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The English Ghost: Spectres Through Time
An enormously enjoyable spooky collection of ghost-sightings over the centuries, full of the spirit of place, in true Ackroyd style.
The English, Peter Ackroyd tells us in this fascinating collection, see more ghosts than any other nation. Each region has its own particular spirits, from the Celtic ghosts of Cornwall to the dobies and boggarts of the north. Some speak and some are silent, some smell of old leather, others of fragrant thyme. From medieval times to today stories have been told and apparitions seen -- ghosts who avenge injustice, souls who long for peace, spooks who just want to have fun.
The English Ghost is a treasury of such sightings which we can believe or not, as we will. The accounts, packed with eerie detail, range from the door-slamming, shrieking ghost of Hinton Manor in the 1760s and the moaning child that terrified Wordsworth's nephew at Cambridge, to the headless bear of Kidderminster, the violent daemon of Devon who tried to strangle a man with his cravat and the modern-day hitchhikers on Bluebell Hill. Comical and scary, like all good ghost stories, these curious incidents also plumb the depths of the English psyche in its yearnings for justice, freedom and love.
The English, Peter Ackroyd tells us in this fascinating collection, see more ghosts than any other nation. Each region has its own particular spirits, from the Celtic ghosts of Cornwall to the dobies and boggarts of the north. Some speak and some are silent, some smell of old leather, others of fragrant thyme. From medieval times to today stories have been told and apparitions seen -- ghosts who avenge injustice, souls who long for peace, spooks who just want to have fun.
The English Ghost is a treasury of such sightings which we can believe or not, as we will. The accounts, packed with eerie detail, range from the door-slamming, shrieking ghost of Hinton Manor in the 1760s and the moaning child that terrified Wordsworth's nephew at Cambridge, to the headless bear of Kidderminster, the violent daemon of Devon who tried to strangle a man with his cravat and the modern-day hitchhikers on Bluebell Hill. Comical and scary, like all good ghost stories, these curious incidents also plumb the depths of the English psyche in its yearnings for justice, freedom and love.
276 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 2010
About the author
Peter Ackroyd
181 books1,392 followersPeter Ackroyd CBE is an English novelist and biographer with a particular interest in the history and culture of London.
Peter Ackroyd's mother worked in the personnel department of an engineering firm, his father having left the family home when Ackroyd was a baby. He was reading newspapers by the age of 5 and, at 9, wrote a play about Guy Fawkes. Reputedly, he first realized he was gay at the age of 7.
Ackroyd was educated at St. Benedict's, Ealing and at Clare College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with a double first in English. In 1972, he was a Mellon Fellow at Yale University in the United States. The result of this fellowship was Ackroyd's Notes for a New Culture, written when he was only 22 and eventually published in 1976. The title, a playful echo of T. S. Eliot's Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948), was an early indication of Ackroyd's penchant for creatively exploring and reexamining the works of other London-based writers.
Ackroyd's literary career began with poetry, including such works as London Lickpenny (1973) and The Diversions of Purley (1987). He later moved into fiction and has become an acclaimed author, winning the 1998 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the biography Thomas More and being shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987.
Ackroyd worked at The Spectator magazine between 1973 and 1977 and became joint managing editor in 1978. In 1982 he published The Great Fire of London, his first novel. This novel deals with one of Ackroyd's great heroes, Charles Dickens, and is a reworking of Little Dorrit. The novel set the stage for the long sequence of novels Ackroyd has produced since, all of which deal in some way with the complex interaction of time and space, and what Ackroyd calls "the spirit of place". It is also the first in a sequence of novels of London, through which he traces the changing, but curiously consistent nature of the city. Often this theme is explored through the city's artists, and especially its writers.
Ackroyd has always shown a great interest in the city of London, and one of his best known works, London: The Biography, is an extensive and thorough discussion of London through the ages.
His fascination with London literary and artistic figures is also displayed in the sequence of biographies he has produced of Ezra Pound (1980), T. S. Eliot (1984), Charles Dickens (1990), William Blake (1995), Thomas More (1998), Chaucer (2004), William Shakespeare (2005), and J. M. W. Turner. The city itself stands astride all these works, as it does in the fiction.
From 2003 to 2005, Ackroyd wrote a six-book non-fiction series (Voyages Through Time), intended for readers as young as eight. This was his first work for children. The critically acclaimed series is an extensive narrative of key periods in world history.
Early in his career, Ackroyd was nominated a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and, as well as producing fiction, biography and other literary works, is also a regular radio and television broadcaster and book critic.
In the New Year's honours list of 2003, Ackroyd was awarded the CBE.
Peter Ackroyd's mother worked in the personnel department of an engineering firm, his father having left the family home when Ackroyd was a baby. He was reading newspapers by the age of 5 and, at 9, wrote a play about Guy Fawkes. Reputedly, he first realized he was gay at the age of 7.
