I grew up in our family house. It was built by my ancestors in the late 18th Century, so we knew everyone who had ever lived in it. You could see the graveyard from the house, where all my ancestors were buried (except from the ones who emigrated).
My boyfriend and I were in the house when everyone else had gone out. He then proposed, and afterwards maintained it was the ghosts in the house that pressurised him to do so. Reader we were happily married for many years, until his death three years ago.
Oh wow, that is amazing. Have you written a Substack about that house, I would love to know more! Where is the house, in the UK? Ah those good old ghosts, twisting your husband’s arm to propose 😂
OK, maybe this is a strange question, I hope you don't mind me being nosy, but I have to know. Is your husband in the graveyard? I wonder if the ancestors gave him a pat on the back for the proposal.
I LOVED this letter so much!!! Demon Copperhead was the best book I read all year as well. I think it's the best thing she's written since Poisonwood Bible. Thank you for sharing! Will be checking out all of these!
I absolutely loved Demon Copperhead. I'd recently just reread David Copperfield (which I also love) and it was fascinating to see how Kingsolver brought out the differences in the societies in the books but also the horrifying similarities in the disregard for children's well-being in both books. Hasn't changed much. And Angela Barrett's book is so gorgeous. I once saw an exhibition of her illustrations and they're like Victorian jewels in their intricacy.
Loved looking out for the old familiar Dickens character’s reincarnated in Demon Copperhead. Steerforth/ Fast Forward was brilliant! Oh yes Angela Barrett is amazing, I hope one day I can interview her for the Good Ship.
Ooh I love this Helen! We used to live in a tiny Victorian workers cottage in Spitalfields and we had a ghost! It would flush the toilet, turn lights and the TV on and off. Roll pencils across the floor. It never felt scary but it did throw a butter knife right across the kitchen in front of our eyes! One night my husband had just got into bed and he looked up to see a tall man in a long black coat and slicked back hair standing right over his face, smiling at him. My husband thought it was a burglar so jumped up to throw a punch when the man just vanished! When we moved house, further East, but still in London, we wondered if the ghost would follow us. And it did! Chairs would be moved across the floor, leaving drag marks in the carpet. I even heard a party going on in the kitchen once and when I stepped in, the noise suddenly stopped!
We found a Star of David scratched into the brickwork at the cottage. There was a big settlement of Jewish people around Brick Lane from 1881 so we wondered if the ghost had been the one to leave that.
I also love Uncanny (have you watched the series?) so no doubt you'll also love another podcast I'm listening to at the moment called 'Ghost Story' from Wondery. About a murder at a house in Richmond.
An actual haunting! I have never experienced a ghost, even though I’d like to (in theory, ha!) The tall man in the cloak sounds terrifying, I wouldn’t want to meet him! I haven’t listened to ‘Ghost Story’, it sounds brilliant, I will subscribe now. Thanks for the tip.
I’m going to go back and properly read the full post, but I have to tell you how much I LOVED Demon Copperhead. I read it on holiday in a bit of a bubble, and I had not read any of the reviews, or about it being based on David Copperfield. So you may or may not believe this, but I was about 1/3rd of the way through it before it clicked! I think that says 2 things: one is that I’m a bit dense, and the other is that Kingsolver created sentirely believable (though shocking,) characters and place which stand alone. Absolutely brilliant.
Ha! I love your enthusiasm to talk about Demon Copperhead, I am the same. What an incredible book, I couldn’t put it down and read it in about 4 days. It must have been amazing to read it in an intense holiday bubble. Hx
No, you don't need to. It stands up in its own right. Maybe listen to David Copperfield on audio afterwards so you see the connection. David Copperfield is an incredible book too, one of my favourites.
No! I didn’t even know about the connection until halfway through, and to be honest, it sort of spoiled it for me from then on, as I was looking for the connections. So I’d say just read it! It’s brilliant.
Enjoyed the house chat though I would be TERRIFIED of a time slip. Re: David Copperfield, my aunt was also born in a caul and she still has it 87 years later!
