"Why I Hate Haunted House Stories" Guest post by author Brandon McNulty :-D

I am thrilled to introduce you to Brandon McNulty, a wonderful author and writing coach who grew up loving monsters, demons, and the thrill of a great scare. Now he writes supernatural thrillers, horror, and other dark fiction. He is a graduate of Taos Toolbox Writers Workshop and a winner of both Pitch Wars and RevPit.

Brandon wrote a Halloween-themed guest post just for me and all I had to do was ask. Thanks, Brandon!

You can find Brandon here: 

https://www.amazon.com/Brandon-McNulty/e/B01N4B2SVZ?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1635099405&sr=8-1

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8184141.Brandon_McNulty

https://www.youtube.com/c/WriterBrandonMcNulty

Why I Hate Haunted House Stories

Think about the last haunted house story you read or watched. Did a family move into their new home only to discover doors randomly opening and strange noises escaping the attic? Did the so-called heroes have to beg cops or paranormal investigators for help? Did the previous owner commit a heinous sin that must be atoned for?

I’m a horror writer, so it might surprise you to learn that I hate a popular horror trope: the haunted house. Specifically, suburban haunted houses. Whether it’s a gaudy mansion or a modest bungalow, I’ve seen too many.

In my YouTube video titled: My Five Most Hated Horror Clichés, haunted houses ranked #3 on my list (https://youtu.be/RfKB_HmiVqw). They’ve become a tired cliché for two reasons: the setting and the setup.

The setting for these types of stories is almost always a suburban home. I understand the logic behind choosing a suburban home—it’s something many of us can relate to—but when a setting gets reused countless times, it becomes too familiar. The more familiar a horror trope becomes, the less scary it gets. And when horror fails to scare (or at least thrill) an audience, it fails outright.

The solution is to embrace the unknown, which is the one thing that has scared human beings back to our earliest ancestors. Modern writers must construct a new, unpredictable breed of haunted houses. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be a haunted house. Try haunted airports, haunted grocery stores, or haunted rec centers. Try stretching the idea of what a “house” is until new ideas arise like ghosts from a decrepit cellar.

The other problem is the setup for these types of stories. There’s nothing wrong with using plot structure to build a story, but when the same elements and scenarios keep appearing, promising ideas rot into clichés.

The good news is that haunted house tales don’t have to be predictable. One of my favorites in recent memory is the 2016 movie Don’t Breathe in which a trio of thieves breaks into the house of a wealthy blind man who isn't as helpless as he seems. It’s fresh and exciting and it never feels clichéd thanks to its intriguing premise.

But for every Don’t Breathe, there are entire neighborhoods full of uninspired haunted mansions that storytellers keep building. If you’re a writer, don’t be afraid to design new types of haunted houses. And if you’re a reader, make sure to pay those a visit.