Ghosthropology Podcast

04/08/2025

Episode 99 is out!

The story of the Screaming Skull of Bettiscombe Manor is one of the better-known British ghost stories and is part of a larger motif in British supernatural folklore. The Bettiscombe Manor story involves slavery, ignoring the wishes of the dead, and the price paid for these transgressions. There is less reality to the story than even a skeptic might think, but quite a lot is going on in the folklore. In this episode, Matt talks about why, if you find a human skull in your house, you might just want to leave it be.

https://kmmamedia.com/2025/08/04/99-the-screaming-bettiscombe-skull/

07/07/2025

In this episode, Matt concludes his discussion of Ludwig Lavatar’s 16th-century book on Protestant Demonology, Of Ghostes and Spirites Walking by Night. In this part, we learn that ghosts are actually demons, that Medieval and late Roman sorcerers got up to some freaky stuff, and that Bulgaria was once ruled by a werewolf. We also find that Lavatar has a rather upsetting yet mundane explanation as to why God allows evil spirits to torment people.

https://kmmamedia.com/2025/07/07/97-of-ghostes-and-spirites-walking-by-night-part-2/

30/06/2025

10/06/2025

We're on a bit of a forced hiatus here, dealing with some medical matters.

However, while we wait for a new episode, here's some photos from Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara. I used to really enjoy photography, back when I had time to take long trips just to take pictures, but I sharpened by skills near my home. And when I lived in Santa Barbara, I would go around town taking photos. I took these around 2005 or 2006. The cross is not a tombstone, it is part of some other monument, but I do not remember what is was for.

07/06/2025

Episode 97 is the second and final part of the discussion of Ludwig Lavatar's 16th century book on demonology. And it's pretty wild!

02/06/2025

We have experienced some delays, but we are getting back on track.

19/05/2025

NEW EPISODE!

In this, the first of two episodes, Matt discusses the first part of Of Ghostes and Spirites, Walking by Night, a book in which a 16th-century theologian tried to explain why, in a world that he believed to be ruled by a Christian God, people saw ghosts. This book provides fascinating insights into Renaissance folklore, beliefs about the afterlife, and theology. And there’s a lot of smack talk.

08/05/2025

When I lived in Santa Barbara, I was walking near downtown one day when I noticed that, according to the road sign, I was walking on Quarantina Road, that is, Quarantine Road. Walking a bit further, I found Salsipuedes (Leave if you can) and Indio Mu**to (Dead Indian)...which was ominous.

I mentioned this to some of the other anthropology graduate students and we looked into it, and it appears that these road names all are derived from one of the periods when an illness, possibly smallpox, was killing local Chumash people associated with the mission.

I have to question the city government's thinking in retaining these road names.

05/05/2025

In this episode, Matt takes a field trip to California State University, Fresno to talk about the spooky stories associated with the campus, including haunted music rehearsal spaces, a demon stalking the dormitories, and the spirit of a respected journalism professor. Along the way, he is nearly run down by scooters and encounters horses walking through campus. He also tries to persuade a ghost to open a door for him, which goes about as well as you would expect.

https://kmmamedia.com/2025/05/05/s006-field-trip-to-fresno-state/

03/05/2025

The summer before I started graduate school, I spent a little bit of time volunteering with the archaeologists as the Presidio of Santa Barbara. The reconstructed Presidio is in the middle of downtown Santa Barbara. While the Presidio is, of course, said to be haunted, the ghost stories are mostly of the usual ambiguous type - cold spots, feelings of being watched, odd noises, etc.

But the Presidio haunts Santa Barbara in a more direct and imposing way. Because it is in the middle of downtown, it's presence shaped early Santa Barbara - and when efforts were made at historic preservation in the 20th century, the outline of the old walls was marked on the roads showing how much land the Presidio took up. And the Presidio stands out starkly against the local architecture.

The Presidio also haunts the culture of the area. Santa Barbara often proudly promotes the historic sites in town and the Spanish heritage. But the Chumash people, whose ancestors were brought into the missions are still living in the area, and it was common to hear members of that community speak out against the preservation of the Presidio.

This is part of the function of ghost stories - they often get to the complex realities of history. Spanish colonial facilities represent a period of rapid and radical change that turned California into the state in which I love living in. But they also represent the eradication of lifeways and the forceful alteration of cultures that had existed for centuries. These two realities exist simultaneously.

30/04/2025

The Abney Park Chapel, in Abney Park Cemetery in London, looks these days like something out of a horror movie. But it is something of a monument to early religious tolerance, being the first non-denominational chapel in England, and possibly in the world. Opened in 1840, it welcomed people regardless of their denomination, being a place where even "nonconformist" practitioners (primarily Quakers) were welcome.

The Cemetery itself is quite a sight to see, as it is the final resting place of many notable people including William and Catherine Booth (the founders of the Salvation Army), John Pye-Smith (theologian and abolitionist), Talbot Baines-Reed (author of much of the foundational "boy's fiction" from Britain), and many, many others. Parts of the cemetery are well maintained and parts are not, but even the parts that are not kinda' endear themselves to this old archaeologist - they show that over time the taphonomic processes will win out, but that doesn't mean that everything has to be forgotten.

Surprisingly, while the chapel and, if I am being honest, the cemetery look like something out of a Hammer horror film, I found very little in the way of allegedly supernatural goings on. Still, if you like the historical or the spooky, you would enjoy a visit.