At the heart of America’s slave system was the legal definition of people as property. While property ownership is a cornerstone of the American dream, the status of enslaved people supplies a contrasting American nightmare. Sarah Gilbreath Ford considers how writers in works from nineteenth-century slave narratives to twenty-first-century poetry employ gothic tools, such as ghosts and haunted houses, to portray the horrors of this nightmare. Haunted Property: Slavery and the Gothic thus reimagines the southern gothic, which has too often been simply equated with the macabre or grotesque and then dismissed as regional. Although literary critics have argued that the American gothic is driven by the nation’s history of racial injustice, what is missing in this critical conversation is the key role of property. Ford argues that out of all of slavery’s perils, the definition of people as property is the central impetus for haunting because it allows the perpetration of all other terrors. Property becomes the engine for the white accumulation of wealth and power fueled by the destruction of black personhood. Specters often linger, however, to claim title, and Ford argues that haunting can be a bid for property ownership. Through examining works by Harriet Jacobs, Hannah Crafts, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Sherley Anne Williams, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, and Natasha Trethewey, Ford reveals how writers can use the gothic to combat legal possession with spectral possession.
Since his debut with “The Church in the High Street” (1962), he has written a series of novels and stories on the themes of possession and the supernatural, notably Needing Ghosts (1990) and Strange Things and Stranger Places (1993), ...
A handbook that gives addresses of places where ghosts have been authenticated, with directions for getting there to see for oneself
Ghostly apparitions, both friendly and hostile, have been a part of human folklore and literature since ancient times. Haunted Houses examines countless homes throughout the world which have had or continue to experience hauntings.
... Linda Montell ( wife ) , Linda Nance ( teacher ) , Melinda Overstreet ( journalist ) , Margaret Jean Owens , Debora Reece , Robert Renick ( Prestonsburg Community College ) , Harry Rice ( archivist , Berea College ) , Gerald Roberts ...
This book includes more than eighty haunted buildings, from the legendary to the ordinary, including Edgar Allan Poe’s house in Baltimore, a New Jersey tavern, and a Massachusetts farmhouse, a log cabin in Kentucky, and a number of ...
"Presents the mystery of haunted houses, including current theories and famous examples"--Provided by publisher.
While acting in a "haunted house" featuring interesting deaths in history, Ellen is contacted by the ghost of a former resident, who seems to be protecting the collection of antique Wedgwood dishes on display there.
Mr. Johnston's Residence: The Interview of Henry Johnston As I drove down the street, on my right was the house in question. I was tempted to stop and investigate, but I was already running late to see Mr. Johnston.
DVD: MGM/UA Home Entertainment. Return of the Terror (19 4) Director: Howard Bretherson. ... Rosemary's Baby (1968) Director/Screenplay: Roman Polanski. Producer: William Castle. ... Archive Collection (on The Bowery Boys Vol. ).
From classic movies like The Old Dark House to contemporary works like Hereditary and the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, Dahlia Schweitzer explores why haunted homes have become a prime stage for dramatizing anxieties about ...