Smoke & Mirrors:
Haunted History, Terror Tourism, & Casper Culture
in the Ashes of New York’s Burned-Over District
The brochure of “over 90 creepy, spooky and downright haunted locations” featured in the Haunted History Trail of New York State tells visitors, “When you plan a visit to New York State, you may not realize how close you are to coming face-to-face with a ghost. In every region are ominous places of mystery and intrigue.” While some locations are listed for their urban legends or unusual qualities, most of the sites along the trail are places integral to the state’s history where ghosts of the past are still present.  The presence – or, at least, the possibility – of ghosts challenges our dominant ways of knowing. In his “monster theory,” Jeffrey Jerome Cohen demonstrates that cultures may be read and understood from the monsters they create; monsters are an embodiment of the anxieties and fantasies of the time, place, and relationships and differences that engender them. Sociologist Avery Gordon echoes this idea by defining a haunting as “one way in which abusive systems of power make themselves known” when “repressed or unresolved social violence” demands justice. And, the horror genre, broadly defined, recognizes violence, instability, and futility as constituent features of modern life. Indeed, the works of Jaume Aurell, Teresa Goddu, and Andrew J. Salvati suggest that American Gothic, as a narrative structure that offers a “democratization in historical representation” serves as a “repository for cultural anxieties,” affected by the horrors of history, shaped by specific sites, and associated “with rebellion against the rationalist and secularist currents dominating modern society.”
Public memory is typically understood as relying on material and/or symbolic supports that work in various ways to consummate individuals’ attachment to the group. But hauntings may defy such supports because they are, by nature, immaterial and do not conform to sensory experiences. This project, thus, considers ways in which the Haunted History Trail of New York State creates spaces for marginalized people not often remembered – those “ghosted” by dominant historical narratives – to be seen and heard. While ghost tours and graveyard walks are populated by tourists around the world, New York State offers a marked example of the progressive possibilities of the preternatural. As the birthplace of the American suffrage and spiritualist movements, both which served to give voice to American women, New York has an established tradition of employing the supernatural in pursuit of justice.
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Knopf, C.M. (forthcoming). Mother Goddesses and the incarnation, passion, and resurrection of Spider-Man: The transformative nature of Shriek, Shathra, and Ero. In G. Tsakiridis (Ed.), Religion in Spider-Man and the sacred: Essays on religious themes in the comics. McFarland.
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Knopf, C.M. (forthcoming). The United Nations Decade for (Wonder) Women: Wonder Woman, the U.N., and women’s liberation. In A. Potter, N.J. Swain & C. Skibinski (Eds.), Classical receptions and impact of Wonder Woman in comics and film. Bloomsbury.
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Knopf, C.M. (2026). The debutante vigilante: Lady Luck, an early model for world war womanhood. In G. Bray and A.J. Ball (Eds.), Women vigilantes and outlaws in American popular media: Who was that masked woman? (pp. 111-128). Routledge.
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Knopf, C.M. (2024). The true meaning of fearless: Feminism in Fearless and the Marvel Universe. In D. Brode (Ed.), Analyzing the Marvel Universe: Critical essays on the comics and film adaptations (pp. 100-108). McFarland.
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Knopf, C.M. (2024). Black and white death: Memories of violence in the Great War. In J. Davis-McElligatt & J. Coby (Eds.), BOOM! SPLAT!: Comics and violence (pp. 32-43). University Press of Mississippi.
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Knopf, C.M. (2023). Militant earth mother: Viewing Poison Ivy as an ecofeminist rather than as an ecoterrorist. In J. Martin & M. Favaro (Eds.), Batman’s villains and villainesses: Multidisciplinary perspectives on Arkham’s souls (pp. 201-214). Lexington.
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Knopf, C.M. (2023). The Loner on the “frontier of unfilled hopes and threats”: Serling’s old West in Kennedy’s new frontier. In D. Picariello (Ed.), The Western and political thought: A fistful of politics (pp. 105-120). Palgrave Macmillan.
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Knopf, C.M. (2023). The pirate, the queen, and the handkerchief: Gráinne Mhaol, an Irishwoman among men. In H.E.H. Earle & M. Lund (Eds.), Identity and history in non-Anglophone comics (pp. 220-236). Routledge.
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Knopf, C.M. (2023). Shark storms: Syfy’s splasher and splashstick films. In J. Wigard & M. Ploskonka (Eds.), Attack of the new B movies: Essays on SYFY original films, pp. 113-130. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
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Knopf, C.M. (2023). Cthulhoo-Dooby-Doo!: The re-animation of Lovecraft (and racism) through subcultural capital. In T. Lanzendörfer & M.J. Dreysse Passos de Cavalho (Eds.), The medial afterlives of H.P. Lovecraft: Comic, film, podcast, TV, games, pp. 159-172. Palgrave Macmillan.
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Knopf, C.M. (2022). Heterotopia and horror at Show’s End. In J. Darowski & F.G.P. Berns (Eds.), Critical approaches to horror comic books: Red ink in the gutter, pp. 223-234. New York: Routledge.
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Knopf, C.M. (2020). The American nightmare: Graveyard voters, demon sheep, devil women, and lizard people. D. Picariello, ed. The politics of horror, pp. 3-16. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
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Knopf, C.M. (2020). UFO (unusual female other) sightings in Saucer Country/State: Metaphors of identity and presidential politics. In S. Langsdale & E. Coody (Eds.), Monstrous women in comics, pp. 257-273. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi.
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Knopf, C.M. (2019). Politics as “the sum of everything you fear”: Scarecrow as phobia entrepreneur. In D. Picariello (Ed.), Politics in Gotham: The Batman universe and political thought, pp. 159-176. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
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Knopf, C.M. (2019). War is hell: The (super)nature of war in the works of Mike Mignola. In S.G. Hammond (Ed.), The Mignolaverse: Hellboy and the comics art of Mike Mignola, pp. 144-155. Edwardsville, IL: Sequart Organization.
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Knopf, C.M. (2018). Marvel’s Shamrock: Haunted heroine, working woman, guardian of the galaxy. In M. DiPaolo (Ed.), Working class comic book heroes: Class conflict and populist politics in comics, pp. 206-225. Jackson MS: University Press of Mississippi.
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Knopf, C.M. (2018, Jun 11). BrainDead: The horrors of election 2016. In Media Res, Politics & Horror Week.
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Knopf, C.M. (2016). Zany zombies, grinning ghosts, silly scientists, and nasty Nazis: Comedy-horror at the threshold of World War II. In C.J. Miller & A.B. VanRiper (Eds.), The laughing dead: The comedy-horror film from Bride of Frankenstein to Zombieland, pp. 25-38. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
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Knopf, C.M. (2015). The U.N.dead: Cold War ghosts in Carol for another Christmas. In C.J. Miller & A.B. Van Riper (Eds.), Horrors of war: The undead on the battlefield, pp. 136-53. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
