tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/ghosts-10590/articlesGhosts – The Conversation2024-02-27T19:52:03Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2185552024-02-27T19:52:03Z2024-02-27T19:52:03ZThe ghosts of the past: Pop music is haunted by our anxieties about the future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578067/original/file-20240226-28-10l8gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3888%2C2572&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wax figures of the Beatles in Madame Tussauds Berlin represent the pop stars in their youth — the two surviving members, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, are in their 80s.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2011, pop music scholar Simon Reynolds was already observing pop culture’s fascination with its own past, noting that “we live in a pop age <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-retro-rock-20110710-story.html">gone loco for retro and crazy for commemoration</a>.”</p>
<p>For Reynolds, this obsession with the past has the potential to bring about the end of pop music culture: “Could it be,” he asks, “that the greatest danger to the future of our music culture is … its past?” </p>
<p>The situation has not improved in the years since Reynolds voiced his concerns. Our fixation on the popular music of previous decades threatens our future by stifling originality.</p>
<p>Thanks to recording technology, and now to more recent developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning, we find ourselves more and more in a spectral present, thoroughly haunted by the ghosts of pop music’s past.</p>
<h2>Ghostly presence</h2>
<p>This type of hauntedness can provoke anxiety. Hauntology, a theoretical concept originating in the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida, was later <a href="https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/our-books/ghosts-my-life">applied to musicology by critic Mark Fisher</a>. Hauntology is concerned with memory, nostalgia and the nature of being. The present is never simply “present,” and the remnants of our cultural past always linger or return.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-haunted-by-ghosts-of-the-past-and-phantoms-of-your-future-welcome-to-the-spooky-realm-of-hauntology-191843">Are you haunted by ghosts of the past and phantoms of your future? Welcome to the spooky realm of hauntology</a>
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<p>A ghost, in literature, folklore and popular culture, is a presence from the past of something or someone that no longer remains. Is a ghost, then, from the past or of the present? As hauntology would insist, a ghost is paradoxically both at the same time.</p>
<p>In November 2023, pop phenomenon the Beatles released a “new” song titled “<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/beatles-new-song-now-and-then-1234868643/">Now and Then</a>.” It received a rapturous reception from fans and critics alike, and was soon topping the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom, becoming the fastest-selling single of 2023.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Opxhh9Oh3rg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Beatles’ 2023 track “Now and Then.”</span></figcaption>
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<p>The song features a lead vocal track by the late John Lennon, salvaged from a demo recording he made at home in the late 1970s, just a few years before his murder in 1980. It also includes archival guitar tracks from the late George Harrison.</p>
<p>The two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, contributed new bass, drum, vocal and guitar parts (McCartney even played a slide guitar solo mimicking Harrison’s sound and style), and producer Giles Martin (son of legendary Beatles’ producer George Martin) provided a string arrangement and a tapestry of background vocals lifted from other iconic Beatles songs.</p>
<p>“Now and Then” was also celebrated for the technological sophistication of its production, and specifically for its use of <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/2/23943290/now-and-then-the-beatles-new-song-ai">artificial intelligence</a>. Using software that could tell the difference between a human voice and other sounds on a recording, Lennon’s voice was isolated and reanimated, allowing McCartney and Starr to perform alongside their long-deceased bandmate. </p>
<h2>Final masterpiece</h2>
<p>“Now and Then,” in addition to being a “new” Beatles tune, is likely also the group’s last: there are no more old recordings to resurrect, and McCartney and Starr are both octogenarians. </p>
<p>Indeed, according to music critics like <em>The Guardian</em>’s Alexis Petridis, “Now and Then” is an emotionally satisfying “act of closure.” It stands on its own as a genuine addition to the Beatles’ catalogue, wrapping up the band’s career and “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/02/the-beatles-now-and-then-review">never stoops to deploying obviously Beatles-y signifiers</a>.”</p>
<p>Music journalist Jem Aswad, writing in <em>Variety</em>, characterizes “Now and Then” as a “<a href="https://variety.com/2023/music/reviews/the-beatles-new-song-now-and-then-review-1235777477/">bittersweet finale</a>.” While Aswad is mildly critical of the song as an “incomplete sketch,” he insists at the same time that any further criticism is just unwarranted sour grapes, concluding that it is “an unexpected pleasure that marks the completion of the group’s last bit of unfinished business.”</p>
<h2>Haunted, ghostly</h2>
<p>Some critics, however, echoing Reynolds’s concerns, found “Now and Then” decidedly less praiseworthy. Josiah Gogarty’s brutal review, published in <em>UnHerd</em>, argues that the song serves as “a sign of our <a href="https://unherd.com/newsroom/the-beatles-now-and-then-is-a-sign-of-our-cultural-doom-loop/">cultural doom loop</a>,” and likened it to a “séance, calling forth the warbling and the jangling of the dead.”</p>
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<p>The recording includes McCartney’s count-in at the beginning and some studio chatter from Starr at the end, as if to reassure listeners that the song is a product of living musicians. </p>
<p>At the same time, the song is eerily placeless or ahistorical, caught somewhere between past and present: a haunted, ghostly thing, evidence of a pop culture that has long ceased to evolve. </p>
<h2>Limiting the future</h2>
<p>The problem is the way songs like “Now and Then” are imbued with nostalgia: they threaten the future and limit the possibility of the emergence of new ideas.</p>
<p>Fisher feared the effect of this sort of nostalgia giving rise to “<a href="https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/our-books/ghosts-my-life">a cancelled future</a>.” We can readily imagine such a future, because we already inhabit it: a future of never-ending tours by impossibly decrepit rock bands, countless re-boots of old movies and television shows, the fetishization of all that is vintage. </p>
<p>Even the most stunningly progressive technological developments — such as the AI that made “Now and Then” possible — turns out to serve a regressive purpose, namely to resurrect the Beatles. </p>
<p>A generous take on “Now and Then” would be to view its arrangement and production as capturing and amplifying the meaning of the song lyrics: “Now and then I miss you … I want you to return to me.” These lyrics suggest the presence and absence theorized by hauntology, which is cleverly reflected in the song’s haunted soundscape. </p>
<p>Less generously, “Now and Then,” rather than an act of closure, simply continues an ongoing trend of looking backwards in pop music. It indicates that our insecurities about our future ensure we will remain forever entangled with its ghosts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218555/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Carpenter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Artificial intelligence helped produce the Beatles’ 2023 hit “Now and Then.” But despite the sophisticated technology, the song reveals our obsession with the past and our anxieties about the future.Alexander Carpenter, Professor, Musicology, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2162742023-10-30T01:30:47Z2023-10-30T01:30:47ZNecromancers, demons and friendly ghosts: humans have been fascinated with the afterlife since ancient Mesopotamia<p>As Halloween approaches, we start to think about ghosts, monsters, and demons. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556051/original/file-20231026-15-tzkp0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556051/original/file-20231026-15-tzkp0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556051/original/file-20231026-15-tzkp0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556051/original/file-20231026-15-tzkp0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556051/original/file-20231026-15-tzkp0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556051/original/file-20231026-15-tzkp0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556051/original/file-20231026-15-tzkp0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556051/original/file-20231026-15-tzkp0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Grave goods from Ur, Mesopotamia 6000-1500 BC Gallery, British Museum.</span>
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<p>But a fascination with the afterlife and other worlds is not new: <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/10/24/358555307/the-creepiest-ghost-and-monster-stories-from-around-the-world">ghost stories from all over the world</a> prove it’s been part of the human experience from prehistoric times.</p>
<p>Even before <a href="https://www.bl.uk/history-of-writing/articles/where-did-writing-begin">the invention of writing</a> over 5,000 years ago, humans were being buried alongside goods that could be useful in their afterlife, such as drinking vessels or weapons. </p>
<p>Though there is some debate about the meaning of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2023/08/29/neanderthal-burial-with-flowers-likely-the-result-of-animal-activity-new-study-finds/?sh=266890ff2c18">prehistoric grave goods</a>, Mesopotamian ghost expert <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/death-and-memory/mesopotamian-ghostbusting-irving-finkel">Irving Finkel</a> persuasively argues they reflect a belief something of the dead person would persevere into an afterlife. There, the grave goods could be put to use.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/caveman-instincts-may-explain-our-belief-in-gods-and-ghosts-26945">Caveman instincts may explain our belief in gods and ghosts </a>
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<h2>Mesopotamian demons in popular culture</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/mesopotamia">Mesopotamia</a>, an historical area located roughly in the region of modern-day Iraq, was home to some of the world’s great empires. </p>
<p>Ancient Mesopotamian ghosts and demons are perhaps best known today from their presence in horror films. In <a href="https://screenrant.com/ghostbusters-movie-influence-speech-cultural-change-busters/">Ghostbusters</a> (1984), Sigourney Weaver’s Dana is possessed by Zuul, a minion of the fictional god Gozer, who was worshipped as a demigod by the Sumerians in the film’s backstory. </p>
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<span class="caption">The head of Pazuzu, the ancient demon represented in The Exorcist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327485">The Met</a></span>
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<p>In the novel and film, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20231005-the-exorcist-and-why-demonic-possession-taps-into-our-darkest-fears">The Exorcist</a> (1973), 12-year-old Regan is possessed by Pazuzu, a fictional demon based on Assyrian and Babylonian mythology. </p>
<p>The mythic Pazuzu <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/assyria-to-iberia/blog/posts/pazuzu">appears in visual sources</a> from around the 8th century BCE and was considered king of the wind demons. </p>
<p>In contrast to the plot of The Exorcist, Pazuzu’s terrifying visage <a href="https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004368088/BP000014.xml">was used in white magic to protect children</a> from the lion-headed demonness Lamashtu.</p>
<p>And in <a href="https://www.cbr.com/why-the-evil-dead-banned/">Evil Dead</a> (1981), the evil comes from an ancient Sumerian book, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, bound in human flesh and inked in blood, which can release evil into the world when certain passages are read aloud. (The book is actually the fictional invention of writer H.P. Lovecraft.)</p>
<p>The influence of supernatural beings in these works is largely malevolent. But the connection between the living and the dead in ancient Mesopotamia was complex – and sometimes, it was mutually beneficial.</p>
<p>Ghosts were an accepted part of life in ancient Mesopotamia. Death was thought to gradually weaken the connections that bound the deceased person to the land of the living, rather than bring an abrupt, complete exit.</p>
<p>In some areas, this concept has endured. Modern-day science fiction writer <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220301-philip-k-dick-the-writer-who-witnessed-the-future">Philip K. Dick</a>, best known for his novel <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36402034-do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep">Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?</a> (filmed as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/">Bladerunner</a>) presents death in similarly incomplete terms in writings such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dead_Men_Say">What the Dead Men Say</a> (1964) and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22590.Ubik">Ubik</a> (1969). In these stories, the recently deceased maintain some capacity to interact with the living shortly after death. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-exorcist-believer-is-a-retcon-film-it-imagines-none-of-the-sequels-exist-this-sequel-shouldnt-exist-either-210463">The Exorcist: Believer is a ‘retcon’ film - it imagines none of the sequels exist. This sequel shouldn’t exist, either</a>
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<h2>The first ghost</h2>
<p>In Mesopotamian myth, humanity was created – along with the first ghost – through the death of a rebellious god. </p>
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<span class="caption">This fragment tells the Babylonian flood story, Epic of Atrahasis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>The origin of ghosts is explained in the Mesopotamian myth of <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/article/227/the-atrahasis-epic-the-great-flood--the-meaning-of/">Atrahasis</a>, a Babylonian flood narrative often <a href="https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/gilgamesh.htm">paralleled with the story of Noah’s ark</a>. </p>
<p>In this myth, humans are created by senior gods, to perform the menial work of the lesser gods, who have gone on strike. The leader of the rebellion is killed, and his body and blood are mixed with clay to create humans. The spirit of the dead god is also mixed into the new creation, meaning his rebellious etemmu (“spirit”) becomes part of humanity. </p>
<p>The combination of god and earth gives the humans a mortal body and an immortal soul. As long as each human lives, the ghost of the dead god within them is signalled through the steady “drumbeat” of the pulse. </p>
<h2>Friendly ghosts?</h2>
<p>Written sources reflect many types of Mesopotamian ghosts, and many different ways to manage them. The nature of a ghost, either friendly or malevolent, could be influenced by several factors. </p>
<p>Dying in tragic circumstances could create an unhappy ghost, while some ghosts were just innately difficult to get along with – as can sometimes be the case with the living. <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/magic/hd_magic.htm">Magic spells</a> were used to free a person of a ghost’s presence, and rituals were used to send the ghost safely on its way to the afterlife. </p>
<p>While ghosts, like demons, were viewed as capable of causing harm to the living, they could also be helpful. Family ghosts could protect their relatives from evil and intercede on their behalf with the gods. Families had responsibilities to care for their deceased loved ones by providing them with appropriate grave goods and funerary rituals.</p>
<p>The ability of dead ancestors to help the living with their problems is also reflected in ancient Egyptian sources. <a href="https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/funerary-beliefs-of-the-ancient-egyptians/">The Egyptian dead</a> were thought capable of helping the living with everything from earthly problems, such as illness, to supernatural issues, such as a safe transition to the afterlife. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556054/original/file-20231026-17-lfr63b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556054/original/file-20231026-17-lfr63b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556054/original/file-20231026-17-lfr63b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556054/original/file-20231026-17-lfr63b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556054/original/file-20231026-17-lfr63b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556054/original/file-20231026-17-lfr63b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556054/original/file-20231026-17-lfr63b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556054/original/file-20231026-17-lfr63b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Egyption dead were thought capable of helping the living with everything from earthly problems to supernatural issues. (Image: The Egyptian Book of the Dead.)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Book_of_the_dead_egypt.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<h2>Returning from the dead</h2>
<p>Once they were in the afterlife, the dead would <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-journeys-to-the-underworld-greek-myth-film-and-american-anxiety-82919">journey to the underworld</a> – but this was not necessarily a one-way trip. Behaviours in the upper world, such as mourning rites, had significant consequences for those below. Ghosts and demons were thought capable of periodically rising – and haunting or otherwise interfering with living mortals. </p>
<p>The most famous return from the underworld in Mesopotamian literature occurs in the myth, Ishtar’s Descent to the Underworld. In this myth, the powerful Mesopotamian <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-legend-of-ishtar-first-goddess-of-love-and-war-78468">goddess of love and war, Ishtar</a>, journeys to the underworld and attempts to overthrow its ruler, <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Ereshkigal/">Ereshkigal</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556036/original/file-20231026-21-7kl3gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556036/original/file-20231026-21-7kl3gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556036/original/file-20231026-21-7kl3gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556036/original/file-20231026-21-7kl3gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556036/original/file-20231026-21-7kl3gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556036/original/file-20231026-21-7kl3gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1195&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556036/original/file-20231026-21-7kl3gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1195&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556036/original/file-20231026-21-7kl3gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1195&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ishtar on a vase held at Louvre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ishtar_inanna_BaU_vase_Louvre_AO17000-detail.jpg">Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ishtar is killed by Ereshkigal, but revived through the help of the god of wisdom. She returns to the upper world, and sends her husband, Tammuz, down to the underworld in her place. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/61324123/Zgoll_A_2020_Condensation_of_Myths_A_hermeneutic_key_to_a_myth_about_Innana_and_the_Instruments_of_Power_me_incorporated_in_the_epic_angalta_in_W_Sommerfeld_Hg_Dealing_with_Antiquity_Past_Present_and_Future_AOAT_460_M%C3%BCnster_427_447">Myth scholar Annette Zgoll has argued</a> that the story shows Ishtar bringing the powers of the underworld back with her, making a return from the afterlife possible.</p>
<p>Ishtar is not the only figure from Mesopotamian myth who is connected to the journey between our world and the underworld. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-73444">world’s first epic hero, Gilgamesh</a>, becomes a funerary god after his death. </p>
<p>As a judge of the underworld, Gilgamesh played a critical role in maintaining positive relationships between the living and the dead. </p>
<p>In ritual poetry directed towards family ghosts, Gilgamesh is asked to intervene between a living person and their deceased ancestor. Gilgamesh’s authority over the dead meant his permission allowed deceased ancestors to receive offerings made to them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-73444">Guide to the classics: the Epic of Gilgamesh</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Who ya gonna call?</h2>
<p>The activities of ghosts in Mesopotamia could also be influenced by human religious specialists. Necromancers could summon ghosts and speak to them – as in Evil Dead’s Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. </p>
<p>Professional necromancers could perform a range of ghost-related functions, such as answering questions from the living, assisting with purification, or performing black magic. </p>
<p>The close bonds between loved ones in ancient Mesopotamia continued after death. Maintaining these ties was thought to enable mutually beneficial relationships between the living and the dead. But neglected spirits were thought to haunt the living and create mischief. </p>
<p>Indeed, there was an element of danger to neglecting the dead: ghosts could possibly turn into <a href="https://www.getty.edu/news/meet-the-mesopotamian-demons/">demons</a>, which might return to terrify the living if they were disturbed or improperly buried. </p>
<p>At Halloween, it’s natural to be afraid of apparitions and otherworldly creatures. But exploring their origins in the ancient world may make them seem less haunting – and perhaps, more human.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Pryke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some of popular culture’s most famous ghosts and demons have roots in ancient Mesopotamia. What did ancient humans believe about the supernatural? And what stories did they tell?Louise Pryke, Honorary Research Associate, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2101792023-10-26T21:10:13Z2023-10-26T21:10:13Z‘The Undead Archive’ exhibit: Contemporary artists respond to 1920s photos of mediums manifesting spirits<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-undead-archive-exhibit-contemporary-artists-respond-to-1920s-photos-of-mediums-manifesting-spirits" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In July 1923, the British author <a href="http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/25/doyleinwinnipeg.shtml">Arthur Conan Doyle arrived in Winnipeg to give a public lecture, “The Proofs of Immortality</a>,” as part of a 40-city North American tour that attracted sizable audiences. </p>
<p>Doyle, widely known today as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arthur-Conan-Doyle">writer who created Sherlock Holmes</a>, was also <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/spiritualism-religion">a spiritualist</a> — part of circles of people who adhered to and investigated the religious belief that souls of the dead can interact with living people. </p>
<p>On Doyle’s first night in Winnipeg, <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/8405/#">he and his wife Jean Leckie Doyle were invited to sit in on</a> an investigative seance led <a href="https://survivalresearch.ca/t-glen-hamilton">by physician Thomas Glendenning Hamilton</a> and his wife and collaborator Lillian Hamilton, a trained nurse. </p>
<p>In Dr. Hamilton’s darkened seance chamber, as Doyle would later write, he <a href="https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Our_Second_American_Adventure">experienced a luminous table fly into the air</a>. </p>
<p>Hamilton’s legacy includes an uncanny trove of pseudo-scientific photographs related to his investigations of paranormal materializations. No longer accepted as scientific, they are better analyzed as art.</p>
<p>A new scholarly <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/the-art-of-ectoplasm">collection of essays</a> and an art exhibit, <a href="https://umanitoba.ca/art/undead-archive"><em>The Undead Archive: 100 Years of Photographing Ghosts</em></a>, at the University of Winnipeg use an art historical lens to contextualize these uncanny photographs as visual culture.</p>
<h2>The ‘psychic force’</h2>
<p>Doyle recounted how the table clattered again and again entirely on its own, with no sitter touching it. One moment, it was quiet. Then: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Our_Second_American_Adventure">A moment later it was like a restless dog in a kennel, springing, tossing, beating up against the supports and finally bounding out with a velocity which caused me to get quickly out of the way</a>.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Hamiltons and the Doyles agreed the table was moved by <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10719/1412050">an invisible force, the psychic force</a>, and that it was a message from a discarnate (disembodied) personality who survived death. </p>
<p>Psychic force, as some scientists believed, would extrude from the body of the medium and manifest as a organic plasm <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ectoplasm-occultism">known as ectoplasm</a>, through which spirits could communicate. </p>
<p>Doyle kept abreast of the Hamiltons’ research. According to the Hamiltons and Jean Leckie Doyle, he even manifested as a “transcendental personality,” two years after he died, <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10719/1411171">materializing in the fluffy ectoplasm in a photograph Hamilton took in 1932</a>.</p>
<h2>Expression of bereavement</h2>
<p>It was not uncommon after the losses of the First World War and the 1919 influenza pandemic for North Americans to participate in seances and dabble in spiritualism as an expression of bereavement, as <a href="https://centreforsensorystudies.org/felicity-t-c-hamer/">historians Felicity Hamer</a> <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/the-art-of-ectoplasm">and Esyllt Jones have outlined</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/spirit-photography-captured-love-loss-and-longing-169239">Spirit photography captured love, loss and longing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Interestingly, Hamilton rejected the popular religion of spiritualism, critiquing it as a cult. He presented his investigations as scientific, and stressed his mastery of photographic technology.</p>
<p>From 1923 to 1935, with an elaborate set of cameras and lenses, Hamilton set out to capture the “psychic force” on glass plates in his laboratory.</p>
<p>He published hundreds of photographs of tables turning and ectoplasmic extrusions of cellular plasm from the body of the female mediums.</p>
<p>It was tricky to photograph the light-sensitive ectoplasm, and Hamilton’s cropped shots of the mediums surrounded by organically shaped material increased <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10719/1410987">his status as a researcher</a>. </p>
<h2>Inspired ‘Ghostbusters’</h2>
<p>Hamilton’s images were exhibited and widely distributed. They were also <a href="https://courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/science-in-the-seance-room-stereographs-medical-men-and-the-testing-of-margery-crandons-extraordinary-body-c-1925">praised by researchers, including two researchers who got into a famous public</a> argument <a href="https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/396129/houdini-presents-his-own-original-invention">with the magician Houdini</a> after claiming to debunk his magic, and Samuel Aykroyd, actor Dan Aykroyd’s great-grandfather. The younger Aykroyd’s <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/television/article-dan-aykroyd-on-his-family-history-in-the-occult-and-why-he-wanted-to/">1984 blockbuster <em>Ghostbusters</em> brought ectoplasm into popular culture</a>.</p>
<p>Between the world wars, some scientists were open to the notion of
invisible forces (also known as the psychic force, or the vital force) and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137027252_6">they relied on outdated scientific theories, including “the etheric universe” and “vitalism” to support their research</a>. </p>
<p>Hamilton’s images had a second wave of international recognition after they were digitized in 2001 at the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections and were discovered online by artists intrigued by the grotesque aesthetics of the bodily excretions. </p>
<h2>‘Undead Archive’ exhibit</h2>
<p>Hamilton was aware of the abject nature of his photos and described them as “monstrously extraordinary.” </p>
<p>But he also saw <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003045595-7/visualizations-vital-psychic-force-serena-keshavjee">ectoplasm as a vital moulding material able to create endless forms and shapes</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://umanitoba.ca/art/undead-archive">exhibit, <em>The Undead Archive: 100 Years of Photographing Ghosts</em></a>, at the University of Winnipeg’s Gallery 1C03, and the University of Manitoba’s School of Art and Archives and Special Collections, similarly focuses on artistic interpretations of this mysterious substance.</p>
