As we stumble off into neon nights

Abstract

ABSTRACTA ghost story evokes the history of black churches in the American south, culminating in a discussion of the murder of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on 17 June 2015. Less than a month later, on the anniversary of American Independence, the Guardian published an article by author M.O. Walsh entitled ‘Why Southern Gothic Rules the World’, touting the familiar myths of authenticity and authority the genre is rooted in. This is a work of creative non-fiction placing personal memoir alongside a consideration of the Southern Gothic in popular culture. The work borrows its title from the poem ‘Safe Subjects’ by Yusef Komunyakaa, echoing the poet’s call for a confrontation of the horror and terror of being black in America.