Summer: Rutgers- Creative Writing; "Things Terrible and Unguessable"
The Program
THINGS TERRIBLE AND UNGUESSABLE: Write Ghost Stories in Haunted England
Eerie inns, cursed castles, wicked woods, grey ladies, black dogs, and red rooms. Plus Dracula Town, The City of 1,000 Ghosts, Jack the Ripper's pub, and the cobbled village where Henry James wrote Turn of the Screw. Explore England's most haunted places, while reading ghost stories by the famous authors who lived there and spinning your own dark yarns inspired by their work.
Substantial tuition scholarships available through the English Department!
Program Location
United Kingdom
Lewes
YORK: Founded by Romans in 71AD, York is a city with a dark past, rife with tales of torture, guts, gore, and ghosts. The International Ghost Research Foundation declared York to be the most haunted city in Europe (some say the world) due its volatile history – Viking invasions, the Norman Conquest, a Civil War – and over 500 recorded hauntings, including "Mad” Alice, the Black Abbot, and highwayman Dick Turpin, who haunts the site of his hanging.
WHITBY: Whitby is a small, windswept coastal town that served as the inspiration for Bram Stoker's famous novel. High above Whitby, and dominating the whole town, stands the ancient Abbey, a most noble ruin. Below it is the St Mary Churchyard, a Gothic cemetery perched on East Cliff, reached by a climb of 199 steps (which figure prominently in the book). Stoker would have climbed the steps and seen how time had gnawed at the stones, some of them teetering precariously on the eroding cliff edge, or standing over empty graves, marking seafaring occupants whose bodies had been lost on distant voyages. It was at the Whitby Public Library that Stoker first learned of the wreck of a Russian cargo vessel and of Vlad Tepes, a 15th-century prince said to have impaled his enemies on wooden stakes, known as Dracula – the ‘son of the dragon’.
LEWES: Lewes is a hilly sixth century Saxon village with half beam bookshops, cobblestoned streets, a dozen pubs, and an imposing Norman castle, all of it split by the River Ouse and wedged between the bone white cliffs of the sweeping South Downs, known for its chalk downland, its haunted heathland, its dark night skies, and the many fables that surround it, from witches and will-o'wisps to King Arthur and the Devil himself. It's also the setting for the Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire.
Students will also visit Brighton, London, and Rye.
Academics
We'll start with a train journey to "Haunted York," which claims to have a ghost on every street, home to the Shambles (said to be the inspiration for Harry Potter's Diagon Alley). Then it's up to Whitby for two nights (the town that inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula), to visit the pirate graveyard and the looming clifftop ruin of Whitby Abbey (as well as "Jacob's Ladder," the 199 steps that lead to it, up which bounded Dracula himself, disguised as a big black dog). Then it's down to Essex for ten days, where we'll write/workshop in the cafe's and pubs of Lewes, a hilly sixth century Saxon village with half beam bookshops, medieval streets, and an imposing Norman castle, all wedged between the bone white cliffs of the dreamy South Downs, With day trips to the highly haunted Arundel Castle, the Ten Bells Pub, and the Mermaid Inn (known as "the most haunted hotel in England," with its sliding wall panels, secret passageways, and priest holes). Plus an intimate sea shanty "concert" by the Wellington Wailers at a haunted 200-year-old bayside pub ('Twas then I spied off the starboard side, a strange mysterious sight; I froze with fear as it drifted near like a ghost in the dark of night."), Sherlock Holmes' retirement cottage, a ghost walk of the Lanes (Brighton's historic haunted quarter), the Long Man of Wilmington (which Neil Gaiman interpreted as the guardian of the gate to Faerie in his Sandman series), Rudyard Kipling's sprawling lichen-covered manse (with its witch marks and hag stones), and Monk's House, where Virginia Woolf lived, wrote, and ultimately drowned herself by filling her pockets with stones and jumping into the nearby River Ouse. And so much more! ““He was there or was not there: not there if I didn't see him.” Henry James, The Turn of the Screw.
Note: "Things terrible and unguessable" is a phrase from Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
Listen to Aimee Labrie interview 2 former students about their experience in Lewes on the Writers House Podcast!
