The changing faces of ghosts in the Wild West … or what I learned from #FolkloreThursday

Let us begin with a ghost story. In 1872, fourteen-year-old Agnes McDonough announced that she was communicating with the spirit of her deceased father. She was part of a community of Irish Americans who settled in Virginia City, Nevada, home to the fabulous Comstock Lode and the Big Bonanza (giving its name to a famous television show). Crediting her father’s ghost, the young girl revealed insights about the afterworld, all scrutinized by a local priest who hoped to control the sensational aspects of the incident.

Headless Horsemen and Ghostly Lights: The Top 5 Texas Urban Legends

Nowhere else on the planet in the last three hundred years has there been a pioneer narrative quite like the legends and myths of the American Frontier.

Ghostland: Arthur Machen, King Arthur and ‘Goblin City’

Caerleon: The location is steeped in history and archaeology with its impressive Roman ruins, and its later associations – it’s the site where Geoffrey of Monmouth’s twelfth-century chronicle of British monarchs, Historia regum Britanniae, places the court of King Arthur, and where, some 350 years on, Thomas Malory staged the legendary figure’s coronation in Le Morte D’Arthur.

From Generation to Generation: An Exploration of Myth and Landscape in the Work of Alan Garner

The emotional and spiritual dimension of being in place, in the work of Alan Garner, powerfully reminds us of our connection to the land and stories.

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close