A Q&A with Ashley Watson about spooky stories, ghastly tales and commonplace books
Gripped by a fascination with ghost stories from a young age, Ashley Watson, a communications specialist at Purdue University who earned her PhD in rhetoric, blogs about folklore, hauntings and commonplace books at notebookofghosts.com.
What first sparked your interest in ghosts?
I’ve always been intrigued by ghosts and I started keeping notebooks with ghost research when I was younger. The Willard Public Library has ghost cams set up inside and I remember spending hours watching them online (willardghost.com). I just really enjoy a good mystery.
Ashley Watson with her cat, Kitty Kitty Boo Boo.
How did the Notebook of Ghosts blog get started?
I started the blog in January 2016 after my grandmother, who shared a fondness for ghost stories, passed away. I reflected on how I wanted to spend my time and decided I wanted to consume everything I could about ghosts whether in literature, science, folklore or personal experience. I remembered my childhood ghost research bringing me happiness and I wanted to continue my grandmother’s ghost legacy.
What’s a commonplace book?
I didn’t learn what commonplace books were until I had to keep a one for college course. I wasn’t aware of the tradition of using a blank notebook for storing and organizing information for later use, but I realized I had been keeping one since I was a kid compiling all this internet research on ghosts. My physical commonplace book is mixed media and contains a table of contents and glossary. I carry it around everywhere because you never know when a ghost story will be told or a ghost story will appear.
Where do you do your writing?
I’ve always kept ghost figurines on my desk. Once we purchased our house, I was able to have a dedicated ghost room which I’ve decorated with ghostly figurines and artwork. When I enter that room, I get nostalgic about my childhood and Halloween and it helps get me in the zone when I’m trying to start research on a new spooky topic. I also have a file system that holds all my research and a collection of vintage ghost books.
What’s a favorite book in your collection?
A southern folklorist named Kathryn Tucker Windham wrote 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey in 1969. It was the first in a series of books that each focused on a different state. Jeffrey is the name of the ghost who haunted her home and inspired her to research local legends. I also own some cassette tapes of Windham telling ghost stories — they’re some of my prized possessions.
What do you love about ghost stories?
Ghost stories are an interesting way to look at society and culture because these stories really speak to a community’s beliefs and fears. When I’m researching a ghost story, I try to approach it with that lens of understanding. How did these stories start? What happened to spark this fear? Ghost stories are a way for people to make sense of something they don’t understand.
Have you ever seen a ghost?
One of my grandmother’s life goals was to see a ghost and she died without having that experience so I’ve kind of picked up that baton. I view things through a critical lens, but that doesn’t stop me from seeking my own ghostly encounter by staying in haunted hotels when I travel or visiting haunted cemeteries.
So do you believe in ghosts?
I’m like Scully and Mulder. I want to believe, but I’m always going to look at it from a scientific perspective. I just don’t know enough to know the answer.
Do you have a favorite ghost story?
I have another website, It Was Not a Ghost (itwasnotaghost.com). While searching in the newspaper archives, I come across so many stories where the community thought it was a ghost but it turned out not to be a ghost. One of my favorites happened in 1902 when a group of boys in North Manchester, Indiana, strung wires across an abandoned cemetery and attached one of their mother’s robes. At night, the boys made all these spooky noises and used the wires to move the robe back and forth. They convinced some people in the community the cemetery was haunted until they were discovered. Childhood pranks are my favorite category of stories where it was not a ghost.
Join the Notebook of Ghosts Club
Learn how to keep your own commonplace book and get access to even more haunted history and spooky spaces — patreon.com/notebookofghosts.
This story appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of Greater Lafayette magazine.
