When did ghosts become transparent? The weird cultural history of the paranormal

How did ghosts become transparent? Here's our spooky Halloween offering -- a deep dive into the cultural history of ghosts and ghost lore in Western Europe and North America. Drawing from recently published sociological and historical research, we're going to explore the historical origins of three different representations of ghosts: 1) the idea that ghosts can appear as transparent apparitions; 2) the idea the poltergeists can communicate through knocking on surfaces; and 3) we'll explore the iconography of the 'long-haired ghost girl'. Enjoy -- and have a festive Spookyween!

The host, Dr. Alexander K. Smith, holds an MA from Oxford University and a PhD in the anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas from the University of Paris, France.

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If you would like to learn more about the sociology or cultural history of ghosts, consider some of our recommended readings and cited works:

Bader, C., Mencken, F., and Baker, J. 2010. Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture. New York University Press.

Buckland, Rosina. 2020. “The Visual Representation of Ghosts in Early Modern Japan” in Sandy et al. [below].

Josephson-Storm, Jason A. 2017. The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences. University of Chicago Press.

Leeder, Murray (ed). 2015. Cinematic Ghosts: Haunting and Spectrality from Silent Cinema to the Digital Era.

Owens, Susan. 2023. The Ghost: A Cultural History. Tate Publishing

Sandy, Mark et al. 2020. Ghostly Encounters: Cultural and Imaginary Representations of the Spectral from the Nineteenth Century to the Present.

Sconce, Jeffrey. 2000. Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television. Duke University Press.

Waskul, Dennis and Michelle Waskul. 2016. Ghostly Encounters: The Hauntings of Everyday Life. Temple University Press.

Waskul, Dennis and Mark Eaton (eds). 2018. The Supernatural in Society, Culture, and History. Temple University Press.

[endnotes will follow shortly, sorry!]

00:00 Introduction
01:21 Why studying ghosts encounters is important
02:16 Why are ghosts translucent
05:20 Why do poltergeists communicate through knocking
09:23 The Long Haired Ghost Girl
12:18 Conclusion