Cultural History Of Ghosts

Skeletons Sail an Etheric Ocean: Approaching the Ghost in John Carpenter's The Fog

by Murray Leeder

The Fall of the House of Meaning: Between Static and Slime in Poltergeist.

by Murray Leeder

Wraiths, Revenants, and Ritual in Medieval Culture

by Nancy Caciola

A Short History of Superimposition: From Spirit Photography to Early Cinema

by Simone Natale

Early Popular Visual Culture 10.2 (2012): 125-145

Free download in the Francis&Taylor site (only available for a limited time):
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/9ZVBXSfGTn7xhzsTdMmw/full

As several scholars have noted, the use of superimposition effects in cinema to conjure such apparitions as ghosts,... more As several scholars have noted, the use of superimposition effects in cinema to conjure such apparitions as ghosts, fairies, devils, and other fantastic creatures finds a significant precedent in spirit photography, a spiritualist practice by which the image of one or more spirits was ‘magically’ captured on a photographic plate. However, arguing for a relationship of direct filiation between spirit photography and the tricks employed in film remains problematic, especially given that spirit pictures were entangled with matters of religious belief. This article calls for a more solid insertion of spiritualism’s visual culture into the pre-history of film practice, giving three main cases in support of the relationship between spirit photography and early cinema. Firstly, the commercial use of spirit photographs within the spiritualist movement suggests that the circulation of these images was not exclusively informed by matters of belief. Secondly, the popularization of exposures of spirit photography operated by numerous stage magicians in the late nineteenth century can contribute towards explaining the insertion of multiple-exposure techniques in the technical expertise of early filmmakers. Thirdly, a documented case in which spirit photographs were presented to a paying public in the vein of magic lantern entertainments demonstrates that the spiritualist visual culture intersected the nineteenth-century tradition of the projected image, too. Thus, by sketching a history of superimposition effects in photography, stage magic, magic lantern, and cinema, this article claims that visual representations of ghosts in the nineteenth century constantly wavered between religion and spectacle, fiction and realism, and still and moving pictures.

Cross cultural flows in East Asian Horror Cinema.

by Balmain Colette

Abstract of paper for 'East Winds: East Asian Cinema and Cultural Crossovers', 2nd March 2012, Coventry University

„The Specter of Old Age: Nasty Old Men in the Sagas of Icelanders,“ Journal of English and Germanic Philology 104 (2005), 297–325.

by Ármann Jakobsson

Hamlet, Masculinity and the Nineteenth-Century Nationalism

by Magda Romanska

Published in "Ghosts, Stories, Histories: Ghost Stories and Alterative Histories." Ed. Sladja Blazan Cambridge Scholars Publishing (2007).

FROM THE EDITOR:

"Magda Romanska argues that with the rise of nationalism in late nineteenth-century... more FROM THE EDITOR:

"Magda Romanska argues that with the rise of nationalism in late nineteenth-century Europe, the pattern of the patriarchal covenant in Hamlet paralleled the process of nation-building. Hamlet’s filial loyalty toward his Father’s ghost was perceived as a symbol of
patriotic loyalty towards one’s nation/Father-land. Conversely, as a “gift of death” that cements the patriarchal contract, Ophelia became a model of the nineteenth-century feminine ideal."

The Spectacular Supernatural: Spiritualism, Entertainment, and the Invention of Cinema

by Simone Natale

Cinéma & Cie 10.14-15 (2011): 175-77

This is a summary of my PhD dissertation, which examines the relationship between the emergence of spiritualism and... more This is a summary of my PhD dissertation, which examines the relationship between the emergence of spiritualism and the rise of modern show business from the middle nineteenth century to the introduction of cinema.

Magnetic Fields, Anomalous Experiences: A Sceptical Critique of the Current Evidence

by Dr Jason J Braithwaite

A comprehensive review of the literature on magnetic fields and anomalous haunt-type experiences published in The Skeptic Magazine.

Spettacoli spettrali: Spiritismo, cinema e fantasmi

by Simone Natale

In: Diversamente Vivi: Zombie, fantasmi, mummie, vampiri. Eds. Ortoleva, Peppino and Giulia Carluccio. Milano: Il Castoro 2010. 157-162.