<p>The exhibition, which I curated, features 25 contemporary artists responding to ectoplasm and the Hamilton photographs. Works include stop-motion videos of ectoplasm morphing into recognizable shapes, one by <a href="https://www.shannontaggart.com/">Shannon Taggart</a> and one by <a href="https://www.graceanagle.co.uk">Grace Williams</a>. Williams animated an old photo of ectoplasm being expelled, while Taggart stitched together still shots of a contemporary medium (Kai Muegge) extruding ectoplasm in 2018. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/407233870" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Spiritual Ectoplasm’ (2011) by Grace Williams.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hamilton was never able to film ectoplasm because of the low light conditions of the seance chamber, and so these videos give us the opportunity to sense the theatrics and the intrigue of the early 20th-century seance.</p>
<h2>Unseen, suppressed spiritual work</h2>
<p>Some artists put themselves in the role of the mediums, mimicking the body language of the trance state. <a href="https://www.erikadefreitas.com/">Erika DeFreitas</a> uses crocheted doilies instead of ectoplasm, calling attention to unseen labour mediums carried out to support psychical researchers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.kcadams.net/">KC Adams, an Anishinaabe, Ininew and British artist living in Manitoba</a> researched and created a virtual reality artwork for the exhibition that <a href="https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/iid/aid/identifiers.pdf">examines Ininew</a> burial rituals supressed <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/en-ca/resource-library/banning-indigenous-culture#">suppressed under the Indian Act</a>.</p>
<h2>Pandemics and forgetting</h2>
<p>In <em>The Art of Ectoplasm</em>, Jones writes that it was only in March 2020, with COVID-19, that our society thought about <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/influenza-pandemic-of-1918-1919">the 1918-19 influenza pandemic</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-scream-has-gone-viral-again-136661">Why ‘The Scream’ has gone viral again</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In <em>Contagion</em>, Teresa Burrows creates a shrine-like installation of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/corporate/organizational-structure/canada-chief-public-health-officer.html">Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer</a> using a uses a rapid antigen test to frame this. </p>
<p>In Burrows’ image, Tam looks upwards, as if in a trance, and is surrounded by green beads imitating the COVID-19 virus. In the early days of the pandemic, Dr. Tam was constantly on national TV and social media, like a diviner laying out warnings. </p>
<h2>Winnipeg as ‘psychic centre’</h2>
<p>One hundred years ago, as Winnipeggers were coming out of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, Doyle offered what seemed to be evidence of life continuing after death. </p>
<p>After siting with the Hamiltons in their seance laboratory, in a July 5 1923 letter to Lillian Hamilton, Doyle described Winnipeg as a “psychic centre,” in many ways divining Winnipeg’s loss of status as “<a href="https://manitobamuseum.ca/archives/15742">Chicago of the North</a>,” offering an alternative moniker. </p>
<p>The idea of Winnipeg as a supernatural place has been taken up by artists and authors, exemplified by filmmaker <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU1sjdTPdvM">Guy Maddin’s <em>My Winnipeg</em></a>, as well as the exhibition art, much of it created during COVID-19 lockdowns. </p>
<p>As we emerge from our pandemic, it is interesting to think back on Hamilton’s post-pandemic experimental seances and wonder: What form might our grieving take?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Serena Keshavjee receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p>An art exhibit, ‘The Undead Archive: 100 Years of Photographing Ghosts,’ sees contemporary artists contextualize uncanny photographs taken between the World Wars in Winnipeg.Serena Keshavjee, Professor, History, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2100482023-10-24T13:26:36Z2023-10-24T13:26:36ZAre ghosts real? A social psychologist examines the evidence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543535/original/file-20230818-4259-hhjv4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C16%2C5540%2C3676&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Remember the old saying: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/looking-up-at-a-spooky-blurred-ghostly-figure-royalty-free-image/1266059277?phrase=Ghosts&adppopup=true">David Wall/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Is it possible for there to be ghosts? – Madelyn, age 11, Fort Lupton, Colorado</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>Certainly, lots of people believe in ghosts – a spirit left behind after someone who was alive has died.</p>
<p>In a 2021 <a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/entertainment/articles-reports/2021/10/21/americans-say-ghosts-exist-seen-a-ghost">poll of 1,000 American adults</a>, 41% said they believe in ghosts, and 20% said they had personally experienced them. If they’re right, that’s more than 50 million spirit encounters in the U.S. alone.</p>
<p>That includes the owner of a retail shop near my home who believes his place is haunted. When I asked what most convinced him of this, he sent me dozens of eerie security camera video clips. He also brought in ghost hunters who reinforced his suspicions. </p>
<p>Some of the videos show small orbs of light gliding around the room. In others, you can hear faint voices and loud bumping sounds when nobody’s there. Others show a <a href="https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxUDWmE2OLTCMcgoRoApiRZs9at_eJQZjj">book flying off a desk</a> and products jumping off a shelf. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MyQT78Bjt04?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Many ghostly encounters are due to the way your brain interprets certain sights and sounds.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s not uncommon for me to hear stories like this. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZEQu09wAAAAJ&hl=en">As a sociologist</a>, some of my work looks at beliefs in things like <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/news/scared-of-ghosts-thats-because-you-want-to-be-sc-researchers-say/article_b87cf418-f735-11e9-bdb4-1bab7238a47f.html">ghosts</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-people-tend-to-believe-ufos-are-extraterrestrial-208403">aliens</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1525/sop.2001.44.1.21">pyramid power</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-13-considered-unlucky-explaining-the-power-of-its-bad-reputation-191477">superstitions</a>. </p>
<p>Along with others who practice scientific skepticism, I keep an open mind while maintaining that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Tell me you had a burger for lunch, and I’ll take your word for it. Tell me you shared your fries with Abraham Lincoln’s ghost, and I’ll want more evidence.</p>
<p>In the “spirit” of critical thinking, consider the following three questions:</p>
<h2>Are ghosts possible?</h2>
<p>People may think they’re experiencing ghosts when they hear strange voices, see moving objects, witness balls or wisps of light or even translucent people. </p>
<p>Yet no one describes ghosts as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ghost-spirit">aging, eating, breathing</a> or using bathrooms – despite plumbers receiving many calls about toilets “<a href="https://www.theplumberguy.com/blog/what-to-do-when-your-toilet-ghost-flushes/">ghost-flushing</a>.” </p>
<p>So could ghosts be made of a <a href="https://www.livescience.com/16951-einstein-physics-ghosts-proof.html">special kind of energy</a> that hovers and flies without dissipating? </p>
<p>If that’s the case, that means when ghosts glow, move objects and make sounds, they are acting like matter – something that takes up space and has mass, like wood, water, plants and people. Conversely, when passing through walls or vanishing, they must not act like matter. </p>
<p>But centuries of <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/what-is-energy/forms-of-energy.php">physics research</a> have found nothing like this exists, which is why physicists say <a href="https://futurism.com/brian-cox-if-ghosts-existed-wed-have-found-evidence-for-them-by-now">ghosts can’t exist</a>. </p>
<p>And so far, there is no proof that any part of a person can continue on after death. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v-WPEeZW8i0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The real truth is out there, says this ghost skeptic.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s the evidence?</h2>
<p>Never before in history have people recorded so many ghost encounters, thanks in part to mobile phone cameras and microphones. It seems there would be great evidence by now. <a href="https://benjaminradford.com/investigating-ghosts-2/">But scientists don’t have it</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, there are lots of ambiguous recordings sabotaged by bad lighting and faulty equipment. But popular <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1306826/ranking-ghost-hunting-shows-from-ghoulish-to-down-right-silly">television shows on ghost hunting</a> convince many viewers that blurry images and emotional reactions are proof enough. </p>
<p>As for <a href="https://www.ghoststop.com/tough-ghost-hunting-kit/">all the devices</a> ghost hunters use to capture sounds, electrical fields and infrared radiation – they may look scientific, but <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/reality-check-ghost-hunters-and-lsquoghost-detectorsrsquo/">they’re not</a>. Measurements are worthless without some knowledge of the thing you’re measuring.</p>
<p>When ghost hunters descend on an allegedly haunted location for a night of meandering and measurement, they usually find something they later deem paranormal. It may be a moving door (breeze?), a chill (gap in the floorboards?), a glow (light entering from outside?), electrical fluctuations (old wiring?), or bumps and faint voices (crew in other rooms?). </p>
<p>Whatever happens, ghost hunters will draw a bull’s-eye around it, interpret that as “evidence” <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ghost-hunters-who-use-science-reveal-what-other-paranormal-investigators-get-wrong-1642693">and investigate no further</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XqH8t-N1aTo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">There’s a scientific explanation for spooky sightings.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Are there alternative explanations?</h2>
<p>Personal experiences with ghosts can be misleading due to the limitations of human senses. That’s why anecdotes can’t substitute for objective research. Alleged hauntings usually have plenty of non-ghostly explanations.</p>
<p>One example is that retail establishment in my neighborhood. I reviewed the security camera clips and gathered information about the store’s location and layout, and the exact equipment used in the recordings. </p>
<p>First, the “orbs”: Videos captured many small globes of light seemingly moving around the room. </p>
<p>In reality, the orbs are <a href="https://support.simplisafe.com/articles/video-doorbell-pro/why-do-i-see-orbsbubbles-when-my-camera-is-in-night-mode/634492a5d9a8b404da76cccb">tiny particles of dust</a> wafting close to the camera lens, made to “bloom” by the camera’s infrared lights. That they appear to float around the room is an optical illusion. Watch any orb video closely and you’ll see they never go behind objects in the room. That’s exactly what you’d expect with dust particles close to the camera lens.</p>
<p>Next, voices and bumps: The shop is in a busy corner mini-mall. Three walls abut sidewalks, loading zones and parking areas; an adjacent store shares the fourth. The security camera mics probably recorded sounds from outdoors, other rooms and the adjacent unit. The owner never checked for these possibilities.</p>
<p>Then, the flying objects: The video shows objects falling off the showroom wall. The shelf rests on adjustable brackets, one of which wasn’t fully seated in its slot. The weight of the shelf caused the bracket to settle into place with a visible jerk. This movement sent some items tumbling off the shelf.</p>
<p>Then, the flying book: I used a simple trick to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soA5P1myQ7k&ab_channel=BarryMarkovsky">recreate the event</a> at home: a hidden string taped inside a book’s cover, wrapped around the kitchen island, and tugged by my right hand out of camera range. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/soA5P1myQ7k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Experience the mystery of the flying book.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now I can’t prove there wasn’t a ghost in the original video.
The point is to provide a more plausible explanation than “it must have been a ghost.” </p>
<p>One final consideration: Virtually all ghostly experiences involve impediments to making accurate perceptions and judgments – <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/2017/01/ghost-hunters-in-the-dark/">bad lighting</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.879163">emotional arousal</a>, <a href="https://time.com/6259846/sleep-paralysis-ghosts/">sleep phenomena</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1525/sop.2001.44.1.21">social influences</a>, <a href="https://www.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of-culture.html">culture</a>, a misunderstanding of <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/ghost-meters-i-can-name-that-ghost-in-5-milligauss/">how recording devices work</a>, and <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2019/how-expectation-influences-perception-0715">the prior beliefs</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0047-9">personality traits</a> of those who claim to see ghosts. All of these hold the potential to induce unforgettable ghostly encounters.</p>
<p>But all can be explained without ghosts being real.</p>
<hr>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Markovsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghosts can be spooky fun, but there’s no evidence they exist.Barry Markovsky, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2146132023-10-10T09:29:14Z2023-10-10T09:29:14ZGhosts: the uncanny similarity between the BBC comedy and a ‘real’ Victorian haunted house<p>Alison and her husband Mike inherit the run-down Button House and its resident group of eccentric ghosts from various periods of history. After a head injury, Alison finds she can suddenly see and communicate with the ghosts. And so begins a bizarre house share that is as surprisingly heartwarming as it is hilarious. This is the premise of the paranormal BBC comedy, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m00049t9/ghosts">Ghosts</a>, which is now entering its fifth and final season. </p>
<p>The mix of humour and poignancy in Ghosts echoes real attempts to communicate with spirits, especially in the late 19th century. </p>
<p>A prime example is an 1892 report on a haunted house written for the <a href="https://www.spr.ac.uk">Society for Psychical Research</a>. The group was founded in 1882 to try to bring scientific rigour to the search for ghosts and other phenomena, and they still exist today. Miss R. C. Morton’s report, titled <a href="https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofsoc08soci/mode/2up">Record of a Haunted House</a>, details her extensive experiments that aimed to prove that ghosts wandered her family home. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Ghosts season one trailer.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Like Button House, the anonymous dwelling of the report saw many dramatic, seemingly ghostly events. In Ghosts, each of Alison’s phantom housemates met a grim end. Edwardian lady-of-the-manor Fanny Button was pushed out of a window by her husband. Romantic poet Thomas was shot in a row over a woman. And 1980s Scout leader Pat was on the receiving end of a small child with a bow and arrow. </p>
<p>Miss Morton’s house was no different. Its first owner was a British Indian man named Mr S, who took to heavy drinking after the death of his wife. He remarried two years later, but the new marriage was marred by arguments about the first wife’s jewellery collection. In a twist of dark humour straight out of Ghosts, the second Mrs S. started drinking, too.</p>
<p>After the deaths of Mr and Mrs S, the house – now in a similar state of disrepair to Button House – was bought by Mr L, who promptly died in the sitting room. This sitting room was where Mr S was also found dead, and the place where he had allegedly hidden his first wife’s jewellery under the floorboards. The house was then let to Captain Morton, his wife and their children. Miss R. C. Morton was their eldest.</p>
<h2>Paranormal parallels</h2>
<p>Every night, in a trance-like state, Lady Button <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08qysm5/ghosts-series-2-1-the-grey-lady?seriesId=p08qys50">relives her death</a> by leaping out of the window with a piercing scream. And it is with a similar spooky female figure that Miss Morton’s experiences begin. </p>
<p>While in bed one evening, she sees the spectre of a “tall lady, dressed in black”. Over the following years, various servants and Morton children all report seeing the woman gliding around the house, disappearing through walls, seemingly oblivious to the living occupants. </p>
<p>Moreover, the ghostly woman seems to be in a state of distress and mourning, covering her face with a handkerchief as though weeping. Later, her brother hears the ghost “crying so bitterly”. Both Lady Button and the Morton ghost re-enact emotionally tumultuous moments of their life in a noisy and disturbing manner.</p>
<p>A running joke in Ghosts is that Mike, Alison’s husband, cannot see the ghosts. He is therefore in a strange position whereby he knows they’re around him, but must rely on Alison’s reports of where they are and what they’re doing. </p>
<p>Miss Morton, in her report, describes the lady in black standing directly behind her father in the drawing room – yet her father insists he cannot see the ghost. But, like Mike, he trusts in his daughter’s experiences and thoroughly believes her.</p>
<p>Despite being interminably pompous, Lady Button gradually warms to Alison, who is her distant relative. In episode six of series one, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0005b53/ghosts-series-1-6-getting-out">Getting Out</a>, she decides she wants to help Alison’s financial situation by revealing the hiding place, under floorboards, of a priceless jewel. </p>
<p>In Miss Morton’s report, the family learns about the story of the first Mrs S and her hidden jewellery and tear up the sitting room floor to find it. There’s a striking similarity here. In the report, a receptacle is uncovered, but there are no jewels inside. In Ghosts, the box is found, but with a note from Lady Button’s husband apologising for pawning the jewel.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dQy2BFwIKTU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ghosts season five trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Miss Morton’s report is not without its moments of comedy that, despite being unintentional, wouldn’t be out of place in Ghosts. At one point, in an endeavour to collect evidence of the haunting, Miss Morton loosely sticks thread across doorways to see if the barrier is broken overnight. The thread remains tacked in place, therefore apparently proving the existence of the ghostly woman, who is able to pass through objects without disturbing them. Hmm.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most interesting similarity, though, is how the ghosts affect the living residents’ relationship with the house. For both Alison and Miss Morton, there’s a sense that their paranormal experiences help them to form an attachment to their new home, allowing them to explore the building’s past while also making it their own. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alice Vernon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghosts’s mix of humour and poignancy echoes real 19th century attempts to communicate with spirits.Alice Vernon, Lecturer in Creative Writing and 19th-Century Literature, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1918432022-10-30T19:02:26Z2022-10-30T19:02:26ZAre you haunted by ghosts of the past and phantoms of your future? Welcome to the spooky realm of hauntology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491153/original/file-20221023-12577-4tyc12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C18%2C6310%2C5969&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alasdair Macintyre, Ghost Kid on Stairs 2, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/185141588@N06/52446584517">aecap/flickr</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do you believe in ghosts? Every year, Halloween serves up the usual images of spooks, skeletons and witches – but these ideas aren’t just the domain of fiction or trick-or-treating. There is also a philosophical concept that embraces ghosts. </p>
<p>It is called “hauntology”, and it might just make you a believer.</p>
<p>The word hauntology was invented by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida for his 1993 lecture <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specters_of_Marx">Spectres of Marx</a>. </p>
<p>Derrida was a whimsical guy, and the words “hauntology” and “ontology” both sound identical when spoken in French. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology">Ontology</a> is the philosophical study of existence and being, dating back as far as ancient Greece. In Derrida’s mind, ontology was shadowed by hauntology, a state of non-being. </p>
<p>Hauntology is that eerie zone where time collapses and our past memories and associations haunt our minds, like a ghost. </p>
<h2>Haunted by past and future</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491245/original/file-20221024-23-r9fw6s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491245/original/file-20221024-23-r9fw6s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491245/original/file-20221024-23-r9fw6s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1054&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491245/original/file-20221024-23-r9fw6s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1054&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491245/original/file-20221024-23-r9fw6s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1054&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491245/original/file-20221024-23-r9fw6s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1325&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491245/original/file-20221024-23-r9fw6s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491245/original/file-20221024-23-r9fw6s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1325&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Pedro Américo’s Visão de Hamlet (Hamlet’s Vision), painted 1893.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In his lecture, Derrida invoked Shakespeare’s Hamlet, both through the phantom of Hamlet’s father and particularly the phrase “time is out of joint”. </p>
<p>Not only does hauntology look back to your past experiences, it looks forward. You are haunted by the future – or, at least, haunted by futures that did not eventuate.</p>
<p>Are you in the job you planned to have ten years ago? Do you live in the house you dreamed of when you were younger? Do these unfulfilled dreams weigh on your mind? Dare I ask, do these unmet expectations haunt you? </p>
<p>English theorist Mark Fisher called this concept “cancelled futures” and associated it with cultural stagnation. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCgkLICTskQ">2014 lecture</a> he bemoaned little forward progress in music and films: an endless repetition and recycling of old ideas, just in high definition.</p>
<p>Fisher was an important catalyst in the transformation of ghosts. Along with music journalist Simon Reynolds, Fisher appropriated Derrida’s hauntology by analysing pop culture, music and movies through a hauntological lens: considering how contemporary culture is haunted by our pasts and impossible futures.</p>
<p>This area of “spectral studies” developed in the new millennium mainly through blogs. The traditional idea of ghosts evolved from a supernatural phenomenon (fictional or otherwise) into a philosophical concept, discussed vigorously in the digital realm. </p>
<p>Those studying spectral studies turned to sources as diverse as Freud’s observations of the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny">uncanny</a>” and <a href="https://philpapers.org/rec/DAVSAT-2">Sartre’s suggestion</a> that, although invisible, the dead survive and are all around us.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-black-death-to-covid-19-pandemics-have-always-pushed-people-to-honor-death-and-celebrate-life-170517">From Black Death to COVID-19, pandemics have always pushed people to honor death and celebrate life</a>
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<h2>Haunted popular cultures</h2>
<p>Many creatives have embraced the motif and connotations of the ghost. Richard Littler’s blog <a href="https://scarfolk.blogspot.com/">Scarfolk</a> (2013-) imagines a fictional English village stuck forever looping on 1979. The retro electronica musicians of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Box_Records">Ghost Box Records label</a> (2004-), seem to capture the <a href="https://soundcloud.com/ghost-box">soundtrack</a> of a parallel world outside of time. </p>
<p>Hauntology also describes a post-traumatic-like disquiet of those born in the 1960s and ‘70s. Dubbed by Bob Fisher as “<a href="https://hauntedgeneration.co.uk/2019/04/22/thehauntedgeneration/">the haunted generation</a>”, Fisher says kids of this era grew up in an age of “cosy wrongness”, consuming lots of media – especially television. </p>
<p>Not all of it was suitable for children. </p>
<p>Think of films like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078480/">Watership Down</a> (1978) with its blood-soaked fields and scary rabbits, or those fuzzy Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker-era episodes of Doctor Who. </p>
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<p>Are you of an age where the memory of those grainy black and white ghost photographs you saw as a child in Usborne’s <a href="https://usborne.com/au/the-world-of-the-unknown-ghosts-9781474976688">World of the Unknown: Ghosts</a> (1977) still freak you out? Does the recollection of the shrill screams in Disney’s read-along book and record of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJcpZeISmFk">The Haunted Mansion</a> (1970) still send shivers down your spine?</p>
<p>Much hauntological writing discusses popular culture artefacts such as these, and the way they haunt our minds through recurring memories that return again and again.</p>
<h2>Walking with ghosts</h2>
<p>Films like Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), especially its setting at the vast and secluded Overlook hotel, strongly reflect key features of hauntology. The emotional disintegration of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) mirrors the very hauntological collapsing of time within the walls of the hotel. </p>
<p>People and events from decades past appear and influence his behaviour. Then, of course, there are the ghosts of those two little girls in their blue dresses.</p>
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<p>This depiction of ghosts we knew returning to us dressed in the attire they wore in life reflects a long tradition. Hamlet’s father returns dressed in battle armour. The ghosts of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol are decked out in their burial suits.</p>
<p>It was not until the 20th century that ghosts began to appear in their ubiquitous white sheets, most notably in the works of MR James. In James’ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Oh,_Whistle,_and_I%27ll_Come_to_You,_My_Lad%27">Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad</a> (1904), a holidaying academic inadvertently conjures up a terrifying entity swathed in linen bedsheets.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491232/original/file-20221024-17-y8vdtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sheetly-like ghost." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491232/original/file-20221024-17-y8vdtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491232/original/file-20221024-17-y8vdtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491232/original/file-20221024-17-y8vdtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491232/original/file-20221024-17-y8vdtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491232/original/file-20221024-17-y8vdtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491232/original/file-20221024-17-y8vdtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491232/original/file-20221024-17-y8vdtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration by James McBryde for MR James’s story, Oh, Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So in a sense, hauntology has brought us full circle, returning to these ideas of ghosts we knew from our lives returning once more to haunt us.</p>
<p>Now you know it, hauntology is a name you can give to those slightly eerie memories from your childhood, or that nagging feeling that you took a wrong turn in life somewhere along the road. </p>
<p>Whether ghosts be the Scooby Doo-style spooks chasing us around old castles, or the psychological phantoms gatecrashing our own minds, hauntology is all around.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/looking-for-love-on-a-dating-app-you-might-be-falling-for-a-ghost-128626">Looking for love on a dating app? You might be falling for a ghost</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alasdair Macintyre lectures in the School of Arts and Humanities at the Australian Catholic University.</span></em></p>Ghosts aren’t just the domain of fiction or trick-or-treating. Hauntology is a philosophical concept that embraces ghosts.Alasdair Macintyre, Associate lecturer visual arts, artist, PhD, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1692392021-10-26T19:48:36Z2021-10-26T19:48:36ZSpirit photography captured love, loss and longing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428561/original/file-20211026-23-16vp1mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C82%2C988%2C713&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Spirit photograph by William Hope, taken around 1920.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(National Media Museum Collection/Flickr)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/spirit-photography-captured-love--loss-and-longing" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/cinematic-ghosts-haunting-and-spectrality-from-silent-cinema-to-the-digital-era/ch1-phantom-images-and-modern-manifestations-spirit-photography-magic-theater-trick-films-and-photography-s-uncanny">Photography has always had a relationship to haunting</a> as it shows not what is, but what once was. </p>