Ackroyd was educated at St. Benedict's, Ealing and at Clare College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with a double first in English. In 1972, he was a Mellon Fellow at Yale University in the United States. The result of this fellowship was Ackroyd's Notes for a New Culture, written when he was only 22 and eventually published in 1976. The title, a playful echo of T. S. Eliot's Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948), was an early indication of Ackroyd's penchant for creatively exploring and reexamining the works of other London-based writers.
Ackroyd's literary career began with poetry, including such works as London Lickpenny (1973) and The Diversions of Purley (1987). He later moved into fiction and has become an acclaimed author, winning the 1998 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the biography Thomas More and being shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987.
Ackroyd worked at The Spectator magazine between 1973 and 1977 and became joint managing editor in 1978. In 1982 he published The Great Fire of London, his first novel. This novel deals with one of Ackroyd's great heroes, Charles Dickens, and is a reworking of Little Dorrit. The novel set the stage for the long sequence of novels Ackroyd has produced since, all of which deal in some way with the complex interaction of time and space, and what Ackroyd calls "the spirit of place". It is also the first in a sequence of novels of London, through which he traces the changing, but curiously consistent nature of the city. Often this theme is explored through the city's artists, and especially its writers.
Ackroyd has always shown a great interest in the city of London, and one of his best known works, London: The Biography, is an extensive and thorough discussion of London through the ages.
His fascination with London literary and artistic figures is also displayed in the sequence of biographies he has produced of Ezra Pound (1980), T. S. Eliot (1984), Charles Dickens (1990), William Blake (1995), Thomas More (1998), Chaucer (2004), William Shakespeare (2005), and J. M. W. Turner. The city itself stands astride all these works, as it does in the fiction.
From 2003 to 2005, Ackroyd wrote a six-book non-fiction series (Voyages Through Time), intended for readers as young as eight. This was his first work for children. The critically acclaimed series is an extensive narrative of key periods in world history.
Early in his career, Ackroyd was nominated a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and, as well as producing fiction, biography and other literary works, is also a regular radio and television broadcaster and book critic.
In the New Year's honours list of 2003, Ackroyd was awarded the CBE.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
March 25, 2011
I enjoyed this book but found it inconclusive. Peter Ackroyd is known for his focus on the nature of the English (as in, for instance, another book of his on the English imagination). His contention here is that "seeing ghosts" is something the English seem to do more than any other nationality - a thesis he sets out in the first section of the book. The deduction from this would appear to be that seeing ghosts is essentially a phenomenon of the psyche, with no objective reality, and may be understood in such terms. Many of the English ghost stories in the book, however, feature different people independently having the same experience in the same place over a number of years, e.g. the A38 story in which motorists encounter the man in the grey mackintosh flashing his torch into the road, and the repeated appearances of the girl on Bluebell Hill whom many motorists swerve to avoid, and then find her to have no substance. The twentieth century stories had greater interest for me than those which were related in the sixteenth century - partly because of the verbose language in which the narrators express themselves. Ultimately I was left wishing for some kind of analysis and summing up by Peter Ackroyd but this was lacking. Later on I had a conversation about this book with the assistant in my local bookshop, and she said she believes that supernatural experiences are not monopolised by the English at all, but it may simply be that other races take it so much more for granted that they don't make an issue of reporting "sightings". An intriguing book for ghost story fans, and for those who have themselves had supernatural experiences.
June 25, 2017
An interesting look at English ghosts. Most of the stories date from the 17th century and I hadn't seen any of them before, which made for quite a treat.
Of course the usual ones were there: Borley Rectory, the Enfield Poltergeist, but the fact the majority of spectres were not known to me was a major bonus.
Recommended for anyone interesting in the history and evolution of the English ghost.
Of course the usual ones were there: Borley Rectory, the Enfield Poltergeist, but the fact the majority of spectres were not known to me was a major bonus.
Recommended for anyone interesting in the history and evolution of the English ghost.
December 24, 2016
В этом сборнике интерес представляет только предисловие - об отношении англичан к духам, об истоках их веры в привидений, берущей начало у кельтов; о распрастраненности разных поверий и их многообразии. Так, в английском языке около 200 слов, обозначающих духов - это и известные нам хоббиты, и боггарты, и добби, и многие другие.
А вот дальше начинается скучища - винегрет из разных историй, свидетельств очевидцев, ставших жертвами буйных духов, полтергейстов, или просто каких-то непонятных шумов и стуков, наполнявших их дом. Это могут быть просто какие-то мутные явления дам в темных платьях, или видение только что умершего родственника, или повторяющийся шелест шелкового платья в вашей спальне. Истории эти все старые, собранные автором из газет, писем, дневников, и уже издававшихся сборниках о привидениях. Своего комментария автор, как правило, не дает, и в итоге читать это не интересно от слова СОВСЕМ.
Вообще не вижу смысла в подобном издании.
