How do non-believers deal with superntural songs?

It's a different aspect of the supernatural, one that is generated simply by our instinctive capacity to FEAR such things regardless of whatever logical choices we might make with regard to belief otherwise. I think it's possible to believe in ghosts without believing in God. The experience of ghosts is quite corporeal, unlike the experience of God. Most everyone I know (myself included) has had an experience of the supernatural, and been suitably flegged by it, but who has direct experience of God?

One might argue that in such ballads as Child #32 (a personal favourite) we are dealing with an almost parodic grand-guignol scenario rounded off by a neat little erotic twist, which in real life might be quite the reverse. The well-travelled mythic morphology of King Orfeo is enchanting on any level, as with The Wife of Usher's Well (for my new fiddle version see HERE). The supernatural element notwithstanding both of these are very soapy in terms of their narrative tensions - I think people complain about the unrelenting bleakness of East Enders in the same way they complain about the unrelenting bleakness of ballad narratives which are real enough in terms of human experience even if they do involve the supernatural. As is emerging in this thread, I'd agree that a capacity to be moved emotionally by ballads is pretty crucial to the singing of them.