fright

“They don’t remember how paralyzed with fright the nation was the week after Three Mile Island. ... They don’t recall the shock of Chernobyl less than seven years later.”

And lots of fright fans don’t limit their horror entertainment to spooky season, gorging horror movies, shows and books all year long.

The mood is macabre throughout, with spooky sounds and music and a cloudy palette so that there are few bright, normal moments to measure the surreal frights against.

If the vice-president was hoping for a burst of last minute good news to quell any stage fright, she didn’t get it.

"But the birds can get such a fright that they just fly, and they will fly into windows or walls just trying to get away and that’s how they die. And it’s awful."