Foundations of Ghostlore
Build the vocabulary and source discipline needed to compare ghost traditions without flattening experience or belief.
What this level enables you to do.
This is not a reading bundle. Each module turns context into a case, a public-source exercise, private writing and assessed progress.
The complete syllabus.
Each 130-minute module includes structured reading, a 40-minute topic-specific case lab, a required authoritative source, Memo Desk writing and a ten-question exam.
Build a vocabulary for apparitions, revenants, ancestors, place memories and fictional effects.
Case lab: Pliny's haunted house as a literary sourceExamine burial, memory, curse and unfinished obligation in ancient sources.
Case lab: A local haunting accumulates layersStudy embodied return, moral warning and the changing geography of the afterlife.
Case lab: The seance as event and recordUnderstand how landscapes and buildings gather stories of unresolved pasts.
Case lab: Spirit photography and William MumlerDistinguish a traditional story from a first-person account while tracking how each circulates.
Case lab: Organised psychical investigationRank claims without ridiculing witnesses or confusing an unexplained event with proof.
Case lab: The digital ghost huntTimed project route
Three-hour capstone studio
Turn the six notebook checkpoints into a coherent beginner-level inquiry. The result should demonstrate how to build a reliable vocabulary and learn to separate source observation from interpretation, not merely repeat lesson summaries.
- 01Frame and plan20 min
Rewrite the capstone as one bounded research question. List the six notebook components you will reuse, identify the intended audience and state what the finished work will not claim.
- 02Audit the evidence40 min
Select at least four authoritative public resources and build a citation ledger. For every source, record the item or page, institution, date, access date, direct evidence, interpretive use and one limitation.
- 03Build the synthesis55 min
Draft the required exhibition, dossier, protocol, atlas or case study. Connect each claim to a source or notebook observation, preserve local terminology and keep observation separate from interpretation.
- 04Challenge the argument30 min
Write the strongest reasonable rival interpretation. Test it against the same evidence, retain one unresolved disagreement and revise any sentence that carries more certainty than its source.
- 05Edit and document25 min
Finish the 200-word evidence-limit statement, standardise citations, add useful headings and check that a reader can distinguish fact, historical claim, interpretation and reflection without assistance.
- 06Revise for assessment10 min
Review the six module explanations and your corrected knowledge checks. Note three reasoning rules you will apply in the final assessment and one area that requires another source check.
Completion checklist
- A bounded question and clearly identified audience
- Evidence from all six notebook checkpoints
- At least four complete public-source citations
- A rival interpretation and unresolved disagreement
- A 200-word evidence-limit statement
- A conclusion that respects this pathway boundary: testimony and images are evidence of an experience or representation; neither automatically establishes its proposed cause
Research foundations.
Lessons are independently written and source-led. These museum, archive, library and research collections support the pathway; individual modules explain what each source can and cannot establish.
A Ghostly Image: Spirit Photographs
The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult
Seers, Spiritualists, and the Spirit World
Foundations of Ghostlore
Approximately 16 guided hours, private portfolio, supportive feedback, no subscription and unlimited revision-led assessment retakes.