'You Saw the Ghost, Didn't You? There's Someone Wants to Ask You about It': Occupational Ghostlore, Narrative, and Belief

The complex relationship between narrative and belief has long been recognised. It is particularly evident when considering ghost narratives, where local legends are recounted, apparently distinct from the narrator’s personal beliefs. In fieldwork I have found a tendency to rationalise personal experiences/beliefs from local legends. This is particularly true of nursing ghost narratives, which seem to depend on the age of the haunted building. At one intersection of this legend/belief network stand occupational ghost narratives. This article considers two occupational ghost narratives collected recently from the theatre and building trades. Both narratives share similar features of liminal, specialist, locations, and both emphasise the distinctness of the trade. Neither narrative features a purposeful ghost, and the article contrasts this with an occupational nursing narrative I have also recently recorded, as well as other occupational ghostlore noted in recent years. Instead, these ghosts are narrated chiefly as performed incidents with a high degree of storytelling artistry. The article looks at the significance of the performances for the trades concerned, as well as examining the narrative skills involved in telling them. It also considers the contexts in which the stories were told, and the wider narrative repertoire of the tellers.