Entertaining Ghosts: Gettysburg Ghost Tours and the Performance of Belief

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dc.contributor.advisorFrederik Meer, Laurieen_US
dc.contributor.authorThompson, Robert Charlesen_US
dc.contributor.departmentTheatreen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2008-06-20T05:38:31Z
dc.date.available2008-06-20T05:38:31Z
dc.date.issued2008-05-05en_US
dc.description.abstractGettysburg is the site of the largest battle and death toll during the entire American Civil War. Ghost tours are a tourism business and performance genre that arose out of the notion that the spirits of these dead soldiers have lingered on since the battle. Some tourists join a ghost tour in hopes of encountering a ghost, but almost all tourists expect to be entertained. My project is to define the ghost tour as a distinct genre and examine each of the elements that comprise a ghost tour performance. I argue that the most effective ghost tour is the tour that is best able to render ghosts as a potential truth and perform potential truth as a form of entertainment. How do ghost tour guides render ghosts' presence a genuine possibility for their tour groups? How might we understand performance and entertainment as a means to activate sincere belief?en_US
dc.format.extent3212661 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/8217
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledTheateren_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledghostsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledtourismen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledparanormalen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledbeliefen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledghost touren_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledGettysburgen_US
dc.titleEntertaining Ghosts: Gettysburg Ghost Tours and the Performance of Beliefen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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