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It is 10am! And we are back with #RomancingtheGothic and @RomGothSam on EIGHTEENTH CENTURY GHOST STORIES!!
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When we are thinking about ghost tales in 18thC we are not thinking about the same kinds of elements that became popular or common from the 19thC. We could see ghost tales as confrontations with the other, blurring of meanings, horror, terror and a register of fear. Not so here.
18thC ghost tales were prolific but in different register. Not discussing wider oral tales and folklore today- looking at
Anti-Sadducean Lit and Debunking Collections
Real Ghosts of the 18thC
Ghosts of Folklore and Ballad, but leaving oral folktales etc to @IcySedgwick later!
Anti-Sadducean Lit and Debunking Collections
Real Ghosts of the 18thC
Ghosts of Folklore and Ballad, but leaving oral folktales etc to @IcySedgwick later!
Part 1 : Anti-Sadducean Literature and Debunking Collections.
Anti-Sadducean texts appeared in response to atheist texts. This was the "new threat" - tho Catholicism was still the continuing threat - which challenged the existence of the soul etc.
Anti-Sadducean texts appeared in response to atheist texts. This was the "new threat" - tho Catholicism was still the continuing threat - which challenged the existence of the soul etc.
The term was used against those who challenged things like Christ's divinity, Trinitarian concept of God, soul and spirit theology, and so on. Someone who denies everything bar materiality. Term taken from religious Jewish group mentioned in Bible but here used in Xian context.
Ghost stories not predicated on fear but on religious comfort- ghosts invoked as means of proving immaterial soul, of Xian framing, of immortality of the soul.
We will be looking at a few collections. John Aubrey collected things sent to him, collating a compendium to engage people with collections challenging Sadducean frameworks.
Defoe's collection was published 2ce under different names. He was pro-spirits but unsure re: ghosts.
Defoe's collection was published 2ce under different names. He was pro-spirits but unsure re: ghosts.
We now look at the pdfs of the texts so that we can look at the texts themselves and see what they involve!
Starting with the earliest, John Aubrey's collection. Covering apparitions, prophecies, invisible blows, visions in a glass, corpse-candles in Wales.
Starting with the earliest, John Aubrey's collection. Covering apparitions, prophecies, invisible blows, visions in a glass, corpse-candles in Wales.
Defoe's frontkspiece illustration is a classical e.g. not a modern one as a good example of respectability politics played within these texts and the weight placed on classical Greek/Roman texts over contemporary stories.
Defoe is opening a discussion about these events, engages with the medical discourse of the period questioning how to see if an apparition is real or illusion.
Such tales deserve attention because they interact with theological truths.
Such tales deserve attention because they interact with theological truths.
Dr Hirst may do a whole class on the Witch of Endor discourse, as there was a whole controversy about this episode in the Old Testament.
Life After Death text (anon) makes specific statements - to not believe in ghosts is to disbelieve the Bible, but there is a lack of coherent
Life After Death text (anon) makes specific statements - to not believe in ghosts is to disbelieve the Bible, but there is a lack of coherent
- engagement with the Biblical discourse and parables too, so this text does not make its argument effectively.
Let's look at some of these ghost stories! Dr Hirst points out that in telling the tales they are making them sound like stories, not factual parts of a debate.
Let's look at some of these ghost stories! Dr Hirst points out that in telling the tales they are making them sound like stories, not factual parts of a debate.
Classic tale 1 : a soldier confesses to his Colonel that before he joined up he was a servant who killed and robbed his master, buried the cash, then joined up and ran off to Ireland. On return to England he was haunted by a ghost crying WILT THOU NOT CONFESS THY WICKED MURDER??
The man confessed and was hanged, and the ghost was satisfied.
In 19thC the guilty psyche was the main way these tales were interpreted and discussed, becoming medicalised in the ghostly discourse.
In 19thC the guilty psyche was the main way these tales were interpreted and discussed, becoming medicalised in the ghostly discourse.
Next tale.
A doctor meets with his cousin, has a chat, goes to treat a child, it is late, he and his cousin end up lodging together and sharing a bed. His cousin's friend has just died and he made a pact with his friend to see if there is an afterlife. Whoever died first will-
A doctor meets with his cousin, has a chat, goes to treat a child, it is late, he and his cousin end up lodging together and sharing a bed. His cousin's friend has just died and he made a pact with his friend to see if there is an afterlife. Whoever died first will-
-appear to the other. He waits at the appointed spot and nothing happens. He goes on with his life until a later date. The doctor and the captain (cousin) meet up again and this time the friend does appear. The Captain is told there is a God and he must turn over a new leaf.