<p>The process whereby light must bounce off the subject and back towards the camera suggests that photographs have touched and carry a trace of what is shown. Scholars of fields from anthropology to art history have explored the <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/nature-exposed">association between</a> photographs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08949460802156292">and ghosts</a>. </p>
<p>This association is exaggerated by spirit photography, which are portraits that visually reunite the bereaved with their loved ones — a phenomenon I attribute <a href="https://theconversation.com/spirit-photography-19th-century-innovation-in-bereavement-rituals-was-likely-invented-by-a-woman-164033">to the creative innovation of a Boston woman in 1861</a>. </p>
<p>Modern readers may be <a href="https://www.history.com/news/spirit-photography-civil-war-william-mumler">preoccupied by the motives and methods of spirit photographers</a> — their use of double exposure, combination printing or contemporary digital manipulation to produce semi-translucent “apparitions.” But far more interesting is the impact the resulting photographs had on the bereaved who commissioned the portraits. At heart, the Victorian interest in spirit photography is a tale of love, loss and longing.</p>
<h2>Spirit of the age</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Black and white photo of a woman seated next to a semi-translucent child." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428568/original/file-20211026-13-c04axm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428568/original/file-20211026-13-c04axm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428568/original/file-20211026-13-c04axm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428568/original/file-20211026-13-c04axm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428568/original/file-20211026-13-c04axm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1241&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428568/original/file-20211026-13-c04axm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1241&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428568/original/file-20211026-13-c04axm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1241&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spirit photograph taken between 1862–1875.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/95744/william-h-mumler-mrs-tinkham-american-1862-1875/">(The Paul J. Getty Museum)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Spirit photography developed within the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/spiritualism-religion">context of spiritualism</a>, a 19th-century religious movement. Spiritualists believed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/20/seances-and-science">in the soul’s persistence after death</a> and of the potential for continued bonds and communication between the dead and the living.</p>
<p>In 1848, when two young women of Hydesville, N.Y., <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-fox-sisters-and-the-rap-on-spiritualism-99663697/">claimed the ability to hear and interpret the knocking of a deceased peddler in their home</a>, <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253215024/radical-spirits-second-edition/">spiritualist ideas were already in the air</a>.</p>
<p>Some 19th-century spiritualist artists saw their work as being inspired by an unseen presence. For example, British artist and medium Georgianna Houghton produced <a href="https://georgianahoughton.com/">abstract watercolours she dubbed her “spirit drawings.”</a> Similarly, about 20 years after photography as a medium emerged, spirit photographers began attributing <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20191001-how-spiritualism-influenced-modern-art">their work to an external force, a presence that temporarily overcame or possessed them</a>. The spiritual “extra” that appeared alongside the bereaved in spirit photographs — sometimes clearly a face, at other times a shape or object — was meant to be understood as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8676.2010.00139.x">not having been made by humans</a>. </p>
<p>Paired with the longing of the bereaved, spirit photographs had the potential to become intensely personal, enchanted memory objects.</p>
<h2>Sustained bonds</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Photograph of a seated man with a semi-translucent female figure standing next to him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428569/original/file-20211026-17-vyezlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428569/original/file-20211026-17-vyezlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428569/original/file-20211026-17-vyezlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428569/original/file-20211026-17-vyezlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428569/original/file-20211026-17-vyezlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1210&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428569/original/file-20211026-17-vyezlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1210&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428569/original/file-20211026-17-vyezlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1210&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spirit photograph believed to be taken in the 1870s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wikimedia Commons)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unlike <a href="http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781861897916">postmortem photography — the 19th-century practice of photographing the deceased, typically as though sleeping</a> — spirit photographs did not lock the loved one in a moment after separation has occurred through death. Instead, they suggested a moment beyond death and therefore the potential for future moments shared.</p>
<p>Spirit photography <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/439624">encouraged and then mediated the resurgence of the deceased’s animated likeness</a>. At a time when many <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/haunted-media">available technologies</a> — <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801448010/the-sympathetic-medium/#bookTabs=1">such as the telegraph, telephone and typewriter</a> — were being applied towards communication with the dead, spirit photography offered a visual record of communication. </p>
<p>But in spirit photographs, the beloved seldom appeared at full opacity. Using the technique of semi-translucence, spirit photographers depict spirits as animated and “still with us.” That they are only <em>half</em> there is also indicated. In this way, spirit photographs illustrate the lingering presence of the absent loved one, just as it is felt by the bereaved.</p>
<p>Spirit photographs <a href="https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2018/09/27/stories-in-stereo/">were not the first photographs to depict ghostly apparitions</a>. But they do mark the first instance wherein these semi-translucent “extras” were marketed as evidence of continued connection to the deceased.</p>
<p>As a service rendered within the bereavement industry, spirit photographs were meant to be understood as the grief of separation, captured by the camera — and not constructed through some form of trickery.</p>
<h2>Spirits in the world</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Oil painting of a veil with a translucent face." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428574/original/file-20211026-15-1m5qlz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428574/original/file-20211026-15-1m5qlz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428574/original/file-20211026-15-1m5qlz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428574/original/file-20211026-15-1m5qlz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428574/original/file-20211026-15-1m5qlz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428574/original/file-20211026-15-1m5qlz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428574/original/file-20211026-15-1m5qlz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Veil of Saint Veronica,’ oil painting by Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664), photo taken at National Museum of Fine Arts, Stockholm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ninara/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Belief in the appearance of miraculous impressions of forms and faces may appear novel in the emerging medium and technology of photography. But a longer tradition of finding meaning and solace in the apparition of faces can be seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/belief-in-touch-as-salvation-was-stronger-than-fear-of-contagion-in-the-italian-renaissance-157135">in Christian traditions of venerating relics</a> such as <em><a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Veil_of_Veronica">The Veil of Veronica</a></em> which, according to Catholic popular belief and legend, bears the likeness of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Veronica">Christ’s face imprinted on it before his crucifixion</a>.</p>
<p>Even <a href="https://www.unz.com/print/AtlanticMonthly-1863jul-00001/">in the 19th century</a>, recognition of the beloved in spirit photographs was occasionally equated <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140730-why-do-we-see-faces-in-objects">with pareidolia</a> — the powerful human tendency to perceive patterns, objects or faces, such as in relics or random objects. </p>
<p>In 1863, physician and poet O.W. Holmes <a href="https://www.unz.com/print/AtlanticMonthly-1863jul-00001/">noted in <em>Atlantic Monthly</em></a> that for the bereaved who commissioned spirit photography, what the resulting photograph showed was inconsequential: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It is enough for the poor mother, whose eyes are blinded with tears, that she sees a print of drapery like an infant’s dress, and a rounded something, like a foggy dumpling, which will stand for a face: she accepts the spirit-portrait as a revelation from the world of shadows.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If the photographer’s methods were exposed, the bereaved still maintained their spirit photograph was authentic. The ambiguity of the figures that appeared seldom deterred the bereaved from seeing what they hoped for. Indeed, it was this very leap of faith that incited the imaginative input required to transform these otherwise unbelievable photographs into potent and intensely personal objects.</p>
<p>In 1962, a woman who had commissioned a photograph of her late husband shared with the spirit photographer: “It is recognized by all that have seen it, who knew him when upon Earth, <a href="http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/banner_of_light/banner_of_light_v12_n12_13_dec_1862.pdf">as a perfect likeness, and I am myself satisfied, that his spirit was present, although invisible to mortals</a>.” </p>
<h2>Haunting refrains</h2>
<p>Spirit photographs were often proven to have been produced through double exposure or by way of combination printing. Thus, it would have been equally possible to produce photographs wherein the deceased appeared at full opacity alongside the bereaved — seamlessly reunited. And yet the tendency to present the absent individual at a lesser opacity has persisted — even within contemporary, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/us/a-dead-child-a-ghostly-photo-and-a-mother-charged-with-murder.html">digitally produced composite portraits</a>.</p>
<p>The use of semi-translucence in depicting the remembered individual, is a deliberate indication of a presence that is felt but not seen, except by those attuned to it. </p>
<p>While spirit photographs were cherished as messages of love from beyond the grave, surely they were also messages of love to the departed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169239/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felicity T. C. Hamer has received funding from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture (FRQSC).</span></em></p>Today viewers may be preoccupied by the methods used by spirit photographers, but spirit photographs had a notable impact on the bereaved who commissioned the portraits.Felicity T. C. Hamer, PhD Candidate and Public Scholar, Communication Studies, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1674822021-10-14T12:08:35Z2021-10-14T12:08:35ZMore ‘disease’ than ‘Dracula’ – how the vampire myth was born<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426277/original/file-20211013-17-1oj68zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=984%2C1205%2C3394%2C2464&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Modern vampires like Dracula may be dashing, but they certainly weren't in the original vampire myths.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/helen-chandler-is-carried-by-bela-lugosi-in-a-scene-from-news-photo/159821076">Archive Photos/ Moviepix via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The vampire is a common image in today’s pop culture, and one that takes many forms: from Alucard, the dashing spawn of Dracula in the PlayStation game “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night”; to Edward, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/vampires-rebirth-from-monstrous-undead-creature-to-sexy-and-romantic-byronic-seducer-in-one-ghost-story-114382">romantic, idealistic lover</a> in the “Twilight” series.</p>
<p>In many respects, the vampire of today is far removed from its roots in Eastern European folklore. As <a href="https://slavic.as.virginia.edu/people/profile/sjs2z">a professor of Slavic studies</a> who has taught a course on vampires <a href="https://news.virginia.edu/content/dissecting-dracula-chat-vampire-expert-stanley-stepanic">called “Dracula”</a> for more than a decade, I’m always fascinated by the vampire’s popularity, considering its origins – as a demonic creature strongly associated with disease.</p>
<h2>Explaining the unknown</h2>
<p>The first known reference to vampires appeared in written form in Old Russian <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Slavic_Scriptures/-P_huGq9mV4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=upir+etymology+slav&pg=PA218&printsec=frontcover">in A.D. 1047</a>, soon after Orthodox Christianity moved into Eastern Europe. The term for vampire was “<a href="https://starlingdb.org/cgi-bin/response.cgi?basename=dataievasmer&text_word=%D1%83%D0%BF%D1%8B%D1%80%D1%8C&method_word=beginning&ww_word=on">upir</a>,” which has uncertain origins, but its possible literal meaning was “the thing at the feast or sacrifice,” referring to a potentially dangerous spiritual entity that people believed could appear at rituals for the dead. It was a euphemism used to avoid speaking the creature’s name – and unfortunately, historians may never learn its real name, or even when beliefs about it surfaced.</p>
<p>The vampire served a function similar to that of <a href="https://simmonslis.libguides.com/c.php?g=1107583&p=8076095">many other demonic creatures</a> in folklore around the world: They were blamed for a variety of problems, but particularly disease, at a time when knowledge of bacteria and viruses did not exist.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A 19th-century engraving depicts men in coats and hats shooting at a vampire in a cemetery in Romania." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425551/original/file-20211008-18-19q5vyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425551/original/file-20211008-18-19q5vyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425551/original/file-20211008-18-19q5vyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425551/original/file-20211008-18-19q5vyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425551/original/file-20211008-18-19q5vyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425551/original/file-20211008-18-19q5vyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425551/original/file-20211008-18-19q5vyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Soldiers witnessing vampire hysteria in Eastern Europe – such as people desecrating the graves of suspected vampires – carried tales back home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/men-shoot-at-a-vampire-lying-staked-through-the-heart-in-a-news-photo/593280150?adppopup=true">Leemage/ Corbis Historical via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Scholars have put forth <a href="https://theconversation.com/vampire-myths-originated-with-a-real-blood-disorder-140830">several theories</a> about various diseases’ connections to vampires. It is likely that no one disease provides a simple, “pure” origin for vampire myths, since beliefs about vampires changed over time.</p>
<p>But two in particular show solid links. One is rabies, whose name comes from a Latin term for “madness.” It’s <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/308182/rabid-by-bill-wasik-and-monica-murphy/">one of the oldest recognized diseases on the planet</a>, transmissible from animals to humans, and primarily spread through biting – an obvious reference to a classic vampire trait.</p>
<p>There are other curious connections. One central symptom of the disease is hydrophobia, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ccr3.1846">a fear of water</a>. Painful muscle contractions in the esophagus lead rabies victims to avoid eating and drinking, or even swallowing their own saliva, which eventually causes “foaming at the mouth.” In some folklore, vampires cannot cross running water without being carried or assisted in some way, as an extension of this symptom. Furthermore, rabies can lead to a fear of light, altered sleep patterns and increased aggression, elements of how vampires are described in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.51.3.856">a variety of folktales</a>.</p>
<p>The second disease <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/014107689709001114">is pellagra</a>, caused by a dietary deficiency of niacin (vitamin B3) or the amino acid tryptophan. Often, pellagra is brought on by diets high in corn products and alcohol. After Europeans landed in the Americas, they transported corn back to Europe. But they ignored <a href="https://doi-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1525/nua.1998.22.1.1">a key step in preparing corn</a>: washing it, often using lime – a process called “nixtamalization” that can reduce the risk of pellagra.</p>
<p>Pellagra causes the classic “<a href="https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2020.36.219.24806">4 D’s</a>”: dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia and death. Some sufferers also experience high sensitivity to sunlight – described in some depictions of vampires – which leads to corpselike skin.</p>
<h2>Social scare</h2>
<p>Multiple diseases show connections to folklore about vampires, but they can’t necessarily explain how the myths actually began. Pellagra, for example, did not exist in Eastern Europe <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2018/4597">until the 18th century</a>, centuries after vampire beliefs had originally emerged. </p>
<p>Both pellagra and rabies are important, however, because they were epidemic during a key period in vampire history. During the so-called <a href="https://news.virginia.edu/content/how-spread-disease-juiced-lore-vampires-pandemic-proportions">Great Vampire Epidemic</a>, from roughly 1725 to 1755, vampire myths “went viral” across the continent. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>As disease spread in Eastern Europe, supernatural causes were often blamed, and vampire hysteria spread throughout the region. Many people believed that vampires were the “undead” – people who lived on in some way after death – and that the vampire could be stopped by attacking its corpse. They carried out “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774314000754">vampire burials</a>,” which could involve putting a stake through the corpse, covering the body in garlic and a variety of other traditions that had been present in Slavic folklore for centuries.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Austrian and German soldiers fighting the Ottomans in the region witnessed this mass <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Twilight_Symbols/aMnDXCq9hRkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=upir+etymology+slav&pg=PA398&printsec=frontcover">desecration of graves</a> and returned home to Western Europe with stories of the vampire.</p>
<p>But why did so much vampire hysteria spring up in the first place? Disease was a primary culprit, but a sort of “perfect storm” existed in Eastern Europe at the time. The era of the Great Vampire Epidemic was not just a period of disease, but one of political and religious upheaval as well.</p>
<p>During the 18th century, Eastern Europe faced pressure from within and without as domestic and foreign powers exercised their control over the region, with local cultures often suppressed. Serbia, for example, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Serbia/The-disintegration-of-Ottoman-rule">was struggling between the Hapsburg Monarchy in Central Europe and the Ottomans</a>. Poland was increasingly under foreign powers, Bulgaria was under Ottoman rule, and Russia was undergoing <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1pncq7q?turn_away=true">dramatic cultural change</a> due to the policies of Czar Peter the Great.</p>
<p>This is somewhat analogous to today, as the world contends with the COVID-19 pandemic amid political change and uncertainty. Perceived societal breakdown, whether real or imagined, can lead to dramatic responses in society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167482/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stanley Stepanic does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The past century’s vampires have often been a bit dashing, even romantic. That’s not how the myth started out.Stanley Stepanic, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1498442020-11-11T11:58:53Z2020-11-11T11:58:53ZFive haunted house stories to read during lockdown<p>England is facing a second lockdown and with days getting shorter and colder we are spending more time than ever inside. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-reading-habits-have-changed-during-the-covid-19-lockdown-146894">A recent survey</a> of how reading habits changed during the first lockdown found that people were reading more – and that trend is sure to continue this time round.</p>
<p>While you hunker down in the seeming safety of your home, how about picking up a book about houses that aren’t quite as safe? We’re talking about places where the floorboards creak, the staff are creepy and there’s something not quite right about the children.</p>
<p>The haunted house has been making a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/19/why-haunted-house-horrors-are-more-resonant-than-ever-shirley-rebecca">comeback on the screen</a>, as we’ve seen with the recent successes of the BBC comedy series <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m00049t9/ghosts">Ghosts</a> and Netflix’s adaptations of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-haunting-of-bly-manor-why-henry-jamess-eerie-tale-still-inspires-so-many-adaptations-147878">The Haunting of Bly Manor</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/rebecca-netflix-returns-to-manderley-with-a-modern-remake-of-daphne-du-mauriers-classic-thriller-148821">Rebecca</a>. It seems our fascination with unsettling places continues to grow. </p>
<p>Many of these stories started in books so here are five classic examples to keep you company this lockdown:</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/02/house-of-leaves-changed-my-life-the-cult-novel-at-20">House of Leaves</a> (2000) by Mark Danielewski</h2>
<p>Presented as a found document, this is a unique book featuring copious footnotes on some pages while others contain hardly anything at all. This story follows a family as they move into a new house on Ash Tree Lane. As they enter the property they discover that it is somehow bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. </p>
<p>The children, as they tend to in these stories, begin talking of a creature and soon they all hear a growl coming from deep within the house.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/897717.Burnt_Offerings">Burnt Offerings</a> (1973) by Robert Marasco</h2>
<p>Desperate to get away from their apartment in Queens, the cash-strapped Rolfe family rents a summer home in upstate New York. </p>
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<img alt="Front cover of Burnt Offerings featuring a door knob with a face on it partially turned." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368652/original/file-20201110-21-4qafx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368652/original/file-20201110-21-4qafx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368652/original/file-20201110-21-4qafx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368652/original/file-20201110-21-4qafx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368652/original/file-20201110-21-4qafx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368652/original/file-20201110-21-4qafx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368652/original/file-20201110-21-4qafx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_Offerings_(Marasco_novel)#/media/File:Burnt_Offerings_Robert_Marasco.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>The place is a secluded haven, with a pool and private beach. This seemingly perfect summer home, however, comes with a curious stipulation in the rental agreement, which insists that the elderly mother of the homeowners stays with them. </p>
<p>Bizarre, catastrophic events ensue. Burnt Offerings is known to have been model for Stephen King’s 1977 bestselling novel <a href="https://lwlies.com/articles/burnt-offerings-the-shining-stanley-kubrick/">The Shining</a> as both narratives deal with abrupt personality changes.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/11/textbook-terror-how-the-haunting-of-hill-house-rewrote-horrors-rules">The Haunting of Hill House</a> (1959) by Shirley Jackson</h2>
<p>If you’ve watched the Netflix series you should read the book that inspired it – they’re pretty different. The short novel is considered one of the finest examples of horror writing and Jackson a master of the haunted tale. </p>
<p>The story follows Dr Montague who wants to prove the existence of the supernatural. Renting Hill House one summer, he invites various people who have reported paranormal experiences. The house has been the site of many violent deaths and suicides so there’s hope one of those unhappy souls will make themselves known. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, when you go looking for ghosts in a novel, you will find them. There are bumps in the night, cryptic writings on the wall and a whole load of unexplained coincidence, what more could you want?</p>
<h2><a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-rebecca-by-daphne-du-maurier-gender-gothic-haunting-and-gaslighting-146573">Rebecca</a> (1938) by Daphne du Maurier</h2>
<p>The unnamed young woman who narrates the novel falls in love with an older, wealthy man, Maxim de Winter, and moves into his isolated estate in south-west England, Manderley. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Front cover of Rebecca, all text." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368654/original/file-20201110-23-1mb3tzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368654/original/file-20201110-23-1mb3tzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368654/original/file-20201110-23-1mb3tzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368654/original/file-20201110-23-1mb3tzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368654/original/file-20201110-23-1mb3tzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368654/original/file-20201110-23-1mb3tzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368654/original/file-20201110-23-1mb3tzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_(novel)#/media/File:Rebecca-FE.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>The house is practically a shrine to the memory of his first wife, Rebecca, who died the year before in mysterious circumstances. </p>
<p>Malevolent forces are at work in this house as the young bride’s attempts to start a new life with her husband are foiled at every turn by the housekeeper and Rebecca’s confidante Mrs Danvers. </p>
<p>The book is far spookier than the recent Netflix adaptation, which presents viewers with a thoroughly modern and <a href="https://theconversation.com/rebecca-netflix-returns-to-manderley-with-a-modern-remake-of-daphne-du-mauriers-classic-thriller-148821">far more empowered protagonist</a>. </p>
<h2><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/feb/07/charlotte-perkins-gilman-yellow-wallpaper-strangeness-classic-short-story-exhibition">The Yellow Wallpaper</a> (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman</h2>
<p>This is an agonising first-person tale of creeping mental and physical decline. </p>
<p>Summering at a colonial mansion, the narrator is confined to an upstairs nursery with ominously barred windows and scratched-up floors. She becomed fixated on the sickly yellow wallpaper covered in “"an interminable string of toadstools, budding and sprouting in endless convolutions”. </p>
