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Your weekly dose of evidence
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It’s Halloween again, where all things ghostly and haunted come to the surface and we willingly engage in weird activities that give us the creeps. Or it can just be another excuse for children (and adults, let’s face it) to eat chocolate. It’s also a great excuse for us to publish stories about vampires, werewolves, ghosts and haunted houses.
In our special Halloween newsletter, English lecturer Eric Parisot tells of how fan fiction writers have given Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy a vampiric bite, while early childhood academic Carol Newall provides some tips on how to watch scary movies with your child.
We’ve also ruffled through our archives and pulled out some goodies, like a psychological insight into why some people are hell-bent on doing things that scare the hell out of them.
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Sasha Petrova
Deputy Editor, Health + Medicine
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Darcy, played here by Colin Firth in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, has morphed from dreamboat to vampire in recent fiction.
BBC
Eric Parisot, Flinders University
A Mr Darcy Halloween costume anyone? How the brooding hero of Pride and Prejudice has been reinvented as a vampire.
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Watching with a parent, checking the facts, and exposure therapy can all help a child process a scary movie.
Shutterstock
Carol Newall, Macquarie University
There are various techniques that can soften the fear factor of a scary film: from talking about it to providing facts that contextualise the plotline.
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Not everyone is drawn to horror movies, but some seem to luxuriate in frightful experiences.
Flood G./Flickr
Nick Haslam, University of Melbourne
Halloween is upon us. Why do we seek out experiences that we know will expose us to dread, disgust and terror?
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Tok Thompson, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Ghost stories are often about the departed seeking justice for an earthly wrong. Their sightings are a reminder that ethics and morality transcend our lives.
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Marguerite Johnson, University of Newcastle
James, aged 8, of Sydney wants to know: are zombies real?
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Justin Welbergen, Western Sydney University; Kyle Armstrong, University of Adelaide
We need balanced media reporting about bat-borne diseases to help avoid vilification of Australia's under-appreciated creatures of the night.
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Tony Matthews, Griffith University; Deanna Grant-Smith, Queensland University of Technology
Urban festivals built on community involvement can reinvigorate places and create a shared sense of place and purpose that lasts long after the event is over.
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Featured jobs
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Southern Cross University — Bilinga, Queensland
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RMIT University — Melbourne, Victoria
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University of Melbourne — Shepparton, Victoria
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Griffith University — Bundall, Queensland
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Featured events
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Clemenger Auditorium, National Gallery of Victoria, 180 St Kilda Road, Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia — La Trobe University
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Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) 1 Convention Centre Place , South Wharf, Victoria, 3000, Australia — The Conversation
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Deakin University, Waurn Ponds Campus, Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, Geelong, Victoria, 3220, Australia — Deakin University
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The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia — University of Sydney
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