А вот дальше начинается скучища - винегрет из разных историй, свидетельств очевидцев, ставших жертвами буйных духов, полтергейстов, или просто каких-то непонятных шумов и стуков, наполнявших их дом. Это могут быть просто какие-то мутные явления дам в темных платьях, или видение только что умершего родственника, или повторяющийся шелест шелкового платья в вашей спальне. Истории эти все старые, собранные автором из газет, писем, дневников, и уже издававшихся сборниках о привидениях. Своего комментария автор, как правило, не дает, и в итоге читать это не интересно от слова СОВСЕМ.
Вообще не вижу смысла в подобном издании.
December 10, 2016
According to Ackroyd, we English see more ghosts than any other nation. I'm not sure how true that is but it probably ties in with our long tradition of oral history and storytelling. This book brings together a bunch of stories of sightings, etc, of phantoms through the centuries. Interesting to see how similar a lot of the stories are.
March 3, 2019
This one looked to me like it would be a great read for Halloween, but I just could not wait until then.
August 16, 2011
The introduction starts of very interesting and last about 12 pages if i remember correctly. Then every story is roughly between 2 and 5 pages long, most of which are very similar. I'm sure there are better real life ghost encounter books out there.
September 4, 2016
2,5
Wanted to read this book for a long time. Love the cover and the idea of collecting real ghost stories. But most of them were extremly short and not well written. I enjoyed maybe 5 of the stories the rest bored the hell out of me. What a dissapointment.
Wanted to read this book for a long time. Love the cover and the idea of collecting real ghost stories. But most of them were extremly short and not well written. I enjoyed maybe 5 of the stories the rest bored the hell out of me. What a dissapointment.
July 31, 2021
Peter Ackroyd'u Bir Zamanlar Shakespeare'den tanıyordum. İngiliz edebiyatı üzerine yaptığı araştırmalar takdire şayan. Bu sefer zaten tamamen araştırmacı yanını görüyoruz. Çünkü İngiliz Hayalet'te, 16. yüzyıldan itibaren gazetelerde yer alan, arkadaş arasında anlatılan, mektuplaşılan hayalet hikayelerini derlemiş Ackroyd.
Hepimiz biliyoruz ki hayalet hikayelerini dinlemek -korkuyor olsak bile- çok eğlenceli. Bu kitabı okumak da aynı şekilde. Fakat hikayelerin ana unsurlarının (gece, ölü bir komşu vb.) aynı olması sebebiyle hikayeleri peş peşe okumak benim için okumayı bir süre sonra çok tekdüze hale getirdi. Dolayısıyla başka kitaplar okurken arada açıp birkaç hikaye okudum. Bu şekilde okumanın daha keyif verici olduğunu da düşünüyorum.
Yapılan araştırma büyük emeklerle dolu. Gotik edebiyatın neden İngiltere'de başladığını da gözler önüne serer nitelikte. Keza herkesin hayatında hayalet gördüğü bir dönem var neredeyse orada. Birbirlerinden etkilendikleri, bir ev sahibi, bir komşu ölünce evham yaptıkları belli. Belki çoğunun bir açıklaması dahi var. Ama belki hepsi gerçek.
Hepimiz biliyoruz ki hayalet hikayelerini dinlemek -korkuyor olsak bile- çok eğlenceli. Bu kitabı okumak da aynı şekilde. Fakat hikayelerin ana unsurlarının (gece, ölü bir komşu vb.) aynı olması sebebiyle hikayeleri peş peşe okumak benim için okumayı bir süre sonra çok tekdüze hale getirdi. Dolayısıyla başka kitaplar okurken arada açıp birkaç hikaye okudum. Bu şekilde okumanın daha keyif verici olduğunu da düşünüyorum.
Yapılan araştırma büyük emeklerle dolu. Gotik edebiyatın neden İngiltere'de başladığını da gözler önüne serer nitelikte. Keza herkesin hayatında hayalet gördüğü bir dönem var neredeyse orada. Birbirlerinden etkilendikleri, bir ev sahibi, bir komşu ölünce evham yaptıkları belli. Belki çoğunun bir açıklaması dahi var. Ama belki hepsi gerçek.
December 16, 2010
This is a short and enjoyable collection of diary entries, newspaper clippings, anecdotes and oral stories revolving around ghost sightings in England. The English are, apparently, the people who most see hauntings and Ackroyd goes some way to explain this in his introduction. Still, I wish there was more meat to these bones: many of the anecdotes deserved some commentary or notes, and quite a few didn't really stand out. Some of the sightings are clearly from people with a strong imagination. Others are hard to explain away, especially the ones with more than two witnesses.