<p>The longer she stays in the room the more the walls seems to move and the more it seems like there might be someone moving it from within.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-and-other-writings/harland-miller/edgar-allan-poe/9780141439815">The Fall of the House of Usher</a> (1839) by Edgar Allan Poe</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="The Fall of The House of Usher cover featuring a gothic house." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368656/original/file-20201110-13-5dyi0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368656/original/file-20201110-13-5dyi0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368656/original/file-20201110-13-5dyi0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368656/original/file-20201110-13-5dyi0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368656/original/file-20201110-13-5dyi0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368656/original/file-20201110-13-5dyi0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368656/original/file-20201110-13-5dyi0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519tp+PpNDL._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg">Random House Vintage</a></span>
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<p>This short story recounts the terrible events that befall the last remaining members of the once-illustrious Usher clan and the house’s last visitors. </p>
<p>Arriving at the home of his reclusive friend Roderick Usher, our narrator is intrigued by the decaying house, particularly a thin crack extending down the front of the building and into the adjacent lake. </p>
<p>Usher’s mind is disintegrating and he is falling deeper into a madness. Things are not as they seem in the suspenseful tale of horror.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Cook has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and the British Academy. </span></em></p>From ghosts and meddling staff to interesting decorating choices, the houses in these books make for great reading.Daniel Cook, Reader in Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Literature, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1488862020-10-30T11:22:13Z2020-10-30T11:22:13Z‘I see dead people’: why so many of us believe in ghosts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366434/original/file-20201029-17-wg2g67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=327%2C479%2C4993%2C2984&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Tom via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Halloween seems an appropriate time of year to share the <a href="https://husheduphistory.com/post/188320658786/james-pink-chaffin-guided-by-a-ghost">story of the Chaffin family</a> and how a ghost helped decide a dispute over an inheritance. James L Chaffin of Monksville, North Carolina, died after an accident in 1921, leaving his estate in full to his favourite son Marshall and nothing to his wife and three other children. A year later Marshall died, so the house and 120 acres of land went to Marshall’s widow and son.</p>
<p>But four years later, his youngest son James “Pink” Chaffin started having extraordinary dreams in which his father visited him and directed him to the location of a second, later will in which Chaffin senior left the property divided between his widow and the surviving children. The case went to court and, as you’d expect, the newspapers of the time went mad for the story. </p>
<p>The court found in Pink’s favour and, thanks to the publicity, the <a href="https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/ghosts-and-apparitions-psi-research-overview#footnote52_nux8rmw">Society for Psychical Research (SPR)</a> investigated, finally coming to the conclusion that Pink had indeed been visited by his father’s ghost. Pink himself never wavered from this explanation, stating: “I was fully convinced that my father’s spirit had visited me for the purpose of explaining some mistake.” </p>
<p>Unlikely as it might seem in the cold light of day, ghosts and hauntings are a mainstream area of belief. Recent studies by YouGov in the <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/10/31/ghosts-exist-say-1-3-brits">UK</a> and the <a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2019/10/21/paranormal-beliefs-ghosts-demons-poll">USA</a> show that between 30% and 50% of the population says they believe in ghosts. Belief in ghosts also appears to be global, with most (if not all) cultures around the world having some widely accepted kind of ghosts. </p>
<p>The existence of a ghost as an incorporeal (bodyless) soul or spirit of a dead person or animal is contrary to the laws of nature as we understand them, so it seems there is something here that calls for explanation. We can look at the worlds of literature, philosophy and anthropology for some of the reasons why people are so keen to believe.</p>
<h2>Blithe (and vengeful) spirits</h2>
<p>The desire for justice and the belief in some form of supernatural protection (which we see in more major religions) address basic human needs. Ghosts have long been thought of as vehicles for justice. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his murdered father seeking revenge on his murderer. In Macbeth, meanwhile, the murdered Banquo points an accusing finger at the man responsible for his death.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="19th-century painting of a ghost at a feast of medieval noblemen and women." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366441/original/file-20201029-13-g1tl4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366441/original/file-20201029-13-g1tl4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366441/original/file-20201029-13-g1tl4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366441/original/file-20201029-13-g1tl4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366441/original/file-20201029-13-g1tl4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366441/original/file-20201029-13-g1tl4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366441/original/file-20201029-13-g1tl4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Unwelcome guest: Banquo’s ghost from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Théodore Chassériau</span></span>
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<p>This idea has its equivalents today in various countries. In Kenya, a murdered person may become <a href="https://www.africanexponent.com/post/top-10-african-myths-97">an <em>ngoma</em></a>, a spirit who pursues their murderer, sometimes causing them to give themself up to the police. Or in Russia <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/rusalka">the <em>rusalka</em></a> is the spirit of a dead woman who died by drowning and now lures men to their death. She may be released when her death is avenged.</p>
<p>Ghosts can also be friends and protectors. In Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, Ebeneezer Scrooge is helped by the ghosts of Christmas Present, Past and Future to mend his hardhearted ways before it’s too late. In the Sixth Sense
(spoiler alert), the ghost character played by Bruce Willis helps a young boy to come to terms with his ability to see ghosts and to help them to find peace. Many people are comforted by thinking that their deceased loves ones are watching over them and perhaps guiding them.</p>
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<p>But many people also like to believe that death is not the end of existence – it’s a comfort when we lose people we love or when we face the idea of our own mortality. Many cultures around the world have had beliefs that the dead can communicate with the living, and the phenomenon of spiritualism supposes that we can communicate with the spirits of the dead, often through the services of specially talented spirit mediums. </p>
<p>And we love to be scared, as long as we know we aren’t actually in danger. Halloween TV schedules are full of films where a group of (usually young) volunteers spends a night in a haunted house (with gory results). We seem to enjoy the illusion of danger and ghost stories can offer this kind of thrill.</p>
<h2>Body and soul</h2>
<p>Belief in ghosts finds support in the longstanding philosophical idea that humans are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-our-brains-toy-with-our-minds/2015/07/30/a979640e-299b-11e5-bd33-395c05608059_story.html">naïve dualists</a>, naturally believing that our physical being is separate from our consciousness. This view of ourselves makes it easy for us to entertain the idea that our mind could have an existence separate from our body – opening the door to believing that our mind or consciousness could survive death, and so perhaps become a ghost.</p>
<p>Looking at how the brain works, the experience of hallucinations is a lot more common than many people realise. The SPR, founded in 1882, collected thousands of verified first-hand reports of visual or auditory hallucinations of a recently deceased person. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0447.1993.tb03332.x">More recent research</a> suggests that a majority of elderly bereaved people may experience visual or auditory hallucinations of their departed loved ones that persist for a few months.</p>
<p>Another source of hallucinations is the <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-22/edition-8/terror-night">phenomenon of sleep paralysis</a>, which may be experienced when falling asleep or waking up. This temporary paralysis is sometimes accompanied by the hallucination of a figure in the room that could be interpreted as a supernatural being. The idea that this could be a supernatural visitation is easier to understand when you think that when we believe in a phenomenon, we are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332188015_Paranormal_Experience_Belief_in_the_Paranormal_and_Anomalous_Beliefs">more likely to experience it</a>. </p>
<p>Consider what might happen if you were in a reputedly haunted house at night and you saw something moving in the corner of your eye. If you believe in ghosts, you might interpret what you saw as a ghost. This is an example of top-down perception in which what we see is influenced by what we expect to see. And, in the dark, where it might be difficult to see properly, our brain makes the best inference it can, which will depend on what we think is likely – and that could be a ghost.</p>
<p>According to the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza, belief <a href="https://michaelshermer.com/sciam-columns/adams-maxim-spinozas-conjecture/">comes quickly and naturally</a>, whereas scepticism is slow and unnatural. In a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18072236/">study of neural activity</a>, Harris and colleagues discovered that believing a statement requires less effort than disbelieving it. </p>
<p>Given these multiple reasons for us to believe in ghosts, it seems that the belief is likely to be with us for many years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Stone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Between 30% and 50% of the population believes in ghosts – literature, philosophy and anthropology can explain why.Anna Stone, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1478782020-10-12T13:30:05Z2020-10-12T13:30:05ZThe Haunting of Bly Manor: why Henry James’s eerie tale still inspires so many adaptations<p>New on Netflix, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/the-haunting-of-bly-manor-netflix-reviews-reactions-stream-horror-b936282.html">The Haunting of Bly Manor</a> is the latest in a long line of adaptations of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (1898) that began in 1954 with <a href="https://brittenpears.org/explore/benjamin-britten/music/operas/the-turn-of-the-screw/">Benjamin Britten’s opera</a>. Since then, there have been more than 25 others. Adaptors’ enduring fascination with James’s “<a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-13713-8_3">irresponsible little fiction</a>” can be summed up in a word: ambiguity.</p>
<p>It is the story of a young governess who comes to suspect that her deceased predecessor, Miss Jessel, and the late valet Peter Quint, are exerting a continued influence over her orphaned charges, Miles and Flora. This influence is not only spectral but quite possibly sexual in nature. </p>
<p>As James’s opening line predicted, “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/209/209-h/209-h.htm">the story … held us</a>”, and its readers quickly fell into two main camps. Metaphysical readers chose to “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2930436?seq=1">believe the governess</a>” and believe in the ghosts, while psychological readers – most famously American writer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmund-Wilson">Edmund Wilson</a> in <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Dt43AAAAIAAJ&dq=the+triple+thinkers&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=">his 1934 essay</a> – maintained that “the ghosts are not real ghosts … but merely the hallucinations of the governess”. She, in turn, was a “neurotic case of sex repression”, possibly acting out of a sublimated desire for her employer, the children’s uncle. </p>
<p>Yet neither metaphysical nor psychological readings proved able to contain this story, whose details stubbornly refuse to be explained away. If the valet Quint is a hallucination, how is the housekeeper able to identify him from the governess’s description? But equally, if he has an independent existence, why, as the literature academic <a href="https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/ca/product/Turn-of-the-Screw/p/0312597061?selected_tab=About">Sheila Teahan has noted</a>, does the governess associate him with the act of writing? The governess suggests that Quint is only as real as “the letters I form on this page”, implying that he is her creative construct. </p>
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<p>James’s novella thus demands a third approach, of which literary critic Shoshana Felman’s <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2930436?seq=1">Turning the Screw of Interpretation (1977)</a> is among the finest examples. Rather than attempting to scare the tale into consistency, this reading recognises that its ambiguity is fundamental to its effect.</p>
<p>With this in mind, The Turn of the Screw’s appeal to adaptors might seem paradoxical. How can the ghosts’ objective reality remain uncertain when we see them walk, talk, and, in Britten’s case, sing a 12-tone opera? Yet adaptors have used a range of innovative strategies to maintain the text’s ambiguity. The term is usefully defined in a cinematic context by director <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=L0AnPwAACAAJ&dq=mackendrick+on+filmmaking&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDm9Hxga3sAhXBsHEKHYttB6QQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg">Alexander Mackendrick</a>, not as “a lack of clarity” but as a contrast between “alternative meanings, each of them clear”.</p>
<h2>On-screen ambiguity</h2>
<p>Director Jack Clayton <a href="https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/%E6%97%A0%E8%BE%9C%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%BA?id=F267B547F11FA821MV&hl=fi">recruited Stanley Kubrick</a> to rework the original script for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOsF0S65RR0&t=7s">The Innocents</a> (1961) with one clear remit: to maximise the tale’s ambiguity. In the resultant film, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEkAKpFMJW4">scene at the lake</a> offers at least two alternative meanings for the appearance of Miss Jessel. </p>
<p>We see the governess (Deborah Kerr) react to a figure standing among the rushes, but a few frames later, Jessel has vanished. Has she appeared and then disappeared, or has the governess simply imagined her? Flora’s troubled face is inconclusive, reacting as much to her governess’s agitation as to any apparition. </p>
<figure>
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<p>In <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230600/">The Others</a>
(2001), an oblique adaptation, creator Alejandro Amenábar takes an innovative stance on the ghosts’ reality. Marooned in an isolated house in post-second-world-war Jersey, Grace (Nicole Kidman), a staunch Catholic, resists her children’s claims to hear ghosts. It transpires that they are actually hearing the house’s new owners and that it is the children and their mother who are the ghosts. Overwhelmed by grief at her husband’s death, Grace, we eventually learn, smothered the children before shooting herself. </p>
<p>The Others thus combines metaphysical and psychological readings of its source. The ghosts are, in a sense, “real” (though not what we are led to believe), while at the same time, the “governess” figure, Grace, is also established as untrustworthy.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0B_4rWxF48">Tim Fywell’s 2009 BBC adaptation</a>, the governess (Michelle Dockery) is a patient in a post-first-world-war mental institution, a frame narrative that invites viewers to question the legitimacy of her testimony. Yet when, having implicated herself in Miles’s death, she is taken away in a prison van to be executed, her psychologist briefly hallucinates that the guard is Peter Quint. Such details left me wondering, as the psychologist seemed to be, whether the governess was indeed guilty, or was being prematurely and irrevocably silenced.</p>
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</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxeiY2W03Mc">The teaser for The Haunting of Bly Manor</a> reprises the eerie <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0uNJp15p3M&list=RDABxdwKqIz4Q&index=2">O Willow Waly</a> song from The Innocents, paying homage to this foundational adaptation. The line “we lay, my love and I, beneath the weeping willow”, sung in Flora’s (Amelia Bea Smith’s) treble, chillingly captures the novella’s preoccupation with childhood innocence exposed to adult sexuality. In many of the adaptations, these shivers are compounded by our inability to entirely trust what we see, generating unanswered questions that keep the adaptive wheel turning.</p>
<p>We are likely to see many more screen translations, and more of the literary appropriations I discuss in <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030316495">my book</a>, of which AN Wilson’s <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/103/1030303/a-jealous-ghost/9780099478669.html">A Jealous Ghost</a> (2005) and John Harding’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhTK_9_5kS0">Florence and Giles</a> (2010) are examples. Viewers and readers will continue to find what <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393959048/about-the-book/table-of-contents">Virginia Woolf found in 1921</a>: this is a story that “can still make us afraid of the dark”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147878/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethany Layne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Be they ghosts or her mind playing tricks? The uncertainty is the draw of the 1898 classic The Turn of the Screw.Bethany Layne, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1403012020-07-17T12:24:56Z2020-07-17T12:24:56ZFrom Victorian demons to the Beijing night bus: why we tell each other urban legends<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347715/original/file-20200715-29-cnmj3e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C5%2C3759%2C2111&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/silhouette-woman-dark-underpass-danger-loneliness-1690323142">Maksimilian/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of us are familiar with modern urban legends. There’s <a href="https://people.howstuffworks.com/bloody-mary-legend.htm">Bloody Mary</a> – the apparition who appears if you chant her name in front of a mirror – or the <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-vanishing-hitchhiker/">ghostly hitchhiker</a> who vanishes from the back of a car. </p>
<p>These stories mix the mundane and the supernatural, altering how we think about our surroundings. For all their fantastical elements and claims, urban legends allow us to address real issues. Modern cities can be disempowering places over which inhabitants have little sense of control. A city’s vast complexity makes it largely unknown to those who live within it.</p>
<p><a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/supernatural-cities.html">Urban legends</a> offer people a way to focus and personify the <a href="https://www.urbandesignmentalhealth.com/how-the-city-affects-mental-health.html">anxieties</a> that arise from living in such an environment. At the same time, they go some way towards recreating a sense of community through sharing such tales.</p>
<h2>Making sense of the city</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/imprints-affiliates/boydell-press/the-legend-of-spring-heeled-jack.html">research</a> has examined how people in 19th-century Britain used folklore to adjust to the experience of city living. Rather than just being the lingering remains of older cultural beliefs, folklore was updated and adapted. It expressed concerns about urban expansion, the threat of strangers and a shrinking sense of community as people increasingly no longer knew one another beyond their immediate streets and neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>In Victorian London, this unease helped stoke tales about <a href="https://www.icysedgwick.com/spring-heeled-jack/">Spring-heeled Jack</a>, a supposedly clawed, fire-breathing demon or ghost that started to terrorise villages at the fringe of the capital in 1837. Widely publicised in the Victorian press, his exploits were said to have resulted in some people fearing to go out into the streets after dark.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Spring-heeled Jack jumping over a gate." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347711/original/file-20200715-33-7v7dd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347711/original/file-20200715-33-7v7dd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347711/original/file-20200715-33-7v7dd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347711/original/file-20200715-33-7v7dd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347711/original/file-20200715-33-7v7dd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347711/original/file-20200715-33-7v7dd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347711/original/file-20200715-33-7v7dd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">19th-century illustration of Spring-heeled Jack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Springheel_Jack.png">BBC Hulton Picture Library/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This mysterious figure thrived on rumour. A reporter for London paper the Morning Herald noted on 10 January 1838 that “although the stories were in everybody’s mouth, no person who had actually seen the ghost could be found.” </p>
<p>When he located named victims, “they immediately denied all knowledge of it, but directed him to other persons whom they had heard had been ill treated, but with them he met with no better success.”</p>
<p>To operate effectively, urban legends need to be correctly distanced. They almost never happen directly to known acquaintances, but rather through a more tenuous connection – a friend of a friend (although unusually, in the case of Spring-heeled Jack, a named person testified about her experience before magistrates in February 1838). </p>
<p>This tenuousness affords a vague sense of connection without providing an easy way of verifying the account. Such tales thrive on the anonymity of urban life and a culture of <a href="http://www.personalsafetyadvice.co.uk/what-stranger-danger.html">stranger danger</a>. </p>
<p>This should not necessarily be interpreted as a negative thing. Like more traditional folkloric tales, modern supernatural tales serve to enrich our urban spaces and change their meaning. Once we hear a house, school or factory is haunted, we never look upon it in the same way again. This gives storytellers and the communities in which the story circulate a sense of influence over their surroundings – something that is often lacking in an urban environment.</p>
<h2>Modern tales</h2>
<p>The persistence of urban folktales show that our modern urban experiences have not snuffed out supernatural thinking. </p>
<p>Once upon a time, mothers used to warn their children against venturing too close to the edge of deep ponds, for fear that the monstrous <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100019644">Jenny Greenteeth</a> would reach out and pull them down to a watery grave. </p>
<p>Today, traditional <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781137406644_9">Irish folkloric monsters</a> such as the banshee are said to still visit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=45&v=X764d7yCQFs&feature=emb_logo">modern-day Limerick</a>. Such stories act as a warning to keep children from a part of town that previously had a reputation for antisocial behaviour. Like the older tales of Jenny Greenteeth, these urban folktales help police the boundaries between safe and unsafe locations. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X764d7yCQFs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley: folklore tales collected in Irish schools as part of the Cuisle Poetry Festival and Young EV+A in 2004 and 2005.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 21st-century <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/supernatural-cities.html">Beijing</a>, the city’s <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/774313.shtml">night bus</a> has become the focus of stories about frightening encounters with sinister ghosts. Typically, an elderly, wise figure recognises the supernatural threat, saves the rider by coaxing them off the bus, and then disappears. </p>
<p>While drawing upon traditional supernatural motifs, the tale expresses the vulnerability of travelling the city late at night. Despite its streetwise warning, the story operates in classic folktale mode. We learn to be careful when riding the night bus by imagining someone else’s close shave with death. In doing so, the truth of such tales is perhaps less important than the message they provide.</p>
<p>Stories are never just stories. While telling of monsters, beneath the surface they are powerful ways of collectively talking about and dealing with our anxieties and our environments. They create hidden geographies in our cities: locations that have been re-imagined through the stories we tell about them, and urban sites and situations where supernatural beings can teach us practical lessons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karl Bell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These legends allow us to address our fears about the urban environment.Karl Bell, Reader in Cultural History, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1321582020-03-09T12:22:22Z2020-03-09T12:22:22ZHow technology can combat the rising tide of fake science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318753/original/file-20200304-66112-vybpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=63%2C13%2C1178%2C840&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A crop circle in Switzerland.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CropCircleW.jpg">Jabberocky/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Science gets a lot of respect these days. Unfortunately, it’s also getting a lot of competition from misinformation. Seven in 10 Americans think the benefits from science outweigh the harms, and nine in 10 think science and technology will create <a href="https://nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/science-and-technology-public-attitudes-and-understanding/highlights">more opportunities for future generations</a>. Scientists have made dramatic progress in understanding the universe and the mechanisms of biology, and advances in computation benefit all fields of science. </p>
<p>On the other hand, Americans are surrounded by a rising tide of misinformation and fake science. Take climate change. Scientists are in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024024">almost complete agreement that people are the primary cause of global warming</a>. Yet polls show that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02406-9">a third of the public disagrees</a> with this conclusion.</p>
<p>In my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OrRLRQ4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">30 years of studying and promoting scientific literacy</a>, I’ve found that college educated adults have large holes in their basic science knowledge and they’re disconcertingly <a href="https://ejse.southwestern.edu/article/view/17315">susceptible to superstition and beliefs that aren’t based on any evidence</a>. One way to counter this is to make it easier for people to detect pseudoscience online. To this end, my lab at the University of Arizona has developed an artificial intelligence-based pseudoscience detector that we plan to freely release as a web browser extension and smart phone app.</p>
<h2>Americans’ predilection for fake science</h2>
<p>Americans are prone to superstition and paranormal beliefs. An annual survey done by sociologists at Chapman University finds that <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2018/10/16/paranormal-america-2018/">more than half believe in spirits and the existence of ancient civilizations</a> like Atlantis, and more than a third think that aliens have visited the Earth in the past or are visiting now. Over 75% hold multiple paranormal beliefs. The survey shows that these numbers have increased in recent years.</p>
<p><iframe id="IbP7D" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/IbP7D/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Widespread belief in astrology is a pet peeve of my colleagues in astronomy. It’s long had a foothold in the popular culture through horoscopes in newspapers and magazines <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/the-new-age-of-astrology/550034/">but currently it’s booming</a>. Belief is strong even among the most educated. My surveys of college undergraduates show that three-quarters of them <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/AER2010040">think that astrology is very or “sort of” scientific</a> and only half of science majors recognize it as not at all scientific.</p>
<p>Allan Mazur, a sociologist at Syracuse University, has delved into <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203788967">the nature of irrational belief systems</a>, their cultural roots, and their political impact. Conspiracy theories are, by definition, resistant to evidence or data that might prove them false. Some are at least amusing. Adherents of the flat Earth theory turn back the clock on two millennia of scientific progress. <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/9/16424622/reddit-conspiracy-theories-memes-irony-flat-earth">Interest in this bizarre idea has surged in the past five years</a>, spurred by social media influencers and the echo chamber nature of web sites like Reddit. As with climate change denial, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47279253">many come to this belief through YouTube videos</a>.</p>
