Ballads and broadsides, sailors and skeletons, sisters and sampling, and... have you seen the ghost of John? Join us to talk about ghosts in folk music. We touch on some common themes and formats as well as academic approaches to analyzing and archiving folk tunes/lyrics. Come for the intertextuality, sociofunctionalism, politics, and anthropology-- stay for the boos.

Want to sing along? Make contact:

Make contact:

@ghostswerepeopletoo

[email protected]

Bibliography

• "Shall I Sing You a Ghost Story: The Nature and Purpose of Ghost Songs in Maritime Communities of Northern New England and Atlantic Canada" by Richard A. Blake (2019). All Graduate Plan B and other Reports.
• “Ghosts of Voices: Hauntology and Folk Music” by Eamon Byers. Folk Horror Revival: Harvest Hymns. Volume I- Twisted Roots, Volume 1
• "Folk Songs as Socio-Historical Documents" by John Greenway. Western Folklore, vol. 19, no. 1, 1960, pp. 1–9. JSTOR.
• “The English, Scottish, and American Versions of the ‘Twa Sisters’” by Archer Taylor, in The Journal of American Folklore
• “‘The Twa Sisters’—Going Which Way?” by Harbison Parker, in The Journal of American Folklore
• “Magical Corpses: Ballads, Intertextuality, and the Discovery of Murder” by David Atkinson, in Journal of Folklore Research
• “Comparativism and the Functional Contexts of Myths and Rituals”, from Mythography by William Doty
• “Maieutic, Creative Myth: Conveying Values and Systems of Interpreting Reality (Definition, part 2)”, from Mythography by William Doty
• "'Have You Seen The Ghost Of John” is a kids’ song that actually chills'" by Mariah Eakin. AV Club.
• "“Ghost of John”: Appalachia’s Most Ghoulish Lullaby" by Musette. Medium.

Songs

• Alan Mills (The Ghostly Sailors)-Accordion https://youtu.be/CpysXQtf1Y0?si=tbeb8EzPfeSZUpeJ
• Houlihan (The Ghostly Sailors)-Acapella https://youtu.be/k7wbShaiZGg?si=83P6fIghjOiH-_qh
• Have You Seen the Ghost of John (Children Singing) https://youtu.be/6F9mcvX9pXE?si=zoSRCe_c2IM9kCs7
• “Binnorie (The Twa Sisters)” as sung by Custer LaRue ://youtu.be/rLBBg4MjO6o
• The Geography by Belbury Poly
• https://youtu.be/vv4tsUg7MLQ