We like to believe that tales of haunting were the product of gullible and overwrought Victorian imaginations, that we are too sensible, too intelligent for such fancies. And it is certainly true that stories of visitations from the dead have decreased in the Information Age. But it is equally true that the noise of culture has increased.
The dead are not loud. Our ancestors noticed the sudden, minute changes in temperature, the small objects out of place, the shifting play of impossible shadows. We, occupied with earbuds and smartphones and two jobs before dinner, ignore such clues. We are consumed by busyness.
The dead are not busy. And we ignore them at our peril.