What Ghost Story Conventions do the Opening Scenes of The Fog depict and how are they effective?

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What Ghost Story Conventions do the Opening Scenes of

 ‘The Fog’ depict and how are they effective?

Ghost stories have been popular for hundreds of years, and people have various reasons for enjoying them, whether it's to learn something of the spirit world, or simply for a good scare.  Ghost stories often reflect upon religious or spiritual beliefs concerning death and the afterlife.  People naturally want to believe in and thus, read about the survival of the spirit upon the passing of the human body.  Descriptions of ghosts in stories fascinate mankind, because one day we too will be like them.  So in reading ghost stories, we learn of ghostly conditions and appearances, enabling us to become somewhat enlightened with what our future may hold.

Ghost and Horror stories, whether modern or of old, all seem to tell similar stories about ghosts' tragedies, unfinished business, unrest, visitations, and hopeless roaming amongst the living.  They also sometimes share common ghostly messages of warning to aid those still alive, or tell of spirits with ill intentions, seeking revenge from those who wronged them in life.  Some ghost stories truly enlighten, while other ghost stories paint a picture of hell to frighten the audience. Ghost stories can be fiction or true, but usually include a haunting or experience with a ghost.  Stories about ghosts are found within most cultures, whether modern or ancient.

Ghost stories have some typical conventions which enable them to convey their message in a ghostly way. Firstly, the time of the day is the main conventions, whenever there is an incident it is always dark and gloomy and linked to this is the bad weather that is always at the moment of the terrible scene. The dark weather emphasises on the danger and produces a scary atmosphere around also midnight is a popular time for ghostly events to take place as it is also known as the witching hour. For example the thunders and stormy winds that howls in at the time of bad moments, here also the weather may represent a warning for a bad event to take place. In The Fog they have used howling winds and rain to show bad moments when the radio presenter is attacked it is very windy this makes the situation more intense. Also the use of the dark weather makes it more suspense because the fog is seen rising over the town, which gives a really effective change to the situation.

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The typical settings are always used as abandoned building, old massive mansions, graveyard, and forests to express the trapped sprits or ghosts, and these locations are always isolated so they are far out from the busy part of a town. There are a lot of events of isolated people as well as locations for instance the radio, D.J presenter; Stevie Wayne is alone in the KAB lighthouse station. Dan the weatherman is also alone at the weather station additionally the cleaner is also alone at the supermarket where he experience rattling bottles similarly, a woman alone at home whose ...

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