“The term ghost stories suggests blood-curdling scare tales about white sheeted or invisible spooks who are out to destroy human-kind. But most ghosts in American legends are lifelike in appearance, and come back from the dead only to set right an error or finish a task” (Brunvand 1968:89). While ghost stories exist in great numbers throughout american culture, there is one type of ghost story and supernatural legend that can be found in just about every corner of the nation; haunted hotel stories. Why are haunted hotels so popular? When asking Brayden Worley this during our interview, he gave his opinion saying: I kinda think they’re spooky ‘cuz like when you’re in a hotel, hotels aren’t like home. They feel like kind of unfamiliar to you? And just like the thought of like, you know, maybe like, being trapped in like an unfamiliar place. . . is a lot scarier than it happening in your own home, or something like that. When saying this, he was touching on the fact that hotels are liminal spaces. “Liminal places have an inditerminate status, meaning that people don’t spend much time there but rather use them to pass through from one place to the next” (Wells, Keiko, and Gabbert, 2017:102). Ghosts being neither solid or non-existent, neither living nor …show more content…
“Many SCholars have interpreted. . . ghost stories. . . to ‘speak’ about tragic, and often little-known histories” (Wells, Keiko, and Gabbert 2017:106). Haunted hotel stories can often indirectly speak of tragedies and issues on gender or race. One very well known type of ghost, is the weeping women, also known as La Llorona, who is “the female figure who laments killing her own children” (Tucker 2007:134). A story I collected contained both a horrible tragedy and a women who murders her very own children. This particular folklore was told to me by Brayden, and takes place in the Holiday Inn Express, located in Salt Lake City,
Do you know what the closet haunted places to you are? The closet haunted places are in Weyauwega, Marsh Road. There are actually two haunted roads by the name of Marsh Road in Weyauwega (Haunted Places in Wisconsin 29). There is one where I live stretching from highway 54 to White Lake Road, which is the road I live on, and there is one near highway ten just off of Evanswood road which is a dead end (Haunted Places in Wisconsin 29). Both of these roads are unmarked, which means that they don’t have any street signs. The first Marsh Road I am going to talk about is the one off of Evanswood Road (Haunted Places in Wisconsin 29). Legend says that in the 1960s and 1970s there was a “Make-out Couch”, and on the night after prom there was a couple that was on the couch late that night and it is said that a man, in which they call the Goatman, killed them and left there remains still on the couch (Haunted Places in Wisconsin 29). Also another myth is that if you stop your car on the bridge of marsh road that your car will not start back up. Many people have said that they have seen the couple’s ghosts. Other paranormal activities include orbs found in pictures from studies that have been conducted on the road (Haunted Places in Wisconsin 29). Also many people say...
"Investigation of the La Fonda Hotel" Southwest Ghost Hunters Association. 31 Oct 1998. Retrieved 5 Apr 2005 http://www.sgha.net/lafonda.html.
The University of Maryland has a rich history dating back to its founding in 1856 as the Maryland Agricultural College. Built between 1804 and 1812, The Rossborough Inn is the oldest building on campus today (Ghost Tour, 2). With its history, it is no surprise that the Inn has been a hotspot for ghost activity. Knowing that there have been numerous reports of ghosts at Rossborough, I visited the Inn to ask current employees at the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, located in Rossborough Inn, if they themselves had experienced anything bizarre or if they had known others who had. I entered the small office where three women were talking and with their permission asked about their experiences with ghosts at Rossborough. Upon asking my question, all three smiled, although shaking their head, they indicated they had not. However, they all had heard of the stories, and one of the women replied and told me to speak with the University Archivist. She told me that she has spoken with the archivist, and upon learning the stories, she said that she “got freaked out and really wanted to go home.”
The Bell Witch is the most common name for a well-known haunting that occurred in Red River, Tennessee, which is now known as Adams. The Witch is also known as “Old Kate” or “Kate Batts’s ghost” due to the belief that the Bell family was targeted after Batts laid a curse upon his family. She is described as a woman that “possessed no greater height than most average women but certainly greater girth. The flesh of her upper arms were as thick as a young man’s thighs. She also possessed enormous quantities of bright red hair and freckles.” Batts was a hardworking person that took on the many responsibilities of her family farm after her husband was involved in an accident which crushed his legs. It was believed by a small group in the
Urban legends can be effective conveyors of entertainment and morals. We all have heard urban legends during our lives, whether it was in a dorm room, the dinner table, or around the campfire, but rarely do we take the time to fully appreciate the value of the stories. Urban legends have this rare ability to make us question reality. We have this feeling in our minds that says “Oh, this cannot possible be real,” but then our imagination questions that and reels us in and plants a lingering doubt. David Emery, a writer and follower of urban folklore, defines urban legends as “told [to be] true, and plausible enough to be believed.” Besides this lingering suspense, urban legends and similar folklore often have underlying morals that are hard to uncover, but when they are, the stories become clear. When collecting stories, the best and most unique one was a local story native to a town in New York State. I vividly remember how he told the story:
There’s something about supernatural places that catch people’s eyes. Haunted Alcatraz was a prison that was well-known for holding the worst prisoners, and having the harshest, most severe punishments for the inmates. Many people were killed there by either themselves, by others, or natural causes. Also, many people see the Ghosts of the dead soldiers and past people who have died in Alcatraz. Alcatraz is a haunted and spooky place. People will learn about much more like why the Indians ended up there on the island, and the most haunted parts of the prison, stories, and many more about the haunted side of Alcatraz.
