People enjoy being scared. This explains why we make horror films, why we build roller coasters, and why we make iPods so expensive. It does not explain why the Bush Administration was re-elected (having based the entire campaign on scaring the voters) but I don’t think anything will. The point is that Halloween is now here, and for all its inherent commercialism, it is still the right time to look into the very nature of fear.

As anybody who has recovered from a phobia will tell you, the best way to deal with a fear of something is to expose yourself to it gradually. People with arachnophobia begin by holding a tiny money spider, then work their way up to stroking a tarantula. In the same way, people with a fear of heights will need to stand on a chair before visiting the Empire State building. The point is that anything frightening eventually goes out of fashion as people become accustomed to it.

In 1598, a Gandillon family became one of the major historical cases of lycanthropy, when the two females confessed that they were werewolves and soon killed. About a century later, the puritans occupied themselves by burning witches, most notably during the Salem Witch Trials of 1962. The Lady Lovibond is the most famous of the ghost ships, shipwrecked on February 13, 1748, although ghosts became even more popular after the invention of photography. Then, in 1897, the publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula brought vampires into mainstream culture. During the Cold War, the space race drove humanity and introduced a fear of aliens, particularly in regards to the Roswell incident of 1947.

This year, a bishop from the Church of England has put pressure on a number of supermarkets by sending a letter asking them to provide alternative merchandise to the traditional accessories usually pertaining to the aforementioned daemons of the times. Woolworths and The Disney Store have acquiesced, but Tesco and the Co-operative have not responded to the bishop’s letter.

Realistically, this is unnecessary. Civilisation today is much more sophisticated than throughout the previous centuries. People are generally more tolerant, and there have been a relatively low number of witch burnings. I assume witchcraft was legalised at some point, since we still allow David Blaine to go about his everyday business (perhaps we need to revise the law somewhat). People are certainly a great deal more sceptical, despite being surprised that a phone-in quiz on ITV at 3am is not entirely above-board, and as such are much harder to scare.

However, despite a higher scare-threshold, the 21^st Century can still contribute to the history of fear. We can easily add “everything” to the list: 9/11, terrorists, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, a Conservative government, Big Brother (both the state and the television program), obesity, cancer, AIDS, poisonous Chinese-made toys, oil prices, global warming. In fact, this year, Halloween is a bit of an anti-climax.