Ghosts Were People Too

Annabelle Bonebrake and Quest Zeidler
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Documentary

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.

  1. Oct 29

    21 - Whaley House Halloween Special Part 2

    How do we perform spectrality? How does marketing impact our experiences of haunted destinations? Go on an archival webquest with us and reconstruct Magelssen's clay pot with us in part 2 of the Whaley House Halloween Special! Make contact: @ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram) gwp2pod@gmail.com Bibliography (for parts 1 & 2): Carlson, Marvin. The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine. University of Michigan Press, 2001. Chapman University. Survey of American Fears. 2018. Coleman, Ed, and Jenn Coleman. “The Whaley House.” Coleman Concierge, n.d. [Insert article URL.] Garrick, David. “Old Town San Diego’s Historic Whaley House May Shift to For-Profit Operator.” The San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Jan. 2021, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2021/01/06/old-town-san-diegos-historic-whaley-house-may-shift-to-for-profit-operator/ . Glass, Dean. “The Ghosts at the Whaley House Get All the Publicity.” Reflections, Save Our Heritage Organisation, [publication date to verify]. Hanks, Michele M. Haunted Heritage: The Cultural Politics of Ghost Tourism, Populism, and the Past. Routledge, 2016. Houran, James, Sharon A. Hill, Everett D. Haynes, and Ursula A. Bielski. “Paranormal Tourism: Market Study of a Novel and Interactive Approach to Space Activation and Monetization.” Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 3, 2020, pp. 287–311. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965520909094 . Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House. Viking Press, 1959. Magelssen, Scott. “Living History Museums and the Construction of the Real through Performance.” Theatre Survey, vol. 45, no. 1, 2004, pp. 61–74. Magelssen, Scott. Simming: Participatory Performance and the Making of Meaning. [Publication details to verify.] McDevitt-Irwin, Jesse, and James R. Irwin. “Infant Mortality among US Whites in the 19th Century: New Evidence from Childhood Sex Ratios.” Demographic Research, vol. 52, 2025, pp. 303–350. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2025.52.10 . Nunn, Robert. “Flickering Lights and Declaiming Bodies: Semiosis in Film and Theatre.” Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada, vol. 17, no. 2, 1996. Palyvou, Clairy. [Title of work on Minoan frescoes and pictorial space at Akrotiri to verify.] Phelan, Peggy. Unmarked: The Politics of Performance. Routledge, 1993. Piper, Liza. “When Scarlet Fever Came to This Country.” When Disease Came to This Country: Epidemics and Colonialism in Northern North America, Cambridge University Press, 2023, pp. 24–57. Rowen, Bess. The Lines Between the Lines: How Stage Directions Affect Embodiment. University of Michigan Press, 2021. Save Our Heritage Organisation. Whaley House Historic Site Lesson Plan. [Publication details to verify.] Schneider, Rebecca. “Performance Remains.” Performance Research, vol. 6, no. 2, 2001, pp. 100–108. Slayyyter. “WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA.” 2026. [Album or single details to verify.] Stone, Philip R. “A Dark Tourism Spectrum: Towards a Typology of Death and Macabre Related Tourist Sites, Attractions and Exhibitions.” Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 54, no. 2, 2006, pp. 145–160. Whaley House. Whaley House Official Website. Historic Tours of America, https://www.whaleyhousesandiego.com/ . Accessed 29 Oct. 2026. Whaley House. Whaley House Website Archives. Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/ . Accessed 29 Oct. 2026. Wood, Byrd. “Haunted Houses: Preservation Help or Horror?” National Trust for Historic Preservation, [publication date and URL to verify]. The Journal of San Diego History. San Diego Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 6, no. 2, Apr. 1960.

