An In-Depth Interview with Author and Host Peter Laws on The Frighteners, Faith, and the Paranormal
The Cleric Who Loves Gore: Defending the Morbid Streak
For many, the idea of an ordained minister who is also a celebrated horror author seems contradictory. Yet, for Reverend Peter Laws, host of the popular YouTube channel Into the Fog, this juxtaposition is not hypocritical, but essential.
In a recent interview for Wyrd Wessex, Peter—author of the non-fiction work The Frighteners—shared the core question that drove his book: how can a supposedly "nice person" who works in a church happily consume blood, guts, and gore?
Laws argues that this interest in the macabre is not a sign of depravity; it’s a crucial coping mechanism.
"The book is trying to answer a question that I get... 'How can you supposedly be a nice person if you're working in churches and stuff... and yet you're quite happy to watch horrible things?'... I wanted to answer that question for myself and also for millions of other people who... are lovely, ordinary, everyday people. And yet they like blood, guts, gore, and death."
Laws posits that horror and true crime are healthy precisely because they offer a way to process the real terror of existence. "We watch frightening things because often we are frightened people," he notes. By watching a horror film, we are in a safe, controlled environment where we can organise the chaos of our fears into manageable patterns.
The Ethical Line: Art vs. Reality
Does Laws, then, draw an ethical line on what is acceptable? Absolutely, but the distinction is vital:
"I do draw a very hard line where anything exploits another person and causes actual real life violence... you can do in some ways, whatever you like within an artistic context, as long as, you know, it's not hurting anyone."
He rejects the common criticism that enjoying games like Call of Duty leads to real violence. Laws believes we intuitively understand the difference between artistic make-believe and real harm. Citing the gut reaction one has to a small fight kicking off in a pub compared to a gory movie scene, he states: "We know in our hearts that these are two different things."
Furthermore, he cautions against the modern danger of distance. When people film real violence on their phones, the medium itself can create a separation that diminishes our capacity for empathy: "The distance begins... and therefore, that can be a little bit dangerous because then we can cease to care as much about the violence that we're seeing."
Reconciling Faith: God, Humour, and the Bible
Laws's theological stance is one of radical openness. He describes himself as a "creative person" in theology who is too "open minded" to be a fundamentalist. This perspective allows him to reconcile his faith with his morbid interests.
The Bible is Horrific: Laws notes that the Bible itself is a "horrific text at times" containing grotesque imagery (particularly in Revelation). He concludes that if God exists, "He acknowledges there's darkness in the world."
Nuance Over Judgement: Laws doesn't believe God is "bothered" by an artistic piece like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If an omniscient God can create the universe, Laws argues, he certainly understands the nuance of art. Laws's faith is rooted in the New Testament's call to love, not in the Old Testament's more "tribalistic misunderstandings."
The Role of Humour: Laws argues that humour is a crucial coping mechanism. Like horror, it allows us to confront and control grim subjects. Laws finds it cruel when institutions deny people this tool: "It's literally like taking away a coping mechanism and telling them, 'oh yeah, fend for yourself without this tool.' And that's cruel, I think."
The Reality of the Paranormal
Laws has moved from being skeptical to a firm believer in the paranormal, driven by his work interviewing hundreds of witnesses on Into the Fog.
"The older I get, the more I think it's real... Sometimes there's people you contact you and say, 'I don't even want you to tell anyone about this. I'm just so traumatised by what happened. I'm trying to understand it.'"
He reserves high praise for cases involving multiple witnesses, such as the compelling Sauchie Poltergeist case from Scotland, where the strange phenomena (including a desk levitating) were seen by teachers and police.
From a theological standpoint, Laws is open to the idea that ghosts challenge the traditional Christian view of the afterlife. He notes the Bible features people who have died but reappear (Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration). He offers a profound alternative theory:
"What happens if we when we see a ghost, we are somehow getting like just a tiny moment of God's eternal mind that we're seeing?"
This ties back to the C.S. Lewis concept of hyper-reality: what we perceive as a wispy ghost might actually be a figure from a dimension so much more real than ours that our reality appears translucent to them.
From Pulpit to Podcast
Laws’s journey from training as a minister to becoming a full-time content creator was planned, not a crisis. He realised his passion lay in creativity and storytelling.
He is not an exorcist or investigator, but a journalist who collects and honours stories.
"I don't want to give people the wrong impression that I'm like a full on like, like exorcist... I'm literally just a like a Peter Haining style of like journalist just collecting, researching, interviewing, and then presenting the stories to make sure they're like honored and valued."
His work is driven by the desire to explore the human condition—whether through a crime novel, a horror review, or the unique blend of humour and community found in his podcast, Creepy Cove Community Church.
Peter Laws is the author of The Frighteners and the host of the popular YouTube channel, Into the Fog. His work and books can be found at http://www.peterlaws.co.uk.