Before the 20th century "Who needed alien abduction, rectal probes and sperm theft when witches directed your love affairs and fairies stole male babies to fortify fading fairy virility; when the dead could rise from the grave as vampires and siphon off a nightly supply of blood? Who needed the invaders from outer space in the television series V, when monstrous reptiles routinely stalked the night?" Indeed.

From "Come out, come out, wherever you are" by Tim Radford at Guardian Unlimited.