<p>However, the consequences of fake science are no laughing matter. In matters of health and climate change, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190161">misinformation can be a matter of life and death</a>. Over a 90-day period spanning December, January and February, people liked, shared and commented on posts from sites containing <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/coronavirus-misinformation-is-increasing-newsguard-finds/">false or misleading information about COVID-19</a> 142 times more than they did information from the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. </p>
<p>Combating fake science is an urgent priority. In a world that’s increasingly dependent on science and technology, civic society can only function when the electorate is well informed. </p>
<p>Educators must roll up their sleeves and do a better job of teaching critical thinking to young people. However, the problem goes beyond the classroom. The internet is the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report">first source of science information</a> for 80% of people ages 18 to 24. </p>
<p>One study found that a majority of a random sample of 200 YouTube videos on climate change <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00036">denied that humans were responsible or claimed that it was a conspiracy</a>. The videos peddling conspiracy theories got the most views. Another study found that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/21/climate-tweets-twitter-bots-analysis">a quarter of all tweets on climate were generated by bots</a> and they preferentially amplified messages from climate change deniers.</p>
<h2>Technology to the rescue?</h2>
<p>The recent success of machine learning and AI in <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.00648">detecting fake news</a> points the way to detecting fake science online. The key is <a href="https://www.explainthatstuff.com/introduction-to-neural-networks.html">neural net</a> technology. Neural nets are loosely modeled on the human brain. They consist of many interconnected computer processors that identify meaningful patterns in data like words and images. Neural nets already permeate everyday life, particularly in <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.02709">natural language processing</a> systems like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s language translation capability.</p>
<p>At the University of Arizona, we have trained neural nets on handpicked popular articles about climate change and biological evolution, and the neural nets are 90% successful in distinguishing wheat from chaff. With a quick scan of a site, our neural net can tell if its content is scientifically sound or climate-denial junk. After more refinement and testing we hope to have neural nets that can work across all domains of science. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318416/original/file-20200303-66064-2dk56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318416/original/file-20200303-66064-2dk56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318416/original/file-20200303-66064-2dk56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318416/original/file-20200303-66064-2dk56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318416/original/file-20200303-66064-2dk56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318416/original/file-20200303-66064-2dk56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318416/original/file-20200303-66064-2dk56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neural net technology under development at the University of Arizona will flag science websites with a color code indicating their reliability (left). A smartphone app version will gamify the process of declaring science articles real or fake (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Impey</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The goal is a web browser extension that would detect when the user is looking at science content and deduce whether or not it’s real or fake. If it’s misinformation, the tool will suggest a reliable web site on that topic. My colleagues and I also plan to gamify the interface with a smart phone app that will let people compete with their friends and relatives to detect fake science. Data from the best of these participants will be used to help train the neural net.</p>
<p>Sniffing out fake science should be easier than sniffing out fake news in general, because subjective opinion plays a minimal role in legitimate science, which is characterized by evidence, logic and verification. Experts can readily distinguish legitimate science from conspiracy theories and arguments motivated by ideology, which means machine learning systems can be trained to, as well. </p>
<p>“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” These words of <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/11/moynihan-letters-201011">Daniel Patrick Moynihan</a>, advisor to four presidents, could be the mantra for those trying to keep science from being drowned by misinformation.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Impey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The internet has allowed pseudoscience to flourish. Artificial intelligence could help steer people away from the bad information.Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1261532019-10-31T14:31:37Z2019-10-31T14:31:37ZVictorian scientists thought they’d found an explanation for ghosts – but the public didn’t want to hear it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299669/original/file-20191031-187898-rmntn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1284%2C1781&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted by the apparition of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol#/media/File:Marley's_Ghost_-_A_Christmas_Carol_(1843),_opposite_25_-_BL.jpg">John Leech/Wikipedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the film Ghostbusters showed, true believers in the supernatural rarely prosper in the scientific establishment. Throughout history, scientists who entertained theories on ghosts, magic and the afterlife were discredited by their peers and condemned for tarnishing the rational foundations of the discipline. Even Isaac Newton carefully <a href="https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/subs/article/view/12">downplayed his interest in alchemy</a> to preserve his reputation as the father of modern science.</p>
<p>Victorian Britain experienced the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9741666-the-ghost-story-1840-1920">golden age of the literary ghost story</a> – when imaginations ran wild at the very thought of the supernatural. But at the same time, there seemed no dark corner that a rational, scientific mind couldn’t illuminate. Researchers such as John Ferriar and Samuel Hibbert were keen to clear up all the talk of phantoms. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299657/original/file-20191031-187938-1kajcwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299657/original/file-20191031-187938-1kajcwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299657/original/file-20191031-187938-1kajcwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299657/original/file-20191031-187938-1kajcwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299657/original/file-20191031-187938-1kajcwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299657/original/file-20191031-187938-1kajcwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299657/original/file-20191031-187938-1kajcwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With their scientific remedy to hauntings and apparitions, the Ghostbusters may have found a favourable audience in Victorian Britain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ExpoSYFY_-_Ghostbusters_(10773003456).jpg">Urko Dorronsoro/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These pioneering physicians interpreted sightings of ghosts not as external entities, but as the product of glitches in the brain or “afterimages” from overstimulated optical nerves. For such theorists, the supernatural originated in the darkest recesses of the mind, with all its self delusions.</p>
<p>Apparitions weren’t the dead appearing to the living, but fleeting illusions thrown up by an unpredictable psyche, often provoked by ailments and poor health. As <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/113-you-may-be-an-undigested-bit-of-beef-a-blot">Ebenezer Scrooge said</a> to the ghost of his late business partner Jacob Marley in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you …!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But many people enjoyed entertaining these self delusions. From its origins in upstate New York in 1848, spiritualism – the belief that spirits of the dead could communicate with the living – spread to Britain in the 1850s. One of its appeals was that it seemed to offer observable, empirical evidence of the influence of the spirit world upon our material surroundings.</p>
<p>During seances – meetings in which people tried to contact the deceased through a medium – spirits could supposedly cause furniture to lift and move. The eminent physicist Michael Faraday set out to clear up these strange happenings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299654/original/file-20191031-187934-yfnwt2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299654/original/file-20191031-187934-yfnwt2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299654/original/file-20191031-187934-yfnwt2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299654/original/file-20191031-187934-yfnwt2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299654/original/file-20191031-187934-yfnwt2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299654/original/file-20191031-187934-yfnwt2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299654/original/file-20191031-187934-yfnwt2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seances were a hit in Victorian Britain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Table_tournante_-_1.png">Louis Le Breton/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Debunking the bump in the night</h2>
<p>A keen experimenter, Faraday devised <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130729-what-makes-the-ouija-board-move">the ideomotor effect</a> to prove that the phenomena had nothing to do with ghosts. Instead, it was the product of the unconscious muscle movements of those participating in the seance.</p>
<p>Scientists from various fields were engaged in “the march of the intellect” – an attempt to diminish the reality of a person’s experiences with ghosts to “tricks of the mind”, or other quirks of human perception. But many Victorians weren’t satisfied. As my <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt1x7393%5D(https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt1x7393">own research</a> has found, ghost stories and supernatural folklore continued to circulate widely among urban and rural communities in Victorian Britain.</p>
<p>Even some scientists were curious. The Society for Psychical Research, established in 1882, believed nothing should be beyond the realm of scientific enquiry, including the supernatural. Led by respected scholars such as Henry and Eleanor Sidgwick and physicist William Barrett, members of the society were willing to stake their reputations on their findings. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299659/original/file-20191031-187925-9sxdpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299659/original/file-20191031-187925-9sxdpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299659/original/file-20191031-187925-9sxdpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299659/original/file-20191031-187925-9sxdpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299659/original/file-20191031-187925-9sxdpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299659/original/file-20191031-187925-9sxdpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299659/original/file-20191031-187925-9sxdpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Faraday was a celebrated theorist of electromagnetism – and even dabbled in the paranormal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday#/media/File:Faraday_xmas_detail.jpg">Alexander Blaikley/London Illustrated News</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Various subcommittees investigated <a href="https://www.spr.ac.uk/about/our-history%5D(https://www.spr.ac.uk/about/our-history">hypnotism, telepathy, seances and hauntings</a>). Their work helped expose frauds and they were careful to apply scientific controls to their investigations. But critics complained that their willingness to give credence to such ideas would have a corrupting influence that could only revive a credible belief in ghosts. </p>
<p>As the Pall Mall Gazette put it on October 21, 1882: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The scientific attitude is so new and unfixed a possession that it can only be preserved by careful abstention from dangerous trains of thought. Even the ablest and most scientific observers, when they have taken the first step by “inquiring”, may sink to the very bottom of the pond before they finish.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite the efforts of 19th century scientists, ghosts have never been convincingly drawn into the realm of scientific explanation. Even so, it’s not uncommon to find TV ghost hunters reading words in the squawks and crackles of static on high-tech recording equipment in supposedly haunted houses – the modern equivalent of moving furniture in candlelit drawing rooms. The enchanting appeal of the unknown seems certain to ensure that ghosts live on forever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karl Bell has previously received AHRC funding for research into British Spiritualism on the Home Front during the First World War.</span></em></p>Sometimes the unknown is more appealing than the truth – and it has kept ghost hunters in business for generations.Karl Bell, Reader in Cultural History, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1257262019-10-31T03:21:56Z2019-10-31T03:21:56ZIn Japan, supernatural beliefs connect the spiritual realm with the earthly objects around us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298651/original/file-20191025-115762-pbjbfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C49%2C4022%2C2017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Utagawa Kuniyoshi's Mitsukuni defies the skeleton spectre
conjured up by Princess Takiyasha
(1845–46)
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sometimes life appears incomprehensible, of another world. The supernatural has been evoked in many cultures and religions as a way to make sense of the thresholds of mortal and immortal worlds through images and stories. </p>
<p>For some, the supernatural can help make sense of the irrationality of life. For others, it gives context for the textures of grief. And for others still, it provides continuity in the afterlife.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rapunzel (2004) by Miwa Yanagi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/supernatural/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInvqIrpe25QIVhBuPCh0rxgEVEAAYASAAEgLby_D_BwE">Japan supernatural</a>, a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, surveys the complex, playful and inventive ways Japanese culture has visualised these themes from the 1700s to today.</p>
<h2>Connection to the everyday</h2>
<p>Defining the supernatural is a difficult task — reflecting our contested mortal and moral understandings. Japan has a compelling history of bringing the mystical to life — from the evocative woodcut prints of scholar, poet and artist <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/78693">Toriyama Sekien</a> (1712–88), to the powerful storytelling of <a href="https://ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki">Hayao Miyazaki</a> (of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245429/">Spirited Away</a> animated film fame) and the “superflat” popular character reinventions of <a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/takashi-murakami/">Takashi Murakami</a>.</p>
<p>In Japan — informed by Shinto beliefs around notions of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/animism">animism</a> — a soul (“<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reikon"><em>reikon</em></a>”) lives within all existence and phenomena. Everyday things — from objects to plants to mountains — can be defined as “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami"><em>kami</em></a>” or deities. </p>
<p>This connection between the natural and spiritual worlds creates a complex understanding and respect for the everyday. Cups can be vessels for long lost ancestors. Would you throw out a cup if it could contain the spirit of your long lost grandmother? </p>
<p>Indeed, both personal and global lessons can be learnt from the animism appreciation of the environment in the face of current <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene">Anthropocene</a> challenges. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fuyuko Matsui’s The parasite will not abandon the body (Ōsei wa karada o saranai), 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Powerful spirits</h2>
<p>The Japan supernatural exhibition begins from the <a href="https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2128.html">Edo Period</a> (1603–1868) and spans three centuries to contemporary manifestations. Stories highlighting the enduring power of the supernatural to understand the limits and potential of humanity are included. </p>
<p>Concepts such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%8Dkai"><em>yōkai</em></a> — which in English translates roughly to monsters, goblins, demons and spirits — often take the form of everyday animals or objects. The prolific and prescient work of Sekien’s 18th century prints and books gives <em>yōkai</em> a creolised character face that manages to inspire both delight and fear. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detail from Toriyama Sekien’s Night procession of the hundred demons (1776)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Japan, the <em>yōkai</em> have long been deployed in art and culture as a way to reflect upon morality and mortality. As anthropologist <a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8979097">Komatsu Kazuhiko</a> notes in the exhibition catalogue, the <em>yōkai</em> has gained long overdue scholarly attention in recent decades. </p>
<p>“Japan’s <em>yōkai</em> culture is extraordinarily rich,” he writes. “One aspect of <em>yōkai</em> culture relates to religious and spiritual history, another to the arts, including literature, the visual arts, theatre and popular entertainment”.</p>
<p>Japanese supernatural forms frequently change and transform. Only some of these transformative concepts translate into English: <em>bakemono</em> means “changing thing”, <em>mononoke</em> means “things that transform”, and <em>yurei</em> is the Japanese word for ghosts. </p>
<p>Yet art can unlock different cultural perceptions and understandings of otherworldly shapeshifters that go beyond language. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Takashi Murakami’s grand scale painting: Vertiginous After Staring at the Empty World Too Intensely, I Found Myself Trapped in the Realm of Lurking Ghosts and Monsters (2019).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Kaikai Kiki/Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fluid histories</h2>
<p>The haunting presence of the spectral across the centuries creates and curates a different sense of time throughout this exhibition. </p>
<p>The work of Seiken can be found in director Isao Takahata’s woodblocks for the 1994 Studio Ghibli animation <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110008/">Pom Pok</a>. And the exhibition includes key masters of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-e">Ukiyo-e Period</a> from the 17th to 19th century, such as Katsushika Hokusai who is famous for the timeless print <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434">The Great Wave</a>. </p>
<p>The supernatural in Japan is all-pervasive, playing out in curious ways. For instance, <a href="https://scholars.duke.edu/person/anne.allison">anthropologist Anne Allison</a> has been exploring the emerging Shinto-inspired death industries in Japan.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Regeneration of a breached thought (2012) by Fuyuko Matsui.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Funerals and cemeteries for people without families are emerging. Elderly Japanese people are meeting the strangers they will be buried near — some moving across Tokyo to live with their “<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/japanese-make-friends-for-life-and-death/news-story/fa9a35ebb6a40b86efa7c06f8ab64d24">grave friends</a>” in this lifetime.</p>
<p>This continuity with life, death and afterlife could teach us plenty about the supernatural in our everyday lives; how to better understand one another, the environment around us, and perhaps even to comprehend the incomprehensible. </p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/supernatural/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInvqIrpe25QIVhBuPCh0rxgEVEAAYASAAEgLby_D_BwE">Japan supernatural</a> runs 2 November to 8 March at the Art Gallery of NSW.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Larissa Hjorth receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>A new exhibition surveys the haunting Japanese traditions and beliefs that connect the supernatural with the everyday.Larissa Hjorth, Professor of Mobile Media and Games. Director of the Design & Creative Practice Platform., RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1231322019-10-24T11:50:16Z2019-10-24T11:50:16ZWhen Halloween became America’s most dangerous holiday<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294450/original/file-20190926-51425-1bq8ynj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Halloween can also be a time of expression of cultural and social anxieties.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Hollywood-Halloween-Parade/c585c99599264bcd90e9ce19347ab6f0/132/0">AP Photo/Richard Vogel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The unquiet spirits, vampires and the omnipresent zombies that <a href="https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/halloween-spending-reach-9-billion">take over</a> American streets every October 31 may think Halloween is all about spooky fun. But what Halloween masqueraders may not realize is that in the early 1970s and well into the next decade, real fear took over.</p>
<p>The media, police departments and politicians began to tell a new kind of Halloween horror story – about poisoned candy. </p>
<p>No actual events explained this fear: It was driven by social and cultural anxieties. And there is a lesson in that about the power of rumors on this day of dark fantasy.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TLCzaYxTk1U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<h2>Poison candy fear</h2>
<p>The Halloween candy scare began in 1970. An op-ed on Oct. 28, 1970, in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/28/archives/those-treats-may-be-tricks.html">The New York Times</a> suggested the possibility of strangers using Halloween’s “trick-or treat” tradition to poison children.</p>
<p>The editorial mentioned two unconfirmed incidents in upstate New York and offered a series of frightening rhetorical questions. The author, Judy Klemesrud, wondered, for example, if that “plump red apple” from the “kindly old lady down the block…may have a razor blade hidden inside.” </p>
<p>Some readers accepted her questions as definitive fact.</p>
<p>Two days later, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/10/archives/boy-5-who-died-of-heroin-may-have-taken-a-capsule.html">a five-year-old child died on Halloween</a> in Detroit after consuming heroin. Early media reports of his death cited his uncle’s claim that he had been exposed to the drug in tainted holiday treats. </p>
<p>By mid-November 1970, newspaper reportage showed that the child had in fact found the heroin at his uncle’s home – not in his bag of Halloween candy, as investigators had at first been told. </p>
<p>But on Oct. 31, 1974, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/29/archives/wife-a-takes-stand-at-husbands-trial-in-sons-poisoning.html">another child died</a> in Houston. This time, the death was a result of eating poisoned candy: The child’s father had murdered his own son by placing cyanide in a pixie stick.</p>
<p>This story of the Houston “candyman killer” quickly metastasized. Though it had no evidence, Newsweek magazine <a href="https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article-abstract/32/5/488/1640225?redirectedFrom=PDF">asserted</a> in a 1975 article that “over the past several years, several children have died and hundreds have narrowly escaped injury from razor blades, sewing needles and shards of glass put into their goodies by adults.” </p>
<p>By the 1980s, some communities <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/31/nyregion/new-warnings-of-tainted-candy-heighten-worries-over-halloween.html">banned</a> “trick-or-treating” while hospitals in some metropolitan areas offered to X-ray Halloween candy. Parent-teacher associations encouraged fall festivals to replace Halloween, and on Long Island a community group gave prizes to children who stayed home altogether for Halloween 1982. </p>
<p>In 1982 the governor of New Jersey <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/31/nyregion/new-warnings-of-tainted-candy-heighten-worries-over-halloween.html">signed a bill</a> requiring a jail term for those tampering with candy. </p>
<p>Worries of parents and community leaders drove the fear. In a popular nationally syndicated newspaper advice column called “Ask Ann Landers,” Landers warned in 1983 of “<a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=896&dat=19951031&id=8CUOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=k30DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6927,4432593">twisted strangers</a>” who had been “putting razor blades and poison in taffy apples and other Halloween candy.” </p>
<h2>Social tensions and fear</h2>
<p>However, a comprehensive 1985 study of the of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article-abstract/32/5/488/1640225?redirectedFrom=PDF">30 years of alleged poisoning</a> did not find even a single confirmed incident of a child’s death, or even serious injury. </p>
<p>Sociologist <a href="https://www.joelbest.net/">Joel Best</a> at the University of Delaware, who led the study, called it an “urban legend.” Most reports of poisoned Halloween candy that appeared in print were editorials written by authoritative voices in politics and media rather than actual events. However, police all over the country <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1982/10/31/259232.html?pageNumber=45">urged parents</a> to accompany their children while trick-or-treating. In 1982, annual Halloween festivities at the governor’s mansion in Hartford, Connecticut were canceled.</p>
<p>Why did a series of rumors, very loosely based on a a small number of tragic crimes, convince so many people in authority and led to such panic? </p>
<p>In his book “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393951691">The Vanishing Hitchhiker</a>,” folklorist <a href="http://people.westminstercollege.edu/faculty/dstanley/folklore/FINAL%20FINAL%20Docs/fiu12thursby.htm">Jan Harold Brunvand</a> argues that while urban legends may be grounded in actual incidents, they often come to stand in for real-world fears. </p>
<p>In the case of poisoned candy, my own <a href="https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481308823/">research into American politics and horror tales</a> suggests that those fears might have been driven in part by the multitude of problems facing the United States at the time. The years from 1970 to 1975 were marked by cultural upheaval, both domestic and geopolitical. </p>
<p>In 1974, President Richard Nixon <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/part3.html">resigned</a> following the Watergate scandal. The scandal exposed the abuse of power and a criminal cover-up under his administration.</p>
<p>Americans had much more to worry about than Watergate in the mid-1970s. Scholar of the Vietnam era <a href="https://www.umass.edu/history/member/christian-appy">Christian G. Appy</a>, in his 2015 book “American Reckoning,” <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/307777/american-reckoning-by-christian-g-appy/9780143128342/">described the era</a> as one in which defeat in Vietnam combined with “stagnant economic growth and soaring inflation” caused many Americans to see the country itself as “a victim of forces beyond its control.” This sense of victimization drove the sense that American society had become deeply unsafe.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294451/original/file-20190926-51425-1569lqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294451/original/file-20190926-51425-1569lqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294451/original/file-20190926-51425-1569lqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294451/original/file-20190926-51425-1569lqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294451/original/file-20190926-51425-1569lqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294451/original/file-20190926-51425-1569lqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294451/original/file-20190926-51425-1569lqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young people in the streets of Harvard Square, with one of them wearing a President Nixon mask, after he resigned.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Nixon-Resignation-Reaction/f4a75ebddfd54c21b4eb8fcbe76c4d0f/6/0">AP Photo/Peter Bregg</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All the social change in the 1970s fed the creation of urban legends, argues sociologist <a href="https://secularhumanism.org/authors/jeffrey-s-victor/">Jefferey S. Victor</a>. A brutal story about strangers with poison candy seemed <a href="https://rowman.com/isbn/9780742561724/satan-in-america-the-devil-we-know">a preferable national fantasy to historical reality in the 1970s and 1980s</a>. </p>
