Ghosts of the Ancient World

Categories
Horror Mystery and Lore

Although the trend of ghost hunting only seems to have gained popularity in more modern times, the phenomena of ghosts, as well as the belief in their existence has been around since ancient times. Just like the belief in a higher power, the details may vary from culture to culture, but across all of them one thing remains consistent—the existence of a realm where the human soul survives after death. This isn’t so much an evaluation on whether or not ghosts exist, so much as an acknowledgement that cultures across the world place value in the idea that death is not the end for the soul. In Christianity, depending upon the lifestyle that the individual led, the soul either spends an eternity with a benevolent god, or in perpetual torment. In Voodoo, veneration of ancestors plays a large part in religious practice and different pagan religions have different ideas of the afterlife and where their soul will go once they have passed. Another commonality between all of these cultural beliefs is that the human soul, once having passed into the realm of the dead is that the soul would invariably remain in this next realm, unless authorized by the governing entity of the realm. That is to say, there has to be a reason for which the soul is released back to the plane of the living, this could be due to a variety of different reason, such as improper or nonexistent burial and funeral rites, most of these are due to a body having never been recovered. Another common reason behind a soul returning is to resolve unfinished business, whether this is to give an account of the true events surrounding their death, or to give a message to a loved one who is experiencing an inordinate amount of guilt. Even in modern times, the occurrence of encountering a ghost, no matter what the circumstances, is very rarely an experience that one wishes to have. So what did these modern beliefs and experiences evolve from?

How Cultures Viewed the Afterlife

image of an ancient ghost

An unexpected visit from the dead has always meant in one way or another that something was wrong—this meant that whatever message the ghost had to deliver, or business it had to resolve needed to be taken care of in order for the spirit to ever obtain peace and be able to rest for eternity. This was such a common theme across ancient cultures that stories can be compared from across regions of India, China, Greece, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome, Ireland, and Scotland, with similar depictions regardless of origin.

Mesopotamian Land of the Dead

Although known by many names, the land of the dead in Mesopotamia was a realm from which there was no return—Irkalla, was the realm of the dead, where they dwelt in darkness and lived in the muck and mire that was provided for them, regardless of their social status or moral fortitude during their lifetime. Souls weren’t given permission to pass back to the world of the living unless they had been given a special mission to attend to, such as righting a wrong.

Egyptian Land of the Dead

In ancient Egyptian lore, passing into the land of the dead was an enormous trial—where the soul would go through the Hall of Truth to be judged by Osiris and the forty-two judges. The white feather of truth was deemed the way in which all souls were judged, whereupon weight the feather and the heart of the human who had passed, only those whose hearts were lighter than the feather would pass to the afterlife. Those who were found to have a heart heavier than the feather would have their soul eaten by a monster—so to pass into the afterlife, there was a necessity to live in truth and purity. This afterlife was known as the Field of Reeds, where the soul would enjoy all of the favorite things that they knew in their lifetime, which meant that the soul would not return to the plane of the living unless they had an important reason to do so.

Land of the Dead in Ancient Greece and Rome

In the ancient societies of Greece and Rome, the pagan culture that surrounded daily practice embraced a more complex theory of the afterlife, where the souls of the dead were assigned to a specific realm depending upon their life and how they lived it. Warriors had their own realm, good people had the second, and bad people had the third realm, into which they went to atone for their wrongdoings. No soul was ever condemned to an eternity of damnation, it was more considered penance that could eventually be fulfilled, at which point they would be sent to the realm for those who had lived a good life. Before being sent to their designated realm, Greek and Roman culture dictated that they would be given a drink to forget about their former lives and only know the realm to which they were assigned—this made it clear that ghosts had little to no reason to ever return to the land of the living. That being said, ghosts would occasionally return, but only for good reason, usually to fix an injustice brought upon themselves or a family member, once justice was served the soul would “die” a second time and return to the plane they had been sent to.

