History Main / MundaneGhostStory

* Some {{Creepypasta}}s deal with this. Sometimes, they're played for laughs. Other times...[[NightmareFuel not so much...]]

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin has hiccups and asks Hobbes to tell him a scary story to cure him.

* ''Film/CheaperByTheDozen 2'' did this. The rich kids were reading about a family that was worrying about how to pay their car payment that month, and then they all shuddered in fear and disgust at the thought of not being super-rich.

Someone tells a GhostStory in classic fashion, probably around a campfire or with a flashlight aimed up under the face, only the ghost story is about something that is not really scary in the traditional nightmare sense, but is more like [[AdultFear Adult Fears]]: being stuck in a loveless marriage, living an unfulfilling life, sexual inadequacy, and so on. This is usually played for laughs, avoiding anything involving physical pain or death, dealing with [[FauxHorrific something sillier]] like having to wear a stupid outfit to school, having a bad haircut, or eating something that tastes terrible.

--> '''Osaka''': Sometime last night, I was all alone in my room. When suddenly, from out of nowhere...the smell of a fart that wasn't mine wafted into my nose.

-->'''Hobbes''': OK, our oceans are filled with garbage, we've created a hole in the ozone that's frying the planet, nuclear waste is piling up without any safe way to get rid of it...
-->'''Calvin''': I meant ''surprise'' me.
-->'''Hobbes''': That doesn't? Boy, you're cynical.

-->'''Blue:''' And then... the entire batch was off-color.
-->''[beat]''
-->'''Pink:''' Not scary!

-->'''Wednesday''': And so, the next night, the ghost returned to the haunted cabin, and he said to the campers — "None of you really believe in me, so I'll have to prove my power." And the next morning, when the campers woke up... [[FauxHorrific all of their old noses had grown back]]. ''*Cue screams of terror and a smirking Wednesday*''

-->'''Kel''': When the bread popped out of the toaster, no one knew what to put on it. Jelly? Margarine? Cinnamon sugar? I suggested butter. Crumbs were everywhere!

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' had the similar scenario of Frank Costanza's war story: He was the cook for his unit, but the shipment of food he received was expired. In his hubris, he thought he could compensate for this with just the right seasoning, but he "overseasoned" and made the food too spicy, causing the troops to get sick. He was so scarred by this that he vowed never to cook again.

-->'''Alton''': They say you can hear him, scouring his non-stick pan.

-->'''Yugi:''' Once upon a time, there was a duelist. And he was challenged to a card game by another duelist. The game went on for hours, and the duelist was about to win with only three turns left, but then his opponent activated Swords of Revealing Light, which prevented him from attacking for three turns...!
-->'''Tea:''' That was a stupid story that would only scare idiots like Tristan!
-->'''Tristan:''' [[IResembleThatRemark I am an idiot like Tristan and I'm scared of that story!]]

-->'''Bart''': ...and ''that'' is how much college will cost for Maggie.\\
'''Homer''': [[BigNo No! NO! NOOOOOO!!!!!]]

-->'''Bender:''' ...and even though the computer was off and unplugged, an image remained on the screen. It was... ''the Windows logo!''
-->'''Fry:''' Pfft! That's not scary.
-->'''Bender:''' It is if you're a laser printer.

-->'''Jake''': Then, lying there in the darkness, the boy heard a tiny splashing sound. ''Psh''! ''Psh''! Like waves on a faraway shore. ''Except''...the nearest ocean was a hundred miles away. The boy reached out for his sleeping father...but he was gone. Shaking with fear, the boy stumbled out of the rickety lean-to, and that's when he saw it: his father, sitting alone at the campfire. ''ALONE''!...with a whole case of beer! Psh! Psh! ''(pantomimes drinking)'' The selfish old bastard was WASTED AGAIN!

--->'''Quinn:''' So, Cinderella said, "I can't go to the ball in these rags." So her fairy godmother waved her magic wand and behold! She was wearing a gown of silver and gold -- big, ''clunky'' silver and gold sequins that you wouldn't wear to one of those '70s nostalgia proms, much less a ''formal party'' at a ''palace''! And when she went to look in the mirror -- the one that made her look thin -- ''instead'' she looked '''''BLOATED'''''!
--->'''Helen:''' Quinn, honey, is this really a scary story?
--->'''Quinn:''' Wait! I haven't gotten to the ''shoes'' yet!

-->'''Applejack''': I'd like to tell y'all the terrifying tale of the prissy ghost, who drove everypony crazy with her unnecessary neatness! [=OooOOOooo=]! I'm sure y'all are familiar with that one.
-->'''Rarity''': Never heard of it. But I have a much better one. It's the horrifying story of the messy, inconsiderate ghost, who irritated everypony within a hundred miles! [=OooOOOooo=]!
-->'''Applejack''': That's not a real story! You made it up.
-->'''Rarity''': It is a ''ghost'' story. They're all made up.

-->'''Timmy''': In the future there will be 500 TV channels!
-->'''Dad''': Cool!
-->'''Timmy''': ...but nothing to watch!
-->'''Dad''': [[BigNo Noooooooooo!!!!]]

-->'''Camper:''' B-Boy, that sure was scary, right Johnny? *everyone notices Johnny is missing* Johnny?"
-->*cut to Johnny hiding in a tree, trembling*
-->'''Johnny:''' *addressing the audience* I don't know ''what'' he said....but it was the way he told it.

-->'''Callie''': Once there was a cat who kept her room organized. One day, she came home and her room was messy. She spent all afternoon cleaning it, but when she finished, she turned around and... (''gasps'') the room was messy again! (''shining her flashlight on her face'') Dun dun dun! (''turns around, sees everyone but Pete is asleep'')

-->'''Person 1''': You know, I hear if you put in a Windows disk in your drive upside-down, it plays a Satanic message.
-->'''Person 2''': That's nothing. If you put it in right-side up, it ''installs Windows''!

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Look Before You Sleep," [[NoSocialSkills Twilight Sparkle]] is throwing a slumber party by the book, running down a checklist of activities that includes ghost stories. [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl Applejack and Rarity]], however, are not feeling charitable toward each other, and have been using each activity to snipe at each other, and this is no exception:

* ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' features [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/10/31/ every gamer's worst fear]].

* [[http://xkcd.com/647/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip.
* ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' has this [[http://explosm.net/comics/4102/ Halloween comic strip about Twitter]].

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' had a skit where Stuart Smalley tells a "scary story" that starts out like the urban legend about the babysitter getting calls from inside the house. Instead of vague threats the person on the phone just incoherently rambles for a few minutes, and as it turns out [[spoiler: it's the girl's drunk father. Stuart says they stage an intervention for him.]]

* In the ''[[VideoGame/NightInTheWoods Night in the Woods]] graveyard hangout with Bea, Mae challenges her to come up with a ghost story. Bea's horror story involves a landlord coming to evict her. Mae is unimpressed and compromises with a zombie landlord.

* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' has Brain telling a group of campers a 'horrifying' story about a mathematician accidentally calculating the largest known prime number, which ends up putting the kids to sleep. (In fact, such a thing would be legitimately frightening, as it would allow hackers to easily bypass most data encryption methods. [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting But it's not clear if the writers of the episode were aware of that at the time]].

-->''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' has Brain telling a group of campers a 'horrifying' story about a mathematician accidentally calculating the largest known prime number, which ends up putting the kids to sleep. (In fact, such a thing would be legitimately frightening, as it would allow hackers to easily bypass most data encryption methods. [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting But it's not clear if the writers of the episode were aware of that at the time]].