Topic Research: Ghost Stories Told by Old Lady Hudson

For my project I really like the idea of having a collection of ghost stories each told from "Old Lady Hudson", the ghost that was in my childhood home. Growing up, I've heard many stories and I would like to incorporate those into my project. I want each story to connect with each other and in the end a secret or realization will be revealed. I could start with her telling different stories about others and their connection with her, and maybe end the stories with a story about her on how she died, why she's haunting the specific house, etc. The three stories below came from English Fairy and Folk Tales by Edwin Sidney Hartland. I found these stories on the Sacred Texts website.

First, I would like to start with a story about why she is wandering around. The Lady With the Lantern is a good story that I could see myself using. This story gives a good reason, losing a child, to haunt a certain place. I would maybe change the setting though, and make it to where she haunts the house, rather than the shore, while she is looking for her baby. I would also probably change how she lost her baby to make her a more angry ghost. Particularly, I would like to make someone do something that causes the loss/death of her baby which makes her angry enough to haunt the rest of the people who live in her house. I may also use this story at the end, or close to the end, to give an explanation as to why she has been haunting different people.

Another story that I could use was the first of the Ghost-Laying Stories. I like this story because it includes a family that moves into a house where the ghost had lived in while alive. The ghost becomes more disturbed when the father decides to alter the house by adding more rooms and space. I could retell this story easily. It could be the first family that has moved into the home since she has died. She is angered by this in general, and even more so when they begin to change her home.

The last story I would like to use is titled The Roaring Bull O' Bagbury. I like this story, and while reading I thought of many different ways that I could change it to use as my own story. It took twelve people to lay the ghost to rest, and I like the idea of that. To me, that makes it seem like he was a difficult ghost, and it was hard to get rid of him. This could be one of the last stories where the current person or family living there is finally able get rid of the ghost in the house.

Bermuda Hill Plantation

Source: Wikimedia Commons