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History of Ghost Ships and the Haunted Maritime World

Categories
Horror Mystery and Lore
Ghost ship on land
Photography by Massimiliano Morosinotto

What is a ghost ship exactly? Well, within lore it’s a ship that is considered to be haunted by a ghost crew, which brings it into the realm of the paranormal, but really what it is when talking in mixed company that might not all enjoy the odd theory of the paranormal or supernatural occurrences within their safe, normal world, it’s actually just a vessel with no living crew aboard. Phantom ships, as they are also known can be haunted vessels within folklore and fictional sources such as the ghost ship Jenny, but in the realm of the factually supported tales there are often derelict, abandoned, and at-risk vessels floating in the abundant and ever-changing waters of our world.

The Science Behind Ghost Ships

The oceans are a vast wilderness, full of more unknowns than knowns, where the veil between life and death is at its thinnest.

The wild torrents of the oceans hold the most unknown aspects of the entire world, without a vast improvement in technology we can’t hope to learn about every nook and cranny of our own planet. There is literally no shortage of eerie and unexpected tales that reach us from the dark depths of the sea. When there is no one but the crew to witness what occurs in the close-quarters of the most remote regions of the planet, there is an unlimited potential of overwhelming horror that can follow. Only 5% of the world’s oceans have been discovered, explored, and charted–much of which is what lies under the surface–and considering how much of the earth is covered by water (approximately 71%) it’s not difficult to see just how easy it can be a scary place for plenty of people around the world. There is a long history of humanity’s horrors that will continue to haunt the world, despite the more plausible scientific explanations.

True Tales of Mysterious Ghost Ship and Their Legends

The Mary Celeste

The circumstances of the Mary Celeste were never truly understood, but the last entry in the ship’s log had the vessel passing the Santa Maria Island in the Azores on November 25, 1872. When this merchant ship was found on December 4, 1872, it was completely empty of any crew, but still intact and sailing towards the Strait of Gibraltar. The lifeboats were missing, yet the ship was in good condition with a large number of provisions still in the hold and the crew was never found.

The Ourang Medan

February 1948 brought a distressing hail from the Ourang Medan when an S.O.S. was sent through morse code as American ships were passing through the Strait of Malacca along the southern shore of Malaysia. Both the City of Baltimore and the Silver Star responded to the following distress call. “S.O.S from Ourang Medan. We float. All officers including the captain, dead in chartroom and on the bridge. Probably whole of crew dead.” At that point there was garbled code before the last words, “I die,” came through after which, no more communication followed.

Rescuers found a gruesome sight upon reaching the ship, with corpses littering the deck, on their back with their faces twisted in wide-eyed fear and even the crew’s pet dog looked as if it had died from fear. Before the ship could be towed into port, a fire had started within the hold and rapidly spread to the point of the rescuers having to flee and watch from the distance as the ship was engulfed in flames. Although this story in the context of how it has been told seems to point fully towards paranormal events, this ship has little record of having ever existed, but World War II had ended not too long before this story broke. This fact plays into the theory that there were a large amount of deadly chemical compounds that were being sold on the black market–nitro glycerin’s reaction to saltwater in the hold would have produced a mixture of toxic gasses which would have inevitably killed the crew and resulted in an explosion which would have destroyed the vessel.

The Joyita

Another merchant ship who met a tragic end, the Joyita left the harbor of Apia in Samoa on October 3, 1955 with a course for the Tokelau Islands. When the vessel was finally found five weeks later, all twenty-five of the passengers were missing; the radio was broken, but it was clear that a distress signal was being attempted. All of the lifeboats were missing, as was the captain’s log, navigational equipment, and firearms that were kept on the ship. The investigation into it brought no true determination as to the fate of the passengers and crew.

The Baychimo

For twenty years, the Baychimo sailed the seas, but in 1931 it became trapped in the encroaching ice of the arctic ocean. As the ice surrounded the ship, it began to squeeze and crush the hull. A majority of the crew were rescued after two weeks of surviving the elements, the rest of the crew, including the captain, stayed behind in an effort to salvage what they could. These remaining crew members moved off of the boat and camped on the ice, but the weather took a turn for the worse and for nearly two months they experienced an unceasing blizzard. When the snow eventually cleared, the boat was gone, believed to be lost to the depths of the Arctic Sea.

