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"I think kids like the feeling of borrowing
fear when they're actually safe," said award-winning storyteller
Mary Jo Maichack of Holyoke. "It's a way to feel in control
but to borrow the feeling of being threatened. Definitely to live
vicariously."
Facing the fact that life is finite while questioning
what lies beyond also garners gasps.
"It's a delicious feeling to be able to thumb
your nose at the horrible truth of life — that it's going
to end," Maichack said. "We can deal with death in a
light, brave fashion, with skeletons walking around and giggles."
"It's a primal instinct with us all to question
what's in the dark," said Leah Schmidt, owner of Haunted
Footsteps Ghost Tours in Salem. "We always have that fear
of the unknown but want to know what's out there."
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Maichack said the chance to scream in public without admonition
appeals to kids.
"Ghost stories let kids break the rules," she said. "Schools
have a tradition of being really repressive, so this is permissive.
Most of the time, we're telling these ghost stories at night when
they should already be in bed, and they're able to let go and scream
with their family. It's a great bonding experience."
These stories transport adults to a more innocent
era, Schmidt said. "They bring us back in time to when things
were a little big simpler and there was so much more wonder in the
world."
The humor woven into many of these stories also allows
listeners to release some tension, Maichack said. The end of a ghost
story, especially, can prove therapeutic.
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