What place does tech have in Supernatural Horror Literature? Part II
This is Part II, Check out last week’s post for Part I
WHERE MY GODDAMN PHONE?!
You won’t find any cold drafts in ancient castles here. This novel is set in modern times, with cell phones, streaming and ghosts that show up on camera. Unfortunately for this TV ghost hunting team, their victory is not as clear cut as it may seem.
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie
If you are like me, you spent a lot of your childhood watching “ghost shows” on cable TV. If you were watching the History Channel, then it was more likely an educational program dressed up as a ghost story.
There would be grainy photographs of the historical location, some of the place's gruesome history, and a few reenactments. They usually featured the Salem Witch Trials or some of the horrors of the American South. Because I am and always have been a morbid nerd, I loved these as a kid.
It’s a living
Lesser programs featured a film crew with night vision going to haunted locations, intent on finding proof of ghosts. Sometimes a gym bro hollered at ghosts to appear and fight him. Most of the time it was just people freaking out over dust specks and distant sounds that could be voices from beyond, but were more likely old pipes.
Both are entertaining, if a little cringey in retrospect. But the book in question is about the second option of ghost shows– but more professional and less shouty. Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie has got to be one of the most unique horror stories I have ever read, and I strongly recommend you check it out.
It features a ghost hunting crew filming at an old paranormal research site from the 70's. It has all of the anti-supernatural bells and whistles. There is a diehard scientist non-believer, there are cameras and cellphones. Everyone is here to disprove the supernatural, and for once the supernatural wins. This isn't a Victorian tale of shadows in the hall, this is hard facts baby.
For Episode Thirteen the camera isn’t just a part of the story, it is the story.
They have captured actual footage of a spirit manifestation. A huge poltergeist-style ghost woman, throwing things around and busting up the house. All on camera! Imagine how that would change the world, who it would vindicate, who it would shatter– it is a major scientific discovery.
I don’t do spoilers, so I won’t give away how it ends, but the twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The supernatural is never what you expect it to be, and Craig DiLouie obviously knows that. In a way, isn't the unknown the point of the supernatural?
Would the world beyond be so interesting if it was straight forward? If a murder victim could just appear and say “they did it”? If a dead lover could stroll in and be like “it’s cool, go ahead and remarry”?
The supernatural still has a place in this world. We like to pretend that the internet and modern technology means we know everything. While access to 24/7 information has made us more informed and more anxious than ever, there is still much we don’t know.
