Ghostly Possession and Real Estate: The Dead in Contemporary Estonian Folklore

Abstract

This article examines Estonian folklore about ghosts in generic, social, and historical contexts. It argues that the presumed expectations of the dead can become a coercive force on the behavior of the living, whose fears and anxieties are symbolically expressed in legends and memorates. Return of the restless dead in contemporary Estonian folklore manifests discrepancies between the values and norms of modern people and those of previous generations. The article is based on fieldwork interviews conducted on the islands of West Estonia between 2000 and 2003. It analyzes memorates about the haunted childhood home of Helmi, who inherited and sold it. According to Helmi, the home was haunted by the ghost of her grandmother, who was concerned about the abandonment of her family property. These worries are best understood in the context of Estonia's uncertain history of property ownership. Estonians became legal owners of farms at the end of nineteenth century. The number of farmers grew until the country was annexed by the Soviet Union. The communist system replaced private property with state ownership. After Estonia regained independence in 1991, however, real estate was returned to the pre-communist owners or to their descendants. In this period of change and uncertainty, ghosts can be connected with ownership. Property requires an owner, and if property is abandoned, legends may introduce supernatural shadow figures to serve as owners. Legends about ghosts can thus express memories and traumatic experiences of the living, who have suffered from the turmoils of history.

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