Inspired by Appalachian folklore and urban legends from Southwestern PA, West Virginia, and Eastern Ohio, HAUNTED is a blend of history and horror in one 78-card tarot deck with accompanying 94 page guide that includes both meanings & legends.
Pittsburgh sits at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, creating the Ohio. Before and during colonialism, multiple tribes including the Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Osage, and Shawnee people lived and moved through here. As Europeans expanded westward, colonists and enslaved people brought with them their own influences.
The impact of people and their descendants remains. Today this region is still a place where people and things gather and disperse—including stories traveling by word of mouth and rumor. The land here is soaked in dark history, stories, and lore.
This is the energy brought into HAUNTED: A cursed Appalachian Tarot Deck. The cards are a medium to tell stories and are filled with an exhaustive history.
Ghost stories provide a unique lens into history, often reflecting things we don’t want to discuss in the daylight. Shedding light on this history opens up connections with our own humanity.
HAUNTED is for beginner and tarot fanatic alike. Whether it is your first deck or your 50th, you will appreciate the artistry, discover fascinating stories, and enjoy interpreting this creepy tarot. This deck includes an easy to read guide with information about the story in each card and what it means. We are using the fascinating and dark history of this region to inspire this creepy deck. Fans of ghost tales and cryptids will love it! If you are familiar with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck format, this will be similar.
The cards are a communication tool to pull out what you have going on inside—much like journaling or other creative processes. This can lead to endless interpretations of these cards. We worked to include a diversity of perspectives and voices within this deck. Even though history isn't great about recording diverse stories, ghosts and legends have preserved some that we want to highlight.
Here is a link to the resources we used to make HAUNTED. Some of these resources are YouTube videos and others are rare books we have the opportunity to access through our amazing local library.
Genevieve and Sarah have collaborated together for a couple years after meeting through the figure drawing scene here in Pittsburgh. We discovered our mutual love of tarot—Genevieve as an artist and Sarah as a reader. We created a tarot planner together and when Genevieve had the idea for HAUNTED she wanted Sarah to help with research and writing the guide.Genevieve has created four other tarot decks since 2016 including Bridge Witches, a modern Pittsburgh deck; CULT a feminist, queer, goth tarot deck; INFERNO which uses Dante’s divine comedy as inspiration; and Lost River, a deck for divination and play. Check out her website here!Sarah has been reading all of her life. Taught by her mother and her mother's mother, she was very little when she began using her family’s traditions. Growing up, she read for friends, family, and herself. The past life readings that she specializes in today were initially created for a friend and has now grown into her main focus as a reader. By helping others she has learned how tarot helps her organize her thoughts and feelings in a healthy way. View her site here.