The Terrible and Unguessable blogspot page will include the latest information and itinerary. Check it often for updates.
For information about study abroad credit transfer, registration, and transcripts please visit the Academics section of our website.
Housing and Meals
Students will stay in shared rooms at the Premier Inn located in Lewes. A full English breakfast is included each morning. Students are responsible for lunch and dinner, typically at local restaurants, including two group meals at the Ram Inn and Bateman’s.
Financial Information
Program Costs
| NJ Resident | non-NJ Resident | |
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate | $4,390 | $4,700 |
| Graduate | $4,580 | $4,880 |
| *English Majors are eligible for a $1000 scholarship to lower the cost of the program. Details below. |
Program Cost includes:
• Tuition
• Housing
• Some meals
• Excursions
• Administrative Fees
• Emergency Medical Access Abroad
Out-of-Pocket Costs
| Airfare | $1,200 |
| Meals | $500 |
| ETA application | $20 |
| Books and Classroom Materials | $50 |
| Personal Expenses | $300 |
| Total | $2,070.00 |
Out-of-Pocket Cost includes:
The above costs are estimations and represent the known out-of-pocket costs students encounter during their time abroad.
Some of these expenses will be paid for prior to going abroad, such as an airline ticket, while some of these expenses, such as meals, will be paid in-country as part of your daily expenses. As you plan, you will need to budget these costs and spend wisely throughout your time abroad.
Scholarships
People
Alex Dawson is full time faculty at Rutgers University, where he teaches creative writing courses geared towards fantasy, folklore, and weird fiction and curates/hosts "Inside the Writers House," a weekly video chat with authors from all over the world. He also helms a fantasy fiction winter workshop/retreat in Ireland and Scotland with authors Dave Rudden (12 Angels Weeping) and Lev Grossman (The Magicians)
Aimee LaBrie’s short story collection, Wonderful Girl, was chosen as the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction and published by the University of North Texas Press. Her stories have appeared in Pleiades, Beloit Fiction Journal, Cleaver Magazine, Iron Horse Literary Review, The Minnesota Review, Permafrost, and other literary journals. In 2012, she won first place in Zoetrope’s All-Story Fiction contest. Aimee lives in Princeton, NJ and works as a lecturer and senior program administrator for creative writing at Rutgers University.
This was my first time leaving the country without my family. It was funny how all the initial excitement I had about embarking on this new journey turned into angst as my departure date got closer. The thought of being 3,500+ miles away from home sounded daunting, but once I met everyone and saw how passionate they were about creative writing and the whole experience, I immediately felt at ease.
The professors were amazing and served as guides throughout our experience. Both Alex and Kate (yes, we called our professors by their first names) were enthusiastic about making our South Downers experience a rich, enlightening and engaging experience. Most days began with a group hike in the fresh air of the Lewes, followed by some sort of exploration, and then ended with us sharing our writing inventions as a group with each other. It was so much fun!
Engaging with people abroad and traveling the towns of the countryside, as well as London allowed me to expand my Western perspective. It was huge to me as a creative to walk the same paths and places as writers of the past were as I authored new works. I enjoyed our tours of Victoria Wolfe’s home, as well as Ruyard Kipling’s place, traversing the hilly topography of the South Downs, and venturing to the markets, and bookshops. I indulged in afternoon tea and cakes, visited coffee houses, and even sang a shanty at a local pub (a true first for me). Attending the Shakespearean Globe Theatre was truly something I will never forget. Important side note – if you stand in the audience you’ll be able to interact with the actors!
All in all this was the perfect study abroad experience for me. The absence of a language barrier, friendliness of everyone and manageable workload of the course all contributed to my positive endeavor. If you are considering studying abroad, do it! It will truly be an enriching adventure!
"Two of my favorite moments of the trip were visiting Brighton and hiking the Seven Sisters. I had been most excited about visiting London, but I ended up loving Brighton a lot more. It was such a colorful and welcoming city. On our last weekend, we hiked the Seven Sisters at Seaford which are seven chalk cliffs overlooking the English Channel. The sun-bleached cliffs against the different blue hues of the sea and the greenery from the fields were the most beautiful sight I have ever seen."