<p>Horror at the state of the world can take the form of parody or simple scary stories. Americans had become so <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Invisible-Bridge/Rick-Perlstein/9781476782423">disenchanted</a>, according to the journalist and historian <a href="https://www.rickperlstein.net/">Rick Perlstein</a>, that bleak and frightening films such as 1974’s “The Exorcist” captured the national mood. </p>
<p>The false case of the poisoned candy legend is another way that American fears manifested: as an easily understood threat to innocence. </p>
<p>Scholar <a href="http://www.monstershow.net/">David J. Skal</a> in his book, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Death_Makes_a_Holiday.html?id=Aip2HAAACAAJ">Death Makes a Holiday</a>,” argues Halloween, throughout its history, has provided a moment for people to unleash their political and cultural fears. As an example, Skal notes, Richard Nixon became the first president satirized by a rubber Halloween mask in the autumn of 1974, just two months after his resignation. </p>
<h2>Fears today</h2>
<p>Today a majority of Americans, of all ages, see Halloween as an opportunity to celebrate excess, <a href="https://vinepair.com/articles/halloween-drinking-holiday/">a kind of a dark Mardi Gras</a>. </p>
<p>But some Christian churches, especially those attended by conservative evangelicals, continue to declare a kind of “<a href="https://www.christianexaminer.com/article/evangelicals-deeply-divided-on-celebrating-halloween-new-poll-says/49702.htm">war on Halloween</a>” every year. Many evangelicals, in their own description, see the holiday <a href="https://www.christiantoday.com/article/five-things-evangelicals-get-wrong-about-halloween/42290.htm">as a celebration of the occult</a>, often viewed in their religious worldview as connected to a very literal Satan.</p>
<p>Halloween, with its association with the powers of darkness, can allow many legends to flourish – tales of dangerous outsiders, poisoned candy and other alleged threats to American life. </p>
<p>Social media <a href="https://theconversation.com/misinformation-on-social-media-can-technology-save-us-69264">may serve that role</a> the rest of the year. But on Halloween, dark rumors may actually knock at the door.</p>
<p>[ <em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>W. Scott Poole is the author "Wasteland: The Great War and the Origin of Modern Horror."</span></em></p>In the early 1970s, rumors about poisoned candy on Halloween led to mass paranoia. A historian explains why such fears emerge – and what, in reality, feeds them.W. Scott Poole, Professor of History, College of CharlestonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1043852018-10-26T10:41:33Z2018-10-26T10:41:33ZWhy believing in ghosts can make you a better person<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242303/original/file-20181025-71042-1y7aoaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Halloween ghost.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/102002427@N06/9798286186/in/photolist-fVQM7J-aAnnud-h9pXaJ-gZLHDg-7c2pRU-dQpZDX-pTdtLZ-8KjnF3-78GuJh-pwrGua-7QmgpT-7aNobh-dxzRn2-dPAmhV-dndc9Q-av929j-CQUbnm-YW1yQS-8Q9TxM-oSzcHR-iiPg8-aAT3vE-8DV9dn-5y3Qjr-pH9A2d-p6H5Ap-dMVXGk-49f7MP-gpqqEi-9yrn4A-64JyA-ZWbKjX-5yaTtb-3LcPH9-auJyLc-zyMcyi-5yq6jk-hdDSDL-pGfno1-5wSV8E-8Q9TD2-DjeHAy-8Pq3Wo-NhfHfJ-5ooHXe-8NZCd5-2bexLBf-4hEvTA-21rXTLx-8YBiXk">Werner Reischel/Flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Halloween is a time when ghosts and spooky decorations are on public display, reminding us of the realm of the dead. But could they also be instructing us in important lessons on how to lead moral lives?</p>
<h2>Roots of Halloween</h2>
<p>The origins of <a href="https://theconversation.com/tricking-and-treating-has-a-history-85720">modern-day Halloween</a> go back to “samhain,” a Celtic celebration for the beginning of the dark half of the year when, it was widely believed, the realm between the living and the dead overlapped and ghosts could be commonly encountered. </p>
<p>In 601 A.D., to help his drive to Christianize northern Europe, Pope Gregory I directed missionaries <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1499461">not to stop pagan celebrations</a>, but rather to Christianize them. </p>
<p>Accordingly, over time, the celebrations of samhain became All Souls’ Day and All Saint’s Day, when speaking with the dead was considered religiously appropriate. All Saint’s Day was also known as All Hallows’ Day and the night before became All Hallows’ Evening, or <a href="https://www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween-santino.html">“Hallowe’en.”</a> </p>
<h2>Christian ghosts</h2>
<p>Not only did the pagan beliefs around spirits of the dead continue, but they also became part of many of early church practices.</p>
<p>Pope Gregory I himself <a href="http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/gregory_04_dialogues_book4.htm#C7">suggested that people seeing ghosts should say masses</a> for them. The dead, in this view, might require help from the living to make their journey towards Heaven.</p>
<p>During the Middle Ages, beliefs around souls trapped in purgatory led to the church’s increasing practice of selling indulgences – payments to the church to reduce penalties for sins. The <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo3619514.html">widespread belief in ghosts</a> turned the sale of indulgences into a lucrative practice for the church.</p>
<p>It was such beliefs that contributed to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-the-reformations-500th-anniversary-remembering-martin-luthers-contribution-to-literacy-77540">Reformation</a>, the division of Christianity into Protestantism and Catholicism led by German theologian Martin Luther. Indeed, Luther’s “95 Theses,” that he nailed to the All Saints Church in Wittenburg on Oct. 31, 1517, was largely a protest against the selling of indulgences.</p>
<p>Subsequently, ghosts became identified with “Catholic superstitions” in Protestant countries. </p>
<p>Debates, however, continued about the existence of ghosts and people increasingly <a href="http://literarylondon.org/london-journal/springautumn2015/gaston.pdf">turned to science</a> to deal with the issue. By the 19th century, Spiritualism, a new movement which claimed that the dead could converse with the living, was fast becoming mainstream, and featured popular techniques such as seances, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-ouija-board-got-its-sinister-reputation-66971">ouija board</a>, spirit photography and the like. </p>
<p>Although Spiritualism faded in cultural importance after World War I, many of its approaches <a href="https://academic.oup.com/socrel/article/76/4/389/2461450">can be seen in the “ghost hunters” of today,</a> who often seek to prove the existence of ghosts using scientific techniques.</p>
<h2>A wide, wide world of ghosts</h2>
<p>These beliefs are not just part of the Christian world. Most, <a href="http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/picks-from-the-past/12476/shakespeare-in-the-bush">although not all</a>, societies have a concept of “ghosts.” In Taiwan, for example, about <a href="https://ir.nctu.edu.tw/bitstream/11536/56767/2/180402.pdf">90 percent people report seeing ghosts</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242305/original/file-20181025-71038-1314qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242305/original/file-20181025-71038-1314qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242305/original/file-20181025-71038-1314qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242305/original/file-20181025-71038-1314qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242305/original/file-20181025-71038-1314qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242305/original/file-20181025-71038-1314qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242305/original/file-20181025-71038-1314qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An elaborate model house is being guided into the ocean as an offering to wandering ghosts during the beginning of the Ghost Month Festival in Taiwan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Taiwan-Ghost-Month/8553fc9a5228468db5ffc4efa5e438a9/6/0">AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Along with many Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, China and Vietnam, Taiwan celebrates a <a href="https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/45141/thesisTracyLeeb5DEZEGEBRUIKEN.pdf?sequence=1">“Ghost Month,” which includes a central “Ghost Day,”</a> when ghosts are believed to freely roam the world of the living. These festivals and beliefs are often tied to the Buddhist story of the <a href="http://www.buddhasutra.com/files/avalambana_sutra.htm">Urabon Sutra</a>, where Buddha instructs a young priest on how to help his mother whom he sees suffering as a “hungry ghost.” </p>
<p>As in many traditions, Taiwanese ghosts are seen either as “friendly” or “unfriendly.” The “friendly” ghosts are commonly ancestral or familial and welcomed into the home during the ghost festival. The “unfriendly” ghosts are those angry or “hungry” ghosts that haunt the living.</p>
<h2>Role of ghosts in our lives</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=prZyKrMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar who has studied</a> and taught ghost stories for many years, I have found that ghosts generally haunt for good reasons. These could range from unsolved murders, lack of proper funerals, forced suicides, preventable tragedies and other ethical failures. </p>
<p>Ghosts, in this light, are often found seeking justice from beyond the grave. They could make such demands from individuals, or from societies as a whole. For example, in the U.S., sightings have been reported of African-American slaves and murdered Native Americans. Scholar <a href="https://cdp.binghamton.edu/english/faculty/profile.html?id=ltucker">Elizabeth Tucker</a> details many of these <a href="http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1083">reported sightings on university campuses</a>, often tied in with sordid aspects of the campus’s past.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242301/original/file-20181025-71020-23fv1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242301/original/file-20181025-71020-23fv1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242301/original/file-20181025-71020-23fv1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242301/original/file-20181025-71020-23fv1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242301/original/file-20181025-71020-23fv1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242301/original/file-20181025-71020-23fv1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242301/original/file-20181025-71020-23fv1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ghost dance on Halloween.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/traderchris/5134719031/in/photolist-8PJM5t-oLfYWR-an84p5-3L8u74-2bHTfSe-h834iW-dNMiKR-fETUh7-doGftq-zbfBpi-aAAJL9-fVQM7J-aAnnud-h9pXaJ-gZLHDg-7c2pRU-dQpZDX-pTdtLZ-8KjnF3-78GuJh-pwrGua-7QmgpT-7aNobh-dxzRn2-dPAmhV-dndc9Q-av929j-CQUbnm-YW1yQS-8Q9TxM-oSzcHR-iiPg8-aAT3vE-8DV9dn-5y3Qjr-pH9A2d-p6H5Ap-dMVXGk-49f7MP-gpqqEi-9yrn4A-64JyA-ZWbKjX-5yaTtb-3LcPH9-auJyLc-zyMcyi-5yq6jk-hdDSDL-pGfno1">Chris Jepsen/Flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this way, ghosts reveal the shadow side of ethics. Their sightings are often a reminder that ethics and morality transcend our lives and that ethical lapses can carry a heavy spiritual burden.</p>
<p>Yet ghost stories are also hopeful. In suggesting a life after death, they offer a chance to be in contact with those that have passed and therefore a chance for redemption – a way to atone for past wrongs. </p>
<p>This Halloween, along with the shrieks and shtick, you may want to take a few minutes to appreciate the role of ghosts in our haunted pasts and how they guide us to lead moral and ethical lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104385/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tok Thompson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghost stories are often about the departed seeking justice for an earthly wrong. Their sightings are a reminder that ethics and morality transcend our lives.Tok Thompson, Associate Professor of Teaching, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/935342018-06-20T08:26:16Z2018-06-20T08:26:16ZWhat lies behind ghosts, demons and aliens – according to sleep researchers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223618/original/file-20180618-85845-15vgp4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Captblack76/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you believe in the paranormal you might not be surprised if you hear stories of deceased loved ones appearing during the night, huge explosions heard just as someone is drifting off with no obvious cause, and other peculiar occurrences. But what if you don’t?</p>
<p>My interest in the paranormal started with an impromptu coffee with a colleague, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/christopher-french-168769">Chris French</a>, who researches reports of paranormal experiences. He told me stories of countless people who had recounted such events. These experiences tended to start while lying in bed. Then something unusual would happen – perhaps a demon would appear or the environment would seem strange or there would be a sensed presence. The person having this experience might also report being glued to their mattress, tarmacked into the bed, totally unable to move. </p>
<p>It’s unsurprising that people who experience such things might interpret them as paranormal. But certain phenomena such as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sleep-paralysis-9780199313808?q=brian%20sharpless&lang=en&cc=us">sleep paralysis</a> provide an alternative to paranormal explanations for such occurrences. Hence my interest in the subject, as a sleep researcher. </p>
<h2>Sleep paralysis</h2>
<p>When we sleep, we cycle through different stages. We start the night in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep – which gets progressively deeper. We then cycle back until we hit rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. During REM sleep we are most likely to have vivid dreams. At this stage we are also paralysed, perhaps as a safety mechanism to stop us acting out our dreams so that we don’t end up attempting to fly. </p>
<p>But during sleep paralysis, features of REM sleep continue into waking life. Those who experience it will feel awake yet might experience dream-like hallucinations and struggle to move. This experience is pretty common, occurring in around 8% of people (although <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1087079211000098?via%3Dihub">estimates vary dramatically</a> depending on who we are asking). It’s even possible to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1621022">induce sleep paralysis</a> in some people, by disrupting their sleep in specific ways.</p>
<p>Certain researchers, French among them, believe that this explains a huge number of paranormal accounts. Information about sleep paralysis is finally seeping into <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/kendall-jenner-sleep-paralysis_us_580a2833e4b0cdea3d86e413">public awareness</a>, but we now need to understand more about this common complaint. </p>
<p>Our preliminary work, which I recount in my new book <a href="https://bloomsbury.com/uk/nodding-off-9781472946188/">Nodding Off: The science of sleep from cradle to grave</a>, hints at possible <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsr.12282">genetic and environmental explanations</a> for why some people are more likely than others to experience sleep paralysis. This now needs to be replicated using much larger samples. Reviewing the literature, we have also highlighted a host of other <a href="http://www.smrv-journal.com/article/S1087-0792(17)30112-0/abstract">variables associated with this common experience</a>, including stress, trauma, psychiatric difficulties and physical illnesses. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223620/original/file-20180618-85854-xl2b58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223620/original/file-20180618-85854-xl2b58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223620/original/file-20180618-85854-xl2b58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223620/original/file-20180618-85854-xl2b58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223620/original/file-20180618-85854-xl2b58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223620/original/file-20180618-85854-xl2b58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223620/original/file-20180618-85854-xl2b58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The worst dreams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/afraid-young-woman-hiding-white-blanket-106535048?src=oHbLZiN9CMU_8X-qIuLZiw-1-23">Creativa Images/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Exploding head syndrome</h2>
<p>Sleep paralysis aside, how else are sleep researchers helping to explain paranormal experiences? People sometimes describe experiencing huge explosions during the night which simply can’t be explained. There is no sign that a shelf has fallen down or a car has backfired. There is no one playing the electric guitar next to their head. </p>
<p>Again, this can be linked to our sleep - this time explained by “<a href="http://www.smrv-journal.com/article/S1087-0792(14)00022-7/abstract">exploding head syndrome</a>”, a term <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673688925512?via%3Dihub">coined relatively recently</a> by the neurologist JMS Pearce. When we fall asleep, the reticular formation of the brainstem (a part of our brain involved in consciousness) typically starts to inhibit our ability to move, see and hear things. When we experience a “bang” in our sleep this might be because of a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-2982.2007.01522.x">delay in this process</a>. Instead of the reticular formation shutting down the auditory neurons, they might fire at once. </p>
<p>As with sleep paralysis, this phenomenon is also under-researched. For this very reason, in 2017 my colleagues and I joined forces with <a href="http://www.sciencefocus.com/article/mind/qa-sleep-paralysis-and-exploding-head-syndrome">BBC Focus</a> and <a href="http://briansharpless.com/index.html">Brian Sharpless</a>, a leading expert on this phenomenon, to collect data on this topic. </p>
<h2>Imps and ghouls</h2>
<p>Finally, what might scientists make of precognitive dreams? We might dream of a friend we haven’t seen for years only to have them call us the very next day. French thinks science can provide an explanation for this too. Referencing work by John Allen Paulos that focuses on probabilities, <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.117.8727&rep=rep1&type=pdf">he explains</a> how such an occurrence may be surprising on any single day, but over time, quite likely to occur. </p>
<p>Researching my book, I spoke to Mrs Sinclair, who is 70, and lives alone. She told me about what she had thought was a ghost living in her house, an imp throttling her during the night and other things that had left her petrified. Having scientific explanations provided her with immense comfort and she no longer believes in paranormal explanations for the things that she experienced. </p>
<p>Our hope is that scientific explanations of paranormal experiences might help others by lowering anxiety. Decreasing anxiety has also been <a href="http://www.smrv-journal.com/article/S1087-0792(17)30112-0/pdf">hypothesised</a> as a potential method by which to reduce sleep paralysis. So, perhaps providing more information about these unusual experiences might even mean that things are less likely to go bump in the night.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alice M. Gregory is Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her book Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave, on which this article is based, was published by Bloomsbury in June, 2018. She has provided guidance and educational content for babysleep.com, a website partially supported by Johnson and Johnson, who do not have any influence over content and do not advertise on it. She has previously received funding to support her work from multiple sources including the MRC, ESRC, Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy. </span></em></p>Sleep paralysis and exploding head syndrome can help explain things that go bump in the night.Alice M Gregory, Professor of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/858812017-10-30T01:53:11Z2017-10-30T01:53:11ZHow the dead danced with the living in medieval society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192267/original/file-20171027-13327-i15iaw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Detail of figures from the Dance Macabre, Meslay-le-Grenet, from late 15th-century France. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ashby Kinch</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the <a href="https://theconversation.com/little-known-facts-about-how-halloween-came-to-be-85720">Halloween season</a>, American culture briefly participates in an ancient tradition of making the world of the dead visible to the living: Children dress as skeletons, teens go to horror movies and adults play the part of ghosts in haunted houses. </p>
<p>But what if the dead played a more active, more participatory role in our daily lives? </p>
<p>It might appear to be a strange question, but as a <a href="http://www.brill.com/imago-mortis">scholar of late medieval literature and art</a>, I have found compelling evidence from our past that shows how the dead were well-integrated into people’s sense of community. </p>
<h2>Ancient practices</h2>
<p>In the medieval period, the dead were considered simply <a href="http://www.brill.com/product/out-of-print/pursuit-holiness-late-medieval-and-renaissance-religion">another age group</a>. The blessed dead who were consecrated as saints <a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100748630">became part of daily ritual life</a> and were expected to intervene to support the community. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192261/original/file-20171027-13311-ucakac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192261/original/file-20171027-13311-ucakac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192261/original/file-20171027-13311-ucakac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192261/original/file-20171027-13311-ucakac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192261/original/file-20171027-13311-ucakac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1036&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192261/original/file-20171027-13311-ucakac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1036&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192261/original/file-20171027-13311-ucakac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1036&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A funeral mass, with mourners, from a Book of Hours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=58982">The British Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Families offered commemorative prayers to their ancestors, whose names were written in <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Time_Sanctified.html?id=iK4TAQAAIAAJ">“Books of Hours,”</a> prayer books that guided daily devotion at home. These books included a prayer cycle known as the “Office of the Dead,” which family members could perform to limit the suffering of loved ones after death. </p>
<p>Medieval culture also had its <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo3619514.html">ghosts</a>, which were closely linked with the theological debate concerning purgatory, the space between heaven and hell, where the dead suffered but could be relieved by the prayers of the living. Folk traditions of the dead visiting the living as ghosts were thus explained as <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Birth_of_Purgatory.html?id=4dzynjFfX7kC">souls pleading</a> for the prayerful devotion of the living. </p>
<h2>When, how practices changed</h2>
<p>The Reformation in Europe <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300108286/stripping-altars">radically changed</a> this cultural interface with the dead. In particular, the idea of a purgatory was rejected by Protestant theologians. </p>
<p>While ghosts persisted in folk stories and literature, the dead were pushed from the center of religious life. In England, these changes were intensified in the period after <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=eamon+duffy+stripping+of+the+altars&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8">Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church</a> in the 1530s. Thereafter, the veneration of saints and commemorative prayers associated with purgatory were banned. </p>
<p>The dead were also removed from view in more literal ways: Reformation iconoclasts, who wished to purge churches of any association with Catholic practices, “whitewashed” hundreds of church interiors to cover the bold, colorful murals that decorated the medieval parish churches. </p>
<p>One of the more popular mural subjects that I have studied for many years was the <a href="http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503530635-1">Dance of Death</a>: over 100 mural paintings of the theme, as well as dozens of manuscript illuminations, have been identified in England, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192291/original/file-20171027-13378-u5naw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192291/original/file-20171027-13378-u5naw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=138&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192291/original/file-20171027-13378-u5naw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=138&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192291/original/file-20171027-13378-u5naw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=138&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192291/original/file-20171027-13378-u5naw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=174&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192291/original/file-20171027-13378-u5naw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=174&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192291/original/file-20171027-13378-u5naw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=174&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bernt Notke, Danse Macabre, Tallinn, Estonia (late 15th century).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABernt_Notke_Danse_Macabre.jpg">Bernt Notke, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A powerful metaphor</h2>
<p>Dance of Death murals typically depicted decaying corpses dancing amid representative figures of late medieval society, ranked highest to lowest: a pope, an emperor, a bishop, a king, a cardinal, a knight and down to a beggar, all ambling diffidently toward their mortal end while the corpses frolic with lithe movements and gestures. </p>
<p>The visual alternation between dead and living created a rhythm of animation and stillness, of white and color, of life and death, evocative of fundamental human culture, <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo3617929.html">founded on this interplay between the living and the dead</a>. </p>
<p>When modern viewers see images like the Dance of Death, they <a href="http://www.dodedans.com/Epest.htm">might associate them</a> with certain well-known but frequently misunderstood cataclysms of the European Middle Ages, like the terrible plague that swept through England and came to be known as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/black_01.shtml">Black Death</a>. </p>
<p>My research on these images, however, reveals a more subtle and nuanced attitude toward death, beginning with the evident beauty of the murals themselves, which <a href="http://www.brill.com/imago-mortis">endow the theme with color and vitality</a>. </p>
<p>The image of group dance powerfully evokes the grace and fluidity of a community’s cohesion, symbolized by the linking of hands and bodies in a chain that crosses the barrier between life and death. Dance was a powerful metaphor in medieval culture. The Dance of Death may be responding to medieval folk practices, when people came at night to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=_fV8xR5n4K8C&q=55#v=snippet&q=55&f=false">dance in churchyards</a>, and perhaps to the “dancing mania” recorded in the <a href="http://history-world.org/Dancing%20In%20The%20Middle%20Ages.htm">late 14th century</a>, when people danced furiously until they fell to the ground. But images of dance also provoked a viewer to participate in a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/2105555/The_danse_macabre_and_the_medieval_community_of_death">“virtual” experience</a> of a community. It <a href="https://www.academia.edu/9523393/_Danse_macabre_and_the_Virtual_Churchyard">depicted</a> a society collectively facing up to human mortality. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192290/original/file-20171027-13311-zczjjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192290/original/file-20171027-13311-zczjjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192290/original/file-20171027-13311-zczjjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192290/original/file-20171027-13311-zczjjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192290/original/file-20171027-13311-zczjjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192290/original/file-20171027-13311-zczjjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192290/original/file-20171027-13311-zczjjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mural of the Danse Macabre from the parish church of Kermaria-en-Isquit, France (late 15th century).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/KERMARIA-AN-ISQUIT_danse_macabre_5.jpg">Fil22plm, via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A healthy community</h2>
<p>In analyzing the murals in their broader social context, I found that for medieval cultures, dying was a “transition,” not a rupture, that moved people from the community of the living to the dead in stages. </p>
<p>It was part of a larger spiritual drama that <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/4744/the-hour-of-our-death-by-philipe-aries-translated-from-the-french-by-helen-weaver/9780394751566/">encompassed the family and the broader community</a>.
