Ghost Hunters Research Articles

Prague ghostlore of the late 19th century. Suburban ghosts between moral panic and vernacular spectacle


 
 
 
 In the mid-1870s, a wave of popular urban hauntings in public spaces swept across Europe. These included sightings of the Park Ghost in Sheffield in 1873 and the Westminster Christ Church Ghost in London in 1874. In early December 1874, probably the most famous Czech ghost, the Podskalí Apparition (Podskalské strašidlo), was born. This haunting was followed by that of similar but less popular ghosts that appeared in industrial, working-class Prague neighborhoods in 1876 and 1907, respectively. This paper analyzes newspaper articles from this period about these apparitions and their later depictions in Czech popular culture, and interprets these phenomena as local variants of the so-called “prowling ghosts”, a particular type of suburban phantom documented by current historiographical research on 19th-century ghostlore in England. The paper then describes how these Prague ghosts were utilized socially by two completely different cultural practices. On one hand, these hauntings were used by working-class people as vernacular spectacles and improvised festivities related to pranks, the symbolic occupation of public space, and Czech nationalism. For the middle classes and period newspapers loyal to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on the other hand, unruly mobs converging on the sites of supposed hauntings were a threat to established social norms and triggered both moral panics and public scorn of these “ghost hunters”. However, this attitude changed quickly when these events entered popular culture in the form of popular songs and, later, memoirs and literature. Between the Belle Époque at the First World War, these famous Prague hauntings were the staple for nostalgic longing in the last few decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
 
 
 

Ghost Hunters' Demonic Encounters as Religious Experiences

Ghost hunting became widespread in the United States after the October 2004 of the reality television show Ghost Hunters. Ghost hunters, or paranormal investigators, use scientistic methods to investigate reportedly haunted locations and seek evidence of ghosts and other spirits. Ghost hunters are preoccupied with demons in particular. The analytical lens provided by twentieth-century German philosopher of religion Rudolf Otto reveals that demonic experiences serve as powerful religious experiences for ghost hunters and provide comforting evidence of the existence of the spirit world, a cosmos ordered according to good and evil, and even God.

Design and Development of Documentary Video in Batam as Dark Tourism Promotion Media

Tourist destinations are zones that are directly designated and advertised as tourist destinations, and all tourism products are sold by a specific group of tourists who wish to visit a tragic place and know the meaning of the event. It is arranged. , happened in this place. The development of dark tourism can increase foreign tourist visits which can be used as an economy related to the government by attracting foreign tourists who want to provide foreign exchange for dark tourism, including remote areas. I can do that. The author uses the flow of literature study and subsequent problem-solving. This continues and is improved up to the implementation stage and ends at the dissemination stage. There are still many who don't understand how to attract tourists' attention from dark tourist destinations, whether it's shooting a film in the form of a vintage color gradation video with a frame, or using R&D using R&D. Check out the research flow by starting research and dividing the time, looking for stories about the place, and news about the ghost town of Batam calm and explore with the team of ghost hunters of Batam city. While exploring the ghost places of Batam City, unexpected things and events such as camera battery running low while recording, the crew being disturbed by ghosts, and things that are not nearby are crime scenes. Events that require you to bring safety equipment and lighting, as this is an unplanned event.

The Wound of Time

The Wound of Time

Review: Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances, by Lisa Morton

Review: <i>Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances</i>, by Lisa Morton

Queer Spectralities and Untimely Subjects: Queer Ghost Hunters and Paranormal Reality Television

Queer Ghost Hunters (Stu Maddux, 2016–) est une série Web de production indépendante, diffusée sur YouTube, dans laquelle des enquêteurs paranormaux queers cherchent à communiquer avec des fantômes queers du passé. La série met en scène une intervention dans une émission de téléréalité paranormale, dans laquelle le manque de contenu queer dans les émissions populaires comme SOS Fantômes est critiqué. Malgré des enquêtes de routine dans les prisons et les asiles psychiatriques, lieux traditionnels d’oppression pour les personnes queers, les fantômes queers ne sont pas recherchés dans la téléréalité paranormale moderne, ce qui fait que l’histoire des personnes queers et l’injustice dont elles sont victimes demeurent invisibles. Queer Ghost Hunters a pour but de remédier à cette invisibilité en tentant de communiquer avec des fantômes queers et de révéler le passé oublié. L’auteur affirme ici que Queer Ghost Hunters utilise la séance de spiritisme comme méthodologie historiographique mettant en lumière la présence fantomatique du passé absent. L’émission rejette la masculinité technophile affichée dans des émissions comme SOS Fantômes au profit d’une rencontre affective avec le spectral. Ce faisant, Queer Ghost Hunters résiste à une conception linéaire du temps comme étant associé au progrès, établissant le lien entre les économies temporelles du fantôme et du queer — qui rejettent de part et d’autre la stabilité de la progression linéaire, séquentielle en faveur d’un flux itinérant instauré par la simultanéité du passé, du présent et du futur.

