Revolutionary Revenants:
Raising the Spirits of the Marginalized in
New York’s Haunted History
The brochure of “over 90 creepy, spooky and downright haunted locations” featured in the Haunted History Trail of New York State tells visitors, “When you plan a visit to New York State, you may not realize how close you are to coming face-to-face with a ghost. In every region are ominous places of mystery and intrigue.” While some locations are listed for their urban legends or unusual qualities, most of the sites along the trail are places integral to the state’s history where ghosts of the past are still present.  The presence – or, at least, the possibility – of ghosts challenges our dominant ways of knowing. In his “monster theory,” Jeffrey Jerome Cohen demonstrates that cultures may be read and understood from the monsters they create; monsters are an embodiment of the anxieties and fantasies of the time, place, and relationships and differences that engender them. Sociologist Avery Gordon echoes this idea by defining a haunting as “one way in which abusive systems of power make themselves known” when “repressed or unresolved social violence” demands justice. And, the horror genre, broadly defined, recognizes violence, instability, and futility as constituent features of modern life. Indeed, the works of Jaume Aurell, Teresa Goddu, and Andrew J. Salvati suggest that American Gothic, as a narrative structure that offers a “democratization in historical representation” serves as a “repository for cultural anxieties,” affected by the horrors of history, shaped by specific sites, and associated “with rebellion against the rationalist and secularist currents dominating modern society.”
Public memory is typically understood as relying on material and/or symbolic supports that work in various ways to consummate individuals’ attachment to the group. But hauntings may defy such supports because they are, by nature, immaterial and do not conform to sensory experiences. This project, thus, considers ways in which the Haunted History Trail of New York State creates spaces for marginalized people not often remembered – those “ghosted” by dominant historical narratives – to be seen and heard. While ghost tours and graveyard walks are populated by tourists around the world, New York State offers a marked example of the progressive possibilities of the preternatural. As the birthplace of the American suffrage and spiritualist movements, both which served to give voice to American women, New York has an established tradition of employing the supernatural in pursuit of justice.
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