During the dying process, people gathered in groups to aid in a successful transition by offering supportive prayer. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192270/original/file-20171027-13298-eac5o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192270/original/file-20171027-13298-eac5o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192270/original/file-20171027-13298-eac5o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192270/original/file-20171027-13298-eac5o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192270/original/file-20171027-13298-eac5o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192270/original/file-20171027-13298-eac5o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192270/original/file-20171027-13298-eac5o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scenes of dying, a funeral mass, sewing the shroud, burial and comfort of the widow. In the lower margin, a group of nobles confronts a symbolic figure of death, riding a unicorn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=10968">The British Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After death, groups prepared the corpse, sewed its shroud and transported the body to a church and then to a cemetery, where the broader community would participate in the rituals. These activities required a high degree of social cohesion to function properly. They were the metaphorical equivalent of dancing with the dead. </p>
<p>The Dance of Death murals thus depicted not a morbid or sick culture but a healthy community collectively facing their common destiny, even as they faced the challenge to renew by replacing the dead with the living. </p>
<p>Many of the murals are irretrievably lost. However, modern restoration work has <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/medieval-wall-paintings-in-english-and-welsh-churches.html">managed to recover some of them</a>. Perhaps this conservation work can serve as inspiration to recover an older model of death, dying and grief. </p>
<h2>Acknowledging the work of the dead</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192273/original/file-20171027-13378-bwn8hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192273/original/file-20171027-13378-bwn8hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192273/original/file-20171027-13378-bwn8hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192273/original/file-20171027-13378-bwn8hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192273/original/file-20171027-13378-bwn8hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1193&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192273/original/file-20171027-13378-bwn8hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1193&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192273/original/file-20171027-13378-bwn8hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1193&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Constable, bishop, squire and clerk from the Danse Macabre of the Abbey Church of La Chaise-Dieu, France.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ashby Kinch</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the modern era entire industries have emerged to whisk the dead from view and alter them to look more like the living. Once buried or cremated, the dead play a <a href="http://scalar.usc.edu/works/the-nature-of-death-in-the-united-states/contemporary-mainstream-american-deathways">much smaller role</a> in our social lives. </p>
<p>Could bringing the dead back into a central role in the community offer a healthier perspective on death for contemporary Western cultures? </p>
<p>That process might begin with acknowledging the dead as an ongoing part of our image of community, which is built on the work of the dead who have come before us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashby Kinch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For medieval cultures, the dying process and death itself was a ‘transition,’ not a rupture.Ashby Kinch, Professor of English, University of MontanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/856902017-10-26T12:15:29Z2017-10-26T12:15:29ZEight things you need to know about poltergeists – just in time for Halloween<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192033/original/file-20171026-13367-1aygajk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Halloween is the time of year when interest in the paranormal peaks and people celebrate all things supernatural. Of particular fascination are stories and tales of <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-ghosts-myths-legends-halloween-10348206">ghosts and ghouls and poltergists</a>. </p>
<p>The term poltergeist comes from the <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-poltergeist-2594093">combining of two German words</a>: poltern (crash) and geist (spirit or ghost). So in other words, a noisy or unruly ghost or spirit. Although less common than traditional hauntings, reports of poltergeist activity dates back to the first century. In modern times the phenomenon has generated several <a href="http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/poltergeist.asp">major films</a> and <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/real-life-horror-behind-poltergeist-movie-5742753">television programmes</a>.</p>
<p>So with this in mind, here are the eight most important things you should know about poltergeists.</p>
<h2>1. Parapsychologists can’t agree on what they are</h2>
<p>Some parapsychologists view poltergeists as a type of ghost or supernatural entity which are responsible for psychological and physical disturbance. Others believe that such activity originates from “unknown energy” associated with a living person or a location. Sceptics, on the other hand, prefer mundane explanations such as attention seeking, pranks and trickery. </p>
<h2>2. Poltergeists tend to prefer women to men</h2>
<p>A person-focused poltergeist tends to (but not always) involve a female adolescent who is suffering from emotional turmoil <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist">when the activity begins</a>. That said however, not all so called “focal agents” are teenagers. Indeed, <a href="https://wiki2.org/en/William_G._Roll">William G. Roll</a>, a pioneer in poltergeist research, found the age of people reporting experiences of poltergeist activity ranged from eight to 78 years. </p>
<h2>3. Some of the best poltergeists are thought to be fakes</h2>
<p>In 1967, at a lawyer’s office in <a href="http://hauntedearthghostvideos.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/rosenheim-poltergeist.html">Rosenheim, Germany</a> strange things started to happen in the presence of the 19 year-old secretary Annemarie Schaberl. Paintings and overhead light fittings started swinging, while fluorescent tubes unscrewed themselves and massive spikes in electrical activity occurred. The speaking clock was also called multiple times per minute and furniture was moved. The police, utility company officials, physicists and parapsychologist Hans Bender investigated without explanation. But <a href="https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Rosenheim_Poltergeist">many believe it was a fake</a> – all due to hidden nylon threads – especially given that the incidents stopped when Schaberl left the firm in early 1968. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p1LjrnsH144?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>4. Poltergeists like to mess with your stuff</h2>
<p>Poltergeist activity <a href="https://www.ghostlyactivities.com/5-stages-of-a-poltergeist-haunting/">typically starts with minor isolated incidents</a>. This could include unexplained sounds or familiar objects such as your keys or your phone moving from their usual place. But while <a href="http://livinglibraryblog.com/the-eight-stages-of-a-poltergeist-haunting/">poltergeist activity is typically short-lived</a> – manifestations typically lasting around five months – some cases have persisted for several years. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://chilliwackbcrealestate.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/chilliwack-ghost-story-part-two.html">Chilliwack poltergeist</a> in Canada, for example was active for only two months between 1951 to 1952. During this time the Poltergeist produced loud and violent hammerings on walls accompanied by occasional flying objects. <a href="http://tomruffles.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/the-brother-doli-poltergeist-case.html">The Brother Doli Case,</a> on the other hand, included a range of phenomena – stains, carvings of images and Welsh words, generally of a religious nature – and these persisted for several years.</p>
<h2>5. Experts are still undecided about the Enfield poltergeist</h2>
<p>One of the most famous poltergeist cases to happen in the UK involved <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054842/Enfield-Poltergeist-The-amazing-story-11-year-old-North-London-girl-levitated-bed.html">the Hodgson Family</a>, and their newly occupied council house in Enfield, North London. Between 1977 and 1979 it was the scene of demonic voices, objects moving without explanation, levitation and strange noises. Events focused on the two teenage daughters Margaret and Janet. </p>
<p>Several reliable witnesses observed phenomena – these witnesses included a police constable, a press photographer and investigators from the Society for Psychical. While investigators did discover some <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/five-reasons-why-londons-most-famous-poltergeist-case-is-a-hoax-061616">evidence of pranks and fakery</a>, it was believed that many of the poltergeist incidents were genuine. </p>
<h2>6. Some believe that emotional stress can cause activity</h2>
<p>Some ghost hunters and paranormals propose that poltergeists are actually the emotions of troubled individuals – built up during times of stress.
This theory, known as <a href="http://www.paranormalman.com/p/the-merriam-webster-dictionary-defines.html">Spontaneous Recurring Psychokinesis</a> suggests that this built-up stress then unconsciously projects outwards in the form of mental energy, which effects the physical environment and produces the phenomena attributed to poltergeists. But there is little evidence to support this notion.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192034/original/file-20171026-13319-wmsdut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192034/original/file-20171026-13319-wmsdut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192034/original/file-20171026-13319-wmsdut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192034/original/file-20171026-13319-wmsdut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192034/original/file-20171026-13319-wmsdut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192034/original/file-20171026-13319-wmsdut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192034/original/file-20171026-13319-wmsdut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What’s that on the stairs?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>7. Others believe they are spirits of the dead</h2>
<p>Many people believe that spirits of the dead are responsible for poltergeist activity. This is said to be because people who experience them perceive an underlying intelligence and meaningful communication with an otherworldly being. This view proposes that a disembodied consciousness – or soul – <a href="https://tunsasays.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/the-survival-hypothesis-a-very-brief-discussion/">survives bodily death</a>. But again, there also isn’t any compelling scientific evidence to support this view either.</p>
<h2>8. But sceptics put a lot of it down to misinterpretation</h2>
<p>Misinterpretation is most likely to occur when people believe a place is haunted and they are looking for evidence to confirm this. In this way, a lot of poltergeist activity can actually be attributed to inaccurate perception of natural phenomenon. Take the case of the women haunted by a ticking clock, it was actually discovered that the noise was <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1989-10504-001">created by a tiny insect</a>. Other cases such as “<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mystery-solved-manchester-museums-spinning-ancient-egyptian-statue-isnt-cursed-8951201.html">the curse of the spinning Egyptian</a>” – an Egyptian statue in a Manchester museum appeared to turn itself during the day – have equally been explained by physical factors such as minor seismic activity, underground streams and even rainfall patterns.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85690/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The truth is out there…or is it?Neil Dagnall, Reader in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityKen Drinkwater, Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Cognitive and Parapsychology, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/841632017-10-25T23:39:53Z2017-10-25T23:39:53ZHow the god you worship influences the ghosts you see<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191237/original/file-20171020-13940-6s4bap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Medieval_ghost.jpg">Gallowglass</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve ever seen a ghost, you have something in common with <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/30/18-of-americans-say-theyve-seen-a-ghost/">18 percent of Americans</a>.</p>
<p>But while there’s evidence that <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/out-the-ooze/201507/why-some-people-see-ghosts-and-other-presences">our brains are hardwired to see ghosts</a>, the apparitions we see tend to vary.</p>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022009408101255">Historians</a> who study and catalogue ghostly encounters across time will tell you that ghosts come in a range of shapes and forms. Some haunt individuals, appearing in dreams or popping up at unexpected times. Others haunt a specific location and are prepared to spook any passersby. Some are the spitting images of what were once real humans. And then there are the noisy and troublesome poltergeists, which appear as uncontrollable supernatural forces instead of people. </p>
<p>What might explain such discrepancies? And are some people more likely to see ghosts than others? It turns out that our religious background could play a role. </p>
<h2>Religion might ease one fear</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16938037">Some argue</a> that religion evolved as a terror management device, a handy way to remove the uncertainty surrounding one of the scariest things we can imagine: death. </p>
<p>Almost every religion offers an explanation for what happens to us after we die, with the assurance that death isn’t the end. And there is, in fact, evidence that very religious people <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-03-24-study-who-least-afraid-death">don’t fear death as much as others</a>.</p>
<p>Protestants, Catholics and Muslims all believe in a day of resurrection and judgment, in which our souls are directed to heaven (<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-jannah-2004340">“Jannah”</a> in the case of Muslims) or hell based upon our good deeds (or misdeeds) during our time spent on Earth. Catholics also believe in a halfway house called purgatory, in which people who aren’t quite worthy of heaven but are too good for hell can pay their dues before getting a ticket to paradise. </p>
<p>Buddhists and Hindus believe in a cycle of death and reincarnation that can eventually result in a permanent spiritual state, provided you play your cards right over each successive lifetime. Even the Jewish faith, which doesn’t really focus on the afterlife, <a href="http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm">assumes that an afterlife does exist</a>. </p>
<p>By following a clear set of rules, worshipers can assert control: They know what they have to do to make good things, rather than bad things, happen to them after they take the big dirt nap.</p>
<h2>Tormented souls and sinister demons</h2>
<p>But there’s a catch.</p>
<p>Religion’s talent for easing our anxiety about death may have had the perverse effect of increasing the likelihood that we’ll be on edge about ghosts, spirits and other supernatural beings. This, however, may depend upon how religious you actually are. </p>
<p><a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9781479815289/">All of the available evidence</a> suggests that those who describe themselves as believers – but who don’t attend church regularly – are twice as likely to believe in ghosts than those at the two extremes of religious belief: nonbelievers and the deeply devout.</p>
<p>With most religions populated by an impressive cadre of prophets, gods, spirits, angels and miracles, the tenets of religious faith <a href="https://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/what-religions-believe-about-ghosts/article_850d08a4-4320-11e3-b610-001a4bcf887a.html">might shape what you see</a>. They could determine whether a visitor from the spirit world is a welcome or unwelcome guest, while also influencing whom you think you’re meeting. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/230943/the-science-of-ghosts-by-joe-nickell/9781616145859/">For example</a>, in Medieval Catholic Europe, ghosts were assumed to be the tormented souls of people suffering for their sins in purgatory. But during the Protestant Reformation, since most Protestants believed that souls went immediately to heaven or hell, paranormal activity was thought to be the work of angels, demons or other decidedly nonhuman supernatural beings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191855/original/file-20171025-25497-1qx5yuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191855/original/file-20171025-25497-1qx5yuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191855/original/file-20171025-25497-1qx5yuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191855/original/file-20171025-25497-1qx5yuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191855/original/file-20171025-25497-1qx5yuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191855/original/file-20171025-25497-1qx5yuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191855/original/file-20171025-25497-1qx5yuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An 1892 lithograph of the Salem Witch Trials.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salem_witch2.jpg">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While most Protestant sects today are largely silent about the existence of ghosts, Catholic theology remains <a href="http://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201309/paranormal-activity-do-catholics-believe-ghosts-27887">amenable to the existence of ghosts</a>. Catholics typically believe that God may permit dead individuals to visit their counterparts on Earth, but the church has traditionally condemned occult activities such as <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/out-the-ooze/201704/communicating-the-dead-mediums-s-ances-ouija-boards">seances</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-ouija-board-got-its-sinister-reputation-66971">Ouija boards</a>.</p>
<p>In some religions, such as Voodoo, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vodou">spirits and ghosts play a central role</a>. Religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism support a belief in ghosts, but ghosts play only a minor role in the religion itself. For <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Kpd9lLY_0-IC">Hindus</a>, ghosts are the souls of individuals who suffered a violent death or of people who were not accorded the appropriate and required death rituals. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hungry_Ghosts_Scroll_Kyoto_1.tif">Buddhist ghosts</a> are reincarnated individuals who may be sorting out bad karma.</p>
<p>Muslims don’t believe that dead people can return as ghosts, so if a Muslim thinks he’s encountered a ghost, <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-4-other-beliefs-and-practices/">it’s thought to be</a> the work of Jinn – beings that contain a mix of spiritual and physical properties, whose intentions can be malevolent or benevolent depending upon the situation. There are several other religions, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, that also believe ghostly apparitions are demons in disguise rather than the souls of deceased people.</p>
<p>Jews typically discourage occult activities designed to contact the dead, and there seems to be <a href="http://jewinthecity.com/2016/07/what-is-the-jewish-view-on-ghosts/">less consensus within Judaism as to the status of ghosts</a>. However, Jewish oral traditions include stories of evil ghosts (<a href="http://jewinthecity.com/2016/07/what-is-the-jewish-view-on-ghosts/">Dybbuks</a>) and kindly, helpful ghosts (<a href="http://jewinthecity.com/2016/07/what-is-the-jewish-view-on-ghosts/">Ibburs</a>) who try to insert themselves in human affairs. </p>
<p>It appears people across eras, religions and cultures have always been curious about a spiritual world that exists behind the curtain of death.</p>
<p>Together, it speaks to how thoughts, fears and visions of death are integral to human life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84163/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank T. McAndrew does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Most religions are populated by an impressive cadre of ghosts, gods, spirits and angels.Frank T. McAndrew, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology, Knox CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/728522017-02-17T07:16:00Z2017-02-17T07:16:00ZThe ghosts of a literary Indian hill-station that haunt the writers of the present<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156842/original/image-20170214-19609-81hl6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The lychgate of the Camel's Back Road Cemetery.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/anne1/15280702594/">Anne_nz/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“All hill-stations have their share of ghost stories” writes journalist <a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/doon-dont/236310">Sheela Reddy</a>. “But the Doon must be the only spot that can boast of so many writers, living and dead, who have turned their home into their muse.”</p>
<p>The Doon is a quiet valley of hamlets in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is home to a nearly 200-year-old English literary tradition and many Victorian styled decaying structures. Of all its little townships, Mussoorie and Landour comprise what is <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/shikha-tripathi-on-the-mussoorie-writers-literary-festival/article7823049.ece">arguably the most fertile literary territory in the country</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/authors-bizmen-stars-idyllic-landour-is-home-to-them/story-09hhhoMJFm6Y9Afp2cYw8H.html">Well-known writers</a> from the valley include the legendary octogenarian author <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/250037">Ruskin Bond</a>; historian <a href="http://niyogibooksindia.com/portfolio-items/ganesh-saili/">Ganesh Saili</a>; Stephen Alter with his <a href="https://www.amazon.com/All-Way-Heaven-American-Himalayas/dp/0140285520">warmhearted recollections</a> of an American boyhood in the Indian hills and intrepid romances; the travel writer and spiritualist <a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/book-review-bill-aitkens-seven-sacred-rivers/1/306467.html">Bill Aitken</a>; and the thespian-turned-essayist <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/1130120/jsp/calcutta/story_16463266.jsp#.WKMt6W997IU">Victor Banerji</a>.</p>
<p>Around the mid-1820s, Mussoorie became of the first sanatorium <a href="http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft396nb1sf&chunk.id=d0e6129&toc.id=&brand=ucpress">in British India</a>. It was established by <a href="http://mussooriegram.com/history-of-mussoorie-captain-frederick-young-east-india-company-1823/">Captain Frederick Young</a>, founder of the Sirmour Rifles regiment, who also <a href="http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/uttarakhand/community/malaria-potatoes-drove-british-to-this-unknown-place/170467.html">sowed the first potato seeds in the valley</a>. </p>
<p>While Rudyard Kipling seemed to be more partial towards <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/india/articles/Rudyard-Kiplings-India/">his beloved Simla</a>, Victorian writers such as Emily Eden, Fanny Parkes, John Lang and Andrew Wilson gave us numerous <a href="http://coldnoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Arup_K_Chatterjee_Mar13.pdf">literary and epistolary writings on Mussoorie</a>. </p>
<p>Most of them became characters in the ever-expanding folklore of the valley. Some turned into the endeared ghosts that are said to haunt the region.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156843/original/image-20170214-19598-a7vsge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156843/original/image-20170214-19598-a7vsge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156843/original/image-20170214-19598-a7vsge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156843/original/image-20170214-19598-a7vsge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156843/original/image-20170214-19598-a7vsge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156843/original/image-20170214-19598-a7vsge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156843/original/image-20170214-19598-a7vsge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rokeby Manor Gate in the snow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Hamilton/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The past and its apparitions</h2>
<p>From time to time, the Doon’s literary and historical legends emerge to posthumously assume the mantle of the guardian of the valley’s innermost secrets. And current-day writers have ensured that these secrets are well-preserved in the splurge of literature that the hill-station has produced in the past two decades.</p>
<p>In 1964, <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/books/mussoorie-remembers-first-australian-novelist-john-lang-who-stood-against-british-rule/story-OkaxIndRCikGX9baeGg0jI.html">Ruskin Bond discovered</a> the grave of John Lang in the Camel’s Back cemetery. Lang was an Anglo-Australian-Indian barrister, who had opposed the <a href="http://www.dailyo.in/arts/john-lang-the-lawyer-who-defeated-the-east-india-company/story/1/775.html">Doctrine of Lapse</a> in the Indian courts. </p>
<p>The Doctrine of Lapse was a policy of annexation promulgated by Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor General of India, which decreed that any Indian state whose ruler had either died without a male heir or was ruled by an incompetent leader would be annexed by the British Empire. Since the discovery of his grave, Lang has been a standard feature in the Doon’s literary musings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156839/original/image-20170214-19589-1afnhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156839/original/image-20170214-19589-1afnhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156839/original/image-20170214-19589-1afnhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156839/original/image-20170214-19589-1afnhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156839/original/image-20170214-19589-1afnhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156839/original/image-20170214-19589-1afnhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156839/original/image-20170214-19589-1afnhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Lang with Nana Saheb.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration from Lang's book 'Wanderings in India and other sketches of life in Hindostan' (1858).</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another legendary character was Frederick (Pahari) Wilson, also known <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15835764-the-raja-of-harsil">as the Raja of Harsil</a> and his second wife, Gulabi. They are among the hill-station’s most recurrent ghosts. </p>
<p>In 1883, Wilson’s obituary in <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=qPfSCQAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=The%20Raja%20of%20Harsil%3A%20The%20Legend%20of%20Frederick%20%22Pahari%20Wilson%22&pg=PT263#v=onepage&q=pioneer&f=false">The Pioneer</a> described how he came to the valley:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[Wilson] started from Calcutta, armed with five rupees and a gun on his long march to the Himalayas … He lived for many years by the sale of what he shot, and finally embarked on timber contracts in the forests … until he amassed a considerable fortune.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although he was not an author, he built the Wilson bridge over the Jadganga river, traces of which remain today. Kipling came in contact with Wilson, took a fancy for the legends surrounding him, and used his <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/an-english-raja-of-garhwal/article7018866.ece">biographical details</a> for his story, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/103086.The_Man_Who_Would_Be_King">The Man who Would be King</a>.</p>
<p>The ghosts of Gulabi and Pahari Wilson are said to still lurk in the Doon, largely owing to one of Bond’s supernatural stories, <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=a0cTje7jGXkC&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=pahari+wilson+gulabi+ghost&source=bl&ots=BhPN-m9Xjs&sig=-O7rRUE-WMCW1nOzeDsbBirYWRk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixwOz6ro3SAhXIPo8KHUyRATgQ6AEIOTAF#v=onepage&q=pahari%20wilson%20gulabi%20ghost&f=false">Wilson’s Bridge</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156768/original/image-20170214-25995-lersqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156768/original/image-20170214-25995-lersqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156768/original/image-20170214-25995-lersqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156768/original/image-20170214-25995-lersqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156768/original/image-20170214-25995-lersqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156768/original/image-20170214-25995-lersqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156768/original/image-20170214-25995-lersqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sisters Bazaar in today’s Mussoorie.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Sisters_Bazaar_%285275305385%29.jpg">Paul Hamilton/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Young’s <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/Mussoorie-founder-lies-forgotten-on-his-142nd-death-anniversary/articleshow/52429225.cms">ghost</a> is also an alleged regular at Mullingar flat. Today, Ganesh Saili and his family reside there. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mussoorie-Medley-Yesteryear-Ganesh-Saili/dp/8189738593">According</a> to Saili:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[Young] astride a white horse arrives at the old Mullingar lodge, ties his steed to the remnants of the old wrought iron railing and … waits for the parade of Redcoats to begin.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Young, too, was an author of sorts. He may not have written anything but he helped build St. Peter’s Church and the area around the Sister’s Bazaar in Mussoorie, shaping the literary personality of the town.</p>
