Ghosts of the Bluegrass

Conclusion

We are grateful to the many people who have contributed to this anthology, especially the students whose work formed the nucleus of this collection. It is apparent that the oral tradition of ghost and death lore is still alive in our culture today. While we have made no attempt to prove or disprove the truthfulness of the stories herein, we acknowledge that ghost stories are an integral part of our heritage and should not be ignored. The stories presented here for the most part are from Kentucky. After reading and researching stories from other regions of the United States, however, we recognized a strong similarity in themes. This is also true of death lore. Why do different people, in different locations and times, see similar ghosts? The “vanishing hitchhiker” is one example of a widespread, almost clichéd, ghost, about which stories are continually passed down through generations and across cultures. Does the fact that this ghost type is reported so very often simply indicate that it is a universally appealing form of ghost lore? Or is it so widespread because there are many of these sorts of ghosts around? Regardless of where and when they died, people who die a certain type of death perhaps tend to become ghosts, doomed to continue their interrupted journey, and are thus more likely to be encountered than are people who die in less distressing ways. At the beginning of our story-collecting project, the writers approached the subject with enthusiasm tempered with skepticism. This attitude still prevails, but with perhaps a healthy dose of enConclusion 181 182 Ghosts of the Bluegrass lightenment added. There is no doubt that some people are more sensitive to the supernatural than others, but why this is so remains a mystery. Hearing people describe their ghostly experiences makes one realize that, whether or not supernatural phenomena exist, they are undoubtedly real in the minds of those who have had these experiences and who shared their stories. Skepticism is healthy, but one has to be careful to also keep an open mind and not let initial beliefs block evidence that might be presented at a later date. One also has to be careful to not simply look for evidence that confirms what one already believes and to ignore evidence that contradicts that belief. And, it became clear to us, one also has to be careful to review all the information presented and to process that information as logically as possible, even when presented with information that defies logic! Our research on those who have attempted to film ghosts or spirits made clear that it is often very difficult to do. However, among our sources there were several mentions of ghosts being captured on film. The Old Fort Harrod State Park ghost had, according to one storyteller, been seen on film negatives. Dr. Funkhouser, the University of Kentucky professor discussed in chapter 8, appears in a photo owned by the teller of “Scholar Reappears,” and the “Gray Lady of Liberty Hall” (chapter 10) is apparently not shy of the camera , either. Another storyteller did not actually take a picture of her ghost, but one theory she put forth was that the image at the window (see chapter 1) was a sort of photographic image left on the window glass out of which the old lady looked for many years before her death. Were these images captured on film really floating ectoplasm or simply dust? With the advent of computer photo editing capabilities , photographic evidence is going to become less and less reliable as any sort of proof. (UFO sighters have the same issues to contend with, although photos of purported UFOs are abundant.) Unfortunately , we were unable to examine any of the photos mentioned in this anthology ourselves. Of note is the fact that the stories came not only from people of all educational backgrounds, but from people of all age groups as well. Many young people reported a ghost or death omen experi- Conclusion 183 ence. This indicates that the ghost story is not a dying tradition, but one that is still with us. At one time ghosts rode horses and carriages; now they occupy Pontiacs and listen to the radio. It appears that collecting the ghost story is a never-ending endeavor. The most interesting finding, and what is most striking, is that practically every person approached and asked for an interview had a ghost...