supernatural tale
Eerie fictional narrative
A supernatural tale is a story involving elements beyond natural explanation—ghosts, demons, magic, or other phenomena that defy ordinary reality.
The term encompasses ghost stories, weird fiction, and horror narratives where the inexplicable plays a central role: She loved reading supernatural tales by candlelight.
Distinguished from fantasy by its emphasis on intrusion of the uncanny into otherwise realistic settings.
- ghostApparition of the dead
- ghost storyNarrative featuring apparitions
- hauntedOccupied by ghosts
- haunted houseDwelling believed spirit-inhabited
- eerieDisturbingly strange
specter · phantom · bump in the night · legend · folklore · witch · witching hour · demon · creature of the night · curse · apparition · restless spirit · moonlight · shadows · whispers · dark and stormy night · crypt · séance
- scary storiesghost story, horror story, scary story, spine-chiller, campfire story
- thrillerssuspense, thriller, nail-biter, page-turner, cliffhanger
supernatural talerealistic fiction
Invented yet plausible storytelling
literary realism · social realism · naturalism · slice of life · contemporary fiction
supernatural talescience fiction
Speculative fiction with technological themes
hard science fiction · procedural · detective fiction · whodunit · techno-thriller
supernatural taletrue story
Narrative of actual events
historical account · biography · memoir · case study · eyewitness account
supernatural, tale, super, natural, nature, supernaturally, supernaturalism, naturalism, naturalist