Haunted Property

Winner of a 2021 South Central Modern Language Association Book Prize At the heart of America’s slave system was the legal definition of people as property. While property ownership is a cornerstone of the American dream, the status of enslaved people supplies a contrasting American nightmare. Sarah Gilbreath Ford considers how writers in works from nineteenth-century slave narratives to twenty-first-century poetry employ gothic tools, such as ghosts and haunted houses, to portray the horrors of this nightmare. Haunted Property: Slavery and the Gothic thus reimagines the southern gothic, which has too often been simply equated with the macabre or grotesque and then dismissed as regional. Although literary critics have argued that the American gothic is driven by the nation’s history of racial injustice, what is missing in this critical conversation is the key role of property. Ford argues that out of all of slavery’s perils, the definition of people as property is the central impetus for haunting because it allows the perpetration of all other terrors. Property becomes the engine for the white accumulation of wealth and power fueled by the destruction of black personhood. Specters often linger, however, to claim title, and Ford argues that haunting can be a bid for property ownership. Through examining works by Harriet Jacobs, Hannah Crafts, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Sherley Anne Williams, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, and Natasha Trethewey, Ford reveals how writers can use the gothic to combat legal possession with spectral possession.

Expanded and with great new stories, this is the biggest and best anthology of ghostly hauntings ever. Over 40 tales of visitation by the undead - from vengeful and violent spirits, set on causing harm to innocent people tucked up in their homes, to rarer and more kindly ghosts, returning from the grave to reach out across the other side. Yet others entertain desires of a more sinister bent, including the erotic. This new edition includes a selection of favourite haunted house tales chosen by famous screen stars Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Plus a top ranking list of contributors that includes Stephen King, Bram Stoker, Ruth Rendell, and James Herbert - all brought together by an anthologist who himself lives in a haunted house. Stories include: Something unspeakable lurks in a Connecticut apartment closet, in Stephen King's 'The Boogeyman'; An Irish castle holds something truly horrifying in wait, in 'The Whistling Room' by William Hope Hodgson; The lecherous old ghost of a Georgian country house eyes up his latest tenant, in Norah Lofts' 'Mr Edward'; An ancient mansion on a shelf of rock previously occupied by a doomed castle, in 'In Letters of Fire' by Gaston Le Roux; The hunter is hunted in James Herbert's tale of nineteenth-century country mansion, 'The Ghost Hunter'; Psychic phenomena and poltergeists, avenging spirits and phantom lovers - curl up and read on, but never imagine you are safe from a visit...

This edition of House of Spirits and Whispers features a new preface from the author, photographs, and bonus material We had been instructed to enter by the back door. That's the part of the house where the old man had lived. It was where he still lived. Turns out he was watching us that day, too, silent and heavy as the air, bound to the earth and his former home.We had been instructed to enter by the back door. In 1994, Annie Wilder and her children moved into a 100-year-old house in a historic Mississippi River town. Beautiful but spooky, the house had been on the market for six months with no offers. It felt like-and proved to be-a very haunted house. Essentially the story of a remarkable old Victorian house that seems to be a threshold to the spirit world and the astral realm, House of Spirits and Whispers has a backstory of the Wilder family's relationship with the ghost of the home's previous owner, an old man named Leon. Covering a decade's worth of ghostly activity and supernatural encounters, from whispering radiators to visits and appearances from all manner of spirits and entities, this unusual story is the true account of Annie Wilder's experiences living in a haunted house.

Falling leaves, chill winds, shorter days . . . and spooky houses. Halloween in Maine transports part-time reporter Lucy Stone into cozy heaven. Until someone goes missing . . . A woman with many hats, Lucy Stone is rarely on time, but she’s never too late to catch the important news in the Maine coastal town of Tinker’s Cove. Sometimes it might even make the front page of the Pennysaver, the town’s weekly paper. For example, the latest out of the basement town hall meeting is that the dilapidated house across the street from the elementary school will not be condemned. In fact, a local inspection has proved it’s structurally sound. Even more surprising, newcomers to Tinker’s Cove are about to close on their soon-to-be new home. Despite rumors that the house is a haven for ghosts, Ty and Heather Moon soon take residence. But strangely, they’re not exactly receptive to the town’s welcoming committee. Odder still are the noises and flickering lights erupting from the house at all hours. And when a local boy goes missing near the house, it’s up to Lucy Stone to unravel the mystery of the eccentric couple and their increasingly frightful behavior.

It's Halloween, and you are the special guest at a haunted house celebration party--provided you pass the test that the silly ghosts, skeletons, witches and spiders have in store! This Not-Too-Spooky Pop-Up Book springs to life in six whimsical spreads with movable scenes, interactive elements, and a new surprise on every page.

The blood-chilling true story of a nineteenth-century girl’s terrifying and bewildering haunting First published in 1879, The Haunted House: A True Ghost Story is the author’s account of the infamous haunting of eighteen-year-old Esther Cox, who lived with her extended family in Amherst, Nova Scotia—a beautiful, peaceful little village, population three thousand—during the late 1800s. Walter Hubbell stayed with the family for six weeks, during which he witnessed a variety of alternately compelling and terrifying paranormal and unexplained events. As he describes these manifestations: No person has yet been able to ascertain their cause. Scientific men from all parts of Canada and the United States have investigated them in vain. Some people think that electricity is the principal agent; others, mesmerism; whilst others again, are sure they are produced by the devil. Of the three supposed causes, the latter is certainly the most plausible theory, for some of the manifestations are remarkably devilish in their appearance and effect. For instance, the mysterious setting of fires, the powerful shaking of the house, the loud and incessant noises and distinct knocking, as if made by invisible sledge-hammers, on the walls; also, the strange actions of the household furniture, which moves about in the broad daylight without the slightest visible cause. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

A popular phenomenon since antiquity, the image of the haunted house is one that has translated elegantly into the modern medium of film. The haunted house transcends genre, appearing in mysteries, gothic romances, comedies and horror films. This book is the first comprehensive historical and critical study of themes surrounding haunted houses in film. Covering more than 100 films, it spans from the Mystery House thrillers of the silent era to the high-tech, big budget productions of the 21st Century. Included are the works of such acclaimed directors as D.W. Griffith, Robert Wise, Mario Bava, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton and Guillermo Del Toro. The book also covers the real-life "haunted house" phenomenon and movies based on paranormal case files, including those featured in films like the Conjuring series.

When Catherine Porter murders her only son and takes her own life, no one can understand why. Vilified for her crimes, she becomes synonymous with everything evil and wicked amongst the locals, and parents begin using her name to scare their errant children into behaving. Soon after her death, reports begin to circulate that her ghost has been seen inside her old house. Over the years, the sightings continue, sending most of the house's occupants running from the property, screaming into the night, never to return. When the Jefferson family moves in, they decide to hold a séance to finally rid the property of its unwanted guest. But in doing so, they unleash something even more terrifying: a malevolent force that will stop at nothing to take back its domain.