Wow! And the knowledge she will never drown at sea. David Copperfield’s mum sells David’s caul, do you remember that? Your aunt could sell it on eBay and make a small fortune 😂
I totally went down the rabbit hole of paranormal things a few times and I have to say I scared myself to death with the ‘skinwalkers’. I read Thunderhead by Preston & Child - I love their books - and went on a little search about the Anasazi people described in the book. One night I had myself so frightened I was scared to death by a pile of laundry that normally wouldn’t be there 🤣 I love how I’m not the only one who goed down such rabbit holes! I wish you that slip of time! 😍
Nov 12, 2023·edited Nov 12, 2023Liked by Helen Stephens
Great post. LOVED Demon Copperhead. As someone said Kingsolver’s best book since poisonwood. Had to rewatch the BBC Masterpiece theater version of David Copperfield. Fascinated by the many similarities.
Love thinking about the Indians Native Americans who roamed the woods and fished along our river centuries before our house was built. Friends talk about partying here when they were kids- still no houses then- finding lots of arrow heads along the Savannah River. Where we live was also an old rice plantation so I often wonder about the people who lived and worked on it. We still have the old rice gates and trunks that fed the five rice paddies from the river. One is at least two blocks from the river. A lot of digging and trunks involved in feeding that rice paddy. No trace of an old buildings or houses.
There’s also an HUGE old trolley car in the woods that someone hauled up river 15 miles north of Augusta. WHY a would they do that?? Guess I need to investigate some of these things and get some answers, don’t I?
I also fell into a large rabbit hole called Ancestry wondering which started by my wondering about the young men who might have been killed on my sons new old 1920s lot during the Battle of Atlanta in the 1863/4. The heaviest fighting took place all along his street and I 20 where it comes into Atlanta. Two generals - one Union one Confederate - died in that area. The street was named after the Union general McPherson. He is also buried there with a huge standing cannon barrel marking his grave.
So I went looking for my Irish great uncle who was a career soldier and supposedly Sherman’s aide de camp on the March thru Ga. Many fresh off the boat Irish joined the military because it was the only job allowed them. Never found a trace of him but did build a tree of 8000+ other relatives near and distant. Lol. A time slip could be fascinating but highly dangerous in that neighborhood. 😳
Oh Maggie, I can tell we are cut from the same cloth! What a fascinating rabbit hole to fall in to. Your neighbourhood sounds like it has a lot of history, good luck with the time slip. I am working on it, if I find a way I’ll keep you posted. Hx
Nov 14, 2023·edited Nov 14, 2023Liked by Helen Stephens
Wow there’s a way to do it? Guess we better watch the show to get some tips. Y that might be why I got a Masters in Research. Love digging for odd things in books and on the internet. My whole family is prone that way. All my brothers and my mother was too. 🥴
I think Mary is likely Mary Forster Cockburn (the only MC born in Berwick in the first quarter of 1871). I’m a genealogy nut, so if you want me to research her a bit, just let me know!
You know what, I started looking anyway! Yes, she’s the illegitimate daughter of Margaret. Her middle name being Forster suggests that’s her father’s surname.
Oh Jen, that is so interesting. Can I ask how you looked this up, I would love to do some more research. Thank you so much shedding some light on the Mary mystery. I’d like to find the family in the local graveyard, that’s my next mission.
I went to www.freebmd.org.uk and searched for births of "Mary Cockburn" in the first quarter of 1871. There was only one registered in Berwick, so I got her birth certificate from www.gro.gov.uk and it showed that she's the illegitimate daughter of Margaret, with the middle name "Forster", which is likely her father's surname (many illegitimate kids in my family tree have the same naming convention!) Interestingly, she was actually born in September 1870, but not registered for a while - the 1871 census actually says six months old, not four.
It looks like her mum, Margaret, was illegitimate too. It's not 100%, as she was born before the civil records began and church records aren't as definitive, but looks like her mum was Eliza Jack, who later married James Cockburn and had a bunch more kids. The family were originally from Scotland, but moved to England before the 1851 census.
