How Have Ghosts and Poltergeists Been Used to Shape Australian Folklore - Essay Example

HOW HAVE GHOSTS AND POLTERGEISTS BEEN USED TO SHAPE AUSTRALIAN FOLKLORE? Student’s Name Course Title Date Introduction Since primeval times, people have tended to believe in life after death as well as ghosts. In the contemporary world, in spite of the rationalistic and mechanistic ethos, human beings live within lands filled with spirits and ghosts. The scenes people pass through every day are possessed and inhabited by spirits, which are not seen but experienced. The spirit supposition establishes that personal consciousness is prone to survive physical death, and thus is capable of being communicated with the living people, predominantly via spirit medium as well as through discarnate entity. In Australia, people believe in human existence both during and after life1. They believe that humans possess a spirit, which is capable of leaving the body, conferring with auxiliary disembodied spirits, and wending its way into the ghost land. Accordingly, this entry endeavors at discussing the manner in which ghosts and poltergeists have been used to shape Australian folklore. Processes by which the folklore has developed Ghosts have often been depicted in literature from the Greek medieval period. For instance, Homer, an early Greek poet did describe Ghost Hector within the epic poem Iliad2. Moreover, the early Roman writings and Chinese literature describe ghosts. In addition, the famous William Shakespeare wrote plays pertaining to ghostly undertakings, such as Macbeth and Hamlet. Charles Dickens, within a Christmas carol, the miser known as Scrooge encounters three ghost visits. In the present day, cinema has firmly ingrained the ghost images within peoples’ minds by establishing classic films, such as Ghost, The Amityville, Ghostbusters, and Poltergeist. The early European account of aboriginal Australian mythology illustrates the activities of spirits and ancestral creators3. The British colonization remained intense within the southern temperate sections, which translated into settled Australia. The indigenous folklore has undergone considerable changes in response to main cultural and social transformations. Even though the knowledge of myths is declining, the indigenous people of Australia have developed and maintained an affluent folklore, which revolves around ghosts and spirits. How folklore has been appropriated and utilized in contemporary Australian society Ghosts and poltergeists have contributed significantly to the literature. Sociologists’ legends have drawn much literature from the world of ghosts. As Bell establishes, the sociology of place, in which most sociologists have ventured, places much emphasis on place and space, which is highly inhabited by ghosts4. For instance, the literature pertaining to collective memory tends to explore topography and localization of resemblance in historical sites and monuments. Ghosts, being omnipresent within the dwelling places of humans, grant life to these places. Thus, the ghostly language has a propensity for granting persons a way of speaking about meaning of a place, and thus devising legends and folklores pertaining to the place. The manifestation of ghosts and poltergeists grants a place the social liveliness. Ghosts may either be scary and unsettled or friendly, rooted, and affirming. People perceive them as not dead since they represent the living dead. Accordingly, ghosts form the significance of a place, which is embedded in stories, legends, folktales, and traditions, and then passed on to generations. Hence, the ghosts of a given place describe the core aspects of social experience with the physical arena. This experience emanates from the traditions allied to the ghostly place, which, when passed from generation to generation, forms the memory of the place. Thus, ghosts of a given place, generate social relations and memories, which are then translated into traditions, and ultimately incorporated within the folklores and traditions of the particular place. In Australia, this is predominantly manifested within the graveyards and haunted houses. A majority of the people believe that ghosts are mostly seen within graveyards. When a novel graveyard was established during the Dark Ages, the pagans did sacrifice victims for the novel spirits to become the guardians of the new-fangled graveyards. In Australia, people have frequently reported witnessing beams of light within the graveyards, perceiving them to be ghosts5. In the contemporary world, scientists suppose that these beams of light are probable luminous gases emanating from rotting corpses. Folklore establishes that ghosts tend to haunt the places in which they died. In Australia, ghosts are commonly believed to be found within haunted houses. This is probably so if an individual was killed or buried within the house. In Australia, Oakabella represents the mainly haunted house within Western Australia. Loretta Wright is the present owner of the house. The most interesting literature