Ghost sightings are in decline and this collection made me wonder if our increasily atomised lifestyle has something to do with it. Can you really notice a ghost if you are so caught up with your Nintendo DS or iPod? Another thing that struck me about the very old sightings was that people seemed to be hearing ghosts from the future instead of the past (i.e. the sound of a crowd trampling through a Victorian sitting room reminded me of a group of tourists which would visit that sort of house a few centuries later.) My favourite anecdotes in this collection: a woman who becomes unnerved by a young man who shares her train carriage and the poor bastard who is chased by a figure in black that then proceeds to scratch hay bails.
Ghost sightings are in decline and this collection made me wonder if our increasily atomised lifestyle has something to do with it. Can you really notice a ghost if you are so caught up with your Nintendo DS or iPod? Another thing that struck me about the very old sightings was that people seemed to be hearing ghosts from the future instead of the past (i.e. the sound of a crowd trampling through a Victorian sitting room reminded me of a group of tourists which would visit that sort of house a few centuries later.) My favourite anecdotes in this collection: a woman who becomes unnerved by a young man who shares her train carriage and the poor bastard who is chased by a figure in black that then proceeds to scratch hay bails.
October 19, 2018
Найбільше мені сподобалася передмова. Хоча стежити за тим як із часом, змінювався характер історій про привидів, розказаних очевидцями, тежбуло б цікаво. Якби я шукала сюжетів для власних оповідань чи для проведення хронів WoD у лінійці привидів, або вивчала тему, вона моглаб стати у нагоді, але як хеловінське читання для настрою була не найкращим вибором
p.s. історія дому священника на яку постійно посилається професор з "привида дому на пагорбі" ширлі джексон тут описана дость детально
p.s. історія дому священника на яку постійно посилається професор з "привида дому на пагорбі" ширлі джексон тут описана дость детально
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March 21, 2021yarım bıraktım. harika bir giriş ile başlamasına rağmen kitabın geneli birkaç sayfalık hayalet hikayelerinden, hayalet gördüğünü söyleyen insanların raporlarından oluşuyor. hayaletlere gerçekten ilgi duyan insanlar için ilginç olabilir ancak ben hiçbir sonuca varmayan bu kısa hayalet hikayelerinden herhangi bir zevk almadım. devam etmem anlamsız ve zaman kaybı olurdu.
November 21, 2012
Ordered this after getting Ackroyd's London book, but can't help but start this first as it's shorter. It's still a sort of Halloweenishly seasonal read. (Some of us wish the holiday were a lot longer.)
Meanwhile I must find out who designed the cover - I love the old fashioned layout and artwork, especially on the back at the bottom where there's a procession of people wearing robes and carrying their decapitated heads. [Ah ha: Jacket illustrations - Mary Evans Picture Library, Design by Stephen Parker] I also have to add that I'm happy to have a used book as in the inside it has stamps for Hampton Hill Library and London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Libraries.
...And now it's later, and farther into the book. So this is a collection of accounts of people seeing/experiencing ghosts, taken from magazine articles, books, letters, etc., mostly. It reminds me of the glut of books in the 1970s that were all the rage with us kids - oooo, stories of real ghosts! Except that such stories read much more like collected oral folklore - it's not a narrative with fleshed out characters, with reasons for why people are haunted and who the ghosts are and how everyone feels about the experience. In fact if you read a lot of these accounts they are actually fairly dull, because the setup is mainly "X person is very respectable, X saw this ghost, ghost appearance looked like this, and there were these witnesses." There might, just might, be one sentence or two as to who the ghost is - but not always. Because the only thing of importance in these accounts is Something Was Seen - not what or who or why it matters or what it means.
It you read collections of folklore scholarship this will feel very familiar. In the 1970s the True Ghost Stories were a lot less scholarly in that there was always a "this is who the ghost is and why it's haunting" (trying to make it all very factual and as though every fact was known and understood) - which actually seemed a lot less reality based than people admitting that they saw something but have no idea who/what it is. (Commenting on the logic there, not the reality of ghosts. I'm with the M. R. James school of "hmmm, I note that the guy who loudly proclaims there is no such thing meets up with nasty things in the nighttime, so perhaps I'll not make any sweeping statements." Hey, you never know when you'll end up a character in a ghost story, right?)
Reading this particular segment has had me laughing a lot:
Another quote:
Which immediately reminded me of an essay in A Pleasing Terror, a collection of M. R. James's stories and essays about his work. It too mentioned "a road in Crowborough (Sussex) was haunted by a spectral bag of soot which chased people." And that's the sort of mental image that sticks with you (and honestly, makes me laugh quite a bit). [Note: both refer to the same book by Briggs.]
Because of the way the citations are a bit fuzzy you'll come upon a paragraph/sentence like this:
And from that you're not really clear on whether that's the statement of Reverend Higgs from the paragraph before, or whether this is the author. And it's possible that the author may be favoring the "no one knows what happened" frame over any other interpretation. I say this because of the chapter on Borley Rectory.
