Abstract
This chapter introduces readers briefly to the folkloric and theological origins, and, in more detail, the literary history of the spectral strand of revenant child 1847–1920. It identifies some of the key themes and images from legends, tales, and doctrine that influenced the physical and behavioural characteristics of a dead-child spirit, as well as the topographical restrictions, and the causes and consequences that structure folk tales. In turn, it shows how these elements influenced the literary versions that proliferated in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; surveying examples from well-known authors such as Elizabeth Gaskell, M.R. James, and Mary Wilkins Freeman, and lesser-known writers such as Anna Hoyt and Bessie Kyffin-Taylor.
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Baker, J. (2021). The Spectral Child. In: Bloom, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Steam Age Gothic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40866-4_38
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