Ghost In The Machine
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2014
- Messages
- 2,523
- Location
- Yorkshire
This forum seems a good place to try a little experiment. It would be interesting to do this over a long-ish period of time, to see what we get.
I have no ghost-hunting skills but what I do have is a fair, working knowledge of genealogy. For a while, I wrote a column for a now defunct magazine where I'd trace random (usually 19thC) people mentioned in passing, in photos or portraits, or the owners of certain items in museums; find them on censuses and in other records, if poss. It was great fun.
Decades after mine and a relative's encounter with a full body apparition, I tried to trace who had lived in that house at relevant dates, to see if I could stumble on the identity of who it was, we saw. No luck as in no census did the enumerator give house numbers for that street so it was too difficult to figure out precisely which building it was... I also trawled the 19thC newspapers for possible relevant stories. No luck. But even though I failed, it struck me that some ghost stories might prove to involve traceable people or their stories.
For example, on the same night in 1888 that the Ripper did his 'double event', in my home village there was an incredibly gruesome murder (actually more grisly than the London ones) - which only got about one column inch in the nationals, due to what else was going on. But that murder had utterly died out of memory or folk legend, and no-one I knew growing up knew a thing about it. In the age of the internet, we were able to uncover it again. Which made me think something truly horrific might happen in a building and a few generations on, no-one would have a clue.
So... If anyone has a haunted location where the history is largely unknown, they want me to research and see if I can find anything that resonates..? Or not. As the case may be. I might find stuff that totally contradicts a sighting.
I would not ask for addresses of private homes or anything, but pubs and public buildings, open spaces, etc are fair game for this experiment. I can't get back past the 18thC unless it's parts of North Yorkshire, given my own geographical constraints. I only have access to the usual resources genealogists use, but I'd be interested to know if we could see if there is any correlation between known people in certain buildings in the past, and the 'ghosts' people may have seen.
Incidentally, have a good working knowledge of costume history so can often pinpoint a ball-park date from a description of clothing. Eg: that 'mob cap' ghost upthread would have to be mid - late 18thC or a very old, unfashionable person in later Georgian times, early 19thC... Leather apron is a nice touch as that was a common item of clothing in the past but maybe not what most people would imagine an 18thC female might wear...
So if anyone wants to post a (public) location here and I will see what I can find out about the folk who once lived there. Which is not to say a 'ghost' might be a visitor or someone else entirely.
I have no ghost-hunting skills but what I do have is a fair, working knowledge of genealogy. For a while, I wrote a column for a now defunct magazine where I'd trace random (usually 19thC) people mentioned in passing, in photos or portraits, or the owners of certain items in museums; find them on censuses and in other records, if poss. It was great fun.
Decades after mine and a relative's encounter with a full body apparition, I tried to trace who had lived in that house at relevant dates, to see if I could stumble on the identity of who it was, we saw. No luck as in no census did the enumerator give house numbers for that street so it was too difficult to figure out precisely which building it was... I also trawled the 19thC newspapers for possible relevant stories. No luck. But even though I failed, it struck me that some ghost stories might prove to involve traceable people or their stories.
For example, on the same night in 1888 that the Ripper did his 'double event', in my home village there was an incredibly gruesome murder (actually more grisly than the London ones) - which only got about one column inch in the nationals, due to what else was going on. But that murder had utterly died out of memory or folk legend, and no-one I knew growing up knew a thing about it. In the age of the internet, we were able to uncover it again. Which made me think something truly horrific might happen in a building and a few generations on, no-one would have a clue.
So... If anyone has a haunted location where the history is largely unknown, they want me to research and see if I can find anything that resonates..? Or not. As the case may be. I might find stuff that totally contradicts a sighting.
I would not ask for addresses of private homes or anything, but pubs and public buildings, open spaces, etc are fair game for this experiment. I can't get back past the 18thC unless it's parts of North Yorkshire, given my own geographical constraints. I only have access to the usual resources genealogists use, but I'd be interested to know if we could see if there is any correlation between known people in certain buildings in the past, and the 'ghosts' people may have seen.
Incidentally, have a good working knowledge of costume history so can often pinpoint a ball-park date from a description of clothing. Eg: that 'mob cap' ghost upthread would have to be mid - late 18thC or a very old, unfashionable person in later Georgian times, early 19thC... Leather apron is a nice touch as that was a common item of clothing in the past but maybe not what most people would imagine an 18thC female might wear...
So if anyone wants to post a (public) location here and I will see what I can find out about the folk who once lived there. Which is not to say a 'ghost' might be a visitor or someone else entirely.
