exercise of pure thought, since these discoveries are usually connected to thequestion of the survival of the human race, an issue to be resolved or at leastfrequently alluded to in the confrontation movements of the subtendingfabulae. Nevertheless, a great deal of the sustaining interest in horror storiesconcerns the discovery of the unknown. The majority of horror stories are,to a significant extent, representations of processes of discovery, as well asoften occasions for hypothesis formation on the part of the audience, and, assuch, these stories engage us in the drama of proof.