This is incredible, I had no idea it was possible to get this amount of information. Thank you so much, and for sharing how you did it. The graveyard website is going to be really useful, and guess what, I walk past that grave every day! I know it very well, it is amazing to have it linked to our house and the story of Mary. Thank you!
I want a at time slip too! Discovering the history and stories of your home must be utterly fascinating! I love looking at old photos and paintings from the past. I’m amazed how much information you've managed to gather about your house. And I remember David Copperfield but I was t aware of his birth story.
Hi Susan, Ah a fellow would be time traveller! There’s so much more to learn about this house because it had four house numbers and we have only explored number 41. Today we are going to try to find the graves of the people who lived here, so curious to know more.
I've not stopped thinking about time slips since that Uncanny episode! I saw someone recommended Ghost Story on Wondery. I've also been enjoying MrBallen's Medical Mysteries on there too. (just don't listen while you're on a snack break). Really enjoying your slices of life Helen, thanks so much :)
Have you listened to the latest Uncanny episode? THAT was a weird one, looking at yourself looking back at you from the past and future! Really creepy! I'm going to listen to MrBallen's Medical Mysteries now, looks fab, thanks for the recommendation!
Yes! Such a strange one that has stuck in my mind and I've told to anyone who would listen (including my 6 and 10 year olds who keep coming back to ask about it!) Gosh, the whole thing of time slips and doppelgängers are absolutely fascinating and mind-blowing aren't they! Glad it's not just me!
I grew up in our family house. It was built by my ancestors in the late 18th Century, so we knew everyone who had ever lived in it. You could see the graveyard from the house, where all my ancestors were buried (except from the ones who emigrated).
My boyfriend and I were in the house when everyone else had gone out. He then proposed, and afterwards maintained it was the ghosts in the house that pressurised him to do so. Reader we were happily married for many years, until his death three years ago.
Oh wow, that is amazing. Have you written a Substack about that house, I would love to know more! Where is the house, in the UK? Ah those good old ghosts, twisting your husband’s arm to propose 😂
OK, maybe this is a strange question, I hope you don't mind me being nosy, but I have to know. Is your husband in the graveyard? I wonder if the ancestors gave him a pat on the back for the proposal.
I LOVED this letter so much!!! Demon Copperhead was the best book I read all year as well. I think it's the best thing she's written since Poisonwood Bible. Thank you for sharing! Will be checking out all of these!
I absolutely loved Demon Copperhead. I'd recently just reread David Copperfield (which I also love) and it was fascinating to see how Kingsolver brought out the differences in the societies in the books but also the horrifying similarities in the disregard for children's well-being in both books. Hasn't changed much. And Angela Barrett's book is so gorgeous. I once saw an exhibition of her illustrations and they're like Victorian jewels in their intricacy.
Loved looking out for the old familiar Dickens character’s reincarnated in Demon Copperhead. Steerforth/ Fast Forward was brilliant! Oh yes Angela Barrett is amazing, I hope one day I can interview her for the Good Ship.
Demon Copperhead was phenomenal. Tour de force for Kingsolver for sure.
For sure!
Ooh I love this Helen! We used to live in a tiny Victorian workers cottage in Spitalfields and we had a ghost! It would flush the toilet, turn lights and the TV on and off. Roll pencils across the floor. It never felt scary but it did throw a butter knife right across the kitchen in front of our eyes! One night my husband had just got into bed and he looked up to see a tall man in a long black coat and slicked back hair standing right over his face, smiling at him. My husband thought it was a burglar so jumped up to throw a punch when the man just vanished! When we moved house, further East, but still in London, we wondered if the ghost would follow us. And it did! Chairs would be moved across the floor, leaving drag marks in the carpet. I even heard a party going on in the kitchen once and when I stepped in, the noise suddenly stopped!
We found a Star of David scratched into the brickwork at the cottage. There was a big settlement of Jewish people around Brick Lane from 1881 so we wondered if the ghost had been the one to leave that.
I also love Uncanny (have you watched the series?) so no doubt you'll also love another podcast I'm listening to at the moment called 'Ghost Story' from Wondery. About a murder at a house in Richmond.
