Shows
Ghosts Were People Too17 - Ouija Boards (Happy Halloween 2025!)In this Halloween special, Quest and Annabelle talk about the poetics, play, and "dangers" of the Ouija board.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography:“‘The Medium is the Message in the Spacious Present’: Channeling, Television, and the New Age” by Hugh Urban, in Handbook of Spiritualism and Channeling, ed. Cathy Gutierrez“Parlor Games: Play and Social Life in the Haunted House” in Supernatural Entertainments: Victorian Spiritualism and the Rise of Modern Media Culture by Simone Natale“Wars and Ouija: Spiritualism in the Twentieth Century” in Callin...
2025-10-281h 38
Ghosts Were People Too16 - I Do, I Do, I Did! The Bride(s) of Disneyland's Haunted MansionIn this, the first of our series on Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, Annabelle and Quest climb into the attic to uncover its ghostly brides, gothic backstory, and Disney’s spooky-funny balance. From the Beating Heart Bride to Constance Hatchaway, we ask what this haunted attic reveals about our fears, our histories, and our love of ghosts.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography:Davison, Carol Margaret. “Southern Gothic: Haunted Houses.” The Palgrave Handbook of the Southern Gothic, edited by Susan Castillo Street and Charles L. Crow, Palgrave Macmil...
2025-08-262h 14
Ghosts Were People Too15 - Tina...!!! A Nightmare on Elm StreetDreams, collective trauma, stranger danger, groomer panic, queer death drive/queer evil, and media horror - it's all lurking below the surface in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliographyEdelman, Lee. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. Duke University Press, 2004.Kendrick, James. “Razors in the Dreamscape: Revisiting A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Slasher Film.” Cinema Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, Fall 2010, pp. 60-78.Lieberman, Tucker. “The Trail of His Flames.” The American Reader, vol. 5, no. 1, F...
2025-07-072h 13
Ghosts Were People Too14 - The Haunting of Hill House (Part 2): Journeys End in Lovers MeetingPart two of our Haunting of Hill House special!In this episode we discuss Hill House as a character, the origins of the Victorian haunted house trope, and how... every room becomes a mouth!Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.com
2025-01-071h 54
Ghosts Were People Too13 - The Haunting of Hill House (Prt. 1): AND They Were RoommatesFor our very special 13th episode, we present part one of a two-part series on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and its film adaptation The Haunting (1963). In part 1, we talk about the movie vs. the book, approaches to paranormal research, the Cult of True Womanhood, monstrous family systems, and Lesbians!Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Walking Alone Together: Family Monsters in The Haunting of Hill House” by Richard PascalInterview: Laurence Jackson Hyman on his mother Shirley: ‘Her wo...
2024-09-012h 21
Ghosts Were People Too12 - Ghosts in Folk MusicBallads and broadsides, sailors and skeletons, sisters and sampling, and... have you seen the ghost of John? Join us to talk about ghosts in folk music. We touch on some common themes and formats as well as academic approaches to analyzing and archiving folk tunes/lyrics. Come for the intertextuality, sociofunctionalism, politics, and anthropology-- stay for the boos.Want to sing along? Make contact:Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography"Shall I Sing You a Ghost Story: The Nature and Purpose of Ghost Songs in Maritime...
2024-04-012h 00
Ghosts Were People Too11 - Angela Deane Part 2: Wish You Were Here (Nostalgia, Leisure Photography, and Kitsch)Baltimore-based artist Angela Deane paints sheet ghosts onto found photos. You might know Deane's work from the cover of Phoebe Bridgers' Stranger in the Alps (2017) or perhaps you've seen her ghosties elsewhere in the great digital regions beyond.This is part 2! Go check out part 1 (episode 10) We dare you. Here, we talk about nostalgia theory, leisure photography, and kitsch. Enjoy!Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliographyhttps://angeladeane.com/home.htmlThe Hours Have Lost Their Clock by Grafton TannerThe...
2024-01-031h 16
Ghosts Were People Too10 - Angela Deane Part 1: Say Cheese! Absence, Presence, Spirit Photography & Deane's Ghost PaintingsBaltimore-based artist Angela Deane paints sheet ghosts onto found photos. You might know Deane's work from the cover of Phoebe Bridgers' Stranger in the Alps (2017) or perhaps you've seen her ghosties elsewhere in the great digital regions beyond.In this, part one of a two-part episode, we talk briefly about nostalgia (more on that in part 2), and then dig into Deane's artist statement. What does it mean to capture a moment in time? Photography as an art form plays with notions of presence and absence. How does spirit photography manage equations of presence and absence? How does...
2024-01-031h 08
Ghosts Were People Too9 - The X-Files S4E22 "Elegy" (Fetch Still Doesn't Really Happen)Happy Halloween! It's Spooky (Mulder) Season, so we're talking about ghosts in the X-Files S4E22 "Elegy". It's not the only X-Files episode with ghosts, but it's a particularly creepy one. We hope you enjoy our discussion of haunted bowling alleys, inconvenient nosebleeds, white woman Wednesday, and pills that make you a serial killer. What are ghosts? What are frogs? Listen even though you probably won't find out. Mild content warning for discussion of femicide and ableism, specifically pertaining to people with autism.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod...
