The Haunted Railroad Motif in Gothic Literature



A variant of the haunted technology motif, the haunted railroad story takes one of the most prominent symbols of Victorian technology achievement and challenges it with manifestations of precisely the opposite: the irrational, the unknowable, the unexplainable.

A few examples:

Perceval Landon, "Railhead"
Charles Dickens,, "The Signalman"



"The Haunted Railroad Motif in Gothic Literature."