information, which attracts ghost hunters’ attention, claims of the house’s evil nature as well as the statement of Loretta being the custodian of Oakabella. Another home that is majorly haunted by ghosts is the Monte Cristo home. As one approaches the homestead, they are likely to experience a sparkling fierce light streaming through each of the house’s window and door. Subsequently, the lights abruptly switch off, as the house gets lost within the ghostly darkness and fog. Besides, one is likely to encounter visiting children who mysteriously throw tantrums along the staircase in which once laid a dead child. Phantom footsteps, haunting noises, and strange apparitions are a regular experience within the homestead. Numerous authors have drawn unlimited text from ghosts and poltergeists, which eventually form the basis for folklores and traditions. The authors are recognizing the extensive sense among persons that things are regularly linked with spirits as well as personified sentiments. As Bell 6 accounts, the Arunta tribe, which is found in Australia, did experience their ancestors’ holy presence within given rocks apparent on the landscape. The stones and rocks are considered as significant parts or bodies of the Arunta’s ancestors, whose memory remains alive. This ghostly experience has formed the basis of Durkheim’s literature in ‘The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life’7. Moreover, various authors have drawn significant literature from Durkheim’s text. Weber regards the ghostly supposition as the charisma of object. On the other hand, Walter Benjamin refers to it as impression of the original, which is accorded to art works as well as the inimitable phenomenon from a distance. In this context, these literatures share the examination that at times, things encompass some genre of life. Besides, a proponent of symbolic interactionism, Mead, established that the inanimate objects possess the capability of forming segments of the organized and generalized, that is, the wholly socialized. Mead talks of the human capability to talk to nature by addressing the trees, sea, clouds, and auxiliary objects surrounding human beings. Ghosts and poltergeists, as Holloway and Kneale 8 affirms, are facing the danger of being condensed into different expressions. In this context, ghosts and poltergeists are being manifested textually in terms of language and literature. As Smajic 9 highlights, the 19th Century culture and literature of Australia is highly allied to ghost story. Ghosts are being regarded as useful aspects, which possess literature value besides themselves. They are omnipresent in literature, thus making the ghost story appear excellently bespoke to the ambiance of psychoanalytic or formalist as opposed to the historicist readings. Therefore, the concept of ghosts has led to generation of puzzles of the unknown, which are manifested in form of stories, tales, legends, and stories. Moreover, ghosts, being perceived as coherent, are used to imply to numerous things, thus highly employed in poetry10. The use of ghosts and poltergeists in shaping Australian folklore is evident where persons interested in ghost haunting look within the regions where the manifestations are likely to be common, that is, the ghost stories. The ghosts’ accounts of haunting places and people have generated myths and stories, which either result in fearing ghosts or end of fear of ghosts. Accordingly, the people who stop fearing ghosts embark on efforts to understand the ghosts’ reasons for haunting, which in turn form the basis for further stories and legends. Ultimately, it is evident that ghosts form a critical foundation for fiction makers. Ghosts and poltergeists generate beliefs that form the basis for folklores. People tend to make grips with the haunting nature of ghosts. Most of the mysterious and terrifying aspects of life emanate from the symbols allied to the past ghostly life, which is manifested in a regions folklores and traditions. As Holloway and Kneale 11 highlights, ghosts can represent past tragedies or injustices, and people’s encounter with these results in novel connection with the present. Accordingly, the novel connection with past ghostly experiences propels writers to formulate folklores allied to the experiences. The past experiences in Australia provides an excellent example of encounter with past traumas, which have not been presumed, but rather have formed the basis for formulation of stories, legends, and myths. The historical and cultural context of ghosts tends to form the contemporary mythic structures 12. For instance, the exiles or refugees who return to Australia and find it transformed still believe that the region is infested with uncanny spirits, which haunt people. Moreover, Australia embraces myths and legends, which suppose that second-hand clothes and houses are haunted by people who used to own them. Likewise, people are disposed to formulating myths pertaining to the cities that are believed to be haunted by ghosts. Accordingly, beliefs have emanated explicating