Ghost Writers

A-Z Challenge – ‘G’

If there was a list of ‘best’ ghost stories what would the list include? How far back would it go and what writers would appear? Is it the story or the writer that makes it the best?

Aeschylus’s 5^th century BC trilogy of plays includes one of the first ghosts to appear in fiction. Orestes is haunted by the Furies, called up by the ghost of his mother Clytaemestra whom Orestes had killed. Ghosts appear in Homer’s Odyssey and the Iliad, and haunted houses were described by Pliny and Lucian among others. But would these ancient writers and their stories appear among the ‘best?’

Famous ghosts from Shakespeare are the ghosts of Banquo in Macbeth and of Hamlet’s father, King Claudius. Now we’re faced with a dilemma. Is Shakespeare the ghost writer or is it the ghosts who are the best? Are the plays disqualified from our list because they are not ghost stories at all?

 Hamlet and his father's ghost

 A search of the internet reveals a list of fifteen famous ghost stories. However you may find that your favourite is not included; not surprising as this list was compiled in 1921. Blackwood, Andreyev, France, Poe, Machen and Maupassant are there but no Dickens or M R James.

Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Ligeia’ is regarded by some as the best story in any language where the dead wife comes triumphantly back to life though the body of Lady Rowena, the narrator’s second wife. However perhaps you prefer the words of dread and doom in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and the blood stained, enshrouded figure of Lady Madeline bringing about the death of her brother before the house is split asunder.

It is interesting to see Arthur Machen’s story, ‘The Bowmen,’ in the list. His WWI description of the British trenches under attack by an overwhelming German army is believed to have led to the legend of the Angels of Mons saving the day. In Machen’s story the ghostly saviours were bowmen from Agincourt. Despite Machen protests that his was a work of fiction, the legend of the appearance of angels at Mons has persisted in accounts of the war to end all wars.

Wilfred Owen is one of the poets renowned for WWI poetry. If we are to include poets in our list of the best we must include Owen and ‘I am the ghost of Shadwell Stair.’ There is no doubt that this poem has an eerie quality about it and it makes an ideal ghost story.

Paranormal accounts of ghostly armies seen on old battle fields are quite common. Walter de la Mare’s poem ‘The Song of Soldiers’ reflects this with the words, ‘Rank on rank of ghostly soldiers marching o'er the fen…’. However if haunted houses are your thing you need look no further than Longfellow’s ‘Haunted Houses’ beginning:

 ‘All houses wherein men have lived and died

Are haunted houses…’

Or is it Burns who takes the poetry medal for his Nannie in her cutty sark, securing as her prize the tail of Meg, Tam O’Shanter’s mare?

Not all writers, as we know full well, are successful at their art. Gaston Leroux’s work of fiction published in 1910 was a bit of a flop. Once the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ appeared as a film in 1925, Leroux’s story became a big hit and Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s more recent musical version is nothing less than a global phenomenon.

A story that has stood the test of time is that of Ichabod Crane being chased by the headless horseman in Washington Irving’s ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.’ However it is M R James who is regarded as the father of modern ghost stories. He has written some of the greatest and most influential ghost stories in the English language. Two of his most famous are ‘Casting the Runes’ and ‘Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You My Lad,’ both of which are included in his ‘Ghost Stories of An Antiquary.’

Stephen King’s writings have been influenced by M R James so it is only right that we include ‘The Shining’ in our list of the best. Young Danny Torrance’s sensitivity to supernatural forces and the sinister nature of the events in the Overlook Hotel make this one a must.

However we must include the story that is told and told again. Dicken’s ‘Christmas Carol’ has been said to teach us to be benevolent to our fellow men and that leading an immoral life can imprison you in a self-created hell in the afterlife.

 The Ghost of Christmas Present by John Leach, 1843

--- * --- * --- * ---

“From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggerty beasties

And things that go bump in the night

Good Lord, deliver us!”

Alnwick

The River Aln skirts the northern side of the town of Alnwick in Northumberland, The remains of Alnwick Abbey with its well preserved 14^th century gatehouse is situated within Hulne Park on the river’s bank.

In the town the church of St Michael has Saxon origins but was rebuilt in the 14^th and 15^th centuries; the church has a battlemented tower with some of the finest 15^th century workmanship in the country. In addition to fine monuments inside, the church houses a carved 14^th century Flemish chest.

 But it is the castle that has dominated the life and times of Alnwick. The first parts of Alnwick Castle were erected in c1096 by Yves de Vescy, Baron of Alnwick. Its purpose was to protect England’s northern border against the Scots and the border reivers. In 1309 the castle was bought by Henry de Percy, 1^st Baron Percy. It has been owned by the Percy family, the Earls and the later Dukes of Northumberland ever since.

The eldest son of the 1^st Earl of Northumberland was also called Harry Hotspur. The nickname, Hotspur’ is suggestive of his impulsive behaviour. Sir Henry Percy, or Harry Hotspur, acquired a great reputation as a warrior fighting against the Scots and the French in the late 1300s. He helped depose Richard II in favour of Henry of Bolingbroke, who later became King Henry IV.

He led a rebellion against Henry in 1403; but before he could join forces with the Welsh rebel, Owain Glyndŵr, Hotspur was defeated and killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury. His body was displayed at Shrewsbury, impaled on a spear before being quartered and sent around England, his head exhibited on a pole at the gates of York.

Hotspur has famous lines in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I in which he is killed by Prince Hal (the future Henry V) – immediately after being stabbed he says, “O Harry, thou has robb’d me of my youth!” A later line is cut off in mid sentence by his death, “O Percy, thou art dust and food for -” and finished by Prince Hal: “For worms, brave Percy.”

In August 2010 a bronze statue of Harry was unveiled in the town of Alnwick. The statue commemorated the 700 year anniversary (in 2009) of the Percy family in Alnwick. There is an earlier statue of Harry Hotspur inside the courtyard of Alnwick Castle. 

 Since WWII parts of the castle have been used first as a High School for Girls, then as a teacher training college and since 1981 as a branch campus by the American St Cloud State University.

The Postern Tower houses an exhibition featuring the family’s interest in archaeology with frescoes from Pompeii and relics from Ancient Egypt. The Constable Tower contains military displays and the Abbot’s Tower the Regimental Museum of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.

Today the castle is the second largest inhabited castle in England. Only Windsor is larger. Much of the castle is open to the public. There has been increased public interest after it was used in shots for the exterior and interior of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films and for the famous quidditch sequences.

The present Duchess of Northumberland has initiated the establishment of The Alnwick Garden, a formal garden set round a cascading fountain. 

The large ‘tree house’ complex includes a café; the poison garden grows plants such as cannabis and the opium poppy. The pavilion and visitor centre can hold up to 1000 people.

 In the town is the prominent Tenantry Column topped by the Percy Lion, the symbol of the Percy Family. The column was erected in 1816 by the tenants to the second Duke of Northumberland after he had reduced their rents in an agricultural depression.

[This was an A-Z post, April 2011 - A]