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PODCAST

Ghosts Were People Too

Annabelle Bonebrake and Quest Zeidler

Where do ghosts dwell? It seems just about everywhere: television, film, photography, theater, video games, folk songs, and even your family vacations. Oh the humanties! Join your hosts Quest and Annabelle on cultural ghost tour in Ghosts Were People Too, a podcast that investigates ghosts through the lens of the arts & humanities.

society & culture documentary

All Episodes

98:09

17 - Ouija Boards (Happy Halloween 2025!)

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2025/10/28

In this Halloween special, Quest and Annabelle talk about the poetics, play, and "dangers" of the Ouija board.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography:“‘The Medium is the Message in the Spacious Present’: Channeling, Television, and the New Age” by Hugh Urban, in Handbook of Spiritualism and Channeling, ed. Cathy Gutierrez“Parlor Games: Play and Social Life in the Haunted House” in Supernatural Entertainments: Victorian Spiritualism and the Rise of

en-US

134:25

16 - I Do, I Do, I Did! The Bride(s) of Disneyland's...

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2025/08/26

In this, the first of our series on Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, Annabelle and Quest climb into the attic to uncover its ghostly brides, gothic backstory, and Disney’s spooky-funny balance. From the Beating Heart Bride to Constance Hatchaway, we ask what this haunted attic reveals about our fears, our histories, and our love of ghosts.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography:Davison, Carol Margaret. “Southern Gothic: Haunted Houses.” The Palgrave

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133:28

15 - Tina...!!! A Nightmare on Elm Street

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2025/07/07

Dreams, collective trauma, stranger danger, groomer panic, queer death drive/queer evil, and media horror - it's all lurking below the surface in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliographyEdelman, Lee. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. Duke University Press, 2004.Kendrick, James. “Razors in the Dreamscape: Revisiting A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Slasher Film.” Cinema Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, Fall 2010, pp

en-US

114:00

14 - The Haunting of Hill House (Part 2): Journeys...

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2025/01/07

Part two of our Haunting of Hill House special!In this episode we discuss Hill House as a character, the origins of the Victorian haunted house trope, and how... every room becomes a mouth!Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.com

en-US

141:50

13 - The Haunting of Hill House Prt. 1: AND They Were...

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2024/09/01

For our very special 13th episode, we present part one of a two-part series on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and its film adaptation The Haunting (1963). In part 1, we talk about the movie vs. the book, approaches to paranormal research, the Cult of True Womanhood, monstrous family systems, and Lesbians!Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Walking Alone Together: Family Monsters in The Haunting of Hill House” by Richard

en-US

120:10

12 - Ghosts in Folk Music

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2024/04/01

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:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography"Shall I Sing You a Ghost Story:

en-US

76:27

11 - Angela Deane Part 2: Wish You Were Here...

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2024/01/03

Baltimore-based artist Angela Deane paints sheet ghosts onto found photos. You might know Deane's work from the cover of Phoebe Bridgers' Stranger in the Alps (2017) or perhaps you've seen her ghosties elsewhere in the great digital regions beyond.This is part 2! Go check out part 1 (episode 10) We dare you. Here, we talk about nostalgia theory, leisure photography, and kitsch. Enjoy!Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliographyhttps://angeladeane.com/home.htmlThe Hours

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68:45

10 - Angela Deane Part 1: Say Cheese! Absence,...

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2024/01/03

Baltimore-based artist Angela Deane paints sheet ghosts onto found photos. You might know Deane's work from the cover of Phoebe Bridgers' Stranger in the Alps (2017) or perhaps you've seen her ghosties elsewhere in the great digital regions beyond.In this, part one of a two-part episode, we talk briefly about nostalgia (more on that in part 2), and then dig into Deane's artist statement. What does it mean to capture a moment in time? Photography as an art form plays with notions of

en-US

117:18

9 - The X-Files S4E22 "Elegy" (Fetch Still Doesn't...