A little over thirty years later, in 1962 Inuit hunters in kayaks caught sight of the Baychimo on its side from a distance; while they were unable to get close enough to gather any information about the ship, they reported the encounter when they returned to shore in Barrow, Alaska. This abandoned ship matched the Baychimo, and after being adrift for over thirty years at sea it was still being sighted and reported until 1969. An Alaskan government search party was launched in 2006, but there has still been no trace since it was last sighted in 1969.

The Resolute

A vessel of the British Royal Navy, the Resolute was abandoned in 1854 after being trapped in ice in Viscount Melville Sound, Canada while on a search expedition to find John Franklin who happened to be a British explorer who had gotten lost in the Arctic. The ship drifted 1,200 miles before being found a year later off of the coast of Baffin Island, Canada having been freed from the ice. Fun fact, the wood Resolute was used to construct the desk that now sits in the Oval Office of the current Presidential Mansion, the White House.

The Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman is one of the most famous ghost ships, it has made it into the field of legend and has inspired books, movies, and operas. Sailors know this particular vessel, as it has gained some infamy through the tale in which it hovers above the water. It is said that it has been seen to fly even over landmasses. Another part of the legend suggests that it is known to appear inverted upon the horizon, with its derelict masts pointing downward to the sea, a sign which is taken as an omen of misfortune to come.

Others know this to be an optical illusion–this one, in particular, is known as the Fata Morgana, a mirage created by a thermal inversion over the ocean. The Fata Morgana happens when a layer of warm air sits above the layer of cold air and light waves are carried in an atmospheric duct, then curves downwards in a more severe angle than the curvature of the earth. When our brains attempt to make sense of the visual information it is processing, our eyes perceive the light as a straight line. That is not to say that there is no ship, just that the atmospheric reflection is the result of the thermal inversion and not necessarily The Flying Dutchman. This is the same optical illusion that has explained the visual phenomenon of phantom islands and floating castles.

Tales of the Black Freighter (2009)

Althought Watchmen (2009) isn’t exactly a horror movie–unless you account for the horror of complete world annihilation by nuclear war–but the Director’s Cut with Tales of the Black Freighter allowed us to engage with some good ol’ comic book horror. Tales of the Black Freighter isn’t even a paranormal horror in the sense of a ghost ship, but there is a hint at something supernatural occurring within the context of this story. Truly horrific within its own rights, it deserves an open-minded view to really understand the depths of tragedy and fear that lie in the human soul.

Tales of the Black Freighter (2009)

Movies & Films

While not all of these deal with haunted ships, all of them deal with ships and our beloved paranormal and supernatural addictions.

Television Series

While this is certainly not an exhaustive list of all of the ghost ships that are historically known to haunt the waters of the world, it just goes to show how uncertain we are of this enormous portion of this planet. Do you know anything more on ghost ships that we haven’t addressed in this article? Leave us a comment!

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Phantom Hitchhikers and Vanishing Vagabonds

Categories
Indie Horror

Phantom hitchhikers, or vanishing hitchhikers are most popular as an urban legend, or ghost story within the continental United States–typically a young woman stranded on the side of the road who desperately needs to get home. This original story based on the phantom hitchhiker legend is a typical account of what is to be expected if you were to pick her up on the side of the road.

Upon a Lonely Road…

Lightning cracked, the electricity streaked across the sky in brilliant resonance, lighting up the dismal drowning mountainous landscape. The rain was suffocating his windshield, even with his wipers at their highest speed, he could barely see the road ahead of him. The man’s hands tightened around the steering wheel and his knuckles blanched as the road began to twist angrily down the lonely mountain road—walking in on his wife in the throws of passion with another man was just the start of his bad luck it seemed, now he felt as if he were going to careen off an icy road into a dark deep ditch. He sighed, his heart ached deeply and the song on the radio mirrored the depth of his pain. He truly didn’t know where he was going tonight, but it was better than where he had come from.

