1954 BRIEF CANDLES by Francis Gaite
Jeremy and Sally Latimer are visiting a district of France where two of their forebears were killed in 1870. Their presence activates the ghosts of the long-dead man and woman and a series of phenomena convince the couple that the spirits are trying to pass on a message. It is only when Jeremy and Sally discover the location of a lost family treasurer that peace can be restored.
1954 MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS by Amos Tutuola
A child, who has escaped from slave traders stalking the African bush, finds himself in “The Bush of Ghosts” where he goes through a succession of terrible experiences that prepare him for manhood. Eventually, with the help of a pair of native ghosts, he returns home and there creates “The Secret Society of Ghosts”, dedicated to ending the persecution of his people.
1957 THE STRANGE CASE OF MR PELHAM by Anthony Armstrong
Pelham, an innocuous little book-keeper, becomes increasingly unnerved when friends report seeing him at places he has never visited and with people he has never met. When he is accused of seducing his secretary and orchestrating a series of dubious business deals, Pelham sets about tracking down his “double” and finds “him” to be a spirit of incredible power.
1957 AMOROUS GHOST by Pierre Bessand-Massenet
A young writer, Michel Panouche, is living in an old office building in Paris when he discovers it was once part of a Royal Palace and is haunted by the ghosts of a group of courtesans. One of these, the pretty Rosette, falls in love with him and it takes all the feminine wiles of Panouche’s real-life lover, Annik, to break the spell and free her man.
1958 A STIR OF ECHOES by Richard Matheson
Tom Wallace has lived an ordinary life until the day he is hypnotized by a friend and begins to “hear” the thoughts of everyone around him. His existence becomes a living nightmare when he starts to receive haunting messages from an entity beyond the grave and finds himself compelled to try and solve a crime of almost unthinkable violence.
1959 THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
Arguably the finest ghost novel of the century. Hill House has a reputation for being plagued by spirits and has changed very little since the 1880s. A psychic researcher invites a group of people to stay in the property to test his theories about the manifestations. Messages smeared in blood, bumps in the night and horrifying phenomena crowd one upon another until a finger of suspicion begins to point at one of the guests.
1960 A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE by Peter Beagle
Jonathan Rebeck lives in a tomb in the Bronx where he has learned to see and talk to ghosts. Some of his most interesting conversations are with Michael Morgan, who claims his wife murdered him, and a beautiful young woman named Laura. When the beguiling widow, Mrs Klapper, induces Jonathan to leave the cemetery, he has to first find time for a little matchmaking between his ethereal friends.
1969 THE GREEN MAN by Kingsley Amis
Maurice Allingham, the owner of a medieval coaching inn, finds his life of debauchery and drinking suddenly affected by the malevolent reappearance of the ghost of Dr Thomas Underbill, a notorious 17th-century practitioner of black magic. Driven by curiosity and a desire to save his own sanity, Allingham has to uncover the secret to the doctor’s evil purpose.
1973 BURNT OFFERINGS by Robert Marasco
The Rolfe family from New York are hoping for a happy summer in a beautiful, secluded country mansion with a pool and private beach on Long Island. But it does not take the four people long to realize that the place is haunted by terror and they are plunged into a nightmare from which there seems to be no escape.
1975 JULIA by Peter Straub
Julia Lufting is still mourning the death of her only child and hoping against hope that the future will bring her better luck. Then her nights begin to be haunted by the ghost of a child. Not her own lost infant, apparently, but a quite terrifying little girl, and Julia finds herself driven to discover the unspeakable way in which the youngster died.
1977 SWEETHEART, SWEETHEART by Bernard Taylor
To all intents and purposes Gerrard’s Hill Cottage, deep in the English countryside surrounded by meadows, trees and rose bushes, is an idyllic spot, promising rest and relaxation to anyone who visits. Instead, just beneath the surface, a malevolent female spirit is at large weaving an aura of murder, madness and betrayal around those who cross the threshold.
