“Enter “Paranormal Activity.” Like vampire flicks, the little-ghost-movie-that-could (made for only $15,000, starring a couple of unknowns, swooped up by Spielberg, yada, yada) shows victims in their most vulnerable state: While they’re sleeping. However, unlike vampire flicks, many people believe in ghosts,” reports Aaron Sagers.

“The afterlife is the biggest unknown of human existence and most people try to pursue answers about it through membership in organized religions and spiritual groups,” reports Sagers. “Perhaps that’s why ghost hunting is such big business on reality TV: Because for many, those disembodied souls seeking closure are directly connected to our own questions about the afterlife. But “Activity” has shown ghosts can be good for box office receipts along with reality TV ratings.”

“Aliens, much like ghosts, aliens and UFOs are more within the realm of the believable than the undead. The vastness of undiscovered country that is space leaves a lot of open room for other life a possibility more than a few scientists allow for,” reports Sagers.

“Beings that are smarter than us, peering into our homes and scoping us out for potential experiments, food sources or prime real estate make for the ultimate intruder nightmare,” reports Sagers. “However, aside from some notable exceptions like “Signs” in 2002 and the “War of the Worlds” re-make in ’05, aliens have been relatively quiet in pop culture lately (“District 9″ doesn’t count since the humans were the monsters in that one). But if “V” is any good and the is-it-real (no, it’s not) “The Fourth Kind” makes bank, the otherworldly visitors will be joining ghosts in the next wave of go-to spooks.”

Aaron Sagers writes about all things pop-culture each week, but you can follow him daily on Twitter under AaronSagers and on his site, www.paranormalpopculture.com. He can be contacted atsagers.aaron@gmail.com.

Read Aaron’s full article here