Séance Sitters, Ghost Hunters, Spiritualists, and Theosophists: Esoteric Belief and Practice in the British Parliamentary Labour Party, c1929-51.

This article explores esoteric identities and cultures in the British Parliamentary Labour Party c1929-51. The historiography of the Labour Party has tended to overemphasize the one-dimensional nature of ideological affiliation and identity amongst Labour Members of Parliament in this period along the lines of a rather simplistic left/right dichotomy. Moreover, some historians have suggested that after 1918 particular socialist traditions and currents had become marginalized or dissolved once the party had developed a clearly defined constitution and the experience of political power. The argument presented here is that a range of esoteric identities remained a feature of labour culture through to the general election of 1951 and beyond. Three currents highlight the complexity and fluidity of specific strands of labour/socialist identity; in particular, spiritualism, theosophy and belief in the supernormal and the fantastic. Spiritualism and esotericism attracted a range of Labour MPs and shaped their reaction to contemporary political problems and the purpose and direction of working-class politics. An examination of such individuals and beliefs raises some new questions and challenges existing assumptions relating to labour identities in mid-twentieth century Britain. Socialist spiritualists, ghost hunters, and theosophists viewed political identity, mobilization and practice as an activity that drew as much on the personal, the spiritual and 'other-worldly' as it did on the economic, social and material basis of society.

What do Ghosts (and Ghost Hunters) Want?

Anthropology NewsVolume 57, Issue 10 p. e10-e15 October Online Content What do Ghosts (and Ghost Hunters) Want? Misty Bastian, Misty BastianSearch for more papers by this author Misty Bastian, Misty BastianSearch for more papers by this author First published: 03 May 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/AN.177Citations: 1AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume57, Issue10October 2016Pages e10-e15 RelatedInformation

Recent Publications

Recent Publications Compiled by Stewart Plein The history of West Virginia is rich and complex. Over one hundred and fifty years have passed since West Virginia was admitted to the Union, and the desire to understand and relate to our past continues to the present day. The books, blog posts, dissertations, magazine and journal articles listed here are testament to the continued interest in the state, its people, traditions, and culture. Each of the works cited in this bibliography are available for research or reading at the West Virginia and Regional History Center, the largest historical archives collection and library relating to West Virginia. This list includes works published in 2013 through July 2014, with the addition of some publications from 2009 and 2012 not included in previous bibliographies. Selected blog posts appear for the first time in the bibliography in relation to a new subscription for the WVRHC, Blue Ridge Country, a magazine that frequently features stories on West Virginia history, nature, and culture. West Virginia related titles not found in this bibliography can be located in other resources for publishers, periodicals, magazines, historical societies, and state publications. In appreciation of the support I have received in the developmental stages of this bibliography, I would like to thank Harold Forbes, Curator Emeritus of Rare Books and Printed Resources, whose capable hands have shaped this bibliography for many years. I would also like to thank Jo Brown, Associate University Librarian, and Kevin Fredette, Associate University Librarian, for their help and guidance with this project. As always, if you are aware of significant books or articles concerning West Virginia, its people, and places, please bring them to my attention. Adams, Sean Patrick, ed. The American Coal Industry, 1790–1902. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2014. 1200 pp. Volume 1. Coal and the Nation, 1790–1835. Volume 2. Making Coal a Household Name, 1835–1875. Volume 3. King Coal’s Uneasy Throne in America, 1870–1902. [End Page 77] Antolini, Katharine Lane. Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother’s Day. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2014. 288 pp. Made a National holiday in 1914, Anna Jarvis organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908 and then spent decades promoting the holiday and defending it from commercialization, preferring a sentimental view of motherhood and domesticity. Archer, Bill. Elkhorn. “History of the Racially Segregated Elkhorn and Elkhorn Elks High Schools in McDowell County, WV from 1922–2013.” Goldenseal 39 (Fall 2013): 46–51. Barksdale, Kevin T. “James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and the Constitutionality of the Creation of the State of West Virginia, 1787–1863.” Goldenseal 39 (Sept. 2013): 10–13. Baumgardner, Stan. “Confederate Femme Fatale.” Wonderful West Virginia 77 (May 2013): 8–11. Article on Confederate spy, Isabelle “Belle” Boyd, born in Martinsburg, Virginia. Baumgardner, Stan. “West Virginia’s Centennial: A Hero Returns.” Wonderful West Virginia 77 (Sept. 2013): 26–29. West Virginia’s Centennial celebration and the Presidential Address by John F. Kennedy at the State Capitol. Brake, Sherri. The Ghost Hunters Guide to the West Virginia Penitentiary. S.1.: CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2014. 206 pp. Brake, Sherri. Fireside Folklore of West Virginia: Ghosts, Spirits, Legends & Dark History. S.1; CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2012. 147 pp. Casto, James E. “The Battle of Droop Mountain.” Wonderful West Virginia 77 (August 2013): 4–7. Chafin, Andrew. Mingo County. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. 128 pp. A heritage photographic collection of Mingo County people and places. Coe, Debbie, and Randy Coe. Fenton Basket Patterns: Innovation to Wisteria and Numbers. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2013. 176 pp. From the 1930s up to the present, the Fenton Art Glass Company, of Williamstown, has produced beautiful glass baskets in a huge variety of styles, colors, and patterns. Cohen, Bob. A Trip by Rail in the Shenandoah Valley on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railway. Dauberville, PA: Outer Station Project, 2013. 160 pp. Covers the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and Southern Railway line in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley: from Brunswick to Harper’s Ferry on the mainline, continuing up the Valley, 163 more miles in all, to Lexington, VA, via Strasburg and Harrisonburg. [End Page 78] Each station...

