A Haunted Nebula

Some sf reads like historical or heroic fantasy even when its setting is high tech interstellar. Thus, in Poul Anderson's "Tiger by the Tail," Dominic Flandry sword-fights with a horned humanoid alien on the planet Scotha and, in the sequel, "Honorable Enemies," Flandry is a guest, in a castle on Alfzar, of small, blue humanoids and again winds up in a sword fight with a tall, golden humanoid. By contrast, in "The Game of Glory" and "Hunters of the Sky Cave," Flandry visits human extra-solar colonies that seem at least modern rather than medieval.

In "Sargasso of Lost Starships," there are Earls and slaves on the human colony planet of Ansa where there is also a superstition that an entire nebula is haunted. Natives of planets on the fringes of the nebula sacrifice food and luxuries which are reportedly taken by the gods. Inside spaceships penetrating the nebula, there are apparitions, sounds and problems with equipment. Donovan hypothesizes a peculiar nebular radiation affecting electrons, atoms and human nervous systems.

In a sense, the universe is haunted because it has brought forth the human imagination. We can be scared by our own shadows - or sense an awesome presence... In a novel by James Blish, monotheists on another planet refer to the Great Ghost.