1977 THE SHINING by Stephen King
Snowbound Overlook Hotel is intended to be a home-away-from home for writer Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy and their son Danny, when Jack accepts the post of janitor for the winter. But their stay turns to madness when ghosts of the past start to come to life and those gifted with the “shining” have to do battle with the darkest evils.
1978 THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR by Anne Rivers Siddons
It seems like such a good idea for Walter and Colquitt Kennedy to buy the piece of land adjoining their house and build their “dream home” on it. But once work begins, mishaps start to occur with wildlife being killed, pets going missing and strange sights in the neighbourhood. The couple’s conviction they may have created a “haunted house” moves rapidly from suspicion to terrifying reality.
1979 GHOST STORY by Peter Straub
There is a secret never mentioned when the five life-long friends in Milburn, NY meet each week as “The Chowder Society” to swap ghost stories. The mystery concerns Eva, a young girl the group accidentally killed in a car and dumped in the local lake when they were teenagers. Now a shape-shifting ghost has begun to haunt all their dreams and kill them one by one unless drastic action is taken.
1982 THE WOMAN IN BLACK by Susan Hill
Arthur Kipps is a junior solicitor in Victorian England who attends the funeral of a client and during the service glimpses a mysterious woman in black. Later in the day, he sees the figure again and also hears the terrifying sounds of an adult and child sinking into a quicksand. To resolve the mystery he has to remain overnight in ancient Eel Marsh House and face the greatest horror of all.
1988 HAUNTED by James Herbert
Ghost hunter David Ash is invited to investigate the hauntings taking place in an old house called Edbrook. Three nights the young man spends in the gloomy property with maleficent and blood-chilling events occurring one after another. On the third night, David has to face the enigma of his own past before the secret of Edbrook itself is revealed.
1991 THE MIST IN THE MIRROR by Susan Hill
Sir James Monmouth is obsessed with the life and career of a mysterious traveller named Conrad Vane whose ghost has been seen about London. Monmouth’s research establishes that Vane was a man of evil deeds involving terrible cruelty to children. Now his curse threatens the lives of all those who become drawn to his legend.
1993 GHOSTS by Noel Hynd
Following two unexplained deaths on sleepy Nantucket Island, a number of ghostly disturbances have started to upset the residents and visitors. Timothy Brooks, a detective assigned to investigate the killings, begins to suspect the ghost may be that of a stage actor killed in the 1920s and the deaths are in some way connected to him. It takes a mixture of sleuthing and “ghost-busting” to solve the mystery.
1994 THE GHOSTS OF SLEATH by James Herbert
A second enquiry for ghost hunter David Ash takes him to the quiet and peaceful village of Sleath in the Chiltern Hills. This calm has been disturbed by reports of ghost sightings and some frighteningly bizarre events. Once again Ash has to confront secrets from his own past on a night of horror when awesome and malignant forces are unleashed on the helpless community.
1994 REVENANT by Melanie Tern
The ghost town of Revant is where spirits congregate: the mother who talks to her dead children, the father with an image of his son before a fatal accident and a girl mourning her phantom aborted baby. But there is also a presence in Revenant, ancient, powerful and hungry waiting to feed on the souls in torment and free more terrifying spirits into the darkness.
; 1996 A FACE AT THE WINDOW by Dennis McFarland
A man who is sober after years of alcohol abuse undergoes a mid-life crisis while staying in a haunted hotel. There he encounters several ghosts: a violent drunken man, an unpleasant small boy and an adolescent girl with a split personality. However, when he becomes engrossed in the details of the girl’s former life he is unaware that he is also endangering his own life and that of his family.
1996 NAZARETH HILL by Ramsey Campbell
Amy is an unhappy teenager whose mother died when she was a child and now lives with her controlling father in newly renovated Nazareth Hill. When she begins to see and hear strange sights and sounds, Amy realizes the secret behind the events lies somewhere in her childhood. Her attempts to discover the truth, however, drive her father increasingly nasty and turn Nazareth Hill into a hell on earth.
