The uncertainty. When you're in a standby situation, not knowing what will happen next can be terrifying. For example, in a standby for a rescue operation, you don't know if help will arrive in time.
Isolation is a big factor. If you're on standby alone in a place like an old building waiting for something, it can feel really spooky. You start to imagine all sorts of things, and every little noise seems magnified. Like in a standby in an abandoned factory, the creaking of the old machinery can make you feel like you're in a horror movie. Also, the sense of being at the mercy of something unknown, like when a standby system fails and you don't know why, and there could be some unseen danger lurking.
The waiting in the dark. In many standby horror stories, there's often a lack of proper lighting. It could be a standby in a tunnel or a cellar. The darkness hides potential threats, and your mind fills in the blanks with all kinds of terrifying possibilities. You might hear scuffling sounds but not be able to see what's making them. This plays on our primal fear of the unknown and the things that might lurk in the shadows.
There was a person flying standby who had an important meeting at their destination. They arrived at the airport early and waited patiently. But due to some technical issues with the airline's standby system, their name was not properly registered. So when seats became available, they were overlooked. By the time the mistake was noticed, all the seats were taken and they missed their meeting. This shows how unreliable flying standby can be at times.
One horror story could be constantly getting bumped from standby flights due to overbooking. Passengers end up waiting for hours or even days at the airport, missing important appointments or events. It's a nightmare when you've planned your trip around a standby flight only to be left stranded.
Once I was on a standby flight. I got to the airport super early, like 4 am. I was all excited to get on the flight. But they kept delaying the standby list announcements. Finally, when they did, I was number 20 on the list and there were only 5 seats available. It was so frustrating. I ended up having to wait another 5 hours for the next possible standby chance.
The unknown is the scariest. In 'as is horror stories', things are often left in their natural state, so you don't really know what's lurking in the shadows or what's causing those strange noises. It's that sense of not having all the answers that makes it terrifying.
Isolation is also a key element. When characters are alone in a spooky place, like an abandoned asylum in one of the stories. They have no one to turn to, and that makes the situation even more terrifying as the horror unfolds around them.
The unknown is one of the scariest elements. When things are not clearly defined, like a strange figure in the fog in some stories from '1001 horror stories', it makes our imagination run wild. We start to create the most terrifying scenarios in our minds.
The scariest element could be the sense of the unknown. For example, in many stories, there are strange noises or happenings that the characters can't explain. It's that not - knowing what is causing the fear that really gets to you.
The isolation in many of the stories is really scary. Like when a character is alone in an old, abandoned building, cut off from the outside world, and they start to feel like they're being watched by something malevolent. There's also the fear of the supernatural, such as ghosts or demons that defy the laws of nature. This makes the characters, and the readers, feel powerless against them.
Sure. One standby horror story is about a plane on standby during a storm. The passengers were waiting nervously on the tarmac. All of a sudden, there was a huge lightning strike near the plane. The lights inside flickered and some people heard strange noises from the wings. Everyone was terrified, fearing that something bad was about to happen.
The sudden movement of the LPS toys when they're not supposed to be able to move is really scary. It goes against what we know about them as inanimate objects.