Lore of the Ghost
Lore of the Ghost: The Origins of the Most Famous Ghost Stories Throughout the World (2008)
Brian Haughton’s Lore of the Ghost is an original and thought-provoking exploration of the numerous categories of ghosts and hauntings throughout the world. It discusses the possible motives for each type of haunting–from phantom white ladies and spectral black dogs to haunted highways and ghostly vehicles–what they represent, why they occur, and their possible functions. Unlike the vast majority of books on the subject, Lore of the Ghost is not a gazetteer of ghost sightings or a ghost hunter’s manual, but an investigation into human belief in the supernatural and its effect on the nature of ghosts worldwide.
Most people are familiar with at least one local tale of the supernatural, but how many of these “ghost stories” are genuine examples of hauntings rather than folktales or modern urban legends? Why are similar types of ghosts–headless ghosts, spectral armies, and phantom white ladies–reported from so many diverse cultures all over the world? What do reports of particular types of ghosts tell us about the societies that see them?
In Lore of the Ghost you will discover:
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* What it means to witness the Headless Horseman and the Death Coach
* The real history of the Vanishing Hitchhiker
* Extraordinary accounts of phantom battles and armies seen in the sky
* The origin of Poltergeists, as witnessed in the Bell Witch case and the Epworth Haunting
* The truth behind Screaming Skulls and other Haunted Objects
Packed with evocative illustrations, Lore of the Ghost adds a fascinating new dimension to our understanding of supernatural lore.
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