Possessions: The History and Uses of Haunting in the Hudson Valley

In the first period Richardson discusses the influences upon and influence of Washington Irving, the author who became especially notable for his spooky tales about the area. This era was characterized by social instability and unwelcome changes which helped shape the nature of the ghosts people encountered.

The second period is the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when the Hudson River Valley, like the rest of America, experienced large-scale shifts in the makeup and power of various ethnic communities. New ethnic groups were pushing aside old ethnic groups, leading to ethnic rivalries and hard feelings. Naturally the “older” groups wished to defend their “turf,” and the presence of their ancestors’ ghosts fulfilled that role quite nicely.

Even more than during earlier eras, though, there was much profit to be made from tourism — and tourism was encouraged by multiple hauntings that attracted thrill-seekers and spiritualists:

“Clearly related to the contemporary surge of interest in folklore, tradition, history, and genealogy, the profusion of aboriginal Indian and Dutch hauntings in the Hudson Valley around the turn of the century was in part the product of efforts to attract tourists to the region. Here were *two sets of Aboriginals, one of which had the attraction of being old-worldly at the same time. Closer to home, though, this profusion also connected to a search for rootedness and legitimacy — for longevity and inclusion within the “patent” — which gained urgency in the context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”

The third period occurs during the 1930s and 1940s, a time when nostalgia and anti-modernism were beginning to play important roles in the local culture.

“These hauntings in part represent the surfacing of protest on the part of the “natives,” who “still refer to the old villages as ‘up home’.” According to park historian Andrew Smith (whose family lived for generations in one of the towns destroyed by the park), “Former residents yearn for the past.” ...Displacements yield hauntings, the embrace of hauntings evidences the larger powerlessness of the displaced, and the susceptibility of their ghosts to reinterpretation and co-optation.”

Richardson’s book is great for anyone interested in American history, culture, or simply the contexts in which belief in ghosts and hauntings have developed. It’s a very unusual book in how it approaches the topic and offers an interesting perspective not readily available.

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