[Book Review]: A Haunted History of Invisible Women
Exploring the intersections between myth and reality, and how they shape our understanding.
Do you believe in ghosts? That there is some lingering part of ourselves and our loved ones that stays behind after they’ve left this earthly plane for one the rest of us can only wonder about? Do you find comfort in the thrill of telling ghost stories, repeating campside tales on a moonlit night or listening to a guide explain the tragedy behind some crumbling or shadowy building with history bleeding from its bricks? Have you ever wondered how much truth there is to some of the most famous — or infamous — offerings? Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes took on the task of exploring and recontextualizing some of the most well known trope-fueling female figures on the spectral plane with A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts. From Lizzie Borden to the Salem Witch Trial victims, brothel runners to lonesome hotel haunts, the Winchester widow to the Women in White, Hieber and Janes tackle them all with an eye toward uncovering what makes them so compelling, and what it means to turn them into something beyond themselves.
Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes ought to know a thing or two about ghost stories. Hieber is an award-winning author and paranormal history expert, plus tour guide of New York’s premiere ghost tour company, Boroughs of the Dead. Andrea Janes is a novelist and founder/owner of Boroughs of the Dead. It comes across very quickly that the forefront of Invisible Women is a two part exercise. First, to bring a human touch to the female-centric ghost stories we thought we knew, and second, to debunk any areas of them that might have gotten blown out of proportion or fabricated in the telling. This mix allows for a unique approach to digging into the truths of a field that is only ever strengthened by exaggeration, from two people who have first hand experience as to their impact.
We all want to believe there’s something out there, I think. That even when the people who love us leave, they are never truly gone. Every dream about my grandpa and glimpse of serendipitous coincidence that reminds me of him is a comfort, occasionally at unusual times. When the poltergeists start shifting my dishes around…that’s another thing entirely, but no less grounding an experience. Situations like those make me feel more present in the world, surprisingly, even as they intrigue me about what may be behind the pale. Consuming ghost stories has always been equal parts terrifying and comforting. Cracking the puzzle of why that is is part of how I got to where I am. Leaning into that mix is how businesses like ghost tours and haunted houses become successful.
Invisible Women’s range of subject, from witches to mothers to madwomen and myths, is an intoxicating array. It’s a guided tour of a somewhat different sort; one in which Hieber and Janes take us across states and centuries to remind us of how these voices long since snuffed out of our world have managed to make themselves heard across the annals of time to be remembered in the form of some of our most persistent and complex creative tropes. No madwoman is ever simply mad, no witch is ever just a crone in the midst of the woods practicing their work under moonlight. More often than not, these women who’s stories we have mythologized into something larger than life were simply neighbors who kept to themselves, or who suffered in silence. Like children daring each other to spend a night in the boarded up house at the end of the street, these women’s stories have become a sort of short hand for the spirit world that we whisper about to challenge ourselves.
In alternating chapters, Hieber and Janes present their own thoroughly researched perspectives on the ghosts and stories that birthed some of horror’s hallmark tropes, and just some of the women most persistently tied to their construction. Within the pages of Invisible Women you will find more nuanced details from stories ranging from notorious to little-known, from heartwarming to heartbreaking. You’ll find poignant tales of loss and love, as well as some of independence. Here there be something new to consider for even the most knowledgeable ghost story connoisseur.
The throughline of Invisible Women is connection. Wether tragically severed, never fully formed, or flourishing before and beyond death, the core of human experience is always the longing to be brought together and treated as equals. Janes and Heiber do an exceptional job of presenting the case for honoring lives we revere through the act of storytelling. Along the way they also present the fascinating angle that if the myths are what keep us engaged — the allure of Salem as a witchy town and the draw of places like the Borden house for their sordid history — how do we balance the fantastical with that respect? Where is the line between truth and fiction, and how do we best float among it to keep the business of haunted tours going without losing the audience? Is there space for both?
The answer is, of course. Our entire lived experience is a dance between fact and fiction. When it comes to how each of us goes about our daily lives, one person’s view is almost never exactly the same as someone else’s.
Why should the afterlife be any different?
I would like to thank the publisher and authors for the opportunity to receive an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A Haunted History of Invisible Women comes to a shelf near you on September 27, 2022 from Kensington Books/Citadel.
