Ghosts in the streets of Athens

Ghostlore and social media

Bibliographic Data

ID14713017
AuthorsAphrodite-Lidia Nounanaki (0009-0000-8050-2585, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, corresponding author), Ρέα Κακάμπουρα (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Rea Kakampoura (0009-0008-7869-9081, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Year2023
Volume71
Issue2
Pages199-222
Publication date2023-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlasnik Etnografskog instituta (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0350-0861 • E-ISSN: 2334-8259
PublisherNational Library of Serbia (PUBLISHER • RS)
DOI10.2298/gei2302199n
OpenAlexW4388565876
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited25

Ghostlore or ghost-lore is, in short, a subgenre of folklore that focuses on ghostly tales which can be found in both pre-industrial and contemporary contexts. The majority of these stories are connected to houses and other buildings that are either dilapidated or inhabited but can be described mainly as private places. Due to the nature of public places -whether they are connected to people?s experiences or could be described as non-places- it is odd to ?find? ghosts there, as it is odd to ?find? them in parks or streets. However, they remain social places open to multiple interpretations and symbolisms. Through pertinent online entries, mostly uploaded by groups describing their practices as ?investigating? the paranormal or the occult, this paper aims to discuss the connection between ghost-lore and public places, mainly from the city of Athens. Furthermore, a very important aspect demonstrating the effectiveness of these online entries are the comments made by the netizens following these ?investigations?, which result in the formation of new groups. These groups are created online, but are driven by a common interest in ghosts in the offline world. Thus, in order to study how the physical public space is being reinterpreted in light of the supernatural, the paper intends to approach the digital public space of social media

Aesthetics · Art · Folklore · Media studies · Paranormal · Private space · Public space · Social media · Sociology · Upload · Visual arts · World Wide Web · Anthropology · Computer Science · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Engineering · History · Media Influence and Health · Media, Religion, Digital Communication

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