The Witching Hour

In The Witching Hour, Rice frequently focuses on hauntology, or the feeling of being haunted. Hauntology features prominently in funerals, occult communication with the deceased, and the spirit Lasher. Rowan’s childhood in California did not include the kind of jazz funerals that New Orleans is famous for. When she attends the funeral of her mother, Deirdre, Rowan is moved by how everyone kisses the corpse. When the same Mayfairs kiss her, she thinks that “They kissed the dead people here the way they kissed the living” (715). Both the dead and the living are important—and present—to the residents of New Orleans. During the funeral, Rowan thinks, “The dead are so close they can hear us […] ‘Ah, but you see,’ said the tall white-haired Ryan, as if he’d read her mind, ‘in New Orleans, we never really leave them out’” (672). The dead are considered a part of life. Aaron helps Rowan through her mother’s funeral and attends the funerals of other Mayfair family members. This can be contrasted with Petyr’s fear of cemeteries: “For me, the places of the dead have always held terror” (390). Members of the Mayfair family, and residents of New Orleans, are more comfortable being around the dead than ¹7th century scholars in Amsterdam, as well as ²0th century Californians.