1996 THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT by Graham Masterton
Despite the fact that the old mansion, Valhalla, is known to echo with the sounds of terrible sobbing, Craig Bellman is determined to live there. His frightened wife hires a spiritualist to try and rid the place of its fearsome vibrations. But even when death and injury continue to disturb Valhalla, Bellman’s obsession drives him relentlessly towards a terrible conclusion.
1997 FOG HEART by Thomas Tessier
When two couples are haunted by, respectively, the father of one wife and messages from the dead daughter of the other, they consult a powerful young medium named Oona. The four people and their guide have to endure a number of psychic attacks and sadistic disturbances before Oona’s conviction that the four are somehow connected finally enables them to resolve the frightening situation.
1998 BAG OF BONES by Stephen King
Mike Noonan has mourned for his beloved wife Jo for some time when he meets a young widow, Mattié and her daughter, Kyra. He agrees to help them in a custody case being brought by Mattie’s wealthy father-in-law and soon finds himself being haunted by a vengeful ghost. The spirit is that of a black woman gang-raped and forced to witness the murder of her child and it is through her that the custody case is won.
1999 SUSPICION by Barbara Rogan
Ghost story writer Emma Roth hopes that the old Victorian house on the North Shore of Long Island will help her work. Instead, cruel remarks begin appearing on her computer, her manuscript is tampered with and there is every indication the house is haunted. But Emma remains sceptical and begins to wonder whether she is losing her mind or – perhaps – someone very close is trying to destroy her.
2000 MISCHIEF by Douglas Clegg
Harrow Academy is a private boy’s school located in an old haunted mansion. Young Jim Hook is in his first year when the ghost of his brother, recently killed in a car accident with their father, visits him one night with a warning. A secret group of students try to induct Jim into their Cadaver Society and he has a powerful battle to wage against them and the other even more powerful force that inhabits the building before his life can return to normal. Clegg has written two further titles to complete the Harrow Academy series: The Infinite (2001) and Nightmare House (2003).
Endnotes
1 Mr Rogers was wrong, vide “Dombey and Son”, chapter xii.
2 N.B. – Can’t a ghost grip? I say it can.
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD
1. RAISING SPECTRES: The Modern Tradition
“OH WHISTLE, AND I’LL COME TO YOU, MY LAD”
THE HOUSE AT TREHEALE
THE RICHPINS
THE EVERLASTING CLUB
NUMBER SEVENTY-NINE
2. GHOST WRITERS: The “Golden Era”
PLAYING WITH FIRE
THE HOUSE SURGEON
THE GROVE OF ASHTAROTH
A MAN FROM GLASGOW
THE LAST LAUGH
THE VISIT TO THE MUSEUM
3. PHANTOM RANKS: Supernatural at War
THE BOWMEN
THE GHOST OF U65
“VENGEANCE IS MINE”
THE PUNISHMENT
THE HAUNTED CHATEAU
PINK MAY
A GREMLIN IN THE BEER
MONEY FOR JAM
4. THE GHOST-FEELERS: Modern Gothic Tales
THE LADY’S MAID’S BELL
THE DUENNA
CLYTIE
THE POOL
A SPOT OF GOTHIC
5. ENTERTAINING SPOOKS: Supernatural High Jinks
THE INEXPERIENCED GHOST
FULL FATHOM FIVE
THE NIGHT THE GHOST GOT IN
SIR TRISTRAM GOES WEST
WHO OR WHAT WAS IT?
ANOTHER FINE MESS
6. CHRISTMAS SPIRITS: Festive Season Chillers
ONLY A DREAM . . .
THE HAUNTED HOUSE
THE LIGHT IN THE GARDEN
THE PRESCRIPTION
CHRISTMAS HONEYMOON
SOUTH SEA BUBBLE
RINGING IN THE GOOD NEWS
7. HAUNTING TIMES: Tales of Unease
SMOKE GHOST
THE GHOST
THE PARTY
UNDERGROUND
HAUNTED
VIDEO NASTY
MY BEAUTIFUL HOUSE
APPENDIX: A Century of Ghost Novels 1900–2000
The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories Page 73