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

Topic Brainstorm

Mermaids: I chose mermaids for my first topic selection because it has always been something that I've been interested in and wanted to know more about. I've watched countless movies and read many books about mermaids. Although they only exist (for now) in folklore, people still claim to see sightings today. The part that makes the topic so interesting, is the fact that it hasn't technically been proven that they are fiction. My first knowledge of mermaids came from Disney's The Little Mermaid. Since then, I've watched movies and documentaries over the topic. I would love to learn more because it's something I have always had an interest for. I believe I have a basic knowledge over the topic, but with a little extra research, I would love to center my blog around mermaids. Of the different sites that I browsed, this one was my favorite, True Tails of Mermaids and Mermen.

Sea Monsters: I'm very intrigued by creatures living in water. In all honesty, I'm afraid of the ocean and all of the unknown things that live in it, which is probably why I find the topic to be fascinating. There are really so many animals and creatures that we don't even know exist that are living in the ocean right now, so why wouldn't these stories have at least a little truth behind them? This topic could go in all different directions, and it's really open to anything. I've heard quite a few stories about sea monsters, but I would love to research and learn more them. I would like to tell a story about Leviathan, like a story I read in this Sea Monsters blog, because this is a sea monster I'm somewhat familiar with.

Ghost stories: My love for ghost stories started when I was little. I've always loved hearing about anything scary. Scary movies, haunted houses, ghost stories, are all things that I've loved since I was about ten years old. In my old house, I had always heard different stories of a lady who lived there before my family. We called our house ghost "Old Lady Hudson", because that was her last name. She apparently had died in our house (either in my room or our basement), but the different stories we heard were conflicting. Some people claimed that she killed herself, and other people claimed that her husband Buck, who sold my family the house, had killed her. Today, the death is still a mystery. That's where my love of ghost stories came from. My personal favorite blog, Ghostly Adventures, explores some haunted locations in Oklahoma. I could definitely see this topic as one I would enjoy pursuing.

The Land of Oz: Lastly, I chose the Land of Oz because it seemed to be familiar to me. It was one of my favorite movies as a child, and today it's still one of my favorite old movies. The creativity in the books is amazing. I would love to center my blog around these stories. My prior knowledge comes solely from the movie, but reading the books would be very beneficial if I were to choose this topic. I would like to learn how different the stories are from the movie. The blog, Wizard of Oz Extreme Home Makeover, definitely makes an interesting story, especially for anyone who knows the basic aspects of the books or movie.

The Wizard of Oz movie

Source: Wikimedia Commons