    21 - Whaley House Halloween Special Part 2

  2. Oct 28

    20 - Whaley House Halloween Special - Part 1

    In this two-part Halloween special, we talk about America’s Most Haunted House®, The Whaley House in San Diego, CA. Join us on this walking tour of haunted tourism, the "enchantment economy", and the history of the house's ghostly legends. Content Warning - Violet Whaley’s Suicide discussed from 1:16:54-1:28:40 Make contact: @ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram) gwp2pod@gmail.com Bibliography (for both part 1 & part 2): Carlson, Marvin. The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine. University of Michigan Press, 2001.Chapman University. Survey of American Fears. 2018.Coleman, Ed, and Jenn Coleman. “The Whaley House.” Coleman Concierge, n.d. [Insert article URL.]Garrick, David. “Old Town San Diego’s Historic Whaley House May Shift to For-Profit Operator.” The San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Jan. 2021, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2021/01/06/old-town-san-diegos-historic-whaley-house-may-shift-to-for-profit-operator/ .Glass, Dean. “The Ghosts at the Whaley House Get All the Publicity.” Reflections, Save Our Heritage Organisation.Hanks, Michele M. Haunted Heritage: The Cultural Politics of Ghost Tourism, Populism, and the Past. Routledge, 2016.Houran, James, Sharon A. Hill, Everett D. Haynes, and Ursula A. Bielski. “Paranormal Tourism: Market Study of a Novel and Interactive Approach to Space Activation and Monetization.” Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 3, 2020, pp. 287–311. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965520909094 .Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House. Viking Press, 1959.Magelssen, Scott. “Living History Museums and the Construction of the Real through Performance.” Theatre Survey, vol. 45, no. 1, 2004, pp. 61–74.Magelssen, Scott. Simming: Participatory Performance and the Making of Meaning.McDevitt-Irwin, Jesse, and James R. Irwin. “Infant Mortality among US Whites in the 19th Century: New Evidence from Childhood Sex Ratios.” Demographic Research, vol. 52, 2025, pp. 303–350. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2025.52.10 .Nunn, Robert. “Flickering Lights and Declaiming Bodies: Semiosis in Film and Theatre.” Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada, vol. 17, no. 2, 1996.Phelan, Peggy. Unmarked: The Politics of Performance. Routledge, 1993.Piper, Liza. “When Scarlet Fever Came to This Country.” When Disease Came to This Country: Epidemics and Colonialism in Northern North America, Cambridge University Press, 2023, pp. 24–57.Rowen, Bess. The Lines Between the Lines: How Stage Directions Affect Embodiment. University of Michigan Press, 2021.Schneider, Rebecca. “Performance Remains.” Performance Research, vol. 6, no. 2, 2001, pp. 100–108.Slayyyter. “WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA.” 2026. [Album or single details to verify.]Stone, Philip R. “A Dark Tourism Spectrum: Towards a Typology of Death and Macabre Related Tourist Sites, Attractions and Exhibitions.” Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 54, no. 2, 2006, pp. 145–160.Whaley House. Whaley House Official Website. Historic Tours of America, https://www.whaleyhousesandiego.com/ . Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.Whaley House. Whaley House Website Archives. Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/ . Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.Wood, Byrd. “Haunted Houses: Preservation Help or Horror?” National Trust for Historic Preservation.The Journal of San Diego History. San Diego Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 6, no. 2, Apr. 1960.

    20 - Whaley House Halloween Special - Part 1

  3. Jul 28

    19 - Macbeth Part 2: Red-Handed, Ghosts and Guilt

    Banquo! Lady Macbeth! Shakesqueer! The Monster's Body Is a Cultural Body! Charles Manson! Playboy! Join us for Macbeth, Part 2, in which we explore changing beliefs about ghosts from the ancient world to Shakespeare's England and discuss how audiences, past and present, might understand Banquo's ghost. From there, we turn to Lady Macbeth's fractured experience of guilt and time before considering the many ways filmmakers have reimagined the play to reflect the anxieties of their own historical moments. Make contact: @ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram) gwp2pod@gmail.com Read Quest's article! “Revenge of the Monster Queer: The Cosmic Horror and Eldritch Liberation of Drag" in The Monstrous Utopian, ed. Michael Chemers and Analola Santana, Routledge Bibliography: Didion, Joan. The White Album. Simon & Schuster, 1979.Freebury-Jones, Darren, and Rachel Aanstad. “Did Shakespeare's Audiences Believe in Ghosts?” Shakespeare and Friends. YouTube, 18 Jan. 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br4N4RA0j_s. Accessed 28 July 2026.Love, Heather. “Macbeth: Milk.” Shakesqueer: A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of Shakespeare, edited by Madhavi Menon, Duke University Press, 2011, pp. 201–208. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1134f1s.26. Accessed 28 July 2026.Puhvel, Martin. “The Perplexing Ghost of Banquo: Ambiguity and Its Roots.” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, vol. 94, no. 3, 1993, pp. 287–302. Williams, Deanne. “Mick Jagger Macbeth.” Macbeth and Its Afterlife, edited by Peter Holland, Cambridge University Press, 2016, pp. 145–160.Films: Macbeth. Directed by Orson Welles, Republic Pictures, 1948.Macbeth. Directed by Roman Polanski, Columbia Pictures, 1971.Macbeth. Directed by Justin Kurzel, StudioCanal, 2015.The Tragedy of Macbeth. Directed by Joel Coen, A24 and Apple Original Films, 2021.

