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It’s Halloween time here in Pittsburgh, so I’ve been thinking a lot about the literary aspects of Halloween. Growing up in New York, teachers loved to tell the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” a ghost story that took place in the nearby village of Sleepy Hollow. The story is considered one of America’s first ghost stories. Written by Washington Irving in 1820, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” features a headless horseman who haunts the village of Sleepy Hollow. National University professor Franz Potter describes, “The horseman, like the past, still seeks answers, still seeks retribution, and can’t rest. We are haunted by the past which stalks us so that we never forget it.” Ghost stories, like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” are rife with cultural artifacts. Not only are they a fun part of Halloween, but they are also a vital part of history.
In fact, ghost stories are surprisingly ancient. In 2021, “The Smithsonian Magazine” reported about a 3,500-year-old Babylonian clay tablet containing what may be the oldest known ghost rendering. The tablet is part of a guide for exorcising ghosts and warns readers to “not look behind you!”. The tablet specifically provides instructions on having a young woman lead an older male ghost into the underworld.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans, too, had their own slew of ghost stories. In the first century, Pliny the Younger wrote a letter describing a mysterious house in Athens. He explains that the house was allegedly haunted, with reports of the sounds of rattling chains getting closer and closer. Eventually, the ghost of a skeletal old man chained at his arms and legs would appear, a vision that drove the house to be abandoned. That is until Athenodorus, a Greek philosopher, decided to purchase the house anyway. There, he was haunted by the ghost until he persuaded authorities to investigate the area where they found its body and could finally give it a proper burial. Many ancient ghost stories from Greece, Rome, and Mesopotamia include similar messages, emphasizing the importance of proper burial.
However, the most famous age of ghost stories was the Gothic era in the 18th and 19th centuries. The birth of Gothic fiction is largely attributed to English author Horace Walpole’s 1764 novel “The Castle of Otranto” which describes the story of the ruler of Otranto, Manfred, haunted by a past ruler Alfonso who questions Manfred’s nobility and reveals the true heir to Otranto. This, too, brings up important social questions about “noble blood” present in Gothic England.
More than simply expressing cultural questions, ghost stories also served as a way to subvert the cultural status quo. In the 19th century (the height of the genre), women contributed 70 percent of ghost stories in American and British magazines. Women were able to express frustration with society through ghost stories, as Hephzibah Anderson at BBC writes, “The ghost is the ultimate outsider — an absent presence, all-seeing and yet unable to partake of life in any meaningful way.”
Ghost stories remain an important avenue for expression, as they continue to be a popular form. The Booker Prizes recently featured a list of “The best ghost stories nominated for the Booker and International Booker Prizes.” In the spirit of Halloween, I encourage you all to check them out as they may reveal something unexpected about today’s culture, as ghost stories are a compelling genre that deserves all the love it receives.
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