The old mans bedroom is the only room that is mentioned in the story. The setting and tone is made scarier because the looks of the room are not described. This allows our imagination to run wild. The room is where the narrator watches the old man sleep and ends up taking his life.
The world of The Shining is a supernatural one, a world in which ghosts are real and can directly affect the living world. Yet this Supernatural world is also intended to be rational, one with “verisimilitude”, (“Writing The Shining” pg 60). What makes the ghosts in The Shining feel real? They mimic the less literal ghosts of the real world. As Diane Johnson, screenwriter of The Shining, remarks: “To what extent supernatural forces existed and to what extent these were psychological projections was something [Kubrick and I] discussed at length, finally deciding that the ghosts and magical apparitions at the Overlook Hotel were both” (“Writing The Shining” 58). Ghosts, as the psychological projections of history and our own minds, haunt
Life and death are leaves us with an known and unknown that are unavoidable. In the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost symbolism, rhyme, and allusion are used to describe not only nature’s life cycle but the human life cycle as well. The allegory “Used to Live Here Once” by Jean Rhys uses symbolism and motif to deliver a story of a woman who has died but is unaware that she has actually passed away. Even though both of these pieces of literature utilize similar elements that symbolize the human life cycle in their writings they are very different in nature, and the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” leaves you with an actual reality of all beings lifecycles and the allegory leaves you with imagination only.
There’s a haunted house in Dover, Delaware called the Governor’s Mansion, where all of the Governors of Delaware have lived. If you go to the house yourself, you might see or experience a couple different ghosts. One evening, a guest to the house passed an old man dressed in old-fashioned clothes while going down the stairs for dinner. Once at the table the guest asked the owners who the person was. The curious owners asked for a description of the man. The description that the visitor sent chills down the spines of the owners, as it was an exact description of the owner’s father who had been dead for many years, and nobody else was in the house. The father had also been known for getting drunk a lot, so to this day he can still be seen drinking any liquor left out in the open. The mansion is also known for being a part of the Underground Railroad, so lots of slaves were always coming and going through the house at night. One night the house got busted and one of the runaway slaves ran and hid in a big tree in the yard. The slave was up there for a while and was already tired from his journey to the house.
The Haunting of Hill House is a gothic horror novel written by Shirley Jackson. Supernatural occurrences take place within the house revolving around Eleanor. Eleanor is a thirty-two-year-old woman who never once has felt the sense of inclusion. Eleanor seems to never recall the feeling of delight in her adult years due to the fact that she was a caretaker for her now deceased Mother; who took away most of her freedom by being incredibly restrictive. Dr. Montague, a doctor that specializes in analysis of the supernatural rents Hill House, a supposedly haunted house. During the renting period, Dr. Montague begins an experiment inviting individuals who have had involvement in abnormal events
The Nelly Butler hauntings is referred to as the first recorded ghost story in American history (LiBrizzi 5), and possibly the most exciting hauntings to date as there are still many unsolved mysteries. The apparition appeared on more than 30 separate occasions to over 100 witnesses in Sullivan, Maine, just over fifteen years after the American Revolution (5-6). Although the Nelly Butler apparition is one of the most convincing ghosts of all time, it was subject to suspicions of fraud. These claims turn out to be groundless as the evidence reveals the ghost to be genuine.
At the last part of this movie, we can see the picture hanging on the wall and Jack is one of those people in that picture. It was taken in 1921. In the picture, he is standing in the most eye- catching position. He maybe the owner of this hotel at that time. But in the movie (1982) he becomes the owner of the hotel again! I think that’s why he mentions to Danny that he wants to stay in the hotel forever, forever, forever…… His life is repeating and repeating. Furthermore, he is the main character of the repeating stories and he will die in the hotel every time!
a dull grey colour as if it had lost the will to live and stopped
Imagery is used in the story very often and is used by giving the reader a mental picture of what is being described. There are many examples of imagery in this story with the use of metaphors and similes such as “The doors go shutting in the distance, gently knocking like the pulse of a heart.” this imagery allows the readers to picture in their mind the image of the ghost roaming the house and shutting doors in their wake. The title A Haunted House is an irony in itself most people associate haunted house with horror and evil creatures, but in reality this story is the opposite of that, “This gentle tale both references and refuses many of the characteristics of conventional ghost stories, and so ‘we see no lady spread her ghostly cloak’.43 A ghostly couple preside over the house, ensuring its safety and that of those who live in it. Their stirrings are not those of destructive poltergeists.” Woolf decided to reject the conventional ghost stories that have been told time and time again and give people a different view on ghost by making the ghost in this story protagonist who are just reminiscing about good times and the love they share throughout the story. this shows the readers that things are not always as it seems and to not judge a book by its