Episode 144 - Alice Vernon - A History of Ghost Hunting and Why We Keep Looking

 My guest for this episode is author and academic Alice Vernon. Alice is a Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University and her research primarily involves the intersection between storytelling and the history of medicine, with a particular interest in sleep disorders, hallucinations and parapsychology. She has written two books connected to these subject matters and the most recent of these - ‘Ghosted:  A History of Ghost Hunting, and Why We Keep Looking’ is the subject of our conversation.

In Ghosted, Alice examines the history of paranormal investigations, beginning in the séance rooms of Victorian era Britain and moving across time through the aftermath if WW1 to the technology driven ghost hunts of recent times. The book explores how approaches to studying paranormal phenomena have changed over the decades in response to technological advancements and shifts in cultural attitudes to the paranormal and shows how the pursuit of contact with otherworldly entities has enthralled people for so long.

I begin the interview by talking with Alice about what prompted her to write the book and then we delve into the pages of Ghosted itself, which leads to a varied conversation on the ways that people have continued to try and interact with paranormal phenomena and what it is about doing that that makes it such an enduring pursuit.

‘Ghosted:  A History of Ghost Hunting, and Why We Keep Looking’ is published by Bloomsbury and information about the book can be found here. Further details about Alice are available on her staff profile page at Aberystwyth University

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The podcast theme music is by The Night Monitor, from his album, ‘Close Encounters of the Pennine Kind’. You can find out more about The Night Monitor's music at https://thenightmonitor.bandcamp.com/.