Ghost story
The ghost story -- supernatural encounters with spirits, usually of the dead -- has been a popular fantasy motif in oral and written culture. The late 19th century saw a surge a women writers publishing supernatural fiction. In the late 20th century, the ghost story is often given a horror spin. Ghost stories also crop up in magical realism, with ambiguity for the fantastic elements, or a seamless interface between the magical and the real.
- Dorothy Allison "Demon Lover" (in Trash, 1988) (lesbian ghost story)
- Francesca Lia Block. Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books (1998). This collects five short novels in one book. All books are rather mysterious, but Missing Angel Juan (1993) and to a lesser extent Baby Be-Bop (1995) have significant ghost presence.
- Jane Chambers. Burning (1978) (two women are possessed by the spirits of two lesbians killed in the 18th century)
- Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, 1852-1930. The Wind in the Rose-Bush, and Other Stories of the Supernatural (1903) (ghost stories)
- Shirley Jackson. The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
- Melissa Kwasny. Modern Daughters and the Outlaw West (Spinsters Book, San Francisco, 1990). A small Wyoming town is infested with quirky lesbians, ghosts, and politics.
- Paula Martinac. Out of Time (1990)
- Toni Morrison. Beloved (1987)
- Sarah Waters. Affinity (1999, UK) (victorian women's prison, spirituality, and sublimated sapphism)
- Brenda Weathers. The House at Pelham Falls (lesbian ghost story)
- Brenda Weathers. Miss Pettibone and Miss McGraw (1995) (lesbian ghost story)
Anthologies
- Restless Spirits: Ghost Stories by American Women, 1872-1926 Catherine A. Lundie, editor. (U. Mass Press, 328 pp., $17.95, 1997?)
- What Mrs. Darrington Saw: An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson (1989)
- The Ghost of Carmen Miranda and Other Spooky Gay and Lesbian Tales edited by Julie K. Trevelyan and Scott Brassart (1998: Alyson)