History Main / SupernaturalProofFather

* Taken to idiotic extremes in ''TheHauntingOfMollyHartley'', where the eponymous character's father refuses to believe her when she tells him about the Satanic cult that is after her, even though he had made a literal DealWithTheDevil several years prior.

You see, the father, as the head of the family and the most "sensible and grounded" member, is the last person to encounter (or admit encountering) these bizarre events. The children see them, The [[HauntedHeroine wife/mother]] sees them, Hell, even the [[AnimalReactionShot family dog]] [[EvilDetectingDog sees them.]] But the dad is always the last person to see and believe. Although it's debatable whether or not they're the least susceptible, or just plain [[SomebodyElsesProblem in denial]]. This is a depressingly common trope in "Haunted House" style stories, and may also be used by elder brothers/best (male) friends, etc.

* TheColourOutOfSpace by HPLovecraft, where the father is the last one in the Gardner family who is alive and relatively sane.

* Completely averted in ''{{Supernatural}}'', since the father is the one that finds the mother's body trapped on the ceiling, sees the ceiling light on fire, and then spends the rest of his life seeking out the demon that did it so he can avenge his wife. And he immerses himself in the supernatural and even raises his sons like soldiers to take over "the family business" when they grow up.

* ''{{Insidious}}'' cleverly plays with this trope, and deconstructs it. [[spoiler: The father was made to repress his memory of a ghost that's been haunting him when he was a kid. Also the son basically inherited his dads ability to astral project into the spirit world, or the ''further'']].

* In ''TheMiraculousMellops'', the father doesn't believe in anything outside an ordinary lifestyle. While the father is affected by one supernatural event, but [[FlatEarthAtheist still doesn't believe it's supernatural]], and thinks the kids are still playing games.

* In the film ''TheOrphanage'', the female lead, [[HauntedHeroine Laura]], notices all the creepy stuff thats going on, while her husband, Carlos, sees nothing, and remains relatively uninvolved.
** To be fair, she did used to live in the house so had a connection to it.
** Also, a big theme of the movie was how belief change's one's perception. The husband didn't want to believe in ghosts, so he got minimal exposure, while the wife and the alleged psychic got full treatment.

** It was hinted in FreddyVsJason (and even before that) that at least some of the parents, as well as certain members of the police department, knew that the new wave of teen deaths weren't a coincidence which, in turn, lead to the dream suppressant drug ''Hypnocil'' and a [[TheTropeWithoutATitle "Don't Say That Name" policy]].

* Completely subverted in ''{{Supernatural}}'', since the father is the one that finds the mother's body trapped on the ceiling, sees the ceiling light on fire, and then spends the rest of his life seeking out the demon that did it so he can avenge his wife. And he immerses himself in the supernatural and even raises his sons like soldiers to take over "the family business" when they grow up.

* Subverted in ''{{Bleach}},'' where [[spoiler:Isshin Kurosaki appears to be this at first, complaining about being the only member of his family not to see ghosts, then later turns out to be faking it, and, technically speaking, ''being'' a ghost in a fake body the whole time, or something. Point is, he's the ''source'' of their genetically heritable supernatural wackiness, and not an exception.]]

* ''AmericanDragonJakeLong''
** The reason for this is threefold: The dragon "gene" was passed down through the mother (it's skips a generation, apparently), the father is a CloudCuckooLander, and the rest of the family is deliberately keeping the fact that his father-in-law, daughter, son, and many other relatives are dragons from him.

** In one particularly aggravating example (from their ''A Haunting In Connecticut'' special, I believe), the two sons share a room and keep the overhead light on all night because when they turn it off everything starts (rather literally) going to hell. What does the dad do? '''Take away the lightbulb.''' Who cares whether there is anything or not, what kind of crappy father is that?
*** Know what's worse? The room was previously a Morgue. He let his children sleep there, THE OLDER ONE SUFFERING FROM CANCER, NEXT TO THE OLD AUTOPSY ROOM, IN THE BASEMENT!!! Forget the lightbulb thing, the guy's just waiting for the kid to die!
** Another example is from an episode where a family was living in a house where a teenager had accidentally killed herself, and was unable to move on. After finding out about her, the husband got ''too'' enthused about researching, and treated it more like an intellectual puzzle than an actual problem. His snooping stirred up a malevolent male ghost who began terrorizing both the husband's family ''and'' the ghost of the girl. What does the guy say when he hears a tape recording where a girl screams, "Oh god, he's here!" and they can hear her ''trying to run away''? "LET'S FIND OUT ABOUT THAT GUY!" Research is a good thing when you need to get rid of ghosts, but there is a very big difference between finding what you need to know and letting it consume your life to the point where ''your family is being terrorized'' and all you tell them is "Don't worry, we'll solve the problem soon!"

* Inverted in ''[[JungleWaItsumoHaleNochiGuu Haré+Guu]]'', where Guu's WeirdnessCensor renders her horror inconspicuous to everyone except Haré, the main character, and to a much lesser degree Dr. Clive, Haré's father.

* Jack and his son in ''TheShining'' are the only two to experience the hotel's evil haunting. Jack is slowly driven insane in part by his inability to tell his wife what's going on, and his son (being psychic) is getting bombarded with oh-so-horrible ghostly memories. His wife is quite firmly grounded in reality, and in fact proves to be more than Jack or the Hotel can readily handle even after he goes batty on her.

You see, the father, as the head of the family and the most "sensible and grounded" member, is the last person to encounter (or admit encountering) these bizarre events. The children see them, The [[HauntedHeroine wife/mother]] sees them, Hell, even the [[AnimalReactionShot family dog]] [[EvilDetectingDog sees them.]] But the dad is always the last person to see and believe. Although it's debatable whether or not they're the least susceptible, or just plain [[SomebodyElsesProblem in denial]].

'''Examples:'''

----
<<|HorrorTropes|>>