Introduction

This Anthology, Early American Literature: Spiritualism and the Supernatural contains works pertaining to the peculiar element of things out of the realm of our world. “Supernatural,” is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as, “(of a manifestation or event) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.” Spiritualism and Supernatural goes beyond just ghosts and goblins. Supernatural fiction includes stories of religion, imaginary creatures, fantasies, and fairy tales, miracles. H.P Lovecraft, in his essay titled “Supernatural Horror in Literature” (1927) explains that “The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life.”

Supernatural elements and Spirits have been part of story telling from the dawn of time with legends being passed down from one generation to another. Many Native American tribes told stories about the creation of the world containing  spirits and the supernatural. Common elements of such stories consisted of an all embracing, omniscient, universal Great Spirit as well as a belief of a parallel world in the sky. Anthropomorphic animals also frequented as important characters in Native American folk-lore. This anthology contains a Native American creation story from the Lakota Sioux tribe from what is now considered the US Northern Midwest. This story, titled “Wohpe and the Gift of the Peace Pipe,” tells the story of how the Lakota people acquired their ceremonial Peace Pipe. In the story, the Lakota tribe was visited by a supernatural spirit named Wohpe, the spirit of peace, daughter of Wi and the Moon. This spirit is capable of enacting great pain and great pleasure, as the Lakota people find out.

Supernatural literature had been popular in England for some time, with stories such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Anne Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, however events such as the Salem Witch Trials (1692-1693) and the internationally reported haunting of Cock Lane (1762) helped supernatural literature achieve notoriety in the United States. Many American authors were inspired by the events of the Salem Witch Trials, in particular for this anthology, John Greenleaf Whitteir and Nathaniel Hawthorne. John Greenleaf Whitteir’s included poem, “The Weird Gathering,” lyrically chronicles the night that wizards and witches gathered together at the sound of a trumpet to persecute the people of Massachusetts Bay by placing hexes and curses on them with help from demons and other “prestigious spirits.”

Soon enough, authors became known by their abilities to write supernatural literature. One of the oldest and most renowned supernatural literature author was Nathaniel Hawthorne. Like Whittier and many others, Hawthorne drew inspiration for his dark stories from the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were a hub for supernatural speculations as over twenty people were condemned to death based on the rumor and suspicion that they were performing witchcraft. The events of the Salem Witch Trials grew the power of supernatural fiction and horror-lore by alluding to the presence of a “hideous nocturnal cult of nocturnal worshipers” (Lovecraft, 1927). Although written in 1835, Hawthorne places the scene of “Young Goodman Brown,” in the late 17th century, around the time of the witch trials. Using the notorious spirit of the Devil, Hawthorne is able to write a story that blends the natural with the supernatural.

Another early American author known for his spine-chilling tales of the supernatural was Washington Irving who produces such works as “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “Rip Van Winkle,” “The Devil and Tom Walker,” and many, many others. Like Hawthorne and Whittier, Irving also pulled inspiration for his stories from American History. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” combined elements of the American Revolutionary War as well as American immigration patterns with mythical folklore figures to create one of the most famous supernatural stories of all time. The idea of the Headless Horesman can be traced back to the middle ages, including stories from the Brothers Grimm, and the Dutch and Irish legend of “Dullahan,” or “Gan Ceann,” a grim reaper like rider who carries his own head. Although published in 1820, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” is still a popular tale among modern day readers, especially around Halloween time.

The genre of literature most associated with supernatural literature was Gothic literature. Gothic literature emerged in the late 1700’s and was considered part of the Dark Romanticism movement. Gothic literature is characterized by expressions of terror, gruesome narratives, and dark, picturesque scenery. Gothic literature gained, and retained, it’s popularity due to the psychological fact that fear is the strongest human emotion (Lovecraft, 1927). Combining the darkness of Gothic literature with the spiritual elements of supernatural literature produced some truly creepy tales, and no one did this better than Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” uses the vivid imagery of the house along with the supernatural as a figment of imagination to tell a chilling tale of neurosis and slipping into insanity.

Although Gothic literature and supernatural literature were often linked together, scary stories with horrifying characters is not the only type of spiritualist literature. The philosophy behind spiritualism is “the doctrine that the spirit exists as distinct from matter, or that spirit is the only reality,” as defined by the Oxford Dictionary. Literature pertaining to a deity, such as God, or a metaphysical connection to one’s soul can all be found under the spiritualism literature umbrella. Differing vastly from the other authors in this anthology, Emily Dickinson supplies a look into the less spooky side of spiritualism literature. Dickinson’s poem “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church,” Dickinson transcends conventional ideas of God, Heaven, and religion, instead telling of how her soul worships. Emily Dickonson’s many poems of “soul searching” makes her a perfect candidate for a spiritualist author.

The following stories of spiritualism and the supernatural are divided into two parts. Part one contains works of literature where the presence of the supernatural is completely evident in the story and there is no question of whether or not those events really happened. Part 2 contains works where the spiritualist elements have the potential to have been all in a character’s head. The exception to Part 2 is the work of Emily Dickinson who gives her mind and her soul. All stories, however contain things that are not of this world, breaking the rules of nature.