In today’s post, we are looking into the history of Ghost Stories and some haunted sites to explore. Who knows, maybe you’ll have your own story to tell if you go.

A Brief History

What is a ghost? A ghost or specter is based on the belief that a person’s spirit can live on without a physical body. Due to this belief, places that are known to have haunted reputations are connected to the spirit either through emotion or occurrence. Many attribute strange noises, lights, odors, breezes, displacement of objects, bells and other instruments playing to signs of hauntings. 

Who saw the first ghost?

In a recent 2021 article, Smithsonian Magazine wrote about the finding of a 3,500 year old tablet. On the tablet from 1500 BCE appears to be an early depiction of a ghost. The first written encounter was recorded in the first century AD by Pilny the Younger. Pilny writes that the spirit of an old man in a beard and wearing chains haunted his home in Athens. This image would later become associated with apparitions. The first poltergeist was recorded in Germany in 856 A.D. 

The belief in the supernatural also appeared in the earliest forms of literature. Ghosts are mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey as well as in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Witch of Endor called to the spirit of the prophet Samuel. Plautus is the first one to write about a haunted house in his play, Mostellaria. Other examples of early ghost stories include One Thousand and One Nights and The Tale of Genji. During the 16th and 17th centuries, some ghost stories  were told in the style of ballads. These ballads were written during the wars between England and Scotland. An example of this is The Legend of the Flying Dutchman.

The peak time of ghost stories was the period between 1830 – the start of WWI in 1914. Affectionately called the Golden Age of Ghost Stories, popular authors of the time include Charles Dickens, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Edgar Allan Poe among others. In Victorian England, many people were considered to be lucky to have seen a ghost. They believed that seeing a ghost meant you were visited by a loved one.

Famous Ghost Encounters in New York City

Dylan Thomas has been seen at the White Horse Tavern in New York City. This was the last spot where he was seen alive before falling into a coma in his room at the Chelsea Hotel. Thomas’s ghost has been spotted by patrons of the Chelsea Hotel especially in the room where he passed away. 

 

You can also see Aaron Burr at the restaurant One if by land, Two if by Sea. Burr is said to haunt the building as it was once his carriage house back in the revolutionary days. After he famously killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, Burr lost his New York properties including his carriage house. Some patrons have seen Burr while others have been pushed randomly. 

Haunted Places in America to Visit

Bodie Ghost Town, Bodie State Park in CA

Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia

Dock Street Theater, South Carolina

Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, PA

Ohio Reformatory, Mansfield, Ohio

Emily’s Bridge, Stowe, Vermont

Gettysburg Battlefield,  Gettysburg, PA

The Lizzie Borden House, Falls River, MA

The Mark Twain House, Hartford, CT

One if by land, Two if by sea, NYC 

Pine Barrens, NJ

Bowery Hotel, NYC

RMS Queen Mary,  Long Beach CA

Stanley Hotel, CO

St. Augustine Lighthouse, St. Augustine, FL

Whaley House, San Diego, CA

Winchester Mystery House, San Jose CA

Trans – Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Weston, WV

Fiction Books to Read

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Ghost Stories by M.R. James

Ghost Stories by Edith Wharton

The Shining by Stephen King

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Ghost Story by Peter Straub

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

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