Ghost Stories, Supernatural Tales, the Occult
From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us! — Scots prayer
Well, wouldn’t you rather have advance warning? My father, who was a superb ghost-storyteller, taught me to appreciate and love a good ghost story. I have found ghost stories around the world, from Japan to England and Scotland, from Persia to Argentina. The United States from its colonial days has been good for “hants,” despite Nathaniel Hawthorne’s fear that we were not old enough (he wrote some terrific ones himself).
This page, because my bias and my suddenly remembering a writer who would qualify, will be frequently updated.
Enjoy! Hope you find something to give you the shivers!
Death in Salem: The Private Lives Behind The 1692 Witch Hunt
Death in Salem: The Private Lives Behind The 1692 Witch Hunt
Salem witchcraft will always have a magnetic pull on the American psyche. During the 1692 witch trials, more than 150 people were arrested. An estimated 25 million Americans—including author Diane Foulds—are descended from the twenty individuals executed. What happened to our ancestors? Death in Salem is the first book to take a clear-eyed look at this complex time, by examining the lives of the witch trial participants from a personal perspective.
Massachusetts settlers led difficult lives; every player in the Salem drama endured hardships barely imaginable today. Mercy Short, one of the “bewitched” girls, watched as Indians butchered her parents; Puritan minister Cotton Mather outlived all but three of his fifteen children. Such tragedies shaped behavior and, as Foulds argues, ultimately played a part in the witch hunt’s outcome. A compelling “who’s who” to Salem witchcraft, Death in Salem profiles each of these historical personalities as it asks: Why was this person targeted?