superhero carried them inside, all the way back to their room. They laid them down on the bed and removed their boots. They tucked Hero in under the covers. Their lips brushed against Hero’s briefly.
Hero looked away with what little strength they had. Superhero didn’t leave them until they had drifted off. Hero had been concerned for a while now that their team had stopped believing in them, and now they were completely convinced.
Could you do a story similar to Medic’s Fury except whumpee actually escapes and the team has to track down and forcefully bring them back?
I really love your writing and “for your own good” tropes are my favorite. ❣️Thank you for reading my request even if you don’t get around to working on it!!
Hi friend! Sure I can! You have excellent taste- “for your own good” tropes are my favorite, too! Thanks for the request, here you go!
original ending
Medic's Fury- Alternate Ending
“Okay, Whumpee,” Caretaker said, coming in their room with a tray, “do you need help sitting up or… what the heck!?”
The room was deserted, and Whumpee’s bedsheets had been tied into a rope that snaked from the bedpost out the window to the ground below. Footsteps echoed down the path, then abruptly stopped. Caretaker poked their head out the window, hoping it was Whumpee, but no such luck. Leader and Teammate stared at the rope in mounting horror.
“Please,” Caretaker called down, “please tell me someone knows where they are.”
…
Whumpee clutched their bleeding side with a shaking hand, the other gripping the alley wall for balance. They had gotten dressed in their gear and headed out, intending to meet up with Lader and Teammate at the mission’s starting location. They hadn’t even gotten halfway there before their wound made itself known. It had torn open as soon as they climbed out the window, but Whumpee hadn’t noticed until now. They sucked in shuddering breaths and their vision swam. The ground came up to meet them as their knees buckled.
“Hhng,” Whumpee winced.
They heard a car pulling up beside them, and four figures jumped out.
They blinked up through their fringe at Medic, who was assessing the wound. They cursed quietly. Whumpee cried out at the sudden pressure that assaulted their injury. Medic had packed the wound and tied thick bandages around it as tight as they could make them.
“Caretaker,” Medic said, “get them in the car. Teammate, drive.”
“What do I do, Medic?” Leader asked.
Caretaker carried Whumpee into the car and laid them across the backseats. Teammate jumped into the driver’s seat while Medic gave Leader orders that Whumpee couldn’t hear. Actually, they were having trouble hearing much of anything.
“..Umpee?” Caretaker’s voice echoed, “Whu…!”
Whumpee’s head lolled to the side, vaguely feeling the vibrations of the vehicle springing to life before sinking into an unconscious state.
…
A harsh ringing in their ears roused Whumpee back into the waking world. A groan forced its way past their lips before their eyes fluttered open. A faint feeling of something poking at their skin had them turning their head. Medic was pulling surgical thread in and out, in and out, muttering as they did so. Their brow was furrowed, and their hands were steadily gentle, but their grip on the needle was like iron.
“H-hi…” Whumpee tried.
“Don’t try to talk,” Medic stated curtly, “whatever you have to say, I’m not interested in hearing it anyway.”
“Wh-where…”
“What did I just say?” Medic demanded, finishing the last stitch.
They set their tools aside.
“You’re in the med bay,” Medic went on, “you would be in your bedroom right now if you hadn’t decided to go out and die in the street.”
“B-but I-”
Medic stiffened, taking a deep breath. They fixed Whumpee with an icy stare. Whumpee’s mouth closed at once.
“You pulled your stitches,” Medic said, “if we hadn’t found you when we did, you would have bled out in that grimy alleyway. I hope your taste of freedom was worth it.”
A knock on the door, and Caretaker came in, followed by Leader and Teammate.
“Can we see them now?” Caretaker asked.
Medic merely grunted in response. Caretaker sat down and took Whumpee’s hand. Whumpee went to sit up, but was met with resistance.
Whumpee fixed Medic with a confused, pleading look.
“Don’t give me the doe eyes,” Medic stated, “you can’t be trusted with your own recovery. You made that perfectly clear today.”
Teammate looked anywhere but at Whumpee or Medic.
“Your stitches are done,” Medic said, “and you’re gonna be in the straps for a while.”
“How long are we talking here?” Teammate asked.
“As long as I see fit, that’s how long!” Medic snapped.
Medic tore off their gloves, tossing them in the waste bin. They left the med bay, and miraculously managed to not slam the door on their way out. The rest of the team could hear a string of curses and ranting fading down the hall.
“I think I’m gonna… go talk to them,” Leader said, heading out after Medic.
“I…I’m sorry…” Whumpee tried.
“Shh,” Caretaker said, “Medic told you not to talk.”
Whumpee sighed, blinking up at the ceiling. They feared the lecture they would receive once they woke up properly.
The Flannan Isles Vanishing: disappearance of three lighthouse keepers, Scotland, 1900
Disappearance of Everett Ruess: missing person in the Utah (US) desert, 1934
Planes lost in the Bermuda Triangle: Flight 19 (1945) and The Star Tiger and Star Ariel, (1948-49)
Dyatlov Pass: mysterious deaths of 9 hikers, Ural Mountains, 1959
A werewolf prompt:
Escapist fiction. It’s possible the Beast of Gevaudan was not a wolf or dog, but another large creature, like a hyena or lion. Local zoos would have been private, so who knows what people were keeping? Obviously, once the killing started, the owner would have taken down the lost pet posters, so nobody owned up to owning the beast. People were not expecting to see anything other than local creatures in the woods, and they might not have had much familiarity with lions anyway, so it would probably make sense for them to call it a “wolf.” As for plots, there’s room for a sweeping historical novel starting in the place where the wild beast was captured, on the ship sending it to France, in the private zoo, and then out into the woods to become the Beast. Or what if it was not one lion that escaped, but a breeding pair? How would the locals cope with a growing population of big cats in the woods?
DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers
Ghost - usually considered to be the soul of a dead person that inhabits a different world or dimension than that of the living.
Have no physical body, just an illusion of a body.
Can appear in the form of a deceased person or take on different appearances.
People have claimed to have communicated with ghosts throughout history—although such communication is said to be difficult because ghosts are believed to dwell outside the living world.
People called mediums claim that they are capable of communicating with ghosts. Little evidence is available to validate their authenticity, however.
Ghost imagery has taken on many forms throughout history, but some attributes have consistently appeared in various folklore and fiction.
A common portrayal of a ghost is the vision of a white, cloudy mist.
Historians believe ancient peoples equated this image with ghosts because it resembled a person's breath in the cold air.
Shadows were also associated with ghostly visions. Some ancient cultures related shadows to a person's soul.
A disconnected shadowy figure was by extension considered a lost or dead soul, cut off from its physical body.
The science of parapsychology attempts to prove the existence of supernatural beings such as ghosts, but evidence is scarce in this field of inquiry.
Such belief in the supernatural is called supernaturalism.
Though many ghosts are perceived as angry and restless souls denied a peaceful afterlife, some folklore depicts good-natured ghosts who look out for people.
Perceptions of ghosts often vary from culture to culture.
Ghosts go by many names in different languages. Some English examples include spirits, apparitions, specters, phantoms, spooks, and poltergeists.
People have talked and prayed to the ghosts of their ancestors for thousands of years in an effort to appease them and keep them from interfering in their lives.
This practice of ancestor worship was common in many traditional African and traditional East Asian cultures.
The Ancient Egyptians had similar beliefs about the dead and buried corpses with various trinkets and offerings as an act of reverence.
Following in the footsteps of the Egyptians, the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations also believed that the souls of the dead could appear to the living.
References to apparitions of dead souls were later found in ancient Hebrew scripture.
When the Europeans began exploring the New World, they listened intently to the natives' accounts of ghosts.
The existence of ghosts came into question during the scientific revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Many instances that had previously been termed "supernatural" could now be disproved by science.
Though some religions retained their belief in the supernatural and the afterlife, ghost stories were soon relegated to fictional narratives and were later manifested in the horror genre of film and literature.
Few people draw upon the ancient religious notion of ancestral spirits and a peaceful afterlife when referring to ghosts in modern times.
Though these spiritual beliefs influenced classic ghost stories, modern tales began ignoring the benevolent specter in favor of a more sorrowful or sinister presence.
Many popular ghost stories were scary tales involving violent ghosts with varying motives.
Interest in ghosts flourished as a result of sensational storytelling in literature.
Modern ghost stories were often filled with dark descriptions of shadowy figures with harmful intentions.
Most of these stories were rooted in ancient folk tales, however.
Ancient ghost stories continued to influence modern supernatural literature for centuries.
In Popular Culture
With origins in folklore and myth, ghosts have always been closely linked to popular culture.
They have been referenced in the art, theater, music, and literature of many peoples, serving to reinforce themes ranging from horror to comedy.
The modern Western conception of ghosts, while influenced by ancient folk tales and famous works by William Shakespeare and others, is most strongly influenced by Victorian-era literature.
It was in that period that authors solidified the themes that are recognizable as the traditional ghost story.
Notably, many depictions of ghosts from the mid-1800s onward included elements from the growing field of psychology.
Changing trends in religious belief further affected the way Western society viewed ghosts.
The evolution of mass media in the 20th century also significantly influenced popular images of ghosts, especially in the development of more child-friendly imagery.
One of the most famous examples is the character Casper the Friendly Ghost, developed in the 1930s for a children's book and soon turned into a popular cartoon.
Television and film exposed audiences to a wide variety of ghosts, both in the traditional horror format and in contexts such as comedy and romance.
The live-action comedy film Ghostbusters (1984) also helped popularize the notion of ghost hunting, which became a common subject of reality television programs in which crews attempt to document evidence of real ghosts.
Parapsychology
Though most scientific rationale denies the existence of ghosts, some sciences are aimed at discovering the presence of ghosts in the human world.
Established in the late 19th century, the field of parapsychology is dedicated to investigating paranormal, or supernatural, occurrences called parapsychological phenomena.
Parapsychologists refer to ghost encounters as apparitional experiences.
These experiences are not limited to visual events and can involve the observance of dead people or animals.
An apparition can also be a possessed inanimate object.
Parapsychologists often investigate claims of hauntings.
When a ghost is described as persistently appearing in the living world, it is haunting the place that it visits.
Hauntings can range from a simple nuisance to a violent presence.
Ghosts are often described as haunting the places that were important to them when they were alive, such as their homes.
Haunted houses have played an important role in popular horror culture for many centuries.
Many fictional horror tales are based on real-life accounts of house hauntings. The Whaley House in San Diego, California, is considered one of the most haunted houses in the nation, and many guests claim to have had ghostly experiences there.
A house in Amityville, New York, also claims to be haunted, and several books and films have been inspired by these claims.
Cemeteries are also cited as places that experience many hauntings.
To date, only inconclusive evidence exists supporting the presence of ghosts in the human world.
Many people remain convinced that ghosts are real, however.
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