On learning of the sad news of the death of the folklorist and contemporary legend scholar Dr Gillian Bennett (1939-2023) at the end of last year I was reminded of her study Alas, Poor Ghost! Traditions of Belief in Story and Discourse (1999), examining the locations where ghosts manifest.
Exploring the language and words used in witnesses’ accounts and narratives, she argued that ghosts are inextricably linked with the physicality of haunted houses, being concentrated in particular parts of a property. A lexical analysis revealed certain words repeatedly cropping up in stories about hauntings. Aside from the word “house” itself, common words were “go”, “attic”, “stairs”, “door”, “somebody”, “cellar”, “nightmare”, “family” and “disappear”.
She concluded: “Haunted places are thus seen to be no-go areas such as cellars and attics, or betwixt-and between places such as stairs and doorways.” Commenting on this consistency in stories, she said: “One explanation… might be that these actually are the typical contexts for paranormal experiences (though why this should be so is a question that needs to be answered). Alternatively, this interpretation might be reversed by saying that these sorts of locations, being the stuff of thousands of ghost stories, will predispose susceptible people to see ghosts there.”
Of course, it is not always the case that ghosts confine themselves to indoors. Though we typically speak of ‘haunted houses’ – andhead outside.
