Laughing in the Shadow: The Role of Humor in Ghost Story Telling.

• Main Author: Bentley-Edwards, Melissa Ann
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2006
• Subjects: storytelling; ghost stories; humor; shadow; Communication; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Speech and Rhetorical Studies
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2201; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3565&context=etd

The ghost story concert is a popular modern form of presenting ghost stories to ticket buying audiences and is one of the last stomping grounds of the oral tradition. Attendees come to be scared but not terrified. Tellers employ humor to release tension during the tale. When does humor release tension while maintaining the momentum of the story? When does the humor employed deflate it into a comical tale and diffuse suspense altogether? In an effort to answer these questions, four variants of a single story, Tailypo, were analyzed for the presence of tension and humor inducing stimuli employing Rothbart's diagram of Schematic Representation of Affective Response to Sudden, Intense, or Discrepant Stimulation. Rothbart's model has previously been applied to affective response to horror film; here it has been applied to oral storytelling.