It's worth reading Schermer's The Believing Brain for some explanation of why most people end up stuck in magical thinking. As for gods, goblins, ghouls, and ghosts what's really sad is how unimaginative they all are, just squalid narrow little fantasies that are at bottom merely tedious and banal. One would think that, given the time it takes to get any new mythology to take hold, people would come up with less incoherent and simple-minded fairytales. But, alas, the limitations of human thought are demonstrated beyond doubt by the dull little myths so many cling to.