21st century demons

Dr Gregory L Reece’s fascinating book, Creatures of the Night, is an enjoyably macabre stroll through the misty swamps of folklore where myth and religion are intertwined. Why do we create monsters and why is there such a desire and appetite for the darker side of the human soul? Whereas one reader may dismiss the concept of lycanthropes or vampires the point of Reece’s exhaustively researched study is to highlight how that same reader may partly or wholly accept the concept of ghosts or demons.

Why would one fantastical concept seem more acceptable than another? Can we scoff at Arthur Conan Doyle for believing in the existence of fairies when the notion of demonic possession may still frighten a large percentage of the global population?

Unsurprisingly, the unifying theme here is religion and how its reliance on fear in the past has ingrained itself on our nightmares as well as our culture.