How ghost stories came to haunt Halloween, expert explains

October brings Halloween decorations, thoughts of trick or treating, and a horde of scary new movies. Many people love being scared when it’s make-believe, and thus they love a good ghost story. But not all ghost stories are scary, nor were ghost stories as we know them and the Halloween season always so closely connected.

Virginia Tech English department instructor Ingrid Johnson, who teaches a course on “Monsters, Madness, and the Macabre,” provided insights into how Halloween and ghost stories became so intertwined, and the influence ghost stories have in pop culture.

Why do ghost stories and Halloween go hand in hand?

“Halloween falls on Oct. 31, which in the Christian calendar marks the beginning of a season of remembrance of the faithful dead. It may also be linked to Samhain, a pagan festival that celebrated the change of seasons from autumn to winter, or harvest to darkness. In our now more secular celebration of Halloween, we associate it with mystery and fear and a time to masquerade as something other than ourselves. In each of these traditions, there is acknowledgement of mortality: Christians use it as a time to pay tribute to those who have passed; the pagans honored the dead with celebrations that included the opening of burial mounds; modern celebrants revel in the dark and macabre. Ghost stories are naturally aligned with Halloween because they speak to our fascination for — and fear of — death. Halloween and ghosts are perfect for each other.”

Have ghost story traditions changed over the centuries?

“Ghost stories can be found in cultures across space and time. They were told for various purposes. In some cases, ghost stories were used to promote good behavior, warning people that pitiful lost souls were damned because of immoral lives. In other instances, they were used to explain death, just as certain gods were used to explain natural phenomena. These ghosts ranged in nature from mild to elegiac to terrible. Our modern depictions of ghosts, with some exceptions, are used to instill fear, with few other purposes.” 

When did the modern English ghost story take shape?

“Ghost stories really take hold of the English imagination when we get to the 16th century. Shakespeare’s ’Hamlet’ begins with a ghost, who encourages the action of the play. The Gothic tradition and the rise of mesmerism in the 18th and 19th centuries further fueled our collective fascination with things that go bump in the night. Charles Dickens, who was a celebrity during his life, wrote one of the most celebrated and enduring ghost stories of all time: ‘A Christmas Carol.’ Other famous and influential examples include ‘The Turn of the Screw’ by Henry James, ‘The Canterville Ghost’ by Oscar Wilde, ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte, ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier, and ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson.” 

What are some ways the ghost story has influenced pop culture?

“Ghost stories are truly everywhere! Films like ‘Poltergeist,’ ‘The Sixth Sense,’ ‘Paranormal Activity,’ and ‘The Amityville Horror’ have scared us, while ‘Coco,’ ‘Ghostbusters,’ and ‘Casper’ have delighted us. In television, there are numerous paranormal investigation shows like ‘GhostHunters,’ ‘Ghost Adventures,’ and ‘The Dead Files,’ and series like ‘Supernatural,’ ‘Ghosts,’ and ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor.’ If sheer volume of media output is an indicator of our collective fascination with ghost stories, then we’re hooked.”

About Johnson
Ingrid Johnson, an advanced instructor in the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Humans Sciences’ English department, teaches composition and literature classes as well as the department’s First-Year Experience course for new majors. She is also the departmental liaison for the English Distinguished Alumni Board. Read more about her here.

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