The Medium on the Stage: Trance and Performance in Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism

by Simone Natale

Early Popular Visual Culture 9.3 (2011): 239-255

Free download in the Francis&Taylor site (only available for a limited time):
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/gqUsqrF3zfVir2srnGYS/full

While historians of spiritualism have been eager to focus on its political and social implications, less attention has... more While historians of spiritualism have been eager to focus on its political and social implications, less attention has been given to the fact that spirit communication was also a matter of visual spectacle. This article aims to analyse spiritualist séances as a form of spectacular entertainment. Relying on a wide array of spiritualist sources, it argues that séances were meant not only as moments of religious and scientific inquiry, but also as a brilliant amusement where theatrical effects embellished an exciting shared experience. The intermingling of religion and entertainment can thus be seen as one of the defining characteristics of the spiritualist experience. After sketching the history of the presence of spiritualist mediums on the stage and discussing the involvement of professionalism in mediumship, the article will then focus on the trance as a specific performance strategy. It will examine how the trance combined issues of automatism, theatricality and absorption, and contributed to the coexistence in spirit séances of spectacular features and claims of authenticity.

Los espectros furiosos como causa de enfermedad en Mesopotamia

by M. Erica Couto-Ferreira

CFP: Undead in the West: Vampires, Zombies, Mummies and Ghosts on the Cinematic Frontier

by Cynthia Miller

FINAL DAYS FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS!

Deadline for abstracts - September 18, 2011. Publication scheduled for 2012.

‘Telling Tales in Robert Mannyng deBrun’s Handlyng Synne’

by Andrew Power

in Julie Anne Stevens & Helen Conrad O’Briain, eds. Ghost Stories from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010, pp. 34-46.

This paper discusses a small group of ghost stories that are scattered throughout Robert Mannyng's Handlyng synne... more This paper discusses a small group of ghost stories that are scattered throughout Robert Mannyng's Handlyng synne (1303); a text that could be described as an early C14th confessional manual (being a translation and expansion of the Manuel de Pesche) designed to illustrate the sins that people must avoid. Among the stories I examine are that of a foul and grisly monk's spirit who visits a church to warn a living monk against back-biting (and who all-the-while chews on his own tongue); a dead nun (who had spoken villainy during her life) who is heard screaming in her grave while devils tear at her tongue and burn her; and a slothful sergeant who before he dies is given the small and beautiful book of his good deeds and the great and hideous book of his sins to read (he returns to tell the tale as a warning). There are interesting implications in each of these tales for the telling and the writing of evil tales.

Three Minutes of Silence: Social technologies of commemoration

by Steve Brown

Pre-publication draft of a paper appearing in Theory & Psychology, 2012

A piece that's been through many versions, including invited presentations at workshops on Affect (Durham, 2005),... more A piece that's been through many versions, including invited presentations at workshops on Affect (Durham, 2005), Listening (UvH, 2005) and Social Technology (Amsterdam, 2009) before finding its final home with a special issue on Social Technologies edited by Signe Vikkelso & Maarten Derksen to appear in Theory & Psychology, 2012.

Highland and other haunts:: Ghosts in Scottish Tourism

by Mary Holmes

'You Saw the Ghost, Didn't You? There's Someone Wants to Ask You about It': Occupational Ghostlore, Narrative, and Belief

by Paul Cowdell

in 'Contemporary Legend', New Series, 9 (2006 [published 2010]), 69-82

The complex relationship between narrative and belief has long been recognised. It is particularly evident when... more The complex relationship between narrative and belief has long been recognised. It is particularly evident when considering ghost narratives, where local legends are recounted, apparently distinct from the narrator’s personal beliefs. In fieldwork I have found a tendency to rationalise personal experiences/beliefs from local legends. This is particularly true of nursing ghost narratives, which seem to depend on the age of the haunted building. At one intersection of this legend/belief network stand occupational ghost narratives. This article considers two occupational ghost narratives collected recently from the theatre and building trades. Both narratives share similar features of liminal, specialist, locations, and both emphasise the distinctness of the trade. Neither narrative features a purposeful ghost, and the article contrasts this with an occupational nursing narrative I have also recently recorded, as well as other occupational ghostlore noted in recent years. Instead, these ghosts are narrated chiefly as performed incidents with a high degree of storytelling artistry. The article looks at the significance of the performances for the trades concerned, as well as examining the narrative skills involved in telling them. It also considers the contexts in which the stories were told, and the wider narrative repertoire of the tellers.