Muncie, IN— A class of Ball State University students is seeing ghosts all over the place — from timeless episodes of the cartoon “Scooby Doo” to Shirley Jackson’s novel “The Haunting of Hill House” — as they create a journal dedicated to ghouls in American culture.
Led by Debbie Mix, an English professor, students are working to educate themselves about the scholarship on haunting and examining why ghosts and spooky stories play a major role in American culture.
So far this semester, they’ve immersed themselves in reading a variety of theoretical pieces alongside novels, including Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House,” which has been adapted as a series on Netflix; Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved,” and Tony Kushner’s play “Angels in America,” along with eating popcorn as they view a smattering of television shows and good (and bad) movies.
And on the occasional night with a full moon, the students are visiting haunted houses and graveyards to add a hint of fear to the next edition of the English department’s “Digital Literature Review.” Mix also pointed out that ghosts are powerful ways to allow writers to create stories that allow the characters to work out issues or talk about their own fears.
For more information about Ball State’s Department of English, click here.
