Bodies of Substance, Fragments of Memories
An Archaeological Sensitivity to Ghostly Presence
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Ghost research is a history lesson with the drama left in. In a "real" encounter with a ghost, we learn "something". Perhaps, engaging a "living" past tells us, more than dry historical sources, what mattered most to people at a particular time, or the significance of a lived activity or event. It may also answer the question: What do we live for? Is it the reason why some of us are "dying" to do it again....Do we repeat ourselves, even in death?
Ghostly presence is "real", not supernatural, life. It is the story of individuals and their passions, or their obsessions. It is the experience of how they lived and, perhaps, how they want to be remembered. If not, why do they keep repeating these same actions?
Haunted places sometimes consist of locations that would be lost to history, if not for a continuing manifesting presence. This "fact" alone adds legitimacy to this research, since it can potentially increase our knowledge of past events and behavior.
Ghost research, therefore, is archaeological. It is potential data still waiting to be unearthed, if only investigators would maintain an archaeological sensibility in conducting their fieldwork operations and performative practices.
"Truly the universe is full of ghosts, not sheeted churchyard spectres, but the inextinguishable elements of individual life, which having once been, can never die.....".
- H. Rider Haggard
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About the Book
Ghost Research is archaeological work that requires specific field practices. This book introduces the investigative techniques of a "ghost archaeology". This is defined as a scientific discipline of the "ordinary", a search for the repetitive patterns of cultural behavior that can be unearthed during an field investigation.
Six case studies of cultural hauntings are presented which illustrate the usefulness of archaeological methodology and techniques in field research. The investigation of ghostly presence at Gettysburg, in the anthracite coal region, at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, and a Civil War haunting in Petersburg, Virginia are cited. These investigations show how potential evidential data can be uncovered, if only the investigators would maintain an archaeological sensibility in their fieldwork operations.
About the Author
John Sabol is a cultural anthropologist, historical archaeologist, actor, and "ghost excavator". He has been participating in (and directing) scientific field investigations since high school. He has worked extensively in England, Germany, Mexico, and throughout the United States. He is a former professor of inter-cultural studies with 11 years of teaching experience at various colleges and universities in Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico. He is the author of six other books: Ghost Excavator(2007),Ghost Culture (2007), Gettysburg Unearthed (2007), Battlefield Hauntscape (2007), Anthracite Coal Region (2008), and the Politics of Presence (2008). For more information on his investigations and books, please see his websites: www.ghostexcavator.com and http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeoqapc/ghostexcavator.