HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT

New thrills. Developers are marrying technology and terror in a way that’s never been done before, using virtual and augmented reality to create experiences where everyday settings — from a kitchen to a warehouse — turn into haunted houses. VR additions to escape rooms and museum exhibitions are cropping up nationwide, and could soon find their way into your own home. This tech’s terrifying potential isn’t held back by the temporal limitations of brick-and-mortar haunts either, which should appeal to Americans, who spend more than $300 million on haunted house tickets annually.

Write it out. Alma Katsu spent more than three decades witnessing true horror. In the 1990s, she ran “complex contingency operations” for U.S. intelligence agencies to stomp out mass atrocities around the globe. Now she’s using that knowledge to boost her second career as a popular horror writer. Her latest, The Hunger, was named one of the best horror novels of 2018 by NPR, The New York Times and others, and even earned front-cover kudos from horror icon Stephen King. Sure, she’s a lovely person, her editor says — but she’ll “tell you stories that will curl your hair.”

Hitchin’ a ride. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami that tore through Japan in 2011 left 16,000 dead and flattened towns along the coast. But the departed don’t go quietly in a place where ghosts are culturally accepted: One sociologist studying the phenomenon spoke to taxi drivers who reported having passengers simply vanish from their cabs. Firemen, meanwhile, have been known to pray for the deceased residents of destroyed homes after receiving ghostly calls from the properties. Japan’s prevailing Shinto religion, which requires that spirits be cared for to ease their journey to the afterlife, means locals are likely more ghost-conscious.

Spooky attraction. Next time you’re in the City of Lights, don’t miss The Live Thriller — Paris’ most engaging, and absolutely terrifying, interactive theater experience. Though it’ll likely appeal to the adrenaline-chasing escape room crowd, it’s more like being inside a horror movie or video game, where your decisions and ability to connect the dots affect the story. Participants are tasked with solving a ghostly mystery, which involves rushing between locations in the 18th arrondissement, chasing people and finding clues. Running around the creepiest of places, you’ll bump into professional actors who play fellow detectives, or suspects who will help or hinder your criminal investigation.

WHAT TO READ

The Great Inventors Who Really Wanted to Talk to Ghosts by Addison Nugent on OZY
“Virtually every new communication technology invented between 1860 and 1930 was promoted as a means of reaching the spirit realm, and not just by charlatans — by the inventors themselves.”

Skip This Scary Show and Read This Book Instead by Lauren Cocking on OZY
“‘The fear invoked by fiction … somehow works to remedy the very real terrors of life.’”

WHAT TO WATCH