beige inside

Robert Budzinski has the right idea.

The Prophet Muhammad at the Gates of Hell

from a manuscript copy of al-Sara’i’s Nahj al-Faradis or Paths of Paradise

ca. 1465

Calling all true believers! A week from today at LA's Philosophical Research Society--and on your computer screen!--I will deliver my Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies lecture "Based On a True Story", an examination of the legacy of the Amitvyille Horror, one of the world's most enduring hoaxes. Though outed as a scam in its early days, it still produced a best-selling novel; the then-highest grossing independent American film of all time; and literally countless books and movies. It seems there is something exciting about believing in the so-called Horror...but what? What urge does it satisfy, what void does it fill? Why, as one bombastic movie trailer claims, did it make millions "believe in the unbelievable"? I'll examine the story's factual origins, its fictional distortions, a little cognitive science, and a bit of classic philosophy to try to understand why the world still wants to believe in the reality of the Amityville Horror.

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