    19 - Macbeth Part 2: Red-Handed, Ghosts and Guilt

  4. Apr 24

    18 - Macbeth Part 1: Is This a Dagger? The Great Chain of Being, Blood, Milk, and Gender

    Is this a dagger, an inanimate ghost, or something more Freudian? In this, the first of a two-part episode, Annabelle and Quest venture onto the blasted heath to explore the apparitions and queer hauntings of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. We talk about Quest’s work on a recent production of the play at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and break down concepts regarding gender, kingship, violence, and the disruption of natural order. Make contact: @ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram) gwp2pod@gmail.com Read Quest's article! “Revenge of the Monster Queer: The Cosmic Horror and Eldritch Liberation of Drag" in The Monstrous Utopian, ed. Michael Chemers and Analola Santana, Routledge Bibliography Bersani, Leo. “Is the Rectum a Grave?” In Is the Rectum a Grave?: And Other Essays. University of Chicago Press, 2010.Clover, Carol J. “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film.” In Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Updated edition with a new preface by the author. Princeton University Press, 2015.Jones, Gwilym. “Macbeth: supernatural storms, equivocal earthquakes” In Shakespeare’s Storms. Manchester University Press, 2015.Love, Heather. “Macbeth: Milk.” In Shakesqueer: A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of Shakespeare, edited by Madhavi Menon. Duke University Press, 2011.Menon, Madhavi. “Queer Shakes.” In Shakesqueer: A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of Shakespeare, edited by Madhavi Menon. Duke University Press, 2011.Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. Columbia University Press, 1985.Varnado, Christine. “Getting Used, and Liking It: Erotic Instrumentality and the Go-Between.” In The Shapes of Fancy: Reading for Queer Desire in Early Modern Literature. University of Minnesota Press, 2020.

    18 - Macbeth Part 1: Is This a Dagger? The Great Chain of Being, Blood, Milk, and Gender

  5. 10/28/2025

    17 - Ouija Boards (Happy Halloween 2025!)

    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.com Bibliography:“‘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 Modern Media Culture by Simone Natale “Wars and Ouija: Spiritualism in the Twentieth Century” in Calling the Spirits by Lisa Morton “An Aesthetic History of the Ouija Board’ by Jesse Ryan Erickson, in Printing History “James Merrill, Sylvia Plath, and the Poetics of Ouija” by Helen Sword in American Literature, vol. 66, no. 3, 1994 https://doi.org/10.2307/2927604

    17 - Ouija Boards (Happy Halloween 2025!)

  6. 08/26/2025

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

    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.com Bibliography: Davison, Carol Margaret. “Southern Gothic: Haunted Houses.” The Palgrave Handbook of the Southern Gothic, edited by Susan Castillo Street and Charles L. Crow, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp. 57–74 Donovan-Condron, Kellie. “Twisted Sisters: The Monstrous Women of Southern Gothic.” The Palgrave Handbook of the Southern Gothic, edited by Susan Castillo Street and Charles L. Crow, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp. 369–83. Giles, David. “The Thousandth Happy Haunt: Legends of Burial and Haunting at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.” Western Folklore, vol. 74, no. 3/4, 2015, pp. 297–316. Martens, Todd. “First Look: Disneyland’s Original Haunted Mansion Returns with a Heartbreaking New Scene.” Los Angeles Times, 17 Jan. 2025. Steiner, Michael. “Frontierland as Tomorrowland: Walt Disney and the Architectural Packaging of the Mythic West.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History, vol. 48, no. 1, 1998, pp. 2–17. Surrell, Jason. The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic. Disney Editions, 2009. Tromp, Marlene. “‘Throwing the Wedding-Shoe’: Foundational Violence, Unhappy Couples, and Murderous Women.” Victorian Review, vol. 20, no. 2, 1994, pp. 36–54. Truffin, Sherry R. “New Orleans as Gothic Capital.” The Palgrave Handbook of the Southern Gothic, edited by Susan Castillo Street and Charles L. Crow, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp. 151–65. Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew. “Hidden Histories: The Many Ghosts of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.” Disney Gothic: Dark Shadows in the House of Mouse. Edinburgh University Press, 2019, pp. 29–46.

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

  7. 07/07/2025

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

    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.com Bibliography Edelman, 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. 60-78. Lieberman, Tucker. “The Trail of His Flames.” The American Reader, vol. 5, no. 1, Fall 2019. Schildcrout, Jordan. Murder Most Queer: The Homicidal Homosexual in the American Theater. University of Michigan Press, 2014. Thomsen, Morten Feldtfos. “‘Evil Never Dies, Right?’ Monstrous Mediation in the A Nightmare on Elm Street Film Series.” Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, vol. 16, no. 1, 2024.

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

  8. 01/07/2025

    14 - The Haunting of Hill House (Part 2): Journeys End in Lovers Meeting

    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

    14 - The Haunting of Hill House (Part 2): Journeys End in Lovers Meeting
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Annabelle Bonebrake and Quest Zeidler
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Ghosts Were People Too