Erick DuPree, PhD, author and cultural anthropologist
Erick DuPree, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and historian of Western esotericism whose research examines the interplay of ritual, identity, and power as articulated through material culture, literary production, and lived practice.
A Victorianist by specialization, thier research highlights how questions of intimacy, power, and embodiment shaped both cultural practice and intellectual life during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Why does the Gothic still haunt us?
From haunted castles and storm-wracked romances to TikTok witches and occult aesthetics, the Gothic has never gone away. In Haunted by the Occult, anthropologist Erick DuPree reveals how Gothic literature became a laboratory for society’s deepest fears—about desire, authority, faith, and the unknown—and why its shadows still resonate today.
Tracing a path from The Castle of Otranto and Frankenstein to Dracula, Carmilla, and beyond, DuPree shows how Gothic fiction drew on occult traditions, from secret societies to séances, and how its symbols—ghosts, vampires, forbidden books—continue to shape modern spiritual imagination.
Blending cultural history, personal reflection, and Pagan practice, this book invites readers to see the Gothic not as mere entertainment but as a ritual text: a guide to shadow-work, initiation, and the persistence of mystery.
Whether you are a lover of Gothic novels, a student of esotericism, or a seeker walking with the sacred in shadow, Haunted by the Occult will open the door—and dare you to step inside.
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Discover Queen Victoria’s mourning gown at Kensington Palace. Explore how her lifelong grief shaped Victorian mourning rituals—black crepe, jet jewelry, and public displays of loss—turning private sorrow into a powerful cultural and political tradition.