I've been reading about Borley Rectory since those "true ghost story" books of the 70s - it's still listed in almost every book of the sort. Except what the story often leaves out is Harry Price, and Price's background and motivations and showmanship have a lot to do with what we hear about Borley today. (See chapter on Price in this book.) Here's the first paragraph of the chapter in this book:
And that's really all you'll get here - just the story. There's nothing more about the chicanery or what was unreliable. I do note that some of the more fuzzy parts of the Borley legend that came from Price seem to be omitted here. But then isn't that part of the story now too? Also if we can take the older parts (pre-Price) of the Borley story as true why leave out the Price parts? We have just as little ability to say that the old stories are "real" and "what actually occurred."
The problem with most older ghost stories is that they focus a great deal on the part that "thing X was seen by a reputable person who would never lie and thus thing X was real." This, as most of us know, is not really good logic. Perfectly nice, truthful people can see something and then make assumptions about it that later prove incorrect. Clergymen and ladies, for instance, do not always tell the truth. There have been a lot of seemingly reputable people who enjoy hoaxes or pranks. This is a problem with any and all ghost stories, really, if your main fixation is on proving that there's a ghost rather than just enjoying a spooky narrative.
What I really miss in this book is the author's voice - giving more description about the sources of the accounts, how he researched and discovered the material, and why he chose the particular stories he did from among the large amount of such stories. There's a sentence or two here and there that gives a hint or a clue, but it's not enough. There's a bibliography, but it's not always clear which stories come from which source.
This review uses the best term for what this feels like - a scrapbook. I'm just sad that it's a scrapbook where the author didn't comment more on the choices that were made. Seems like a wasted opportunity, especially since there's a good representation of stories from many periods of history.
Meanwhile I must find out who designed the cover - I love the old fashioned layout and artwork, especially on the back at the bottom where there's a procession of people wearing robes and carrying their decapitated heads. [Ah ha: Jacket illustrations - Mary Evans Picture Library, Design by Stephen Parker] I also have to add that I'm happy to have a used book as in the inside it has stamps for Hampton Hill Library and London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Libraries.
...And now it's later, and farther into the book. So this is a collection of accounts of people seeing/experiencing ghosts, taken from magazine articles, books, letters, etc., mostly. It reminds me of the glut of books in the 1970s that were all the rage with us kids - oooo, stories of real ghosts! Except that such stories read much more like collected oral folklore - it's not a narrative with fleshed out characters, with reasons for why people are haunted and who the ghosts are and how everyone feels about the experience. In fact if you read a lot of these accounts they are actually fairly dull, because the setup is mainly "X person is very respectable, X saw this ghost, ghost appearance looked like this, and there were these witnesses." There might, just might, be one sentence or two as to who the ghost is - but not always. Because the only thing of importance in these accounts is Something Was Seen - not what or who or why it matters or what it means.
It you read collections of folklore scholarship this will feel very familiar. In the 1970s the True Ghost Stories were a lot less scholarly in that there was always a "this is who the ghost is and why it's haunting" (trying to make it all very factual and as though every fact was known and understood) - which actually seemed a lot less reality based than people admitting that they saw something but have no idea who/what it is. (Commenting on the logic there, not the reality of ghosts. I'm with the M. R. James school of "hmmm, I note that the guy who loudly proclaims there is no such thing meets up with nasty things in the nighttime, so perhaps I'll not make any sweeping statements." Hey, you never know when you'll end up a character in a ghost story, right?)
Reading this particular segment has had me laughing a lot:
p. 95, from a pamphlet published in 1683, "...At another time one of his shoestrings was observed (without assistance of any hand) to come of its own accord out of its shoe and fling itself to the other side of the room; the other was crawling after it, but a maid espying that, with her hand drew it out, and it strangely clasp'd and curl'd about her hand like a living eel or serpent; this is testified by a lady of considerable quality, too great for exception, who was an eyewitness.
...Many other strange and fantastical frieks (sic) have been done by the said daemon or spirit in the view of divers persons; a barrel of salt of considerable quantity hath been observed to march from room to room without any human assistance."
Another quote:
p. 111, from Katharine M. Briggs' The Folklore of the Cotswolds (1974) - "...In Crowborough, Sussex, there was Jarvis Brook Road; it was known, or believed, to harbour the presence of a 'spectral bag of soot' that would pursue the unwary."
Which immediately reminded me of an essay in A Pleasing Terror, a collection of M. R. James's stories and essays about his work. It too mentioned "a road in Crowborough (Sussex) was haunted by a spectral bag of soot which chased people." And that's the sort of mental image that sticks with you (and honestly, makes me laugh quite a bit). [Note: both refer to the same book by Briggs.]
Because of the way the citations are a bit fuzzy you'll come upon a paragraph/sentence like this:
p. 188 "There has been no convincing explanation for the events here related."
And from that you're not really clear on whether that's the statement of Reverend Higgs from the paragraph before, or whether this is the author. And it's possible that the author may be favoring the "no one knows what happened" frame over any other interpretation. I say this because of the chapter on Borley Rectory.
