supernatural themes
Beyond natural explanation
Supernatural themes are narrative elements involving forces, beings, or events that exist beyond the natural world and cannot be explained by science or reason.
These include ghosts, demons, magic, psychic powers, divine intervention, and the afterlife.
Fiction employing supernatural themes ranges from horror to fantasy to religious allegory.
The novel's supernatural themes of possession and exorcism made it controversial.
The phrase often appears in content warnings or genre classifications.
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- ghostApparition of the dead
- wandering soulRestless, rootless person
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- spiritSoul, mood, or liquor
evil spirit · séance · haunting · haunted house · vampire · deity · djinn · demon · demonic possession · sorcery · eldritch · werewolf · spell · ectoplasm · old wives' tale · seraph · exorcism · chupacabra
- horrorhorror, terror, fear, dread, haunted
- Arabian folkloreAladdin, Ali Baba, Arabian Nights, djinn, genie
- Japanese supernaturalyokai, oni, kitsune, tengu, kappa
- Japanese theaterkabuki, noh, bunraku, Bunraku, kyogen
- occult artpentagram, pentagrams, sigils, occult symbols, tarot cards
- ColeridgeKubla Khan, ancient mariner, Xanadu, pleasure dome, albatross
supernatural themesphysical reality
The material universe
natural phenomena · everyday life · naturalism · realism · materialism
supernatural themesrealistic fiction
Invented yet plausible storytelling
literary realism · social realism · slice of life · documentary style · neorealism