We have spoken about haunted houses for as long as we’ve had houses. This causes me to wonder if there were haunted caves, tepees, or Viking long houses. In other words, were all human dwellings haunted? Has it to do with place, structure, or people?
I know for a fact there are stories of haunted woods, haunted wells, and haunted lakes. There are the Superstition Mountains and various other places named after hell or Satan or the devil; Hells Canyon, Devils Tower, and so on. There were the Badlands, and other places, such as the crater Lake area, avoided by the natives despite its beauty and bounty. Most have heard about Skinwalker Ranch and of the strange goings-on in the Bridgewater triangle, and other places.
Abandoned houses have always had spooky reputations. The same aesthetic has extended to abandoned asylums, hospitals, and other institutional buildings. Certainly they are creepy to explore, as they decay in grandiose neglect. Dark occurrences known to explorers tend to darken expectations, too. A history of violence, unexpected and painful death, murder, suicide, desperation of any kind supposedly leaves an imprint. Knowing about it certainly imprints the perceptions of those who prowl such places.
Is it that we find what we seek?
Is being haunted simply human?
Certainly hauntings have attached to structures, to places, dwellings in particular but also connect to landscapes. Hunting grounds are notorious; consider the Wild Hunt, and the many tales of hunters being lost, as in Rip van Winkle, as in various Celtic tales. Many of those taken are lost for days, months, or years, sometimes to return dazed, shocked, and with blurry memories, sometimes never to be seen again.
Such haunted landscapes seem to host more manifestations than other places. The Ancient Greeks spoke of genius loci, or spirit of place. Would these places be avoided by other animals? Are the hauntings something apart and distinct from humanity? Or is it perhaps that human presence is a catalyst?
These are the kinds of considerations we need to explore both in our thoughts, and in our research, be it in the literature, in structures, or in the wild.
/ Klaus Eller
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Wed 7
Sep ’16
01:00