<h2>An unlikely architectural heritage</h2>
<p>Aside from ghosts, the other formal aspect of Doon’s literature is architecture. Writing about India’s hill-station buildings, <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=TNpeJWBT0fwC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=A+good+number+of+historical+monuments+are+famous,+more+because+of+the+proper+expositions+of+hoary+romance&source=bl&ots=ifmlobwB30&sig=sAfjS5LG8s1ihps8MniOSeUB7ME&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwipnYqqoo3SAhVLrI8KHQ1NAYQQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=A%20good%20number%20of%20historical%20monuments%20are%20famous%2C%20more%20because%20of%20the%20proper%20expositions%20of%20hoary%20romance&f=false">Giriraja Shah explains</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A good number of historical monuments are famous, more because of the proper exposition of hoary romance, antiquity and myths … than the visible splendour of art and architecture.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Buildings in the region’s writings seem to embody the ghosts themselves, a kind of <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=XxoiBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=hauntology%2Bderrida&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMoty4s43SAhWIKo8KHUM1C6kQ6AEIHjAB#v=onepage&q=hauntology&f=false"><em>hauntology</em></a>: where the literary landscape is a ghostly simulation of the lived space.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156771/original/image-20170214-25962-1d9jkww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156771/original/image-20170214-25962-1d9jkww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156771/original/image-20170214-25962-1d9jkww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156771/original/image-20170214-25962-1d9jkww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156771/original/image-20170214-25962-1d9jkww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156771/original/image-20170214-25962-1d9jkww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156771/original/image-20170214-25962-1d9jkww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Savoy Hotel, an iconic landmark in the Doon Valley, with its haunted corridors, and famed Writer’s Bar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/zedzap/14591171294">Nick Kenrick/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although Mussoorie’s buildings are offshoots of the Swiss-Gothic form - <a href="http://www.academia.edu/3671001/Picturing_Mountains_as_Hills_Hill_Station_Postcards_and_the_Tales_They_Tell">a style praised during colonial era in the Himalayas</a> – it certainly is not a place replete with architectural intricacies. The Savoy Hotel, the Mussoorie Library, Skinner’s Hall, and some other old buildings and the churches of the township do exhibit the usual spires, gables, dormers, balustrades, pilasters, Glasgow-built lampposts, and colonnades. But these features are not as architectural as the state of disrepair itself in which the buildings find themselves.</p>
<p>The renowned architect-turned-scholar Bernard Tschumi, once gave an “Advertisement for Architecture” with an old photograph of the Villa Savoye, <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=4dCOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA25&dq=The+most+architectural+thing+about+this+building+is+the+state+of+decay+in+which+it+is&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5g5brtY3SAhXKtI8KHSQaC0AQ6AEIHjAB#v=onepage&q=The%20most%20architectural%20thing%20about%20this%20building%20is%20the%20state%20of%20decay%20in%20which%20it%20is&f=false">with the caption</a>: “The most architectural thing about this building is the state of decay in which it is.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156844/original/image-20170214-19609-cjg1vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156844/original/image-20170214-19609-cjg1vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156844/original/image-20170214-19609-cjg1vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156844/original/image-20170214-19609-cjg1vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156844/original/image-20170214-19609-cjg1vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156844/original/image-20170214-19609-cjg1vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156844/original/image-20170214-19609-cjg1vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Above Bothwell Bank.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Hamilton/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In literature, as also in reality, Mussoorie and Landour live in a state of aesthetic decay. </p>
<p>The names of their houses invoke a landscape set in a parallel timezone. Mullingar, Zephyr Lodge, Companybagh, Cloud End, Tipperary, Killarney, Shamrock Cottage, Scottsburn, Connaught Castle, Hampton Court, or those borrowed from Sir Walter Scott’s novels such as Kenilworth, Ivanhoe, and Rokeby (the last now converted into a pleasure resort, keeping intact the stony façade of a castle).</p>
<p>Landour preserves the memory of those Anglo-Indian spirits that refuse to acknowledge their extinction. Tourists are seduced by the town’s literary ghosts. And every once in a while, an ordinary night’s peace is disrupted by the purportedly paranormal interventions of a dead <em>memsahib</em> such as the spiritualist, Frances Garnett-Orme. </p>
<p>Her ghost is said to linger in the valley or the corridors of the Savoy Hotel, where she was <a href="https://scroll.in/article/812971/the-ghosts-of-the-savoy-the-mussoorie-murder-mystery-that-inspired-agatha-christies-first-novel">allegedly poisoned to death, over a hundred years ago</a>.</p>
<p>We might wonder whether the hauntings at Landour have any experiential element or are simply practical fictions conceived amid the solitude of the hills. As <a href="http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/-i-m-a-writer-without-regrets-/1039045/0">Ruskin Bond candidly stated</a>, “when I run out of relatives, I invent ghosts.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arup K Chatterjee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Are the the hauntings at Landour just practical fictions amidst the solitude of the hills?Arup K Chatterjee, Assistant Professor of English, O.P. Jindal Global UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/675192016-10-28T11:37:57Z2016-10-28T11:37:57ZHow the ancient world invoked the dead to help the living<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143525/original/image-20161027-11239-5huerr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The dead wait to be ferried across the River Styx.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adolf_Hiremy-Hirschl,_Die_Seelen_des_Acheron.jpg">The Souls of Acheron (1898) by Adolf Hiremy Hirschl</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Though it may seem as if Halloween is a modern con trick designed to get us spending our hard-earned cash on an American celebration, this is not the case. In fact, dressing up, knocking on neighbours’ doors and asking for food at this time of year is a very old tradition. Communities on the British Isles were taking part in similar rituals as far back as <a href="http://www.livescience.com/40596-history-of-halloween.html">the 16th century</a>. </p>
<p>For centuries, people have believed this was the time when the boundary between our world and the spirit world became permeable. Terrifying outfits and specific rituals were designed and used to ward off or appease evil spirits roaming the earth around All Hallow’s Eve. But evidence has also been found of ordinary people, as early as the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans, using magical incantations throughout the year to call on those departed to help the living.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143527/original/image-20161027-11271-v94zhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143527/original/image-20161027-11271-v94zhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143527/original/image-20161027-11271-v94zhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143527/original/image-20161027-11271-v94zhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143527/original/image-20161027-11271-v94zhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143527/original/image-20161027-11271-v94zhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143527/original/image-20161027-11271-v94zhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lead tablets, found bound together, with magical inscriptions. Dated to 300–500 AD.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Magical_book_Kircherian_Terme.jpg">Marie-Lan Nguyen</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though the Romans certainly invoked spirits for aid, they also felt the need to placate the dead. According to <a href="http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/OvidFastiBkFive.htm">the Roman poet Ovid</a>, at the Lemuria festival in May, the <em>pater familias</em> – that is the head of the household – walked around the house at midnight, throwing black beans on the floor to pacify any ancestral spirits who might be vengeful because they had not been buried.</p>
<p>The Romans thus had similar concerns regarding angry spirits, but, like the Greeks, they also saw the uses of those vengeful dead in their daily quest for happiness.</p>
<h2>Ancient incantations</h2>
<p>The Greeks and Romans were as anxious about their health and happiness as we are today. So other, more private – sometimes questionable – approaches were tried, and such practices became labelled as “magic” as early as the fifth century BC.</p>
<p>Magic was big business for the ancients – and though its professionals were often accused of being charlatans who were only after customers’ money, it thrived throughout antiquity. Spells were used for various purposes. Erotic spells, for example, cast to attract someone or control your love interest, were very popular. But they were also used to confound an opponent’s speech in court, make the horses you bet on win in the races, or curse a thief who stole your money. </p>
<p>The perceived success or failure of magic depended on the precise combination and execution of spell, ingredients, and ritual. Of paramount importance in the casting of a spell was acquiring assistance from the right supernatural entity. </p>
<p>Many people invoked the gods Zeus or Jupiter, arch angels, or demons such as the terrifying <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraxas">Abrasax</a>. But the angry dead offered equal potential: the Greeks and Romans believed that those who had died before their time, such as children or soldiers, were particularly restless and likely to offer help. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143655/original/image-20161028-15821-gbwbpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143655/original/image-20161028-15821-gbwbpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143655/original/image-20161028-15821-gbwbpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143655/original/image-20161028-15821-gbwbpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143655/original/image-20161028-15821-gbwbpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143655/original/image-20161028-15821-gbwbpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143655/original/image-20161028-15821-gbwbpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘I curse Tretia Maria and her life and mind and memory and liver and lungs mixed up together…’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACurse_tablet_BM_1934.11-5.1.jpg">Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lots of these spells, written on lead tablets, have been <a href="http://www.livescience.com/54285-curse-tablets-uncovered-in-greece.html">found in or near graves</a> in cemeteries, folded and often pierced several times.</p>
<p>In a collection of spells called the <a href="https://archive.org/stream/Papyri_Graecae_Magicae/Papyri_Graecae_Magicae_djvu.txt">Greek Magical Papyri</a>, one spell instructs the person wishing to create a spell of attraction:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Go quickly to where someone lies buried … spread a donkey’s hide under him at about sunset. Return home and he will actually be present and will stand beside you on that night … Say: “I adjure you, dead spirit, by the Destiny of Destinies, to come to me, [insert your name], on this day, on this night, and agree to the act of service of me. And if you don’t, expect other chastisements”.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Unwilling dead</h2>
<p>The reason the “chastisements” are mentioned in the spell above is that the dead were not always willing assistants. In his novel <em>Metamorphoses</em>, the Roman author Apuleius narrates how the Egyptian prophet Zatchlas was able to make the corpse of a young man come to life again so he might tell his relatives who was his murderer.</p>
<p>Once awake, however, the young man groaned: “Why, pray, do you restore me to the tasks of fleeting life? Desist now, I beg you, desist, and leave me in peace.” The young man finally succumbed to Zatchlas’s urging and informed his audience that his new bride had poisoned him.</p>
<p>The modern notion that those who have died before their time are eager to wreak havoc is thus not universally applicable. By means of the correct rituals, however, any spirit might be pacified or compelled to assist. </p>
<p>The modern Western world likes to think it is far removed from these Greek and Roman rituals – impervious to magical superstitions – and the restless dead confined to the cinema screen and Halloween costumes. But studying these past rituals can help us understand that these magic spells had a powerful function for the ancients, intended to last for many centuries.</p>
<p>More than anything, it demonstrates that it is not the dead that need to be feared, but the living who conjure them for their own nefarious gains.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evelien Bracke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These days they are scary, but for the ancients, ghosts could be quite useful.Evelien Bracke, Senior Lecturer in Classics, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/582592016-10-27T10:37:29Z2016-10-27T10:37:29ZThe top three scientific explanations for ghost sightings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143088/original/image-20161025-31470-qlvqs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Paranormal or just plain ordinary?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joe Techapanupreeda/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From ghosts to ghouls, witches to wizards, Halloween is the one time of the year when people come together to celebrate everything supernatural. But beyond the fancy dress and trick or treating, belief in ghosts is actually relatively common – with <a href="https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/246/Survey-on-Beliefs.aspx">38% of people classifying themselves as believers</a> and a similar number having actually reported seeing one. </p>
<p>The term “ghost” refers to the idea that the spirits of the dead – human and animal – influence the physical world. And the idea of a haunting can often include anything from a sensed presence, or objects moving, to spirit activity.</p>
<p>But in a world filled with science and reason, these “hauntings” can often boil down to a very simple explanation. So with Halloween just round the corner, here are the top three scientific and psychological explanations for hauntings, spirits, spookiness and all things supernatural – although it should be noted that many important questions have yet to be resolved …</p>
<h2>1. Because I told you so</h2>
<p>Attempts to explain hauntings often draw upon psychological factors – such as suggestion – so being told a place is haunted is more likely to lead to ghostly goings-on. </p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9229473">classic study</a> saw participants visiting five main areas of a theatre before completing a questionnaire to assess their feelings and perceptions. Prior to the tour, one group was told the location was haunted, while the other group was informed that the building was under renovation. Unsurprisingly, participants that were told the place was haunted experienced more intense experiences – similar to those of paranormal happenings. </p>
<p>Verbal suggestion has also been shown to increase paranormal perceptions – as shown in <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-24/edition-10/new-voices-power-suggestion">research</a> on seance phenomena, paranormal key bending and psychic reading – especially when the suggestion is consistent with existing paranormal beliefs.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143090/original/image-20161025-31479-k8kwp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143090/original/image-20161025-31479-k8kwp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143090/original/image-20161025-31479-k8kwp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143090/original/image-20161025-31479-k8kwp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143090/original/image-20161025-31479-k8kwp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143090/original/image-20161025-31479-k8kwp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143090/original/image-20161025-31479-k8kwp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No spirits here…</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But <a href="http://mind2magic.com/blog.htm/?p=40">research</a> in real-world settings has produced inconsistent results. A study in the supposedly haunted <a href="http://www.richardwiseman.com/research/ghosts2.html">Hampton Court</a> found that suggestion had no effect on participants’ expectations of experiencing unusual phenomena, or their tendency to attribute unusual phenomena to ghosts. </p>
<p>So it is fair to say that the effects of suggestion vary depending upon a person’s beliefs. And of course, paranormal believers are prone to endorsing alleged paranormal phenomena – while sceptics will deny the existence of the paranormal.</p>
<h2>2. Electromagnetic fields and spooky sounds</h2>
<p>Other explanations draw on environmental factors, such as electromagnetic fields and infrasound. <a href="http://www.innerworlds.50megs.com/God_Helmet/god_helmet.htm">Canadian neuroscientist Michael Persinger</a> demonstrated that the application of varying electromagnetic fields to the temporal lobes of the brain could produce haunting experiences – such as perception of a presence, a feeling of God or sensations of being touched. And it has been noted that areas most associated with hauntings – such as Hampton Court – do possess erratic magnetic fields. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143091/original/image-20161025-4729-66jyw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143091/original/image-20161025-4729-66jyw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143091/original/image-20161025-4729-66jyw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143091/original/image-20161025-4729-66jyw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143091/original/image-20161025-4729-66jyw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143091/original/image-20161025-4729-66jyw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143091/original/image-20161025-4729-66jyw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Is that a figure I see before me?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, infrasound – audio frequency below the range of human hearing – is also thought to be able to explain such phenomena. <a href="http://www.strangerdimensions.com/2013/06/21/infrasound-the-fear-frequency/">Several studies</a> have linked infrasound and bizarre sensations. </p>
<p>In one example, contemporary pieces of live music were laced with infrasound and the audience were then asked to describe their reactions to the music. More unusual experiences were reported when infrasound was present – chills down the spine, feeling nervous, waves of fear and uneasy or sorrowful emotions. </p>
<h2>3. Toxic hallucinations</h2>
<p>“Supernatural” perceptions can also arise from <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3022735/Seen-ghost-inhaled-toxic-mould-Poor-air-quality-old-buildings-lead-haunting-hallucinations.html">reactions to toxic substances</a> – such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and pesticide. It also also been suggested that fungal hallucinations – caused by toxic mould – could stimulate haunting-related perceptions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143092/original/image-20161025-4717-3zamji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143092/original/image-20161025-4717-3zamji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143092/original/image-20161025-4717-3zamji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143092/original/image-20161025-4717-3zamji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143092/original/image-20161025-4717-3zamji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143092/original/image-20161025-4717-3zamji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143092/original/image-20161025-4717-3zamji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Probably best to stay out of the graveyard if you’ve been on the mushrooms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shane Rogers and his team from <a href="http://www.clarkson.edu/news/2015/news-release_2015-03-31-1.html">Clarkson University</a> in the US observed similarities between paranormal experiences and the hallucinogenic effects of fungal spores. This may explain why ghost sightings often occur in older buildings with inadequate ventilation and poor air quality. </p>
<p>The notion is not new and experts have previously reported a <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-09-21/news/9609210090_1_fungus-books-hallucinogenic">similar effect associated with old books</a>. They claim that mere exposure to toxic moulds can trigger significant mental or neurological symptoms, which create perceptions similar to those reported during haunting experiences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Dagnall receives funding from Bial.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ken Drinkwater receives funding from the Bial Foundation, Portugal. </span></em></p>The truth about the paranormal – just in time for Halloween.Neil Dagnall, Reader in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/620262016-07-07T07:53:59Z2016-07-07T07:53:59ZGhostbusters and why we like to laugh at things that go bump in the night<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129419/original/image-20160705-823-44kt1w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who you gonna call? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sony Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The imminent release of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ugHP-yZXw">Ghostbusters</a>, a reboot of the 1984 cult movie of the same name, has been accompanied <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/10/ghostbusters-reboot-hollywood-paul-feig-bill-murray">by fears</a> that the new film might not be as good as the first. While we wait to see if the new outing will stand the comparison, old and new fans can at least be sure that the movie replicates the same recipe that proved successful in the previous films of the series: combining ghosts and comedy. </p>
<p>This was probably the most original aspect of Ghostbusters. Despite <a href="http://www.thehauntedinternet.com/movies_comedy.html">meaningful exceptions</a>, ghosts are more often represented on the screen as fearful presences. From classics such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/">The Haunting</a> (1963) to the more recent <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178868/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Ringu</a> (1998) and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1457767/?ref_=nv_sr_2">The Conjuring</a> (2013), the cinematic screen usually summons ghosts to terrorise the audience, rather than to amuse them. </p>
<p>How come, then, was a movie about funny ghosts so successful? While this might seem an unlikely choice in the fictional world of film, from the perspective of religious traditions and folklore it might make much sense. In spiritualist seances, for instance, amusement and mirth are often part of the ritual – and the appearance of fearful ghosts is very rare. In such a context, the funny ghosts of Ghostbusters would feel perfectly at ease. </p>
<p>Spiritualism emerged in the middle of the 19th century in the United States, and then around the world, as a new religion based on the belief that it is possible to communicate with the dead. This communication is performed with the help of sensitive individuals, or mediums, who create a channel between the living and the spirits of the dead. Throughout the second half of the 19th century, spiritualism attracted much attention in the popular press and a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01515.x/full">large number of believers</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129546/original/image-20160706-12727-1m3ay2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129546/original/image-20160706-12727-1m3ay2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129546/original/image-20160706-12727-1m3ay2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129546/original/image-20160706-12727-1m3ay2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129546/original/image-20160706-12727-1m3ay2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129546/original/image-20160706-12727-1m3ay2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129546/original/image-20160706-12727-1m3ay2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Something freaky this way comes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sony Pictures</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If belief in spiritualism is today less widespread than in the Victorian era (<a href="http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/spiritualism_in_brazil_alive_and_kicking">at least in most countries</a>), contemporary notions of the ghost in Western cultures are informed by the spiritualist tradition. Not differently from Victorian spiritualists, we imagine ghosts as evanescent traces of the dead, transparent beings that are between our and the “other” world.</p>
<p>There is, however, a marked difference between spiritualism’s and popular representations of ghosts, such as in horror films. This has to do with the fact that believers in spiritualism tend to consider ghosts as benevolent, rather than fearful, presences. </p>
<p>Spiritualists, in fact, frequently emphasised the good temperament of spirits. They underlined the sense of communion felt by both the living and the dead, and offered it as evidence of the uplifting character of spiritualism. As a well-known British medium, Emma Hardinge, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=g_tZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA41&dq=%22tender,+loving,+wonderful+presence%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22tender%2C%20loving%2C%20wonderful%20presence%22&f=false">once put it</a>, ghosts are a “tender, loving, wonderful presence” – certainly not the terrorising, vengeful entities depicted in horror films.</p>
<h2>Spectacular spirits</h2>
<p>Not only spiritualists conceived ghosts as benign. Very much like fans of Ghostbusters, they were entertained, rather than frightened, by their appearance.</p>
<p>As I show in my book <a href="http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07104-6.html">Supernatural Entertainments</a>, Victorian spiritualism fully participated in a growing market for spectacular entertainments, where a wide range of curiosities and attractions were offered to the public. Mediums performed on the stage of theatres and public halls, often before paying audiences. Like performers in the entertainment sector, they had managers and advertised their public seances and demonstrations in the popular press. </p>
<p>In spiritualist sittings conducted in domestic households, entertainment played an important role, too. Seances created opportunities for leisure and social gatherings, stimulating amusement rather than fear. Reports of these events describe playful rituals, in which mediums welcome manifestations of happiness and delight – and both living participants and the spirits declare to be having “fun”. </p>
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<p>The hilarious ghosts of the Ghostbusters franchise, in this sense, are the truest descendants of spirits summoned in Victorian seances. </p>
<h2>Ghostbusters – or the hilarity of ghosts</h2>
<p>Canadian actor Dan Aykroyd, who co-wrote and starred in the first two movies of the Ghostbusters franchise, posted <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/31/dan-aykroyd-new-ghostbusters">enthusiastic comments</a> about the new film. Interestingly, Aykroyd has personal and familiar connections to spiritualism. His family were involved in spiritualist activities for at least four generations before him, as documented by his father, Peter Aykroyd, in his recent book <a href="http://www.ghosttheory.com/2009/10/13/book-review-a-history-of-ghosts-the-true-story-of-seances-mediums-ghosts-and-ghostbusters">A History of Ghosts</a>. </p>
<p>One might ask, in this sense, if Aykroyd’s knowledge of spiritualism led to Ghostbusters being one of the few films to have fully exploited the comical potential of ghosts. Maybe it was this knowledge, or his personal experiences at the seance table, that made him realise how funny the spectacle of ghosts can be – whether it on the big screen or in the dark environment of a Victorian spiritual gathering.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simone Natale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The idea of phantoms being comical is as old as ghouls.Simone Natale, Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.