Macabre stories??
What a scary word macabre is to most people…
The dictionary defines it as ghastly or gruesome but in my
mind, I always associate it with supernatural goings on. Books such as Stephen
King’s “Danse Macabre” also spring to mind. In his book King talks about the world of horror
writing and it’s history and origins – an adventurous read if you are
interested in horror literature. When I looked up the term ‘Danse Macabre’, I
discovered that it appears to originate in medieval times and signified skeletons
and other dead spirits dancing and leading mortals to their grave. A kind of
unholy procession. There are quite a few artists’ impressions from that time
depicting dancing gleeful skeletons holding hands with the dead and the still
living. Ugh! Nice pictures…
But I am thinking of the more common use of the word... Macabre seems to be a word
used for describing a grim or ghastly atmosphere. It is generally only found in horror/paranormal
-type literature. I think it is a wonderfully descriptive word which everyone
knows the meaning of but it is rarely used in everyday conversation.
It’s almost as if it is beyond our understanding and
therefore terrifying. When one is struggling
to describe a scary atmosphere or aura macabre is a good word to use…
Do you have favourite words that are relevant to your genre?