Phantom Hitchhiker on the road

The patter of rain against his windshield was deafening as he rounded another treacherous turn and he flicked on his high beams—it was at that moment he caught sight of a woman walking down the side of the road. His brow furrowed, she was dressed too poorly for the weather and there weren’t any homes that he knew of in the area, he couldn’t imagine the type of luck she had that would land her in the situation that she was clearly in. He slowed his truck to a stop just as he had passed her by, his blinker clicked steadily, matching the beat of the music that droned on in the background. He reached over and opened his door for the woman as she approached the cab, then shivered as the cold air pulled him into its tight embrace. His breath blurred his view of the woman as she stopped in front of him, “are you going towards town?”

“Yeah, I’m in no rush though, where are you headed?” The bedraggled woman slid into his truck and closed the door, her white dress had her soaked to the bone—he turned up the heater for her, then pulled off his own jacket, offering it up to her.

“I live downtown, if you don’t mind, I can give you directions?” The man nodded and she accepted his coat graciously and pushed her wet hair out of her face. He didn’t know if he ought to ask her what had led her to be on the side of the road at this hour, in such awful weather, but he figured that it really wasn’t any of his business, so decided against it. He pulled back onto the road and felt the awkward air that had taken over the entire truck. Her hands twisted uncomfortably in her lap, his coat hung limply over her pathetic and grief-stricken figure. There were no words that could be spoken now, anything he thought of uttering left his mind just as soon as his lips moved to speak the words. The road continued to be treacherous, but she seemed unbothered by anything, his eyes drifted to her face briefly, her lips formed an unconscious pout that drew him in.

He hadn’t noticed when she had gotten in that she possessed such beauty, but he didn’t linger on it long, the road finally evened out as they reached the bottom of the mountain and his mind wandered to other things. The woman maintained her painfully silent demeanor, her exhaustion was apparent and it was clear she wasn’t much of a conversationalist.

They made it downtown without incident, she only spoke briefly to tell him where to turn and finally they made it to their destination—he brought his truck to a stop in front of the house she had indicated and turned it off. He turned to wish her luck, but his eyes landed on an empty, drenched seat. He blinked, dumbfounded, she couldn’t have possibly have left without his notice—but in her place there was a small, damp leather-bound book. He picked up the book, then thumbed through it realizing it was her journal and somehow felt dirty, as if he had stolen her secrets.

The confusion that he felt in that moment would never match his need of an answer for what had happened—how she had suddenly vanished from his company, there had to be a reasonable explanation of what he had experienced. He stepped out of his truck and approached the house, uncertainty was the only thing he knew anymore, but perhaps she had just slipped away without his notice. He found his finger on the door bell and briefly entertained the idea of running from what he might find out here, but before he could follow through, a woman answered the door.

“Hello, can I help you?” The woman looked drained, as if the night had been a long and deeply harrowing experience for her as well.

“I… I just gave a young woman a ride here, she left her journal in my truck?” He handed her the book and saw a change in her expression.

“This must be a mistake… This can’t be,” her voice caught in her throat as she opened the journal’s cover, “perhaps you should come inside, I’ll get my husband.” The man stepped inside the home cautiously, he felt like an imposter, but he needed to know what was going on. The woman led him to their sitting room, where the walls were covered in pictures of what looked like family and friends. Just as he took his seat, his eyes caught a picture of the woman who had answered the door hugging the young woman who he had picked up on the side of the road.

“What’s going on?” He almost knew the answer, but he didn’t dare speak his own truth, “where is she?”

The woman whimpered under her breath and once her husband came into the room, she handed him the journal. “This man brought us Heather’s journal,” was all she could get out before she became noticeably upset and walked quickly out of the room.

The man began talking, trying to detail everything that had brought him to their house tonight—he didn’t care how wildly untrue it sounded, or if his crazy story made him seem like he was completely out of his mind. The husband listened intently, his face remained calm and there was an eerie ease that settled the man as he finished his story. “I’m sorry, I know how all of this sounds, I’m just a stranger—I—I can let myself out.”

The husband raised his hand to stop him, “no, please. I know what it sounds like, I know you probably feel like you’re going insane, but… you’re not the first person to try to bring her home.”

The man’s breath caught in his throat, “I—what?”

