In all fairness, there are some great books and films built around this one. Witness, for instance (though the kid in that one isn't nosey, he just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the film isn't particularly about his trauma, per se).

It's also a trope in the kinds of gothic mystery thriller-horror novels to which I am partial (and which I also write). But at the same time, I think tropes can be done well or badly, and I don't believe in being snooty about genre fiction. :)