Haunted Intimacy: Spectral and Vital Space within a Historic House Museum

Franz, Marisa Karyl

doi:10.29311/mas.v19i3.3830

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Funnily, the Merchant House's docent training manual had, in the 1960s and '70s, this prominent statement: "DO NOT TALK ABOUT GHOSTS!" Nevertheless, the presences persisted (Franz, 2021).…”

Section: Example Of a Hauntmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…It concerns the Merchants House Museum in New York City, where the Tredwell family lived from 1835 to 1906. While the house operates as a museum documenting the life and times of this family, spectral presences are said to manifest within (Franz, 2021). Given that the furnishings and other objects the Tredwells lived with remain in the spaces they inhabited, their very presence could easily 'afford' ghostly impressions.…”

Section: Example Of a Hauntmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1990, the museum's executive director remarked that "the atmosphere is so tangible: it's 1850 and the Tredwells are coming up the stairs." Today, the museum staff note that "its immersive nature allows visitors to brush up against a past that is almost present" (Franz, 2021).…”

Section: Example Of a Hauntmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here is the second: ...around the winter holidays, particularly around the museum's Victorian Christmas events, there is the most spectral activity in the house…"the way they decorate the house for Christmas is beautiful…when you walk in there it's a different mood…it's a happy mood." The ghosts follow patterns of coming and going that coincide with the environment of the house (Franz, 2021, quoting Bellov, 2007.…”

Section: Example Of a Hauntmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emotion: The Connective Tissue of Atmospheres and Haunts

Jawer¹

2023

JSE

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Just as a small band of scholars has endeavored to explore the phenomenon of “atmosphere”– i.e., the characteristic feel of a particular situation, circumstance, artifactor era – another group of researchers has shed light on the defining characteristicsof “haunts,” those places where the atmosphere may, to some people, seem strange,spooky or off-putting. The fields of atmosphere studies, hauntology, and spectralityattest to these investigations. However, scholars of atmosphere rarely refer to haunts,while scholars of hauntology and spectrality insufficiently emphasize the affective coreof atmospheres. This paper argues that affect – which nearly all studies acknowledge asthe key element of atmosphere – is equally central to the phenomenon of haunts. Sinceaffect is a property of living creatures, the paper proposes that haunted atmospheresattest to the quality or intensity of feelings expressed by individuals, even if they areno longer in that location or no longer living. Just as atmospheres can be sensed butnot grasped, just as they are ineffable yet discernable, and just as they are fleetingyet can also linger, they resemble feelings, moods and ghosts. The term “presence,”which recurs throughout atmosphere studies, hauntology, and spectrality, is closelyconsidered for its connection with concepts of time, immediacy, and memory. Threeexperiences of the author are presented as touchstones for evaluating the possibilitiesdiscussed. The paper concludes by discussing our species’ “ocular-centrism,” i.e., itstendency to conclude that what can be seen and definitively measured is real whereaswhat is invisible and shifting is less real or not at all.

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“…Funnily, the Merchant House's docent training manual had, in the 1960s and '70s, this prominent statement: "DO NOT TALK ABOUT GHOSTS!" Nevertheless, the presences persisted (Franz, 2021).…”

Section: Example Of a Hauntmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Example Of a Hauntmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Example Of a Hauntmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Example Of a Hauntmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations