A touch of horror - Sei Gwei.
Over the years, numerous fantasy creations have been used to perform the role of adversaries in horror stories; the creation being the vehicle to be ultimately afraid of, to become the focus of terror.
Although each author will put a unique stamp on their horror creation, in general they can be summarised as follows:
- Werewolves - shape-shifting beasts often associated with abnormal speed, power, and perception. They are found in numerous horror/fantasy stories, shows, and films, and have a long and rich history.
- Vampires - Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula is probably the archetypal vampire novel and is the basis of the modern vampire legend, still used today.
- Zombies - The history of the Zombi really stems from Haitian stories involving Voodoo, where they quite often used powerful psychoactive drugs. The Zombi has evolved into its own strange entity no longer needing chemical stimulation to exist.
- Mummies - have featured in fantasy stories from the seventeenth century, but it was during the late Victorian period that Bram Stoker created the first novel with mummies as supernatural adversaries in The Jewel of Seven Stars, with a mummified Egyptian queen.
- Supernatural - Ghosts in any form always a good fallback and have been used to frighten people of all ages for many years
The word, derived from Chinese culture, has a literal meaning of dead ghost, although modern usage sees it applied as a derogatory term for foreigners.
In the horror story, Sei Gwei Possession, the malignant entities are elevated to a different level and introduced as parasitic wraiths. They are not ghosts, but parasitic entities that live by occupying and controlling, unsuspecting human hosts, forcing them to become cannibals.