that the haunted cities form the complex contemporary cities within Australia13. This complexity creates uncertainty as to what takes place within the cities. Accordingly, the uncertainty forms the core basis for formulation of fantastic apparition fictions, such as ghost stories. The fantastic stories channel the emergence of more stories, which are either for or against the original fiction story. The subsequent stories emerge where the readers encounter struggles in deciding whether the initial account was factual or not. Hence, the fantastic encounter compels the readers to hesitate amid the supernatural and natural explanations of events, thus formulating allied myths, legends, and tales. Artwork and visual representations of ghosts and poltergeists Ghosts and poltergeists form a critical foundation for Australian traditions. In this milieu, they form part of the people’s memories, consciousness, and emotions. Powerful emotions can be recorded within stones of aging edifices. As Holloway and Kneale 14 explicates, parapsychologists and writers of mysterious events have supposed the ability to imprint psychic records on locations, predominantly owing to strong emotion and violence generated within the place. Moreover, natural materials that are not part of the landscape may bear these emotional recordings. In Australia, the apparitions that haunt places are usually encoded on baffling sculptures. The ghost stories expose repressed fears pertaining to place by embedding spots of fear, which are usually architectural in nature, within the place15. Besides, the Australia’s indigenous cultural landscape is richly filled with meaning of the alleged occupation of ghosts, spirits, and poltergeists. Ghosts and spirits embrace encoded representations pertaining to landscape and culture. Hence, Australian Aborigines tend to formulate concepts of identity that encompass extraordinary spiritual connections with the land. Landscapes portray visual representations of spirits, ghosts, and dreaming ancestors that aid in making sense out of the events taking place within the surrounding. How the media has portrayed ghosts in cinema, television and popular culture The conventional representation of ghosts as people under the bed sheet is becoming more sophisticated. Presently, ghosts are represented within the artistic global cinema 16. In Australia, numerous ghost films are hitting the silver screen, leading to an improvement in the computer-generated unique ghost effects. Poltergeist activities are frequently filmed within Australia. The most common is footage depicting a package of sweets that is bizarrely flung from the shelf to the floor. Screened at IGA store within South Australia, the footage portrays the box full of fruity roll-ups being thrown on the floor from the shelf without anyone nearing it. This is highly allied to ghostly haunting. A star of one of Australia’s morning shows explicates that the phenomenon is associated with the demise of a renowned boxer who was assassinated outside the superstore several years ago. Conclusion Subsequent to massive repute of ghost stories within intellectuals the as well as their popularity in literary work, scholars have focused attention on the subject. The persistent and curious scholarly interest is attributable to the emergence of ghost fiction. In Australia, the concept of ghosts and poltergeists has been massively incorporated in folklore, resulting in major beliefs the ghostly world. Further, these beliefs have been employed in edifices, thus transforming the landscapes. Ultimately, the concept of spirits and ghosts has formed the basis for aboriginal mythology in Australia. Accordingly, this mythology is highly allied to aboriginal traditions and beliefs, which are passed on to generations. Bibliography Bell, Michael. “The ghosts of place.” Theory and Society, vol. 26, no. 6 (1997): 813-836. Clarke, Philip. “Indigenous spirit and ghost folklore of “settled” Australia.” Folklore, vol. 118, no. 2 (2007): 141-161. Crouch, David. National hauntings: the architecture of Australian ghost stories. Jasal Special Issue, (2007): 94-105. Eberie, Suzanne and Noelle Williamson. The fiction gateway: enriching the curriculum with children’s literature. Victoria: Australian Council for Education Research, 2009. Gunning Tom. “To scan a ghost: the ontology of mediated vision”, Grey Room vol. 26 (2007): 94-127. Holloway, Julian and James Kneale. Locating haunting: a ghost-hunter’s guide. Cultural Geographies, vol. 15 (2008): 297-312. Howitt, Arthur. “On some Australian beliefs.” The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 13 (1994): 185-198. Saethre, Eirik. “UFO beliefs in a remote Australian aboriginal community.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Community, vol. 13, no. 4 (2007): 901-915. Smajic, Srdjan. “The trouble with ghost-seeing: vision, ideology, and genre in the Victorian ghost story.” ELH , vol. 70, no. 4 (2003): 1107-1135. West, David. Ghosts and Poltergeists: stories of the supernatural. New York: David West Books, 2006. Read More