Definitely going to check out Demon Copperhead!
An actual haunting! I have never experienced a ghost, even though I’d like to (in theory, ha!) The tall man in the cloak sounds terrifying, I wouldn’t want to meet him! I haven’t listened to ‘Ghost Story’, it sounds brilliant, I will subscribe now. Thanks for the tip.
I’m going to go back and properly read the full post, but I have to tell you how much I LOVED Demon Copperhead. I read it on holiday in a bit of a bubble, and I had not read any of the reviews, or about it being based on David Copperfield. So you may or may not believe this, but I was about 1/3rd of the way through it before it clicked! I think that says 2 things: one is that I’m a bit dense, and the other is that Kingsolver created sentirely believable (though shocking,) characters and place which stand alone. Absolutely brilliant.
(going back to read about your house etc now!)
Ha! I love your enthusiasm to talk about Demon Copperhead, I am the same. What an incredible book, I couldn’t put it down and read it in about 4 days. It must have been amazing to read it in an intense holiday bubble. Hx
I’ve never read David Copperfield! Do I need to read that before the Kingsolver?
No, you don't need to. It stands up in its own right. Maybe listen to David Copperfield on audio afterwards so you see the connection. David Copperfield is an incredible book too, one of my favourites.
Watch the BBC Masterpiece David Copperfield. The Cliff note version but quite good as most Masterpieces are. Gorgeous cinematography of course.
I must watch that BBC version again. Thanks for the tip.
No! I didn’t even know about the connection until halfway through, and to be honest, it sort of spoiled it for me from then on, as I was looking for the connections. So I’d say just read it! It’s brilliant.
Enjoyed the house chat though I would be TERRIFIED of a time slip. Re: David Copperfield, my aunt was also born in a caul and she still has it 87 years later!
Wow! And the knowledge she will never drown at sea. David Copperfield’s mum sells David’s caul, do you remember that? Your aunt could sell it on eBay and make a small fortune 😂
😂I think she’d rather be drown-proof!
I devoured that book a few months ago, it’s amazing and I think the best book I read this year as well!
I totally went down the rabbit hole of paranormal things a few times and I have to say I scared myself to death with the ‘skinwalkers’. I read Thunderhead by Preston & Child - I love their books - and went on a little search about the Anasazi people described in the book. One night I had myself so frightened I was scared to death by a pile of laundry that normally wouldn’t be there 🤣 I love how I’m not the only one who goed down such rabbit holes! I wish you that slip of time! 😍
Oh I don’t know their books, I see another rabbit hole ahead! I have scared myself with laundry too 😂 Thought it was a huge penguin ghost. Really.
🤣 I really like your mind 😂
If you like to read fiction with fantasy, history, thriller, crime elements, I can recommend the authors!
Great post. LOVED Demon Copperhead. As someone said Kingsolver’s best book since poisonwood. Had to rewatch the BBC Masterpiece theater version of David Copperfield. Fascinated by the many similarities.
Love thinking about the Indians Native Americans who roamed the woods and fished along our river centuries before our house was built. Friends talk about partying here when they were kids- still no houses then- finding lots of arrow heads along the Savannah River. Where we live was also an old rice plantation so I often wonder about the people who lived and worked on it. We still have the old rice gates and trunks that fed the five rice paddies from the river. One is at least two blocks from the river. A lot of digging and trunks involved in feeding that rice paddy. No trace of an old buildings or houses.
There’s also an HUGE old trolley car in the woods that someone hauled up river 15 miles north of Augusta. WHY a would they do that?? Guess I need to investigate some of these things and get some answers, don’t I?
I also fell into a large rabbit hole called Ancestry wondering which started by my wondering about the young men who might have been killed on my sons new old 1920s lot during the Battle of Atlanta in the 1863/4. The heaviest fighting took place all along his street and I 20 where it comes into Atlanta. Two generals - one Union one Confederate - died in that area. The street was named after the Union general McPherson. He is also buried there with a huge standing cannon barrel marking his grave.