Doctor is sceptical but the captain describes the event and becomes a changed man.
An Anglo-Irish tale: a dream predicts a robbery and murder. A ghostly warning that is not needed and results in murder, but the brigands are arrested and hanged in chains.
1647 tale collected by Aubrey: prince and lord about to fight a duel but lord is killed before he gets there. His lover awakes at the moment of his death, and sees him standing at her bedside, where he looks at her and leaves.
The snowball story! Not technically a ghost story. Relates to the ambassador to Istanbul. They are having a snowball fight, when one snowball hits a Turkish man in the eye and kills him. The Vizier says he doesnt care if it was an accident, he wants to know who threw the snowball
Simon Dibbons is accused but he wasn't even there. The ambassador tries to get him off but to no avail and the ambassador decides it is better for 1 man to die than cause an international incident. Dibbons reveals he did actually kill a man in England& fled to Turkey. Providence.
(Sooo never mind about the Turkish man who was killed, the Britjsh get justice by saving the guy who actually threw the snowball and getting a murderer who almost got away with his crime on English soil executed)
BUT ghosts also erase things they don't just reveal. Very few stories if any of Black or POC ghosts in England at this time. Only white people reveal providence or are used by God to show there is an afterlife, is one 18thC implication, despite presence of BAME in Britain.
Think about erasure and its implications as well when reading these collections.
John Ferrier's collection is a sceptical collection as an entertaining counterpoint to the ones we have been discussing, framing these stories as entertainment but also debunking them with dismissive discourse. A story of a Scottish chieftain plays on "emotional Celt" primitive-
-discourse, dismissing the tale in which he sees a vision of an old woman without a head (a premonition of her death irl, which then occurs) as him being highly-strung.
So you see contemporary views and stereotypes coming into play here too.
So you see contemporary views and stereotypes coming into play here too.
PART 2!!
Real 18thC Ghosts!
We are now thinking about examples of "actual" ghosts that were reported in the media of the time, rather than collected in compendium texts with specific agendas and frameworks.
Real 18thC Ghosts!
We are now thinking about examples of "actual" ghosts that were reported in the media of the time, rather than collected in compendium texts with specific agendas and frameworks.
First, factional ghosts rather than factual ones. Mrs Veal is a story sitting on that factional line, sold as a real story but not actually! One of the first proto-modern ghost stories with a carefully constructed narrative. Presented as reliable, attested with evidence.
Didactic and Aesthetic:
The framework is Xian, affect is being used and aesthetic used to create affective response. Religious comfort is the aim, not fear.
Mrs Veal's ghost is based on an earlier text well regarded by both Protestants and Catholics, The Christian Defence.
The framework is Xian, affect is being used and aesthetic used to create affective response. Religious comfort is the aim, not fear.
Mrs Veal's ghost is based on an earlier text well regarded by both Protestants and Catholics, The Christian Defence.
Mrs Veal appears to her friend Mrs Bargrave and comforts her about her miserable life, they read Drelincourt's text and Mrs Veal delivers a kind of homily. Then she leaves. She says she is going on a journey on Monday (it is Sat). Turns out she died on Friday.
The story fits so well because while it is agreed it is a fictional story, possibly by Defoe, but introduces us to the ongoing debates about ghosts within the text and how public controversy was expressed at the time. It fits with tales like the Cock Lane Ghost (1762).
A young girl hears scratching in the walls, other noises in her house, then she sees a handless woman she recognises as Fanny Kent, a woman who used to lodge in the house with her husband William. Her father sees the apparition too and the local publican.
So the girl asks the ghost to knock - 1 for yes, 2 for no. The ghost reveals she was murdered by her husband William Kent.
William's first wife was Elizabeth Kent. Elizabeth died in childbirth and Fanny was his sister in law. They couldn't get married legally bc of canon law.
William's first wife was Elizabeth Kent. Elizabeth died in childbirth and Fanny was his sister in law. They couldn't get married legally bc of canon law.
They lived together instead as husband and wife. William Kent was very unpopular and fell out with his landlords inc the girl's father. The girl finds out from the ghost Fanny was poisoned by arsenic.
The ghost hunters who visited the house included loads of famous people.
The ghost hunters who visited the house included loads of famous people.
BUT THIS ISN'T A THING.
This is the story that got told, not what actually happened.
Lots of these story elements were true. In fact, William Kent money to each landlord and took them to court when they didn't repay it, inc the Parsons who were beset by "Fanny's ghost".
