British ghost stories readily produce white ladies, medieval knights, Civil War soldiers and Roman legionaries. Apparitions identified as people from before the Roman conquest are much harder to find. Dr Katy Soar of the University of Winchester and Professor Kenny Brophy of the University of Glasgow are asking the public for reports as they build a dataset of alleged pre-Roman ghosts and ghost experiences at prehistoric sites.
The distinction matters. A prehistoric place may collect a haunting without collecting a prehistoric ghost. Wandlebury, an Iron Age hillfort in Cambridgeshire, has a tradition of a spectral knight. Bronze Age barrows may acquire later headless horsemen. The age of a monument does not establish the age of the apparition attached to it.
Soar suggests several possibilities for the gap. Ghosts may be imagined through familiar historical types. The concerns attributed to the dead may change as societies change. Apparition stories may also reflect what living people know and expect to see. Roman ghosts became prominent in British storytelling comparatively late, which raises a provocative question: do people first have to learn what a period’s ghost should look like before they can recognise one?
This is a public research appeal, not a completed study or evidence that apparitions exist. The researchers are collecting stories so they can examine when, where and how prehistoric identities are assigned to reported experiences.