Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country

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Parnell is nothing, if not stoic in parts, leaving no stone unturned in his quest to find where and why the heroes of his beloved ghost stories undertook their work. We see him champion MR James and Arthur Machen (and rightly so), and each chapter oozes admiration for supernatural stories and their creators. EP: Well, our relationship with the countryside and its wildlife is always tied in with social factors and what’s happening in a particular moment. You can currently see direct evidence of that in the number of people over the last year who’ve engaged with their local landscape for the first time – certainly all the footpaths near my house which eighteen months ago I might have had virtually to myself while I was out birdwatching, are now filled with a stream of walkers getting a break from their houses and the confines of Covid. Hopefully, that might translate into more voters being properly interested in environmental issues to the extent that it exerts a political need for the government to actually enact proper policies rather than just talking a good green game. Ghostland is Parnell’s moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists – and what is haunting him. It is a unique and elegiac meditation on grief, memory and longing, and of the redemptive power of stories and nature.

I would have rated this higher for just the plot alone if it had been written a bit different for me. The aspect of this book that perhaps resonates the most is Parnell’s gradual revelation of his own grief and trauma. Without giving anything away (it’s best to go into this not knowing anything for the strongest emotional impact), the scenes and atmosphere he describes from his favourite childhood films and stories often mirror the authors own inner despair. The beautifully vivid accounts of Parnell’s memories have the reader walking right beside him, witnessing these events unfold as he does. His is a wonderfully evocative book, creating a sense of place and invoking the power of literature and nature.' The Guardian

His is a wonderfully evocative book, creating a sense of place and invoking the power of literature and nature.’ The Guardian a b c Mintzer, Jordan (20 March 2018). " 'Ghostland': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media . Retrieved 23 March 2018.

This book goes into what I would call typical hauntings of homes, to hauntings of cemeteries, hotels, brothels (Mustang Ranch), cities, battlefields, and even a bridge. And the book wraps things up about how our next form of being haunted can be via social media. I personally remember being surprised one day when Facebook popped up with a memory of me with a friend who had passed away. I remember flinching and just feeling sad and hurt all over again about her passing away. It didn't even occur to me that one day, I too could be a ghost of sorts, haunting my friends and family via social media. And I'm thinking 'expound on this further'. White people don't think they did anything wrong and the South is full of people who still believe the North is a vile place. I just got into an argument with a Southerner over how he felt Lincoln was worse than Hitler. Cutting through the hypocrisy of evangelism and conversion therapy's direct negative effect on youths, rather than offering yet another summer camp slasher, Damascus gives readers The Exorcist by way of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jurassic Park for ghosts with some 13 Ghosts thrown in for good measure. Ghosts have recently been discovered to be real so someone comes up with the idea to move all the most haunted buildings in the world into one location and create a theme park for them. Nothing could go wrong with that! An inventor has come up with a way to trap the ghosts and people can view them through special glasses. Don't pay much attention to the junk science because the author didn't either. Of course the ghosts take over the park leaving Ben, Lillian and some friends they meet along the way scrambling to escape the park before they are viciously murdered. Oh yeah, this is very bloody and graphic. This was an interesting take on hauntings. The author did not discuss whether the hauntings were true or not (though he seems to have his doubts) but rather what they say about us as a society, as a country.

JH: Why do you think dark and upsetting media comforts us? Especially during dark and upsetting times?

a b Keslassy, Elsa (7 February 2018). "Pascal Laugier's 'Ghostland' Crowned at Gerardmer, Pre-Sells to Key Markets (Exclusive)". Variety. Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018 . Retrieved 24 February 2018. It's not really like anything I've ever read, it's a strange mix of recalling classic ghost stories and novels while revisiting his family's life and travels in those areas, birdwatching, and memoir around illnesses in his immediate family. Somehow he manages to weave all of these together seamlessly too. Actually it was quite interesting to see the common themes he used to connect topics too.A skilful and intriguing weaving together, less of haunted houses as of haunted people, including MR James, Alan Garner, W G Sebald and the author himself, in places where the past has left its mark' George Szirtes, author of The Photographer at Sixteen The author often pauses after setting up the story he is about to teach us about, to explain the era of time, the history behind the story, the people at the heart of it, and the real, logical explanation for the hauntings, which of course takes the fun out of it a little. But, the true story was also interesting.

Part memoir of family to two parts brilliant excursion into folk-horror darkness and literary nooks and crannies' Roger Clarke, author of A Natural History of Ghosts I was not necessarily looking for a book that explained "hauntings" or took a biased opinion one way or the other. In fact I'm not sure why I read this but it was fairly enjoyable.As part of this small celebration of Ghostland, I spoke with Edward Parnell about all things horror – its development, its history and its future. Edward lives in Norfolk and teaches creative writing for the National Centre for Writing and the University of East Anglia; as well as Ghostland he has written a novel, The Listeners, which was awarded the Rethink New Novel Prize in 2014.