{"id":2988,"date":"2026-07-16T13:37:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/?p=2988"},"modified":"2026-07-21T13:30:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:30:29","slug":"once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Once upon a time there was truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1795\" height=\"2415\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth-1.jpg\" alt=\"This image shows a blackout poetry piece with a header reading &quot;Once Upon a Time There Was Truth&quot;, created from a page of Mary Shelley\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d. Select words and phrases have been cut from the page, reordered into a new poetic message, and pasted onto a background image of a black bird. Images of women and stars decorate the page.\" class=\"wp-image-2989\" style=\"width:687px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth-1.jpg 1795w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth-1-223x300.jpg 223w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth-1-761x1024.jpg 761w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth-1-768x1033.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth-1-1142x1536.jpg 1142w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth-1-1522x2048.jpg 1522w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth-1-940x1265.jpg 940w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-truth-1-400x538.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1795px) 100vw, 1795px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>By Natasha Butler-Rahman<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have not seen the gigantic, shadowy form, clothed like the ghost in <em>Hamlet<\/em>,<br>withered like a flower<br>snapped upon the stalk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The phantasm was seen at midnight,<br>lost beneath the shadow of castle walls; but soon<br>reached the moon&#8217;s gloom<br>cradled in fitful beams,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">a skull-headed lady<br>in complete radiance<br>something very shocking and terrible<br>to advance slowly along the avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We will each write a ghost story,&#8221; was heard,<br>just when the creature<br>began to move like a reanimated corpse<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">with shut eyes, but acute mental vision\u2014 I thought and pondered\u2014vainly.<br>images arose in my mind<br>I saw\u2014 the stiff shape of the pale traveller<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I busied myself fashioning imagery<br>to manufacture the machinery of a story<br>infusing life into an inanimate conception of my mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Natasha Butler-Rahman I have not seen the gigantic, shadowy form, clothed like the ghost in Hamlet,withered like a flowersnapped upon the stalk. The phantasm was seen at midnight,lost beneath the shadow of castle walls; but soonreached the moon&#8217;s gloomcradled in fitful beams, a skull-headed ladyin complete radiancesomething very shocking and terribleto advance slowly along&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8216,"featured_media":2987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monstermash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2988"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3242,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988\/revisions\/3242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}