I've been reading about Borley Rectory since those "true ghost story" books of the 70s - it's still listed in almost every book of the sort. Except what the story often leaves out is Harry Price, and Price's background and motivations and showmanship have a lot to do with what we hear about Borley today. (See chapter on Price in this book.) Here's the first paragraph of the chapter in this book:
p. 153 "For many years Borley Rectory had the reputation of being 'the most haunted house in England.' It has been the subject of several books and of innumerable articles, none of which can be said to be conclusive. The general conclusion seems to be that the evidence is contrary and unreliable, and that some of the supposed events were the products of fraud or chicanery. It provides, at least, an interesting story."
And that's really all you'll get here - just the story. There's nothing more about the chicanery or what was unreliable. I do note that some of the more fuzzy parts of the Borley legend that came from Price seem to be omitted here. But then isn't that part of the story now too? Also if we can take the older parts (pre-Price) of the Borley story as true why leave out the Price parts? We have just as little ability to say that the old stories are "real" and "what actually occurred."
The problem with most older ghost stories is that they focus a great deal on the part that "thing X was seen by a reputable person who would never lie and thus thing X was real." This, as most of us know, is not really good logic. Perfectly nice, truthful people can see something and then make assumptions about it that later prove incorrect. Clergymen and ladies, for instance, do not always tell the truth. There have been a lot of seemingly reputable people who enjoy hoaxes or pranks. This is a problem with any and all ghost stories, really, if your main fixation is on proving that there's a ghost rather than just enjoying a spooky narrative.
What I really miss in this book is the author's voice - giving more description about the sources of the accounts, how he researched and discovered the material, and why he chose the particular stories he did from among the large amount of such stories. There's a sentence or two here and there that gives a hint or a clue, but it's not enough. There's a bibliography, but it's not always clear which stories come from which source.
This review uses the best term for what this feels like - a scrapbook. I'm just sad that it's a scrapbook where the author didn't comment more on the choices that were made. Seems like a wasted opportunity, especially since there's a good representation of stories from many periods of history.
June 26, 2023
Solid three stars. This is a fun little book, filled with the kind of ghost stories you're probably imagining: the old-fashioned, Christmas-around-the-Victorian-fireplace kind. The stories are presented with no analysis, the reader being left to decide for themselves. There's brief contextual information about the history of the English ghost in the Introduction, and the only time the author intrudes on the stories themselves is when he's providing additional information, such as brief follow-ups or conclusions. It's definitely the kind of book to read when the weather's bad (in fact, that was the deciding factor as to why I chose this one next -- very atmospheric to read it with a rainstorm blowing a gale outside) and for somebody less well-versed in ghost stories as I am, it'll probably provide some scares. I didn't think there was anything overly frightening in here, but I am aware I'm a little bit of an outlier when it comes to paranormal experiences. Despite this, it was fun to read, definitely had good atmosphere, and did make me wonder at some of the strange noises in the house.
My one major criticism is that despite this allegedly being about ghosts through time, there's few modern accounts in here. One or two from the 60s or 70s, but the majority are from the 1600-1800s. Nothing wrong with ghost stories from this era, of course -- they have a brilliant vibe to them -- but I would have enjoyed seeing more of an even balance. With the internet now available, it's become easier than ever to collect and survey paranormal experiences; whereas back in the days where this book focuses, people would write their accounts as letters or to newspaper editors, these days we do the same thing but online. There's a huge amount of potential to be tapped here, and it's never been easier to compare ghost stories. Perhaps there's some concern over how such stories can be verified, but I doubt it would be any more difficult for an author to assess an internet story than it would be for him to assess a letter to the editor from 1642 or similar. In fact, it would be even easier to talk to the person first-hand now, by which I mean possible in the first place without the aid of a Ouija board.
Still, this is good fun. The atmosphere is brilliant, and I'd definitely recommend it for some decent reading as the days begin to get longer. I have to remember I've been around the block when it comes to ghost stories. No doubt there are some in here that would provide the expected scares to those less used to it.
My one major criticism is that despite this allegedly being about ghosts through time, there's few modern accounts in here. One or two from the 60s or 70s, but the majority are from the 1600-1800s. Nothing wrong with ghost stories from this era, of course -- they have a brilliant vibe to them -- but I would have enjoyed seeing more of an even balance. With the internet now available, it's become easier than ever to collect and survey paranormal experiences; whereas back in the days where this book focuses, people would write their accounts as letters or to newspaper editors, these days we do the same thing but online. There's a huge amount of potential to be tapped here, and it's never been easier to compare ghost stories. Perhaps there's some concern over how such stories can be verified, but I doubt it would be any more difficult for an author to assess an internet story than it would be for him to assess a letter to the editor from 1642 or similar. In fact, it would be even easier to talk to the person first-hand now, by which I mean possible in the first place without the aid of a Ouija board.
