Ep 218 - Why Ghost Stories Matter

Jim steps out from behind the microphone to share a talk he gave at the Modern Language Association conference in Toronto, where he was invited to speak on a panel about Gothic scholarship, podcasting, and public humanities. It's a conversation about what we're really doing when we tell ghost stories. Not just entertaining, but shaping how people think about the past, life, death, and what may lie between. It's about butterflies that remember past lives, Titanic folklore that won't die, and why a zombie apocalypse in a Cold War bunker became one of our most beloved projects. Thanks to Joshua Tuttle from Concordia University in Chicago for the invite! Also: Valentine's Weekend is upon us. Friday the 13th and Valentine's Day, back-to-back. The most superstitious night of the year, followed by the most romantic. Ghost tours in Kingston, Ottawa, and Toronto. Paranormal investigations in Ottawa and Toronto.

You can listen to Ep 218 - Why Ghost Stories Matter online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Ep 218 - Why Ghost Stories Matter is an episode from Haunted Talks - The Official Podcast of The Haunted Walk by Jim Dean.

This episode is 16:01 long.

This episode was published on Feb 6, 2026.

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