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2023/10/29

Happy Halloween! It's Spooky (Mulder) Season, so we're talking about ghosts in the X-Files S4E22 "Elegy". It's not the only X-Files episode with ghosts, but it's a particularly creepy one. We hope you enjoy our discussion of haunted bowling alleys, inconvenient nosebleeds, white woman Wednesday, and pills that make you a serial killer. What are ghosts? What are frogs? Listen even though you probably won't find out. Mild content warning for discussion of femicide and

en-US

109:43

8 - Ghostbusters Part 2: Creeponomics & Dan the Man

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2023/10/08

Is Ghostbusters the most American movie ever made? Your Ghost Hosts answer this and other questions you never asked in Part II of II on Ghostbusters (1984). We discuss the iconic film through multiple critical lenses including immigration, invaders, Orientalism, Spiritualism, the Occult, and Ghosthunting Capitalism.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Opening Up” in Men, Women, and Chain Saws by Carol Clover“Immigrants as aliens in the Ghostbusters films” by Zoila

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118:54

7 - Ghostbusters Part 1: Cold Hard Research

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2023/09/07

Bustin' makes me feel... bad? What was meant to be an "easy, breezy, beautiful" 80s night became a two-part "cold hard research" episode. In part one, Quest and Annabelle give their first impressions of Ghostbusters (1984). They also unpack the "totemic nostalgia" of the original franchise and explore the film through the lens of the monstrous-feminine and possession.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Opening Up” in Men, Women, and Chain Saws

en-US

121:50

6 - Sheet Ghosts

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2023/06/02

What are the cultural and artistic origins of spooky floating sheets? It's a familiar kitschy image with shrouded beginnings. Let's talk about little tamale men, skeleton trios, Obi-Wan Kenobi, ghost impersonators, pantyhose, and more. Plus, enjoy some cringe-worthy red-carpet commentary on medieval and Elizabethan art.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoo (Bonus: See images from this episode here!)gwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Why Ghosts Wear White Sheets (And Other Spectral Silliness)” by Rae

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107:37

5 - Luigi's Mansion: Games, Doubles, & Portrait Ghosts

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2023/04/17

Luigi is no longer second banana in the GameCube cult classic Luigi's Mansion (2001). In this episode, we talk about doubling, haunted portraits, haunted houses, ludic space, and so much more. Will video games be the next frontier of storytelling and critical research? Is Luigi, a plumber from Brooklyn, a working class hero? Let's talk about it on Ghosts Were People Too.Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliography“Ludic Space in Horror Fiction” by Onni Mustonen, in

en-US

130:27

4 - Animated Ghosts (Spongebob Squarepants and...

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2023/02/21

Cartoons and ghosts go way back, from spooky magic lantern shows to Disney's first spooky-scary Silly Symphony. In this episode, we talk about the relationship between scary and funny, as well as the roles ghosts play in contemporary cartoons, particularly select episodes of Spongebob Squarepants and Adventure Time.Episodes Discussed Spongebob Squarepants, “Scaredy Pants” (S1E13a)Spongebob Squarepants, “Graveyard Shift” (S2E16a)Spongebob Squarepants, “The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom”

en-US

121:45

3 - Blithe Spirit: Shadow Work on Stage and Screen...

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2023/01/24

Tonight we lead by counter-example as we explore Noël Coward's 1941 play Blithe Spirit by way of its movie adaptations. They could have been better, and that's interesting!Hour 1: After discussing David Lean's challenges in making the 1945 film adaptation, including limitations of Hays code-era filmmaking, Annabelle gives a scathing review of the newly "liberated" 2020 Edward Hall version. Hour 2: Quest offers his theatrical expertise to lead a conversation about Blithe

en-US

75:34

2 - Spiritualism Pt. 2: Spirit Photography and More...

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2022/11/29

In this episode, Annabelle talks about spirit photography and its connections to the history of photography as a technology and artistic medium. We also discuss the infamous Mumler trial and how it is a great example of 19th-century attitudes toward skepticism, faith, and death. Finally, we wrap up our discussion of Spiritualism (for now) with reflections on the scale of the Spiritualist movement (hint: it was huge) and why it still matters today. Also, if you listen to the end, Quest, by popular

en-US

51:03

1 - Spiritualism Pt. 1: Performing Seances

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2022/11/19

In part one of this two-part series on Spiritualism, the medium is the message. We talk about the history of the 19th-century Spiritualist movement and its significance in American culture. Quest explains how seances were performed and tells us about big names in the business such as the Fox sisters, the Davenport Brothers, and D.D. Home.Tune in to part two for a continued discussion of Spiritualism and its connection with the development of the technology and art of photography.Make

en-US

71:21

0 - Syllabus Day

Ghosts Were People Too ·

2022/10/27

In this episode, Annabelle and Quest introduce themselves and explain the mission of this podcast. We ask the question "What is a ghost?" and discuss some foundational theories that will guide us in the ensuing episodes including a brief history of ghosts, types of ghosts, Monster Theory (by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen), gothic literature, and abjection. Make contact:@ghostswerepeopletoogwp2pod@gmail.comBibliographyJeffrey Jerome Cohen, “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” published in Monster Theory:

en-US

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