“Heather has been trying to come home on the anniversary of her murder for the last six years, but we’ve never gotten anything like this before,” the husband’s hands clutched the journal gratefully. “They never found her killer, but… this may give us some closure. I know my wife wasn’t able to say it, but we appreciate your time.”

The man’s heart was beating much too violently in his chest and he couldn’t stand it, he had to get out of here, he had to put some distance between himself and what had happened tonight. There were so many questions that he had, but he knew he could never ask them. The man got the name of the young woman from her mother and father, then made his goodbyes—he knew his next stop would be at the closest dive bar he could find. It would be too much to ask for this to all be a weird dream, but seeking numbness on his own from the bottom of a liquor bottle might make him forget about what he had experienced.

The next morning greeted him with a headache that mimicked the after effects of a concussion—he sat up from his uncomfortable position in his truck and rubbed his eyes to find that he had driven himself to a cemetery after he had left the bar the night before. He was grateful he wasn’t waking up to a tree through his windshield and was about to start his truck up and drive away before something strange caught his eye. His eyes narrowed and he stepped out of his truck, the gloomy, overcast day gave him something to be grateful for, no sun to shine in his eyes between the thumps of his throbbing head. He approached the tombstone that had captured his attention, and realized that what had drawn him there was the fact that his coat was draped so gently over this particular stone. It all came back to him at that moment, the hitchhiker, her parents—the lack of explanation of what had really happened—he picked up his coat and saw her name chiseled into the stone.

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Scotland’s Haunted Castles – By Lynsey Mitchell

Categories
Featured Haunted Places Lifestyle

Scotland is a country known for its majestic castles. With a history that dates way back, people lived in Scotland for at least 8,500 years before Britain’s history records started. It is one of the oldest countries and Europe and with that comes a lot of history and ghost stories! The castles of Scotland have seen more life, death, and tragedy than any building in North America. So it’s no wonder they have a few hauntings. Almost every castle in Scotland has a ghost story or two or more from over the centuries. These are some of the most haunted castles in Scotland which also makes them my favourites!

Crathes Castle, Banchory

Crathes Haunted Castle, Banchory Scotland Image

There are many sightings of a Green Lady in Scottish castles. No one would know if it’s the same Green Lady or not. A popular sighting tends to be Crathes Castle, where many people have been said to have seen a green lady cradling a baby. When Crathes Castle was renovated in the 1800s, there were some children’s bones found beneath the fireplace in the room that has long been known as the Green Lady’s room. Who these belong to has never been discovered.  One theory about the Green Lady is that she has come from an incident where Lady Agnes, widow of the Laird, was an overbearing, obsessive mother to her son, Alexander. When he grew and formed a relationship with a common young lady named Bertha, Lady Agnes was not happy with the idea of sharing her son with this young woman. When Alexander was away on a long journey, Lady Agnes decided to poison Bertha. Alexander returned to the news that she had passed away. 

In an effort to comfort him, Lady Agnes prepared him a meal. However, when he reached for a goblet, she snatched it away, realising that this was the same goblet that had held the poison she used to kill Bertha. Alexander was furious with his mother. 

When Bertha’s parents arrived to collect her remains, Lady Agnes was screaming “She comes! She comes!” and was struck dead within minutes. 

However, the Green Lady has never been identified as either Agnes or Bertha. Some say that Bertha herself has been sighted on the anniversary of her death. Some believe that the Green Lady is the ghost of a servant who disappeared after getting pregnant. 

Falkland Palace, Fife 

Falkland Haunted Palace, Fife Scotland

Before Falkland Palace was constructed, it was a hunting lodge. When it was expanded, it was owned by The Earls of Fife – Clan MacDuff. 

Falkland Palace was apparently loved by Mary Queen of Scots, and some have claimed to have seen her ghost around there. It is said that if you stare through a window in the Queen’s bedroom, you’ll see a sinister face staring back at you. 

There is also the ghost of the White Lady, who will disappear through a wall once she catches you staring at her.

Another ghost has been sighted in the Tapestry Gallery, known as the Grey Lady and she can be seen anxiously pacing. It is said that her lover left for battle and never returned, but to this day, she is still waiting. 

