Recently Rated:
Stats
Ghost Stories - Are They In Decline?
Christmas is traditionally a time for sitting around a log fire and telling ghost stories. These days central heating has mostlyreplaced the log fire but what about theseasonal ghost story? Is that also going the same way? From my list of 3,763 Mutual Twitter Followers I could only find a handful prepared to tag their work as 'ghost stories'. Is this because the ghost story is seen as old hat or has this particular sub-genre been immersed in the ever growing Paranormal and Fantasy genre? I'd be interested to know what you think.
Ibelieve a well written ghost story can send shivers down the spine like nothing else. The imagination is probably the brain'smost powerful attribute.The images that can be conjured in our mind by a creaking door or a flickering candle far surpass the most graphic description that can flow from a writers pen. That's why I find it so sad that when we think of great ghosts stories we invariable have to delve into the past.
M.R.James is one who immediately springs to mind as a master of the craft. As evidence of my claim you may wish to view Robert Powell's reading of 'The Mezzotint' .
5. " The White and the Black " by Erckmann-Chatrian Two of my favourite ghost stories are Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' and W.W. Jacobs 'The Monkey's Paw' . If anyone has not read or seen an adaptation of Henry James 'The Turn of the Screw' where have you been? This is definitely a must read. More authors synonymous with ghost stories include many great names in the history of English literature:
Algernon Blackwood Ambrose Bierce Washington Irving Shirley Jackson Edgar Allan Poe Edith Wharton
Where are the indie authors to take up this challenge? Well, I've found a few.
A great post as ever. I was a huge fan of the BBC Christmas Ghost Stories back in the 70's. In fact we have one of them embedded on our Christmas In Wales page.
btw...loved the promo vid for Christmas Carol Revisited ....just going to feature it now