2023-10-291h 57
Ghosts Were People Too8 - Ghostbusters Part 2: Creeponomics & Dan the ManIs Ghostbusters the most American movie ever made? Your Ghost Hosts answer this and other questions you never asked in Part II of II on Ghostbusters (1984). We discuss the iconic film through multiple critical lenses including immigration, invaders, Orientalism, Spiritualism, the Occult, and Ghosthunting Capitalism.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Opening Up” in Men, Women, and Chain Saws by Carol Clover“Immigrants as aliens in the Ghostbusters films” by Zoila ClarkOrientalism by Edward SaidAnderson, Matthew N., and Collin L. Brown...
2023-10-091h 49
Ghosts Were People Too7 - Ghostbusters Part 1: Cold Hard ResearchBustin' makes me feel... bad? What was meant to be an "easy, breezy, beautiful" 80s night became a two-part "cold hard research" episode. In part one, Quest and Annabelle give their first impressions of Ghostbusters (1984). They also unpack the "totemic nostalgia" of the original franchise and explore the film through the lens of the monstrous-feminine and possession.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Opening Up” in Men, Women, and Chain Saws by Carol Clover“Immigrants as aliens in the Ghostbusters films” by Zoila Clark, in Australa...
2023-09-071h 58
Ghosts Were People Too6 - Sheet GhostsWhat are the cultural and artistic origins of spooky floating sheets? It's a familiar kitschy image with shrouded beginnings. Let's talk about little tamale men, skeleton trios, Obi-Wan Kenobi, ghost impersonators, pantyhose, and more. Plus, enjoy some cringe-worthy red-carpet commentary on medieval and Elizabethan art.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (Bonus: See images from this episode here!)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Why Ghosts Wear White Sheets (And Other Spectral Silliness)” by Rae Alexandra for KQED“Assault, Robbery, and Murder: The Dark History of ‘Bedsheet Ghosts’” by Lucas Reilly for Mental Floss“Why Are Ghosts...
2023-06-022h 01
Ghosts Were People Too5 - Luigi's Mansion: Games, Doubles, & Portrait GhostsLuigi is no longer second banana in the GameCube cult classic Luigi's Mansion (2001). In this episode, we talk about doubling, haunted portraits, haunted houses, ludic space, and so much more. Will video games be the next frontier of storytelling and critical research? Is Luigi, a plumber from Brooklyn, a working class hero? Let's talk about it on Ghosts Were People Too.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Ludic Space in Horror Fiction” by Onni Mustonen, in Mediating Vulnerability“The Great Staging of Luigi...
2023-04-171h 47
Ghosts Were People Too4 - Animated Ghosts (Spongebob Squarepants and Adventure Time)Cartoons and ghosts go way back, from spooky magic lantern shows to Disney's first spooky-scary Silly Symphony. In this episode, we talk about the relationship between scary and funny, as well as the roles ghosts play in contemporary cartoons, particularly select episodes of Spongebob Squarepants and Adventure Time.Episodes Discussed Spongebob Squarepants, “Scaredy Pants” (S1E13a)Spongebob Squarepants, “Graveyard Shift” (S2E16a)Spongebob Squarepants, “The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom” (S11E5)Adventure Time, “Heat Signature” (S2, E26)Adventure Time, “Ghost Fly” (S6E17)Adventure Time, “Blank-Eyed Girl” (S7E19)Also MentionedSpongebob S...
2023-02-212h 10
Ghosts Were People Too3 - Blithe Spirit: Shadow Work on Stage and Screen (1941, 1945, & 2020)Tonight we lead by counter-example as we explore Noël Coward's 1941 play Blithe Spirit by way of its movie adaptations. They could have been better, and that's interesting!Hour 1: After discussing David Lean's challenges in making the 1945 film adaptation, including limitations of Hays code-era filmmaking, Annabelle gives a scathing review of the newly "liberated" 2020 Edward Hall version. Hour 2: Quest offers his theatrical expertise to lead a conversation about Blithe Spirit's value as a live performance and how the play is uniquely suited to the stage. We also discuss gender roles, category crisis (presence and absence, skepticism/belief, mono...
2023-01-242h 01
Ghosts Were People Too2 - Spiritualism Pt. 2: Spirit Photography and More Humbug!In this episode, Annabelle talks about spirit photography and its connections to the history of photography as a technology and artistic medium. We also discuss the infamous Mumler trial and how it is a great example of 19th-century attitudes toward skepticism, faith, and death. Finally, we wrap up our discussion of Spiritualism (for now) with reflections on the scale of the Spiritualist movement (hint: it was huge) and why it still matters today. Also, if you listen to the end, Quest, by popular demand, tells you what was up with D.D. Hume and those Russian emeralds....
2022-11-291h 15
Ghosts Were People Too1 - Spiritualism Pt. 1: Performing SeancesIn part one of this two-part series on Spiritualism, the medium is the message. We talk about the history of the 19th-century Spiritualist movement and its significance in American culture. Quest explains how seances were performed and tells us about big names in the business such as the Fox sisters, the Davenport Brothers, and D.D. Home.Tune in to part two for a continued discussion of Spiritualism and its connection with the development of the technology and art of photography.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2...
2022-11-1951 min
Ghosts Were People Too0 - Syllabus DayIn this episode, Annabelle and Quest introduce themselves and explain the mission of this podcast. We ask the question "What is a ghost?" and discuss some foundational theories that will guide us in the ensuing episodes including a brief history of ghosts, types of ghosts, Monster Theory (by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen), gothic literature, and abjection. Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliographyJeffrey Jerome Cohen, “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” published in Monster Theory: Reading Culture, ed. Cohen“To Be Haunted” by Jessie Lynn McMainsChapter 1...
2022-10-271h 11