Written by Kameron McBride “What is a ghost? A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps. Something dead which still seems to be alive. An emotion suspended in time. Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect trapped in amber.” This opening narration, spoken by the great Federico Luppi, begins […]

Written by Shelby Hatfield It is common knowledge that our world is becoming more technologically advanced every day. What is considered modern now is almost obsolete in what seems like the blink of an eye. But with all of our machines and technology, there is still one thing that the modern world has never been […]

Written By Ashley Starling “You’ll finish [reading] and that will be that, until a moment will come, maybe in a month, maybe a year, maybe even several years. […] Out of the blue, beyond any cause you can trace, you’ll suddenly realize things are not how you perceived them at all. For some reason, you […]

Written By Jared Lynch In the introduction to her book Gothic Hauntings: Melancholy Crypts and Textual Ghosts, Christine Berthin discusses the findings of French psychoanalysts Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok. They explain that when haunting is transgenerational, it “takes the shape of a secret transmitted within a family or a community without being stated because […]

Written By Elizabeth Palmer Sigmund Freud writes that the uncanny is a distinct “class of…frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar.” He goes on to rhetorically ask how it is “possible…[for] the familiar [to] become uncanny and frightening.” What frightens us most are the things which we can almost […]

Written by Brittany Means Spook (2005) by Mary Roach is a detailed investigation into cultural attitudes toward the idea of the afterlife. In her other books, such as Bonk (2008) and Stiff (2003), Roach takes a scientific approach to the subjects of sex and the life of cadavers, respectively. Spook is no different, which Roach […]

Written by Lauren Lutz Ghosts in recent movies and television shows are increasingly autonomous and empowered. In 2012’s The Woman in Black, the ghost of a woman made vengeful after the unjustified death of her child seeks to kill other children by influencing them to commit suicide. In 2013’s The Conjuring, Bathsheba, the ghost of […]

Written by Dr. Adam R. Beach “I feel like something bad is going to happen to me. I feel like something bad has happened. It hasn’t reached me yet, but it’s on its way. And it’s getting closer. And I don’t feel ready. I feel like I can’t do anything.” Alice Palmer in Lake Mungo. […]

Written by Morgan Aprill A woman’s ability to foster new life for nine months within her womb is seen by many as beautiful and empowering. However, there is a part of our cultural dynamic that seems to be threatened or even terrified by this ability. One need only consider the amount of horror movies and […]

Written by Jackson Eflin The Digital Literature Review class had a visit from Anthropologist Dr. Cailín Murray on August 20th, who told us about recording the stories told to her about the disruption of a Native American burial ground.  She told us that when recording stories, it is vital to “Encounter, and document, with humility.”  […]