Ghostland by Colin Dickey
Viking. 2016.
Colin Dickey doesn't care whether ghosts are real or not. That's beside the point. What is interested in is what stories of alleged hauntings say about us, about our connection to place and history. When facts are easy to uncover, why do the stories of hauntings continue to perpetuate false information about the alleged spirits, or the places they are said to occupy? Why are the ghosts of Hollywood only famous people, or the ghosts of areas once the home of atrocious slave markets only haunted by white people?
This book is extremely fascinating, and Dickey has a relaxed, yet authoritative writing style that delivers the goods whether covering the Winchester mystery house, the Danvers State Hospital, the ruins of Detroit, or the internet. This is easily one of my favorite books this year and a valuable addition to my own library on the supernatural.
Sounds like an interesting read. I have questioned this idea, as well.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Fall River, Mass, home of the infamous Lizzie Borden. When I was a kid, the murder house was across the street from the bus station. I, and many others, would stand there and you could see the place right in front of you. Part of the bottom had been attached to another building for a press business. It was just another building in town that happened to have a dark history.
Flash forward to present day, when the house has been renovated to look like it did at the time of the murders and operates as a B&B and sort of museum. Now, we hear of strange noises and experiences in the place. I just chalk it up to good fun and, on the part of the owners, good for business. :)