Ghosts, Wreckers, and Rotten Ties: The 1891 Train Wreck at Bostian’s Bridge

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Norfolk Southern locomotives still rumble periodically over Bostian's Bridge trestle, 300-foot long stone bridge that rises 30 feet off ground near Statesville, North Carolina. But supposedly, those aren't only trains on track. As I legend goes, on anniversary of wreck that occurred at site on August 27, 1891, ghost train hurtles off bridge and crashes to ground below. Visitors have claimed to see uniformed man with gold watch, or to hear screams of doomed passengers and clang of crashing metal. Statesville has thus played host to hordes of ghost hunters and paranormal researchers, who converge on site every August 27 hoping to catch glimpse of haunted train. In 2010, tragedy struck annual gathering when party of ghost hunters encountered an actual freightliner barreling down track. The group fled, but one man was struck and killed. (1) The accident garnered national attention, but was hardly first event to put Bostian's Bridge in news. When train number nine on Western North Carolina Railroad tumbled off Bostian's Bridge in 1891, it ignited media frenzy, as well as firestorm of outrage, detailed investigation, compelling mystery, and series of unanswered questions. Just what had caused train to derail and who was ultimately responsible for twenty-two deaths that occurred? Was it railroad's fault for poor maintenance of bridge, or had gang of robbers removed rail to deliberately wreck train and rob passengers? Regardless of source, southerners were haunted by wreck at Bostian's Bridge and idea of train wreckers--gangs or individuals who intentionally derailed trains and threatened region's railroads in 1890s. The basic facts of disaster were clear enough. In middle of hot August night in 1891, train number nine, heading west toward mountains on Western North Carolina Railroad, pulled into Statesville an hour later than scheduled. Ten new passengers boarded train. Then five minutes after it left station, riders experienced jolt and falling sensation as freight tumbled off Bostian's Bridge and dropped 60 feet into creek below. Statesville citizens rushed to disaster where morning's light revealed ghastly scene. As Statesville Landmark later described, it was a charnal-house in Third creek on its banks. Early responders encountered a harrowing spectacle and harrowing sounds near engine, which was turned on its side just to west of stream. In water, first-class car was piled on top of combination second-class and baggage car. Killing twenty-two, it was deadliest train wreck to date in North Carolina. (2) THE MOST COMMANDING THEATRE OF CAPITAL The wreck at Bostian's Bridge occurred at critical moment in history of capitalism in South. The gospel of New South, which promoted industrial development, aggressively sought infusions of northern capital, and advocated break with patterns of antebellum agricultural economy, was sweeping region. And for New South boosters, expansion of regions railroad network provided most tangible example of southern progress. Between 1880 and 1890, South's railroad mileage almost doubled. In North Carolina alone, it expanded from 1,486 to 3,128 miles, providing countless communities connection to national rail network. M. B. Hillyard, writing in special 1887 edition of influential booster publication Manufacturer's Record, called southern railroad development the most commanding theatre of capital which strikes eye of world not only for its colossal combinations of money, but prestige of its participants. According to Hillyard, South's rapid rate of railroad construction was proof of development and of confidence of capitalists of civilized world. …

