What happens to a human after they die? - This course cannot answer that question.

But in this lecture we encounter people who tell legends about human spirits returning after death - ghosts. We turn away from the questions we cannot answer by scientific means, and turn to a method that always reveals useful results: Close reading of legend texts.

Reading

Estimated time: ~30 minutes

Kvideland & Sehmsdorf (1991) "Part II The Dead and the Living" Chapters 17-20 (pages 93-109) in Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend.

UW Library : Permalink to Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend

Linda Dégh (2001). "Example 3:_Hauntings in Vincennes" in Legend and Belief: Dialectics of a Folklore Genre, pages 150-153.

PDF File : Degh_2001_150to153and276to290.pdf

Rationale: This lecture introduces the most common and widespread supernatural legends: Ghost stores. And it points out a pattern in legend texts that helps gauge how believable a legend text was to its teller. Notice characters in the text: How close are they to the teller?

Lecture

In this lecture keep the following questions in mind:

Can we find textual proof that one legend is more "believable" to its teller than another?
For example, can you argue that a teller believes a memorate (the teller includes "I") more firmly than they believe a fabulate (characters and places in the legend are distant from the teller)? How?

Optional Expansion

Here's an article in the UW Daily, about ghost legends in the U-District

And a book by UW student Birke Duncan, who collected ghost stories from students and other people around the UW campus: [Link to UW Libraries Catalog]

Have some thoughts or questions? Why not join the conversation... Legends & Beliefs forum