Believe in ghosts? Why people see spirits and sense visitations
IDEAS explores three stories of ghosts generated by real world events, from AIDS to rapid urbanization
*Originally published on Oct. 25, 2022.
Sometimes, ghosts 'appear' for very human reasons. Loss, change, and grief can alter our perceptions of reality.
In this IDEAS episode, three unconventional ghost stories.
Researcher Azania Patel discovers a connection between accelerated governmental plans for a "slum-free Mumbai," and ghost sightings among marginalized residents in India's largest city. She conducted her research as a Master's student at the University of Oxford. From India, she's now a journalist and creative writer based in London. Her essay The Haunted City was published in the magazine Aeon.
Author and journalist Emily Urquhart's frequent sightings of her late brother led her to dig into both folk tales, and the psychology of post-bereavement hallucination. Her latest book is the essay collection Ordinary Wonder Tales, containing two true stories of unexplained encounters. She lives in Kitchener, Ontario.
American artist Daniel Goldstein lost two partners and a whole generation of friends to AIDS in 1980s and '90s San Francisco. Feeling that he was living in a world of ghosts, he expressed the inexpressible in haunting sculptures. His HIV-themed work includes Medicine Men and Icarian.
Goldstein's work is in the collection of art museums and the Gates Foundation, and his large public mobiles are often installed in the lobbies of medical facilities, including the Mayo Clinic. He is featured in the documentary film We Were Here, about the AIDS era in San Francisco. He now lives with his husband near Porto, Portugal.
Download the IDEAS podcast to listen to this documentary.
*This episode was produced by Lisa Godfrey.