The ghost of Annie Palmer: Giving voice to Jamaica’s “white witch of Rose Hall”

From the renovation of Rose Hall plantation to the investigation of apparitions on Ghost Hunters International, the legend of eighteenth-century plantation owner Annie Palmer continues to thrive. Despite evidence that the legend is thoroughly fabricated, accounts perpetuate a reading of Palmer as Jamaica’s “white witch”. This essay examines the four written versions of the legend– James Castello’s 1868 pamphlet, H. G. de Lisser’s novel (1929), Harold Underhill’s 1968 text, and Mike Henry’s 2006 adaptation. Through a focus on the manipulation of violence, sexuality, and obeah I point to the legend of Palmer as a symbol of resistance and subversion. In doing so, I call for an understanding of Annie as an early figure of female agency.

On Brown’s Ghosts along the Mississippi River

A lan Brown, professor of English at the University of West Alabama, is the author of numerous books on ghost lore. His works include Ghost Hunters of the South, Haunted Places in the American South, Stories fr om the Haunted South, and Shadows and Cypress: Southern Ghost Stories. In his current work, Brown traces the legends and tales of ghosts up and down the Mississippi River. Brown states that “ghost stories should be enjoyed, and valued, because they preserve the history and values of the people who pass them along” (6). Th is is not a volume of “scary bump in the night” ghost stories that a reader might find in a traditional collection. Brown gathers oral narratives from people he meets in his travels to towns, large and small, in Southern and Northern states that border the Mississippi River. Th e author draws on personal experience from his visits as well as from others who are involved in paranormal research and ghost tours. He includes historical facts about the towns as well as the places, public and private, where he has discovered paranormal activity. Th e firsthand accounts of encounters with ghosts are integrated into the text about the place.

Ghost hunters in the library: Using an interactive mystery game for freshman library orientation

Pace University requires all first-year students to take a freshman seminar course called University 101 (UNV 101), and library orientation is a mandatory part of the course. The library used to provide in-person tours and orientations to each section of UNV 101. However, this has become impossible, as the size of the freshman class continues to grow. To address the problem, in Fall 2012 I created a mystery game to serve as the required freshman library orientation. The library mystery game used local history and university lore to introduce students to the library’s physical layout, services, and online resources.

Paranormal Media: Audiences, Spirits, and Magic in Popular Culture (review)

