While CBS comedy “Ghosts” is in humor and innuendo, it’s also steeped in the historical stories of the lively ensemble of spirits who inhabit Woodstone Estate.
There’s Thorfinn, who was a Viking and is the oldest ghost on the estate; Sasappis, who was a member of the Lenape tribe and mixes cynicism, reason and touches of drama and sadness; Hetty Woodstone, the Victorian era self-proclaimed lady of the house; Alberta Haynes, a former prohibition-era jazz singer with joie de vivre, who died after drinking poisonous moonshine; Flower, a charismatic hippie who met her demise when she tried to befriend a bear while she was tripping; Pete Martino, a socially awkward Pinecone Trooper leader who died in 1985 after one of his troop members accidentally shot an arrow into his neck; and Trevor Lefkowitz, a wealthy former Wall Streeter who died from an accidental drug overdose in 2000.
The human embodiment of five ghosts—actors Asher Grodman (who portrays Trevor), Richie Moriarty (Pete), Danielle Pinnock (Alberta), Rebecca Wisocky (Hetty) and and Román Zaragoza (Sasappis)—recently visited the Library of Congress in DC to see historical items the Library specifically curated from its collections from each of their characters’ eras. And by the accounts of all, the experience was deeply moving.
“When we were first told what was going to happen here I was like, ‘There’s been a mistake,’” Grodman said. “But now that I’m here it feels very right because the way we function as a show—all the light and the comedy and the slapstick aside—is that we go back in time to move our story forward. And because of the set of the show, back in time is history, it’s not prequels.”
“I feel feel really grateful to be here, and I think the whole cast feels the same,” said Pinnock, who said the experience was both joyful and heavy. “To have special curated artifacts from those time periods is surreal and emotional. My family were immigrants, we came from Jamaica, and I think one of the only photos I have of my grandmother is her passport photo. And so to have a taste of these artifacts today just filled a childhood need that I am seen and my ancestors are seen too. it was just really special for all of us.”
Zaragoza said he also felt a heaviness seeing the Lenape artifacts. “Our curator talked about what Mannahatta [what we now call Manhattan] looked like right when the Dutch got there, and there was a map 30 years after the Dutch stormed Mannahatta and in another 30 years cities were there. It happened so fast and hearing about how the Muncie were sent to Wisconsin and Canada and a lot of the people I communicated with, the Lenape went to Delaware and Oklahoma, and seeing that dispersement and displacement of that specific group of people made me really think about Sas and how his people were no where near him any more and it was sad.”
Wisocky said she does a lot of reading to stay in tune with her character’s era. “I just love going down rabbit holes, there’s all kinds of books about bizarre fighting clubs in the Victorian era, all kinds of random things,” she said. “I’ve recently been reading a lot about Victorian mourning jewelry. They used to make jewelry out of the hair of loved ones. This was a big thing in the late 1800s.”
Here are some of the artifacts the Library shared with the cast members, from the oldest to the most recent.
Sasappis:
A map of Indigenous Territories of the Hudson River Valley circa 1609, created by cartographer Townsend MacCoun in 1909 and including the original names of the Indigenous groups who lived throughout the region. An account of first contact between the Lenape and Europeans by Giovanni da Verrazzano, who in 1524 embarked on a voyage along the coast North America and kept a log of the voyage, which includes an account of first contact with the Lenape in what would become New York Harbor. And an 1852 reprint of a Van Der Donck’s 1656 map of the New York and New Jersey area, originally made to accompany van der Donck’s book, Description of New Netherland (as it is Today). The map lists the names of Indigenous communities according to where they were living in 1656.
Hetty:
“The Curse of Cocaine is Spreading in New York,” an article in New York Journal, January 1897, that warned upper-class women of the dangers of the rampant popularity of cocaine snuff, using “Society Women Especially, Looking for Stimulant, Yield to Its Insidious Influence, Which Wrecks Mind and Body” as its secondary headline. The Perils of Child Labor, the March 1890 issue of the American Economic Association journal that was devoted to the topic of child labor. And Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s The Women’s Bible, a work of literary criticism analyzing the Bible as literature with an emphasis on passages involving gender and the depiction of women. Stanton was known as the best friend and political companion of Susan B. Anthony.
Alberta:
New York Times December 6, 1933 article “Prohibition Repeal is Ratified,” following the ratification the prior day of the 21st amendment to the U.S. Constitution by the required three-fourths of the states. Utah was the 36th state to make the majority on December 5, officially turning over the prohibition decision to each state. Copyright deposit lead sheet of “Muggles” by Louis Armstrong (1930), recorded by Armstrong and his orchestra in 1928, and sheet music by jazz legends Alberta Hunter and Lovie Austin. And Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf, featuring a description of gangster Dutch Schultz’s involvement in the production of “Hot Chocolates” (1929).
Pete:
1950s comic books, and Dungeons and the Dragons (D & D) game, which was born out of the ‘60s wargame community centered around Lake Geneva, Wisc. A collection of words around the occupation of Travel Counselling, 1981-1985, and notes on geology professor Walter Brownell, who created the first US travel agency to take a group by steamship across the Atlantic on a Swiss geological tour. And the archery issue of the The Boys Scouts of America merit badge pamphlet series (1957), which notes the safety rule, “Never shoot when there is the slightest chance of your arrow hitting someone.”
Trevor:
Wall Street People: True Stories of Today’s Masters and Moguls, the 2001 book that tells the stories of prominent professionals in finance industry who have made a significant impact on the world. The Complete Words of Wall Street: The Professional’s Guide to Investment Literacy, 1991, a resource that provided comprehensive explanations and tools to navigate in the world of finance. And Standard & Poor’s Stock Reports, January 2000.