This thought comes to me frequently, especially lately as Halloween begins to draw near (well...they've started putting candy and decorations out anyways). There are a number of horror movies, particularly haunted house type movies, that claim to be based on real events/true stories. Obviously individual religious, spiritual, etc. beliefs will vary, but there are a number of famous horror stories holding that claim that have been disputed...usually with facts that indicate that, at best, the story was an attempted (and sometimes successful) cash grab and, at worst, was a con attempt.

For a couple of examples, the Amityville Horror was written by a couple who claimed to experience paranormal activity and hauntings after buying and moving into a house where the previous owner had murdered his entire family (actually did happen). The couple claimed they were forced to leave after a number of strange and sometimes violent incidents occurred during their residence, however just about every claim they made in the book and movie has been proven false thanks to public records and such.

Two other examples would be the incidents cited in the Conjuring movies (funny enough, the same paranormal investigators, the Warrens, also investigated the Amityville house). Something I thought was particularly funny was in the second Conjuring movie, a critic says "They've never been inside a house they didn't believe was haunted!" which is a pretty accurate summary of their career. The events of the second Conjuring movie (The Enfield Haunting), was a particularly infamous incident where the "victim" was found to be committing fraud, if I remember right. The Warrens themselves assert that everything they've experienced is 100% real, no matter how fantastic the claim (one of their last memoirs/books was about how they exorcised a Werewolf Ghost...yes really. And I want that to be the subject of the third Conjuring movie).

Getting to the point: Do any of you think there's a level of harm being done in enjoying these kinds of books, movies, documentaries, etc.? Even when the stories are proven untrue, if the people making the claims are trying to sell a story to make money, do you think there's any harm done in selling a scary story? What about if, maybe, the person/people who experienced it really believe it happened but there are much more mundane explanations?