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Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places
One of NPR’s Great Reads of 2016
“A lively assemblage and smart analysis of dozens of haunting stories…absorbing…[and] intellectually intriguing.” —The New York Times Book Review
From the author of The Unidentified, an intellectual feast for fans of offbeat history that takes readers on a road trip through some of the country’s most infamously haunted places—and deep into the dark side of our history.
Colin Dickey is on the trail of America’s ghosts. Crammed into old houses and hotels, abandoned prisons and empty hospitals, the spirits that linger continue to capture our collective imagination, but why? His own fascination piqued by a house hunt in Los Angeles that revealed derelict foreclosures and “zombie homes,” Dickey embarks on a journey across the continental United States to decode and unpack the American history repressed in our most famous haunted places. Some have established reputations as “the most haunted mansion in America,” or “the most haunted prison”; others, like the haunted Indian burial grounds in West Virginia, evoke memories from the past our collective nation tries to forget.
With boundless curiosity, Dickey conjures the dead by focusing on questions of the living—how do we, the living, deal with stories about ghosts, and how do we inhabit and move through spaces that have been deemed, for whatever reason, haunted? Paying attention not only to the true facts behind a ghost story, but also to the ways in which changes to those facts are made—and why those changes are made—Dickey paints a version of American history left out of the textbooks, one of things left undone, crimes left unsolved.
Spellbinding, scary, and wickedly insightful, Ghostland discovers the past we’re most afraid to speak of aloud in the bright light of day is the same past that tends to linger in the ghost stories we whisper in the dark.
“A lively assemblage and smart analysis of dozens of haunting stories…absorbing…[and] intellectually intriguing.” —The New York Times Book Review
From the author of The Unidentified, an intellectual feast for fans of offbeat history that takes readers on a road trip through some of the country’s most infamously haunted places—and deep into the dark side of our history.
Colin Dickey is on the trail of America’s ghosts. Crammed into old houses and hotels, abandoned prisons and empty hospitals, the spirits that linger continue to capture our collective imagination, but why? His own fascination piqued by a house hunt in Los Angeles that revealed derelict foreclosures and “zombie homes,” Dickey embarks on a journey across the continental United States to decode and unpack the American history repressed in our most famous haunted places. Some have established reputations as “the most haunted mansion in America,” or “the most haunted prison”; others, like the haunted Indian burial grounds in West Virginia, evoke memories from the past our collective nation tries to forget.
With boundless curiosity, Dickey conjures the dead by focusing on questions of the living—how do we, the living, deal with stories about ghosts, and how do we inhabit and move through spaces that have been deemed, for whatever reason, haunted? Paying attention not only to the true facts behind a ghost story, but also to the ways in which changes to those facts are made—and why those changes are made—Dickey paints a version of American history left out of the textbooks, one of things left undone, crimes left unsolved.
Spellbinding, scary, and wickedly insightful, Ghostland discovers the past we’re most afraid to speak of aloud in the bright light of day is the same past that tends to linger in the ghost stories we whisper in the dark.
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Community Reviews
“A haunted house is a memory palace made real: a physical space that retains memories that might otherwise be forgotten or that might remain only in fragments. Under the invisible weight of these memories, the habits of those who once haunted these places, we feel the shudder of the ghost.”
Ghostland takes a look at various haunted places throughout the USA. Not only does this discuss haunted places, it discusses our fascination with ghosts, what causes ghosts, the racism around haunted places, and so much more than just haunted places.
This was a fascinating look at America’s various haunted places, but also was very informative about other aspects of ghosts and hauntings that most people never think of, like the racism behind some of it. I really learned a lot about haunted places in America, but this really made me rethink my perspective on ghost stories and the tourism aspect of it now. Also, this book opened my eyes to the various places that are haunted. My initial reaction to haunted places is that it's a house, asylum, or prison, but it can be so much more.
Part one of this book covers haunted houses, so places like the House of Seven Gables in Salem, the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, and the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis. I found this section really interesting because of how almost all the ghost stories around these houses started relatively recently and the majority are blatant lies to bring in tourism. It was just fascinating to learn about how these famous houses are really mostly fabricated stories, which seems to be a recurring theme.
Part two covers bars, restaurants, hotels and brothels, which are all places that I never considered for hauntings. All of the places discussed in this section were new to me and it ended up being a fascinating look at some places I never would have thought of as haunted. This section also goes into the rise of ghost hunting reality television and how it has shaped hauntings and the ethical issues with it. I have never been someone who watched ghost hunting shows so I found this dive into it to be fascinating and I agree that it seems to have moved away from the initial reason ghost hunting groups were created. It's all about views and proving it's true now, which isn’t great.
Part three covers prisons, asylums, graveyards, cemeteries, and parks. I really enjoyed this chapter because it was well researched, informative, and made some great points about why these places are haunted. It also covered a place that I actually have visited, the Moundsville State Prison and the Grave Creek Mound, and it was great hearing another person's perspective on these two places after taking the tour. The other places covered in this section were all new to me, except Gettysburg, and I learned a lot about asylums and graveyards from it.
The last section covers haunted cities and towns, which is not something that I ever considered, but was not surprised to find New Oreleans discussed. The big thing I learned in this chapter is the racism surrounding ghosts and haunted places. So many places that tout ghosts are filled with only white ghosts, especially in the South that had heavy slave trading areas. It opened my eyes to another area where racism is being used to tell history. I never considered how racism has played a part in ghost stories or the tourism surrounding it.
Overall, this was a very interesting look at America’s haunted places. It was well researched, interesting, and forced the reader to consider other aspects of hauntings besides why someone might be haunting a place, like if the story told is the truth. If you are interested in haunted places or ghosts I recommend picking up this book.
TW: discussions of death, murder, child death, suicide, slavery, torture, rape,
Favorite Quotes:
“Searching for ghosts can be an attempt to reconstruct what is lost. By sifting through time for stories that have been misplaced or forgotten, we listen to the voices that call out to be remembered. Our ghost stories center on unfinished endings, broken relationships, things left unexplained. They offer an alternative kind of history, foregrounding what might otherwise be ignored.”
“Ghosts are the quintessential unwanted guests: like pests or dry rot, they do not belong. When homeowners discover ghosts on their property, they will do anything in their power to excise or exorcise them. Usually, that is.”
“Many times a ghost story is simply an attempt to account for some scattered tidbits, some disconnected facts, that don’t add up. We tell spooky tales and scary stories because the alternative—the open-ended chaos of the unknown—is even more terrifying.”
“Part of the reason that ghosts stay with us is that they remain a compelling mechanism to explain so much that is unknown in our lives. They enter and reenter our lexicon to explain the unexplainable, to represent the unrepresentable, to give a word to that which we don’t understand”
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