Several staff members have reported seeing the Grey Lady. One of whom – a gardener- has reported seeing her wandering around the drive of the castle. Another experience from the same staff member was when she and a friend were in Lord Bute’s room. While they had reason to be in there, they found that they felt uncomfortable, as though they were intruders. 

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Haunted Castle, Edinburgh Scotland

Edinburgh Castle is said to be one of the most haunted places in Scotland. Many of the former prisoners are said to haunt the dungeons to this day. One unfortunate prisoner had chosen to hide in a dung barrel, thinking that the barrow would be wheeled down the Royal Mile and he could escape. However, he had not considered how the dung was disposed of and he was thrown down the slopes of the castle to his death. Many visitors claim to experience a feeling that someone is trying to push them, accompanied by an unpleasant smell. 

There is also the ghost of the piper boy. This dates back several centuries to when there were tunnels found under the castle. The entrance was so small, that the piper boy was the only one who could fit. He was instructed to investigate where the tunnels lead, but to play his bagpipes as he travelled, so that everyone knew where he was. As he wandered the tunnels, multiple people were listening for the sounds of his bagpipes, but the sound of piping stopped somewhere near Tron Kirk, a church on the Royal Mile. There were several attempts to find the boy, but there was never any trace of him. The city council ordered the tunnel to be sealed, but late at night, some people still say that they hear the sound of a single bagpipe playing from beneath their feet. 

 A headless drummer was seen shortly before Oliver Cromwell attacked the castle in 1650. While the sightings are rare, often people claim to hear the sounds of drums inside the castle. It is said that his appearance would come as a warning when the castle was about to come under attack. No one knows who the ghost may be, or how he died, but a common belief is that he was beheaded. 

Janet Douglas, Lady of Glamis is the tragic woman who was accused of trying to poison the king and of practising witchcraft. In 1537, she was burned at the stake, while her 16-year-old son watched. She was one of thousands of victims of Scotland’s witch hunting. It was shortly after her death that apparitions of (another) Grey Lady began to happen at the castle. She is often spotted wandering the halls and weeping. There have also been reports of knocking sounds, which some believe could be the sounds of workmen building the structure that killed Janet. 

If you love horror and all things scary, check out author Lynsey Mitchell’s blog -> Lynsey’s Awesome Horror Blog

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Shirley Jackson: Novels, Short Stories, and Other Works

Categories
Featured Horror Books Women in Horror

The Lottery (1948)

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The Lottery is a short story that Shirley Jackson wrote in 1948—it was written within the month of its first publication. It appeared within the June 26, 1948 issue of The New Yorker and describes a fictional account of a small town that participates in a lottery of sorts. This particular short story has often been described as “one of the most famous short stories in the history of American literature.”

Conceptually, two creative stories come to mind immediately after reading this story–no doubt the authors of which were inspired greatly by the Jackson original. The cult classic film The Wicker Man (1973), then later the novelization and The Hunger Games franchise both echo the idea of a ritual where the town comes together and holds what they call a lottery.

This lottery is, unfortunately, not the type that anyone hopes to win, but mirrors the dystopian attitude where the losers rejoice in the winner’s predicament. Without spoiling the entire story for anyone, let’s just say it’s most definitely worth the read (or simply listen below). What is truly interesting with this story–one that leaves the reader with a feeling of utmost terror and despair–is that Jackson apparently wrote within the confines of a single morning. The agreed-upon account of its creation is that Jackson came up with the idea for the story while she was shopping for groceries in the morning, came home, set her two-year-old daughter in her playpen to play, and had it finished before her son came home from kindergarten for lunch.

Talk about a whirlwind turn-around for something so utterly and terribly fantastic. Along with other myths that surround the creation of The Lottery, there was a time when people actually believed that the story was a factual report–this is in part due to the fact that at the time The New Yorker didn’t distinguish between fact and fiction when it came to the stories within its publications. As a result of the misunderstanding, much to the chagrin of Jackson, subscribers sent her several hundred letters that in her words could be summed up to, “bewilderment, speculation, and plain old-fashioned abuse.” It was especially alarming to her that some of the letters were from people who wanted to know where such lotteries were being held and whether they would be allowed to watch.

