Picture the Dead — Ghost Posts

Welcome to the online home of PICTURE THE DEAD, an illustrated mystery and ghostly love story by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown. Draw up a chair and tell us your most spine-tingling tale. Make sure it sends us screaming down the corridors—when we recover, we will post it here. If you’ve managed to keep us up all night shivering in fear, we’ll send you some eerie swag. So come on, post your ghosts and scare us silly! You know you want to...

[picturethedeadghoststories]

How Spiritualism Spread

As much as Victorian spiritualism brought science and religious belief into conversation, its spread took place not through religious or scientific channels—networks of churches or scientific journals—but through the rapidly expanding world of the mass media, a theme taken up by three recent books: David Jaher’s The Witch of Lime Street , Simone Natale’s Supernatural Entertainments , and Samantha Hunt’s novel Mr. Splitfoot .

[picturethedeadghoststories]

How Spiritualism Spread

As much as Victorian spiritualism brought science and religious belief into conversation, its spread took place not through religious or scientific channels—networks of churches or scientific journals—but through the rapidly expanding world of the mass media, a theme taken up by three recent books: David Jaher’s The Witch of Lime Street , Simone Natale’s Supernatural Entertainments , and Samantha Hunt’s novel Mr. Splitfoot .

[retrogasm-deactivated20161109]

Frightening Friday

[picturethedeadghoststories]

Previous owner died in our house.

About 8 years ago, my parents moved into a house in the country. The house is modest and lays on 16 acres of land. It was being sold because the previous owner’s husband had died and the upkeep of the house and land had become too much for her. After signing the papers my parents learned that the husband died in this house. We did not think anything of it, many people have died in many homes. 

A few months after moving in, my dad began to see a shadowy figure standing at the foot of his bed. The first times he witnessed this shadow he thought he was imagining things. This continued off and on for a few months. One night, the figure started moving closer to the side of the bed my dad was on. He freaked out and made a blanket shield (covered his head and entire body with his blanket) and began flailing his arms. My step-mom did not ever see or experience this figure. 

During these same nights, we would often find our large dog standing in the corner of the living room staring up at the ceiling growling. There was never anything in that corner of the room, other than a shadow from the large entertainment center holding our television. Her hair would bristle and she would pace back and forth while watching the corner. 

Guests who have slept on our pull-out couch in the living room have claimed to hear footsteps in the middle of the night, only to find that no one was out of bed. A few guests have reported feeling something move their hair but with no explanation as to why or what it was.

So far, though eerie and somewhat unsettling, nothing dangerous has ever transpired. But it makes me think twice before walking anywhere in the house with the lights off!

[partizany]

[americanchickens]

[picturethedeadghoststories]

Absolutely blown away by Emily Carroll's collection of ghost stories and horror tales: “Through the Woods.”  

[picturethedeadghoststories]

10 Creepy and Haunting Poems About Ghosts, Madness, and Fairy Abductions

With Halloween coming up and spookiness in the air, it seemed like a good time to share ten of the most haunting, uncanny, and unsettling poems — that are also the most beautiful. "La Belle Dame Sa...

[picturethedeadghoststories]

Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You (Official Video)

Song by Department of Eagles, ghosts by Marcel Dzama.

[daguerreotypeimages]

SISTERS TIMES THREE. (via Dennis A. Waters Fine Daguerreotypes)

[weirdvintage]

Walter H. Lambert was a British ventriloquist and female impersonator whose famous early 20th century vaudeville routine was a hospital skit in which his female character “Lydia Dreams” played a nurse, and his figure played an accident victim.  He was also an accomplished painter, famous for his 1903 large-scale painting of 225 Edwardian music-hall performers you can see here  (via)

[picturethedeadghoststories]

Late Night Reading

Alright, here’s the truth, and my mother won’t believe me, but I know what’s going on. Last summer, nearly a year ago, we moved into a new house in a historical downtown area. The Bloody Battle of Franklin took place here, (not making this up, look it up). National Geographic called it the number 1 most underrated, overlooked blood bath of the Civil War. Now, our house isn’t that old, it was built in the 1960’s, and it’s sandwiched nicely between two others, like condos. The walls are old and kinda thin—so when anyone’s doing anything too loud, we ALL hear it.

The house was built on the Confederate campgrounds, and it’s in the historical part of the officially “Most Haunted Town of Tennessee.” We’re living in a haunting waiting to happen! And I guess it did. Ever since I started reading aloud at night on some strange whim, there’s someone else in the house. If I forget to read that night, we all hear banging and slamming doors—even the neighbors! They ask what we’re doing so late at night, we say nothing, ask what THEY were doing, they say nothing, and finally I realized something: the house was peaceful if I read aloud at night. In fact, my room felt safer, like someone was watching over me. The vanilla candles my mom loves so much sputter if I hesitate too long, and the house will creak and bang. My mom doesn’t believe me, but the evidence says it all. My house is definitely haunted, by a mildly-moody, story-loving ghost. I’m guessing a young Confederate soldier, and I’ve taken to calling him Thomas. Sometimes, when I’m falling asleep at night, I swear I can feel hands on the back of my neck, or tugging gently at my hair. Some of my friends say they can feel something too, before I even mention Thomas! My house is haunted, and I’ve got a ghostly roommate.

[weirdvintage]

Snow Queen Victoria, c. 1890 (via V&A)

[picturethedeadghoststories]

I was walking my friend home…

I was walking my friend home when all of a sudden a lady appeared a  few feet away. When I turned and asked my friend what that lady was doing staring at us, when all of a sudden I turned back and she was actually dissappearing...she vanished. My mate told me i was crazy and there was never anything there.

Now every time I walk down my road I see her!!!!!!!!!!

[maudelynn]

[maudelynn]

maudelynn:

Skeleton Riders, Halloween c.1920 

via http://varuben.thoughts.com

[littlepennydreadful]

[picturethedeadghoststories]

Photographer Unknown, Man with Open Mouth, c.1852;

[odditiesoflife]

[alittlepartofmedies]

via odditiesoflife:

The Famous Case of Emilie Sagée and her Doppelgänger

Emilie Sagee, 32, had been fired from 18 different schools. The cause: bilocation.

As Sagée wrote on the chalkboard during her lessons, her double would appear, standing along side her and mimicking her motions. 

On another occasion, all of the school’s 42 girls were in the school hall for sewing and embroidery class. As they worked, they could clearly see Sagée in the school’s garden gathering flowers. However, when the girl’s teacher left the room for a moment, Sagée’s Doppelgänger appeared, sitting motionless in the teacher’s chair. Two girls tried to touch the apparition but were met with an odd resistance and were unable to penetrate the air surrounding her. One girl passed through the apparition, which then vanished.

Sagée only realized her doubleness in her students’ frightened faces—their eyes staring at something near her that she could not see.

[les-sources-du-nil]

Edwardian “Ghost Photograph”, 1900’s