Reviewed by: Paranormal Media: Audiences, Spirits, and Magic in Popular Culture Emily E. Auger Annette Hill. Paranormal Media: Audiences, Spirits, and Magic in Popular Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 2011. 214 + × pp. hbk $125.00 (US); pbk $39.95 (US). ISBN10: 0-415-54462-9 (hbk). ISBN10: 0-415-54463-7 (pbk). Annette Hill is Professor of Media at the University of Westminster, UK, and the author of Restyling Factual Television (2007) and Reality TV (2005). Her latest book, Paranormal Media, is about the contemporary culture of the paranormal, a culture she finds to be heir to the “secularization” of beliefs about spirits, ghosts, and other paranormal phenomena that took place around 1800. She synthesizes some previous research on topics related to the title subject as context and support for the results of a study described in the appendix. This study, which was conducted in South East England, consisted of group interviews involving 104 people, in-depth interviews with seventy people, participant observation of ghost hunting events, and interviews with experts offering various professional and industry perspectives. The interviews, which were part of a larger, two-year study of digital media in the home, consisted of questions about beliefs and attitudes regarding the paranormal, including related television shows and websites, ghost tourism, and so forth. The results are presented throughout the book in the form of quotations supplementing Hill’s scholarly text. Chapter one introduces the title subject, emphasizing surveys and news articles showing that many people in Britain and the United States believe in at least some aspect of the paranormal. Chapter two, “Spirit histories,” demonstrates how paranormal phenomena and their representations have changed over the centuries with attention to such things as Spiritualism, magic-lantern shows, and how the Brothers Grimm made ghost stories into consumer products. Beliefs about the paranormal were, Hill says, once closely linked to religion and fear: “Fear of ghosts was also a fear of the occult and the Devil with his army of night workers” (23). While fear is still part of the paranormal equation, the context has changed along with the rest of the world, such that “popular culture spirit beliefs began to be relocated from religious to secular contexts. [. . .] Fear of ghosts was a sign of superstition and old ways of thinking about religion and supernaturalism” (23–24). In chapter three, “Paranormal in popular culture,” Hill emphasizes the shift from the spirit beliefs popular in the nineteenth century to the belief in the paranormal that characterizes the contemporary world, in which “The entertainment industry has transformed paranormal beliefs into revenue streams. What was once considered niche is now mainstream” (63). Not surprisingly then, chapters four, five, and six are devoted to “Armchair ghost hunters,” “Psychic tourists,” and “Experiences,” and, along with chapters seven and nine, incorporate most of the primary resource interview material. These chapters cover such topics as ghost hunting television shows, ghost walks and overnight visits to haunted sites, and the importance of personal experience to notions of authenticity in relation to the paranormal. Chapter seven is about magic and magicians who rarely presume to practise “real” magic and often seek to debunk those, like psychics and mediums, who do. Chapter eight is a discussion of research methods and the importance of audience participation to the industries [End Page 170] capitalizing on beliefs in the paranormal. Chapter nine is more about cultural engagement by way of the active pursuit of explanations for what falls outside the range of normal experience. Hill explains some of the relevant methodological issues and terms, but is less diligent in her examination of the assumption that “secularization” has released us from superstitious and fear-based responses to the paranormal. This assumption might pass without note, and when followed by chapters about paranormal beliefs in such “secular” contexts as television, ghost walks, and magic shows, it seems rather obvious. But does a willingness to be entertained by the paranormal mean that related beliefs have transferred from the “religious” to the “secular” realms, or have the expressions of belief merely diversified? No mention is made of church positions on the phenomena discussed, “Wicca” and “pagan” are not indexed terms, and the interview participants were apparently...

Ghost Letters (review)

Reviewed by: The Magic Half Katrina Bromann Barrows, Annie The Magic Half. Bloomsbury, 2008211p ISBN 978-1-59990-132-9$15.95 R Gr. 4-6 Instant messages sent via blue glass bottle connect two boys one hundred years and [End Page 240] two continents apart. In Massachusetts in 2007, seventh-grader Gil Mendelson-Finch is staying with his grandfather after having been thrown out of boarding school for plagiarism. He makes friends with an Indian-American girl named Nargis, and they begin investigating the supernatural stories about the wandering path of the Unknown Postman, the creeping dead hand of Camellia Stubbs, and the fate of her spurned admirer, Gil's great-great-granduncle. In Ajeebgarh, India, in 1896, Sikander Khan is a young calligrapher's apprentice whose friend Lawrence has been kidnapped just as war looms with the British over a picture on a postage stamp. There are ties that bind this group throughout history, and together with a genie who is willing to negotiate for number of wishes, the kids resurrect old letters and discover new delivery routes in order to save a life, reunite lovers, and stop a war. Ghost hunters looking for an adrenaline rush best look elsewhere; this has the type of muted thrills fitting for a story hinged on snail mail, appealing to History Channel fans of the stamp-collecting, tea-drinking, romantic ilk. Occasionally, the otherwise engaging plot stagnates in expository writing or gets confused among the alternating chapters (how is it that the blue bottle is sitting on Gil's desk, only to have Gil fish it out of the ocean the next day?), but Alter makes the dangling chapter endings enticing enough to compel the reader to the end. Today's email dependents will get a good sense of how something as small as one letter gone astray can change the course of history, and kids with big imaginations may be able to conjure up some shivers. Copyright © 2008 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life after Death – By Deborah Blum

Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life after Death – By Deborah Blum

Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death.

Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death.

Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death – By Deborah Blum

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 33, Issue 1 p. 32-32 Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death – By Deborah Blum Philip S. Meckley, Philip S. Meckley Kansas Wesleyan UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Philip S. Meckley, Philip S. Meckley Kansas Wesleyan UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 18 June 2007 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-0922.2007.00141_5.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume33, Issue1January 2007Pages 32-32 RelatedInformation