Phantasmic Encounters in the Arctic: Haunting Materialities Beyond the Ghosts of War

ABSTRACT In the vast north, ghostly experiences are common for locals and outsiders alike. Here, we explore how cultural‐natural attributes, like remoteness and extreme seasonal variation, compound experiences of the haunting in visceral ways. This provides the Arctic region with an unusually pronounced baseline of other‐than‐human agency, which in the Sápmi region is further accentuated by unsolicited traumas of the past. Among the more recent tragedies is the never‐before‐seen cataclysm of the Second World War, which in a short time swept through the indigenous lands in both a metaphorical and physical sense. The destruction and loss of life left in their wake fading memories and questions yet unanswered. The seemingly untouched wilderness holds an abundance of material reminders that may seem better left forgotten. But holding on to these material traces and respectfully telling and remembering the stories embedded within them—many yet to be told—activates the affective agencies that populate the northern memoryscape.