Abby Day ---- Everyday Ghosts: A Matter of Believing in Belonging

The Monsters of Hackney & Walthamstow Marshes: Prehistoric Ghosts That Haunt the Lower Lea Valley

On the 27th of December 1981, four boys leave their homes to play on the snow. In this weather, Hackney Marshes’ playing fields become an irresistible plateau of bright white possibility. They build snowmen. They throw snowballs. They do what young boys do. And when they find a mysterious set of footprints they follow, wondering what could possibly make such huge impressions.

Little Tommy Murray, 13, is walking a little ahead of his friends when he comes upon something. At first glance it looks like a dog. But this thing is gigantic. It turns and rears up at him, growling, all teeth and claws. Tommy screams. His friends’ mouths open in horror.

A bear is roaming Hackney marshes. This is not the first time an incident like this has been reported, (and perhaps not the last). Whether the tale of the 1981 bear is a hoax, a true account of a wild bear or a paranormal vision, it’s not surprising that such stories take hold in this particular part of London. Bears, crocodiles and wild cats have all been spotted here. The scientific evidence stacked against the existence of these creatures does little to dispel these rumours, which gain their own narrative momentum and quickly become artifacts of local urban folklore.In this essay I want to explain why the lower Lea Valley is haunted by spectres of the past; how it challenges perceptions of linear time and space in a modern city; and why its peculiar topography makes a fertile ground for paranormal beast sightings.

If you examine how the surrounding roads and water channels interlock, this zone is almost an island. Or, the way I look at it, the opposite of an island. This is not a place surrounded by nothing. It’s a nothing surrounded by place.

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hi Abby, its not an advertising or promotional site, its designed to be standalone and include material from the book, so if you can do a shorter extract and if poss a photo that would be great

This link will take you to a podcast of a lecture I gave which covers this material, along with more general material:

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/crcs/research/belief_network

that sounds relevant, but its strictly about paranormal content, so perhaps some of your participants stories?

kind regards

Sally

Sally R Munt

s.r.munt@sussex.ac.uk

Professor of Cultural Studies

Professor of Gender Studies

Director of the Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies

BABCP Accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist

School of Media, Film and Music

Silverstone Building

University of Sussex

Falmer

Brighton

BN1 9RG

Tel 01273 606755

On 25 Apr 2012, at 14:03, Abby Day wrote:

Hi again

Many thanks for your kind thoughts. A little calmer, know.

Having reviewed this I don't really know what I can send as I don't have any dedicated photos. But would a link to my web pages help?

http://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/thrs/staff/day.html

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/anthropology/people/peoplelists/person/210508

Or my book on Amazon?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0199577870/ref=sr_1_3?p=S001&keywords=abby+day&ie=UTF8&qid=1335358091

This link will take you to a podcast of a lecture I gave which covers this material, along with more general material:

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/crcs/research/belief_network

I have written blogs about religious identity relative to the census http://abbyday.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/census/

and about young people and the summer riots: http://abbyday.wordpress.com/2011/08/

Dr Abby Day
Senior Research Fellow, Department of Religious Studies, School of European Culture & Languages, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, United Kingdom
Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Geography, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RH UK
Chair: SOCREL (Sociology of Religion study group, British Sociological
Association)

New book: Believing in Belonging
Belief and Social Identity in the Modern World
Available now through all good bookshops, or direct from Oxford University Press at:http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199577873.doc