So I went looking for my Irish great uncle who was a career soldier and supposedly Sherman’s aide de camp on the March thru Ga. Many fresh off the boat Irish joined the military because it was the only job allowed them. Never found a trace of him but did build a tree of 8000+ other relatives near and distant. Lol. A time slip could be fascinating but highly dangerous in that neighborhood. 😳
Oh Maggie, I can tell we are cut from the same cloth! What a fascinating rabbit hole to fall in to. Your neighbourhood sounds like it has a lot of history, good luck with the time slip. I am working on it, if I find a way I’ll keep you posted. Hx
Wow there’s a way to do it? Guess we better watch the show to get some tips. Y that might be why I got a Masters in Research. Love digging for odd things in books and on the internet. My whole family is prone that way. All my brothers and my mother was too. 🥴
I think Mary is likely Mary Forster Cockburn (the only MC born in Berwick in the first quarter of 1871). I’m a genealogy nut, so if you want me to research her a bit, just let me know!
You know what, I started looking anyway! Yes, she’s the illegitimate daughter of Margaret. Her middle name being Forster suggests that’s her father’s surname.
Oh Jen, that is so interesting. Can I ask how you looked this up, I would love to do some more research. Thank you so much shedding some light on the Mary mystery. I’d like to find the family in the local graveyard, that’s my next mission.
I went to www.freebmd.org.uk and searched for births of "Mary Cockburn" in the first quarter of 1871. There was only one registered in Berwick, so I got her birth certificate from www.gro.gov.uk and it showed that she's the illegitimate daughter of Margaret, with the middle name "Forster", which is likely her father's surname (many illegitimate kids in my family tree have the same naming convention!) Interestingly, she was actually born in September 1870, but not registered for a while - the 1871 census actually says six months old, not four.
It looks like her mum, Margaret, was illegitimate too. It's not 100%, as she was born before the civil records began and church records aren't as definitive, but looks like her mum was Eliza Jack, who later married James Cockburn and had a bunch more kids. The family were originally from Scotland, but moved to England before the 1851 census.
Mary was still living with her grandparents in 1881. James died in 1884, Eliza in 1890 then Margaret in 1891. They're all buried in Tweedmouth Cemetery - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/176292484/margaret-j.-cockburn.
In 1891, Mary was working as a barmaid in the refreshment rooms of the Berwick train station. I haven't confirmed what happened to her after that.
I hope the genealogy bug has bitten you!
Hi Jen, Thanks to your research I went and found their grave on Thursday evening. Very exciting. Hx
Excellent! Very glad I could help.
This is incredible, I had no idea it was possible to get this amount of information. Thank you so much, and for sharing how you did it. The graveyard website is going to be really useful, and guess what, I walk past that grave every day! I know it very well, it is amazing to have it linked to our house and the story of Mary. Thank you!
Oh my goodness, this is gold dust! Thank you.
I want a at time slip too! Discovering the history and stories of your home must be utterly fascinating! I love looking at old photos and paintings from the past. I’m amazed how much information you've managed to gather about your house. And I remember David Copperfield but I was t aware of his birth story.
Thanks for sharing 💛
Hi Susan, Ah a fellow would be time traveller! There’s so much more to learn about this house because it had four house numbers and we have only explored number 41. Today we are going to try to find the graves of the people who lived here, so curious to know more.
How fascinating and intriguing, Helen!
I've not stopped thinking about time slips since that Uncanny episode! I saw someone recommended Ghost Story on Wondery. I've also been enjoying MrBallen's Medical Mysteries on there too. (just don't listen while you're on a snack break). Really enjoying your slices of life Helen, thanks so much :)
Have you listened to the latest Uncanny episode? THAT was a weird one, looking at yourself looking back at you from the past and future! Really creepy! I'm going to listen to MrBallen's Medical Mysteries now, looks fab, thanks for the recommendation!
Yes! Such a strange one that has stuck in my mind and I've told to anyone who would listen (including my 6 and 10 year olds who keep coming back to ask about it!) Gosh, the whole thing of time slips and doppelgängers are absolutely fascinating and mind-blowing aren't they! Glad it's not just me!