Martha McGill's beautifully written study of ghosts as cultural signifiers provides an important contribution to a growing number of studies into the social and cultural significance of belief in the paranormal. McGill focuses on the period from 1685 to 1832, during which it is sometimes assumed that ghosts were exorcised by official religion and the rise of rationalism. This is a reasonable assumption, of course, in that Enlightenment philosophy, the emerging scientific culture, and the beady gaze of Scottish Calvinism did, in their own ways, resist the profane superstition and irrationalism of the medieval period. However, while it is true, for example, that ghosts in Scotland suffered more than did their cousins in England, McGill shows that the picture is rather more complex. There was a return of the repressed.

The medieval specters and revenants of Scotland reappeared in new guises. The ghost fulfilled new roles in emerging sociocultural contexts. Indeed, eschewing overly simplistic models of disenchantment, McGill cogently argues that this was a period when ghosts attained a new cultural prominence. In particular, she analyzes the important relationship between the fictional and the nonfictional when it comes to the construction of belief: “Firstly, fictional works played an important role in creating and popularizing new visions of the ghost. Secondly, the ways in which people thought about fictional ghosts could influence their readings of non-fictional accounts. Thirdly, it is often difficult to disentangle fictional ghosts from their non-fictional counterparts” (13). While the sacralizing significance of popular culture is generally accepted by scholars of contemporary religion and society, it is good to see this process discussed so clearly in relation to Enlightenment Scotland.

Following the first chapter's helpful overview of attitudes towards ghosts from the Middle Ages to the late seventeenth century, McGill turns to religious culture following the Scottish Reformation of 1560. While ghosts were considered profane, they were, nevertheless, useful in supporting core doctrines about the soul and postmortem survival. For example, although Scottish Presbyterians were suspicious of unorthodox paranormal activity, the pernicious threat posed by the specter of atheism led some to consider the apologetic value of the ghost. Indeed, accounts of ghostly activity were understood to have a moral purpose. This nuanced account of the confluence of official religion and popular paranormal belief is an important corrective to those often crude accounts that tend to separate them. Many people who attend church and intellectually assent to orthodox theologies also believe in ghosts.

A shift in the understanding of ghosts was also occasioned by the new philosophical and scientific climate of Scotland. While they retained a cultural presence, nevertheless, this was a period which saw the publication of David Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748) and increasing skepticism regarding the existence of the supernatural. This could be seen in the erosion of belief in magical influence in everyday life and, consequently, a decline in the execution of witches. Indeed, in the secularizing discourse of the Scottish “high Enlightenment” there was little tolerance for supernatural accounts of ghosts. They were the product of natural phenomena, such as dreams, psychological disorders, or simply the misunderstanding of the poorly educated.

Having said that, Scotland was, after all, still predominantly Christian and, as such, viewed the world through a biblical lens that mitigated a comprehensive denial of the supernatural. Hence, in educated circles, discussion tended to focus on the nature of ghosts and the spheres of their activity. It was, for example, generally agreed that, while “demons could sometimes appear in assumed bodies” to deceive the credulous and the vulgar, “divine benevolence rarely allowed these deceptions” (89). Nevertheless, Enlightenment thought had made inroads into middle-class culture. While belief in ghosts could be found among both the educated and uneducated alike, disbelief was sometimes declared as a way to acquire cultural capital. Belief was deemed by some in the emerging middle class to be a characteristic of vulgar superstition. Indeed, following the 1707 Union with England, the rejection of ghosts could be seen as part of a desire “among fashionable Scotsmen to distance themselves from their nation's perceived backwardness” (115).

Ghosts were transformed in Gothic and Romantic literature during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As evident in James Macpherson's Ossian cycle of poems (published from 1760), Walter Scott's writing, and James Hogg's Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), they appear, not only as terrifying apparitions but also deeply embedded within constructions of Scottishness. As well as being a means for exploring issues relating to mortality, the romanticized ghost was also a signifier of an enchanted Scottish cultural heritage and, therefore, of national identity. Frequently haunting old castles and the graves of the long dead, ghosts represented a post-Union nostalgia. In folklore, while they were typically harbingers of tragedy, nevertheless through the cultivation of nostalgia, ghosts served to connect communities to their locality during a period of urbanization and industrialization. Reappearing at particular places and at particular times, the genius loci created a tradition that connected people to their land and history.

Finally, through a study of ballads, pamphlets, and the accounts of folklorists, McGill explores the function of ghosts beyond the circles of the elite and educated. In everyday life, where ghost stories were told, they kept traditions alive, communicated social values, and protected cultural norms. Indeed, they supplemented early modern judicial systems by revealing, solving, and warning against crime. The unpunished murderer might expect a visit from the victim's ghost. Unredressed injustices were addressed from beyond the grave.

For those readers unconvinced of the value of studying belief in the supernatural as a way into understanding societies and cultures, I would encourage you to sit down with this book. If it does not change your mind, nothing will. And, even if your mind remains unchanged, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read.