Spectral Nation: Characterizing British Haunted Landscapes through the Lens of the 1970s ‘Ghost Gazetteer’ and a Folk Horror Perspective

Abstract

Within the wider context of popular occult publishing in the United Kingdom, a distinctive subgenre can be defined. The ‘ghost gazetteer’ combines the function of a road guide with additional information on supernatural happenings, all tied to specific locales within Great Britain. Taking four popular and important examples of the genre dating from the 1970s, this article analyses the content and context of the books in terms of branding, selection of sites, use of imagery, and geographical and historical content, and shows how this content reflects perceptions of identity and nationhood during a period of profound social and cultural flux. The article argues that in emphasizing an attachment to place and rurality, these works essentially belong within the continuum of the recently defined concept of folk horror, albeit expressed in a more populist tone.