The Haunting of Hill House (1959)

The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
The Haunting of Hill House (1959)

This gothic horror novel stands in the same class as those by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Bram Stoker—to the point of even being a finalist for the National Book Award in the category for best literary ghost stories published during the 20th century. While Shirley adhered more to the thrilling psychological aspects, which successfully elicited stronger emotions in her readers. It has since been adapted into two feature films, a play, radio theater, as well as a Netflix series which premiered in 2018, although considerable liberties were taken with Shirley’s original story.

Shirley’s initial idea for this particular novel came to her after she read about a real-life group of researchers from the nineteenth century who had spent time in a reportedly haunted house and then published their experiences while investigating the site. She spent quite a bit of time researching and studying floor plans of large, potentially haunted houses around the country, and also spent time reading several volumes on hauntings and ghost stories before she sketched out the grounds of Hill House, as well as the floor plan for the house itself. Suffice it to say, she took her time considering how the characters might move about the house and made sure she had a clear vision of how a haunting would play out in such a house.

Check out this trailer of the Netflix series of The Haunting of Hill House and see how this novel translated to a television series.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)

We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)

Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle was published in 1962—just a few years before the radical social movement of the 1960s and 1970s—and served as her reaction to the movement of traditionalism that followed the Second World War. The fifties was an exceptional decade when women were transitioning from having jobs that supported the war effort while the men were overseas, to being expected to stay at home in order to support their husbands by cooking, cleaning, and rearing children.

This novel takes place in a small New England town where the remaining members of the Blackwood family stay in their ancestral home—they seem to live a peaceful, if not removed life from the rest of the town and its oppressive atmosphere. The initial perception of the people in town is one of apprehension when the main character Mary Katherine admits the anxiety she feels when having to pass the general store when the men are sitting out front. The mood of the novel changes to reflect what many literary scholars believe might have been Jackson’s own response to the changing social climate of the fifties and how stifling it would have been to be a housewife with a job. It also bears mentioning that it brings attention to the ways women had been oppressed in the past, referencing witch hunts where women would be killed for even the slightest misstep.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle echoed a lot of the same themes that were found in her profoundly popular short story The Lottery, with special emphasis on the strange and hostile townspeople who take on the type of mob mentality that allows otherwise sensible people to commit horrible acts with little to no impact on their conscience. It is said that this particular novel served as inspiration to many writers—including authors like Neil Gaiman and Joyce Carol Oates—who, after reading Shirley’s work, felt liberated in taking leaps with horror, speculative fiction, and just enough realism to create creepy atmospheres within their own novels.

Take a look at the trailer for We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2019) and let us know what you think between the differences you’ve found between it and the original novel.

Looking back on a career like Shirley’s it’s widely believed that despite the fact that raising four children is an extremely difficult task, Shirley couldn’t have been such a literary success without them—after all, her first success, The Lottery came only a few months before Shirley was set to deliver her third child. A cringe-worthy moment came when the clerk asked Shirley her occupation, when she responded that she was a writer, the clerk responded that he was going to put down the occupation of housewife instead. While it was true that being a mother was one of her jobs, Shirley was more than just a mere housewife—in fact, she was the breadwinner of the family.

Shirley Jackson happened to be both a housewife and a “talented, determined, ambitious writer in an era when it was still unusual for a woman to have both a family and a profession.” The appearance of a conventional American household generated material for this sassy mother of four—who thrived on the tensions that it created between both roles. The expectations of herself, her husband, family, publishers, and readers gave life to her writing since what was normal for her was unspeakably abnormal for the time. She made this clear during the early years of her career, when she drew, “a muscular woman, looking disgruntled, [dragging] her husband off by his hair as another couple [looked] on worriedly. ‘I understand she’s trying to have both a marriage and a career,’ one says to the other.” The truth of the matter was, that Shirley’s career only really took off after she became a mother, having gained an empathetic view of developing minds and the well of imagination that she drew therein. In this respect, Shirley was not only a sensational author, she was an admirable role model for any woman who may have wanted to follow in her footsteps.

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