From Hauntings to Local Identity: Evolving Interpretations of Paranormal Events in the Southern United States from the Mid-Nineteenth to Mid-Twentieth Century

This presentation will examine how and why the remembrance of hauntings in the Southern United States evolved from the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. By exploring the changing interpretations of ghost stories and haunted historic locations, this research argues that paranormal folklore served as more than a source of fascination, but as a means for communities to process grief, trauma, and social transformation. As Southern society underwent significant political, economic, and cultural changes during Reconstruction, the Great Depression, and the mid-twentieth century, the stories associated with particular places gained new meanings that reflected the shifting concerns and values of the communities remembering them. This research focuses on three case studies: the Bell Witch Cave in Adams, Tennessee; The Octagon Hall in Franklin, Kentucky; and Liberty Hall in Frankfort, Kentucky. By tracing the documentation and publicization of these hauntings across different periods, this presentation will investigate how their stories developed alongside changing social circumstances and public interest. Primary sources, including newspapers, published accounts, personal letters, photographs, and property records, will be analyzed to identify shifts in the language, presentation, and interpretation of these legends, and why these revivals occur in the periods in which they do. Drawing on scholarship concerning cultural memory, Southern identity, and nostalgia, this study connects paranormal narratives to the broader developments in Southern history, offering a new perspective on the historical significance of a place that links the ghosts of the past with the present and continues to capture public interest.