The Hauntology Podcast Episode 3 - Haunted Writing, Creative Non-fiction and the Moors Murders
The Hauntology PodcastShow Notes
The Hauntology Podcast Brought to you by the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group at York St John University. Episode 3: Haunted Writing, Creative Non-fiction and the Moors Murders In this episode, Robert Edgar and Samantha Goddard speak with Helen Pleasance about her research, haunted writing and creative non-fiction, as well as wandering through archives, memoir, the Moors murders, trauma and creativity, needlework, and…ectoplasm. Guest Dr. Helen Pleasance, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at York St John University and member of the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group. Hosts Samantha Goddard, PhD Student in Counselling, Psychotherapy and Mental Health at York St John University, Medical Hauntology Sub Group Lead for the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group. Dr. Robert Edgar, Professor of Writing and Popular Culture at York St John University, Group Lead for the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group. You can contact us and find out more about the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group at York St John University at: https://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/hauntology/.
References and Recommendations Dr. Helen Pleasance’s research: https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/profile/1230. 04:00: Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel, published March 2010. 08:40: Haunted Writing: Storytelling from the Borders of Fiction and Nonfiction (Bloomsbury Academic Series Spectres, Hauntings and Horrors), Helen Pleasance (editor), Robert Edgar (editor), to be published 18/02/2027, now available for pre-order. 20:50: Poet and researcher Dr. Chloe Hanks, @c.l.hanks on Instagram. 21:00: Bella by Nellie Cole, available via Offa’s Press at https://offaspress.co.uk/shop/. 23:10: Ghostland by Edward Parnell, published October 2010. 30:00: Dr. Ursula Hurley’s research: https://salford-repository.worktribe.com/person/1158277/ursula-hurley. 32:40: Brenda Miller’s essay ‘Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!’: Courage and Creative Nonfiction is published in the collection Bending Genre: Essays on Creative Nonfiction, Margot Singer (editor), Nicole Walker (editor), published February 2023 by Bloomsbury Academic. 43:53: The work of writer Elizabeth Taylor, see for example Elizabeth Taylor, Complete Short Stories, published by Virago Modern Classics, June 2012. 44:40: At Mrs. Lippincote’s by Elizabeth Taylor, Virago Press edition published April 2006 (originally published 1945). 46:00: The true story of ‘materialisation medium’ Helen Duncan. 47:30: The film Mother Mary, wirtten and directed by David Lowery, A24, 2026. 48:50: A bonus rabbit hole - haunted mystery houses, see for example https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/. Thanks for listening.
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More from The Hauntology Podcast
The Hauntology Podcast Brought to you by the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group at York St John University.
The Hauntology Podcast Brought to you by the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group at York St John University. Episode 1 - What is Hauntology? For our first episode, some of us have gathered to talk about why we wanted to make this podcast in the first place. Along the way, we’ll wander through ghosts, eighteenth-century history, music, folk horror, and York as “Europe’s most haunted city”. We also ask the simple yet deceptively tricky question, “What is hauntology?” Host Samantha Goddard, PhD Student in Counselling, Psychotherapy and Mental Health at York St John University, Medical Hauntology Sub Group Lead for the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group Guests Dr. Robert Edgar, Professor of Writing and Popular Culture at York St John University, Group Lead for the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group Dr. Adam James Smith, Associate Professor in English Literature at York St John University, Academic Co-Lead of the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group Lowen Frampton-Thorburn, PhD student in English Literature at York St John University, Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group PGR Co-Lead, Founder of The York Society of Hauntologists You can contact us and find out more about The Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group at York St John University at: https://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/hauntology/. References and Recommendations 06:30: Contemporary Gothic and Horror Film: Transnational Perspectives, Dr Keith McDonald (author) and Dr Wayne Johnson (author), published 11/11/2025. 06:45: Dr Lauren Stephenson’s writing on horror: https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/profile/1295. 07:40: The York Society of Hauntologists: find out more on our Instagram @YorkHauntologists. 08:45: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, novel by Susanna Clarke, published 08/09/2004. 10:30: Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology compiled and illustrated by Richard Wells, published 31/02/2022. Richard Wells is on Instagram @Slippery_Jack. 10:45: Randalls Round, short story by Eleanor Scott (can be found in the Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology and other collections). 13:00: Horrifying Children: Hauntology and the Legacy of Children’s Television, Lauren Stephenson (Anthology Editor), Robert Edgar (Anthology Editor), John Marland (Anthology Editor), published 04/04/2024. 13:07: The Scarred for Life books, shows, and podcast by Stephen Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence, and The Haunted Generation project with Bob Fischer, https://hauntedgeneration.co.uk and @HauntedGeneration on Instagram. 14:00: The Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group members on our blog at https://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/hauntology/hauntology-group-members/. 14:40: A suggested article by way of introduction to what Hauntology has to do with Hamlet from Samantha; Prendergast, C. (2005). Derrida’s Hamlet. SubStance, 34(1), 44–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3685614. 16:00: Do make sure to check out Adam’s podcast, which he produces with his colleague Jo Waugh, “Smith & Waugh Talk About Satire” - available on Spotify, and @TalkAboutSatire on Instagram. 16:50: Spectres of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International by Jacques Derrida, originally published in 1993. 19:30: Fisher has published many books and articles, but a suggested starting point is Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology, and Lost Futures by Mark Fisher, published on 30/05/2014. 21:20: The French Enlightenment philosopher, satirist, and writer Voltaire (see also Jacques Lacan on presence and absence). 21:26: The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond by Jacques Derrida, published 1979. 26:40: Read about Oliver Hambsch, research group member and artist/printmaker at https://oliverhambsch.com. 28:00: We Are Making A Film About Mark Fisher, https://www.closeandremote.net/portfolio/we-are-making-a-film-about-mark-fisher/ and @MarkFisherFilm on Instagram. 29:30: “Hauntological Music”, Ghostbox Records (record label, @GhostBoxRecords on Instagram), Warrington Runcorn New Town Developm
Welcome to The Hauntology Podcast, brought to you by the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group at York St John University. The aim of the Hauntology Podcast is to extend the reach and impact of the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group by creating an accessible, academically grounded audio platform. The podcast will share conversations, ideas, interviews, and emerging research with a mixed audience of academics, practitioners, and interested members of the public. We hope to combine intellectual depth with an approachable, conversational tone, helping to share research beyond traditional academic formats, while fostering interdisciplinary dialogue within the field. Which is to say - we want to talk to anyone and everyone about this weird thing that is hauntology, and bring you along with us.