Supernatural Cities

Far from being a static or eroding cultural inheritance from the past,
the supernatural has continually been appropriated and updated to accommodate and express
social, cultural, economic and environmental anxieties.Since the Enlightenment, supernatural
beliefs and practices have largely been derided as ignorant and un-modern - even anti-modern
- and cities, being the ultimate symbol of progress and rationality, have not been thought
to harbour magic. Scholars have long assumed that the world of the supernatural withered
under the impact of urbanisation; yet, as numerous books, films and T.V. series from Hellboy
to Being Human to the Harry Potterfranchise show, contemporary culture remains fascinated by
urban-based legends and fantasy. This collection seeks to spur interest in the urban
supernatural and argues for its prevalence, importance and vitality by presenting a rich
cultural history of the complex relationship between supernatural beliefs and practices,
imagination and storytelling, and urbanisation. Grouped around themes of enchantment,
anxiety and spectrality, it explores urban supernatural cultures on five continents between
the late eighteenth century and the present day. The book advances a ground-breaking
exploration of the communal and cultural function of urban supernatural ideas, demonstrating
howthey have continually been appropriated and updated to express and accommodate
socio-cultural, economic and environmental anxieties and needs. Drawing together a diverse
range of academic approaches, with contributions from historians, geographers,
anthropologists, folklorists and literary scholars, it makes an important contribution to
our understanding of how urban environments, both past and present, inform our imaginations,
cultural insecurities and spatial fears. KARL BELL is Reader in Cultural and Social History
at the University of Portsmouth. Karl Bell, Oliver Betts, Alex Bevan, Tracy
Fahey, Deirdre Flynn, Maria del Pilar Blanco, William Pooley, Elena Pryamikova, David J.
Puglia, William Redwood, Morag Rose, Alevtina Solovyova, Tom Sykes, Natalya Veselkova,
Mikhail Vandyshev, David Waldron, Sharn Waldron, Felicity Wood