This is the story that got told, not what actually happened.
Lots of these story elements were true. In fact, William Kent money to each landlord and took them to court when they didn't repay it, inc the Parsons who were beset by "Fanny's ghost".
Oliver Goldsmith's account goes through this version of the story and looks at it as a way of discrediting William Kent, trying to ruin his life after Fanny's death, and monetise it after they had paid off their debt to him.
CASE 2: The Lamb Inn Poltergeist, Bristol 1761-2.
Again an e.g. of how folkloric working class beliefs intersected with academic debates of gentlemen in the newspapers of the time, with multiple letters and comments on this story sent to the editor of the newspaper.
Again an e.g. of how folkloric working class beliefs intersected with academic debates of gentlemen in the newspapers of the time, with multiple letters and comments on this story sent to the editor of the newspaper.
The Lamb Inn: starts w/ sounds, then attacked the girls of the inn in front of others, then moved to knocking like the Cock Lane Ghost.
Became a religious battleground for different interpretations. Methodist leaning clergy believed, others did not, Discourse all over the place.
Became a religious battleground for different interpretations. Methodist leaning clergy believed, others did not, Discourse all over the place.
Witchcraft and cunning women discourse thrown in the mix. Took 3 grown men to stop one child being thrown out of her bed by the ghost. Girls taken into other houses where some symptoms persisted but not all. Thought to be a witch's curse
?? Prayers failed, called on Martha Biggs.
?? Prayers failed, called on Martha Biggs.
Martha was a cunning woman who was involved in another famous case at the time too. Her remedy was to boil the girls' urine and this took away the witch's power.
Ministers then turned a blind eye and did not prosecute her.
Ministers then turned a blind eye and did not prosecute her.
(You couldn't be prosecuted for witchcraft at this time but you could be prosecuted for pretending to be a witch. Biggs was prosecuted in another case where she claimed she could ID a cattle thief.)
BREAK TIME
Support Dr Hirst and the project if you can!!
http://www.ko-fi.com/samhirst
http://www.patreon.com/romancingthegothic
Support Dr Hirst and the project if you can!!
http://www.ko-fi.com/samhirst
http://www.patreon.com/romancingthegothic
PART 3: FOLK TRADITIONS AND BALLADS
Again we will have a talk on Gothic and Folklore by @IcySedgwick later on so not straying too far into this territory, but here we brush into these realms.
18thC - engagement with the folkloric could be problematic. Removal from context &-
Again we will have a talk on Gothic and Folklore by @IcySedgwick later on so not straying too far into this territory, but here we brush into these realms.
18thC - engagement with the folkloric could be problematic. Removal from context &-
- moving it into another "more literary" one to "validate" it. Implications that folk trads were not of literary value when oral and needed refinement or transition of some kind to be valid and respected. Problematic "borrowings" and attribution seen too.
So we are looking at folk ballads from Childe's collection. The ballads have a much earlier origin although the dates are often unclear.
Sweet William - many versions but attested from 16thC.
https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/fairmargaretandsweetwilliam.html
Sweet William - many versions but attested from 16thC.
https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/fairmargaretandsweetwilliam.html
Dealing here with tragic and personal goodbye, not a providential visitation. Different register entirely with the affect, again, not in register of fear but of romance.
Here is Kate Rusby's version
Here is Kate Rusby's version
Some changes in the lyrics to change the end, many do not end in Margaret's death. Ballads have viva city and life of their own that defy the codifying impulse of 18th/19thCs and be living traditions that can be transmitted into different cultures and times.
^vivacity
Another one: The Unquiet Grave.
More of a theological folk discourse here relating to letting the dead rest / excessive grief disturbs them and stops them resting, also kiss of death is infectious.
https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/theunquietgrave.html
Another one: The Unquiet Grave.
More of a theological folk discourse here relating to letting the dead rest / excessive grief disturbs them and stops them resting, also kiss of death is infectious.
https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/theunquietgrave.html
The Unquiet Grave has a lot of interpretations and doesn't necessarily represent contemporary ghost belief but does represent a continued interest in topics and themes such as trauma, loss, and love.
We are out of time! This lecture is repeated at 7pm GMT today. Come along for the full talk, all the tales, and the Q&A discussions.
Again, show support to the project and Dr Hirst here:
http://www.ko-fi.com/samhirst
http://www.patreon.com/romancingthegothic
Again, show support to the project and Dr Hirst here:
http://www.ko-fi.com/samhirst
http://www.patreon.com/romancingthegothic
