Review: Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places

4 stars. This book gets the Quintessentially Kelly award for 2018. It has all the ingredients for a home run: history, folklore, pithy writing, and the supernatural. I couldn’t put it down, and I’m devastated it’s over. If you’re looking for answers, or proof, look elsewhere. This is a straightforward examination of the questions.

I’ve always been interested in ghosts. As far back as second grade, I remember being mocked on the school bus for reading a chapter book about a haunted house. I was one of the first - and probably youngest - visitors of the early paranormal websites. In high school, my after-school routine consisted of popcorn, root beer, and A Haunting. I love - LOVE - Paranormal Witness.

And in Colin Dickey I found a compatible soul - another individual with endless questions and endless curiosity about the supernatural. I wish I had gotten to WRITE this! Talk about a dream job. He recounts ghost stories famous and not-so-famous across the country, diving into their historical context and background, truly bringing the past to life.

While some sections get a little bland, this is nowhere near a textbook. Dickey weaves through the stories his own investigation of the philosophy behind ghosts, asking and considering questions about life and death along the way. He manages to articulate many of the feelings I’ve had about homes, hotels, hospitals, cities - and the weirdness of how we interact with these … things … concepts … impressions … wrinkles … throughout history.

Keep in mind that this is not a scary book - at least, the ghosts aren’t scary. As Dickey demonstrates, many ghost stories reflect tragedy, or times of great suffering, or a failure of justice, or harsh, human cruelty. He’s smart to include this, as it wouldn’t be an American history without it. “But this, too, you could say, is part of the American story, as we have always been people who move on, leaving behind wreckage and fragments in our wake.”

And overall, it’s deeply enjoyable. I loved the chapter on Salem, and the Winchester House, and New Orleans. Dickey debunks - almost regretfully - many of the stories, but he’s careful to leave readers with a “what if?” I came for the ghost stories but LOVED his reflections on the abstract.

“We tell stories of the dead as a way of making a sense of the living. More than just simple urban legends and campfire tales, ghost stories reveal the contours of our anxieties, the nature of our collective fears and desires, the things we can’t talk about in any other way. The past we’re most afraid to speak aloud of in the bright light of day is the same past that tends to linger in the ghost stories we whisper in the dark.”

This should be read in schools. For history or literature or philosophy classes. For fun. Turn it into a documentary, or a podcast, I just want more of this content. Fuel my obsession, please. Do I believe in ghosts? Not really. But I’m deeply interested in what ghost stories say about humans. The stories within the stories. And this book delivered.

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places on: Amazon | Goodreads