Still, this is good fun. The atmosphere is brilliant, and I'd definitely recommend it for some decent reading as the days begin to get longer. I have to remember I've been around the block when it comes to ghost stories. No doubt there are some in here that would provide the expected scares to those less used to it.
January 5, 2023
My beloved Peter Ackroyd went to libraries again, rummaged through archives and compiled an excellent collection of letters, newspaper articles, books and other evidence from those who had encountered ghosts. Particularly English ghosts (as the title suggests) - the author, with his propensity for provocation, mystification and other games of this sort, states in the preface that England is the country of ghosts and the English see them much more often than anyone anywhere else (arguing, as usual, unconvincingly but sweetly – another reason why we love Ackroyd). The blurb also lies (but not so beautifully as Ackroyd) - that the mysticism of these stories falls not far from that of Edgar Poe's works. Comparing witness’s testimonies with belles-lettres (or, fiction, if you like) is wrong; Ackroyd's collection is not a box of jewels, but rather a bag of rough diamonds. The thing is, when it comes to ghosts, the drama and the aforementioned thrill usually lies in the backstory (like, what exactly made the ghost appear in this world, or stay in it?). Of course, Blackwood, Le Fanu, or even Poe, should a ghost appear to any of them, would instantly come up with some soul-searing tale (though they were doing splendid without it); but the ghosts themselves, if the evidence is to be believed, are mostly mute, and upon appearing conduct themselves quite meekly. Well, all they do is, essentially, appear, wander around and not say a word. Though occasionally, of course, they do get wild, like drunken sailors – start smashing everything, strangle their nephews with cravats and kill moles with canes. But the living do that too (think those same drunken sailors), so that's not really a mystical horror to me. That is the joy is in the details. Example: the most delightful mention of a Daresbury ghost, who appeared in the form of a Galloway horse or four men carrying a sheet. Did you know, by the way, that the midwives of Durham always rode Galloway horses to the women in labour? And do you need this information? Well, if you do – then this is your book. Here you will find everything you ever wanted to know about English ghosts, but were afraid to ask, and even what you hadn't thought to ask (because who would think of such nonsense anyway?).
December 16, 2018
Kokoelma englantilaisia tosia kummitusjuttuja. Tietysti sana ”tosi” on vähän epämääräinen tässä yhteydessä. Ilmeisesti kaikki tarinat on esitetty tosina, mutta voi hyvinkin olla, että joissain tapauksissa jo alkuperäisellä kertoja/kirjoittajalla ovat korvat heiluneet aika tavalla. Ja voidaan myös keskustella siitä milloin tarina on kummitusjuttu, ja milloin kyseessä on poltergeist-tarina. Aikajänne on 1600-luvulta, ihan eiliseen 1970-luvulle.
Ei olisi pitänyt lukea tarinoita ihan putkeen, koska varsinkin poltergeist-tarinat ovat kovin puuduttavia peräjälkeen luettuna. Muutama tarina on kuin M.R.James’in tarinan ensihahmotelma, ne ovat luonnollisesti vähiten uskottavia, uskottavampia ovat tarinat joissa ei ole mitään järjen hiventäkään. Tekisi mieli alkaa etsi tarinoista lainalaisuuksia ja ryhmitellä niitä: Olisivatko ”päätön karhu”, ”päätön mäyrä” ja ”pianon kokoinen musta möykky” jonkun saman asian ilmentymiä? Mutta tämä lienee turhaa, koska kokoelma on kokoelma, ei raakadataa.
Ei olisi pitänyt lukea tarinoita ihan putkeen, koska varsinkin poltergeist-tarinat ovat kovin puuduttavia peräjälkeen luettuna. Muutama tarina on kuin M.R.James’in tarinan ensihahmotelma, ne ovat luonnollisesti vähiten uskottavia, uskottavampia ovat tarinat joissa ei ole mitään järjen hiventäkään. Tekisi mieli alkaa etsi tarinoista lainalaisuuksia ja ryhmitellä niitä: Olisivatko ”päätön karhu”, ”päätön mäyrä” ja ”pianon kokoinen musta möykky” jonkun saman asian ilmentymiä? Mutta tämä lienee turhaa, koska kokoelma on kokoelma, ei raakadataa.
October 17, 2020
The English certainly do love their ghosts. This is a collection of stories--true one, not fiction--that span the Isle of Britain from the time of St. Augustine to the modern day. There are more than 200 words for ghosts in our language: ghost, specter, ghast, revenant, wraith, boggle, boogie, fetch, apparition, spirit, boogey, boogeyman, bugbear, and on and on and on. Considering how blood soaked England is, and considering how long people have lived there, it's not shock that the island is chock full of phantoms. This is a fun book for an October day. I love ghosts, and ghost stories. 'Tis the season to be haunted.
