For our assigned reading “Ghostland” by Colin Dickey, the quote that stood out to me most was “We typically think of ghost stories in terms of the remnants of a terrible tragedy, a past we cannot escape, or a justice unavenged. Why, then, in such a place that should be so haunted by the legacy of such terrible injustice…, should there be nothing but white ghosts?” For me, this quote summarized the central idea of the chapter. Shockoe Bottom is a place with a dark history filled with tragic antebellum tales, yet the stories told in the bars, the landmark shown to tourists, or the town folklore reflects absolutely nothing of its racist past. The author expands on his experiences stating there are tons of storys about the “mysterious death of that blacksmith” or the “fabled prostitute that haunts the town” but nothing about the tortured slaves in the many homes or stories about the slave graveyard in Shockoe bottom.

I liked the quote because it identifies the main point of the chapter; however there are things I would also nitpick on. I believe it’s important to know about the past tragedies and history of a place, but that learning should’t be forced. What I mean is that, it is good to have places that show tribute to the victims of the dark past for those interested or willing to learn about it, but it shouldn’t be forced, I don’t think that the whole town’s ambiance and characteristics be that it was once a slave trading ground. I don’t necessarily believe that the town’s ghost stories or folklore should reflect the tragedies of the past, it should be stories that are funny or light-hearted because the town isn’t reflective of its past anymore so why bring everyone down by repeating tragic tales of the past. This doesn’t mean that you should whitewash everything about the past but it’s obvious that people usually are looking for tragic slave stories when they want to have fun in a town.

This picture came out a bit more blurry than I had hoped but it shows the interior of Thomas Jefferson’s estate in Monticello VA. The book briefly mentioned how the room reflected nothing of the hundreds if slaves that Jefferson owned. I wanted to see for myself and I was shocked at how popular it was. It has over 10,000 ratings on google maps, I was surprised that people would pay to see an artifact of the past that only partly portrayed Jefferson’s character. 

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