I found Natasha Pulley's article 'How to Write Weird' particularly useful having finished a 1st draft which has just this type of scene in later chapters. It's based on the WWI 'Angel of Mons' legend but set a century earlier when superstition was more widely believed as fact.
Getting this right for a modern audience was hard going and I'm not sure I'm quite there yet.
Any else been stuck with a similar problem, and how did you overcome it?
Thanks, Victoria. I have a character who provides a scientifically valid explanation based on reports and theories which were available in the early 19thC, so that's ok.
But that's after the event. The tough part is convincing the reader to believe what participants are convinced they see while it's happening.
I guess I'll have to wait on the Beta readers for judgement on that. :)
Because a modern audience are going to react very differently to the characters. I have a similar problem, albeit in a different time frame. I think you have to have at least one character who will think along the same lines as a modern audience, even if that's unusual for the time. Some of my characters allow unthinkable things to happen, but my MC explains it and slowly deals with it. All you have to remember is that the reader is going to need to agree with someone on this journey you are taking them on, even if it isn't the MC.