January 9, 2021
Nice enough collection of short stories, but not exactly what I was expecting. I like Peter Ackroyd's writing, but I don't think you can really say this book was written by him. Instead, I feel like it would be better to say that it was curated or that the stories were selected by him. We don't get to see much of his writing among diary snippets, letters and true documents from the era of the stories. Which, like I said, it's nice, but unexpected. I think I would have felt differently if I'd gone into it knowing that's what I was going to find.
Still, it's an entertaining collection of stories to read while sitting in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate or a glass of Baileys.
Still, it's an entertaining collection of stories to read while sitting in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate or a glass of Baileys.
November 18, 2021
Peter Ackroyd has brought a collection of different hauntings and ghosts together in this book, exploring the terrifying and the unanswerable to the strange and even sometimes humour on the rare occasion.
Reading this book didn’t feel like a chore at all, in fact it felt like you were sat in front of a person telling you their woes and experiences of the supernatural whether it be seeing a ghost or having the experience of things being thrown about around them.
You feel like you get to the whole experience of an haunting from the safety and warmth of your own arm chair. A truly great writer for all things ghostly.
Reading this book didn’t feel like a chore at all, in fact it felt like you were sat in front of a person telling you their woes and experiences of the supernatural whether it be seeing a ghost or having the experience of things being thrown about around them.
You feel like you get to the whole experience of an haunting from the safety and warmth of your own arm chair. A truly great writer for all things ghostly.
February 28, 2023
I remember reading the reviews of this book essentially saying don't bother, but I got it anyway and.....I'm not sure what else I expected. No shade (in this instance!) on Ackroyd as this is what it purports to be: a collection of English ghost stories through time, told by the people who experienced them. As such, it's a reference book far more than anything else. Ackroyd does list a helpful bibliography of some texts which are a bit more obscure now so that's helpful to the researcher.
Get it from the library, use it for research, return it and read something more fun for pleasure.
Get it from the library, use it for research, return it and read something more fun for pleasure.
February 26, 2021
The English Ghost is an anthology of historical ghost stories. In the Introduction Ackroyd provides some fascinating details about how ghosts are named and experienced in different parts of England. What follows, however, are a multitude of brief tales (some less than a page long) that give a disjointed feel to the book. I was hoping that Ackroyd might connect the stories or provide a summation in something like an Epilogue, but this was lacking.
December 1, 2018
Ackoyd has gathered together an interesting collection of people's experience of ghosts ranging from the 15th to 20th century. He is not asking the reader to believe the stories although he presents credible accounts from the writings and reporting at the time. Many of the writings he researched are by educated men especially the clergy who are more like to be truthful.
December 9, 2020
Seeing a ghost is a spooky event. A book about ghosts therefore should be a spooky affair; at least it should be captivating. A book by Peter Ackroyd about ghosts is neither; worse, it isn't even a good anthology. Even famous writers may produce a catastrophe, it seems.
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January 15, 2021
While a nice collection and extending back beyond the typical late-Victorian ghost stories, ultimately I found this book to be quite dry and full. The writing isn’t very engaging and some of the “cases” we’re obviously supposed to take seriously are dubious at best or even outright known to be faked now. All in all, I wouldn’t really bother with this one again.
December 13, 2021
I was slightly dissatisfied with this book. Basically it is just a compilation of historical ghost stories, and that is an interesting topic, but a bit more info, a bit more explanation and a bit more contemplation would have been nice. But the starting point is ok: why do the English see ghosts ? Just a pity Mr Ackroyd did not delve a bit deeper.
March 4, 2017
A book to dip in and out of. Ghost stories around England, taken from a variety of sources (old newspapers, magazines, books) - arranged loosely by theme but with no chronological or geographical structure (an index would have been good). Very wide range of dates, and of course credibility.
July 6, 2018
I really enjoyed reading this, especially because a lot of the ghost sightings are very old. There is also a great bibliography at the back, with lots of books I need to seek out!!
The usual good quality read of Peter Ackroyd and highly recommended!
The usual good quality read of Peter Ackroyd and highly recommended!
November 5, 2018
I was very disappointed with this book, knowing how good a writer Ackroyd is. This is just a ragbag of short accounts from various sources, with only a very rough grouping and hardly any commentary. There is not even an effort at historical context. Anyone could have done it.
September 29, 2019
In general it was fine. Of course, it's not scary at all, but some stories were pretty fun to read. However, I found this to be a rather dry, uninspired work, almost as though the author wasn't really trying to bring any spark to his writing. I was expecting a novel that would be more engaging.
October 28, 2019
This was quite a fascinating book with various ghostly stories all based on true events, letters, narrations etc happening in England and from the 1600s till late 1960/70s. My only complaint is of the smallness of the print. Aside from that a very interesting book.
June 4, 2017
A solid if sometimes disappointingly vague account of several historical "true" ghost/haunting accounts.
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