Advertisement She put up a few rags and some gauzy stuff to make her house look haunted. There are cardboard skeletons in her window and carved pumpkins on her stoop. Her kids love it, your kids love it, and you know hers is going to be a popular house this month.
Our culture is very steeped in fact and provable science. So why do we love a good ghost story? In the new book “Lore of the Ghost” by Brian Haughton (illustrated by Daniele Serra, c.2008, New Page Books, $14.99, 192 pages, includes index), you’ll read about spooky legacies that have been around for a long time.
Through the centuries, every culture has retold mysterious and frightening stories of ghosts and hauntings. Ancient human remains seem to have been interred with efforts to keep the deceased from roaming the countryside. Classic Greek literature includes spooky tales; in fact, many Greek and Roman myths are quite similar to modern-day ghost stories. Great Britain is known for its wealth of haunted castles, ruins, inns and cottages.
But if ghosts exist, why would they want to return to Earth? Haughton says there are several reasons, mostly depending on the era in which the story is told. During the time of Henry VIII, it was said ghosts couldn’t rest until a Mass was said for their souls. Revenge for murder was another hypothesis, as was confusion over an accidental death or regret over suicide. A few spirits supposedly enjoyed their life so much, they wanted an encore.
So do ghosts exist? Haughton says in his introduction that he’s going to leave the decision to readers. He then goes on to present dozens and dozens of legends and tales (and valid explanations) from all over the world.
Nearly every teenager has heard about the Vanishing Hitchhiker. Haughton says the legend has been around since before motorized vehicles, and it shows up in several different continents. The Headless Horseman may have its roots in genuinely decapitated humans. Celebrity ghosts may not be who you think they are, will-o-the-wisp lights may have a non-scary explanation, and phantom smells might indicate brain damage.
Do you scoff at scares? Are you a spectre skeptic? Do ghosts make you guffaw? Then this is the book for you, because Haughton is a bit of a debunker when it comes to things that go bump in the night.
By categorizing ghostly legends and spooky stories, Haughton shows how these tales have survived the centuries and how they’ve appeared in different cultures and times throughout history.
And that last sentence should tell you something important about this book: It’s not exactly Halloween-y reading. “Lore of the Ghost” is more of an analytical thesis on legend than a tome of terror for campfire storytime. I found it interesting but not scary at all.
If you bah-humbug over haunting, “Lore of the Ghost” is a good cultural peek into poltergeists and such. If you’re looking to scare the daylights out of someone, though, you’d be frightfully wrong to look here.
Terri Schlichenmeyer lives in the La Crosse area and reviews books as The Bookworm. Send her messages via
realtime@lacrossetribune.com.
