This book is for anyone who has shivered at shadowy figures in the dark, heard strange sounds in the night or felt the presence of a mysterious 'something' from the unknown. Ghost stories are as old as recorded history and exist all over the world; described in this book are haunting spirits, screaming skulls, phantom ships, demon dogs, white ladies, gallows ghosts and many more.

    Set in coal mines and remote farm cabins, in hidden hollows and on mountain tops, some of these stories look back to the days when West Virginia was first settled; others reflect the rancor and brutality of the Civil War. But most of these tales guide us through the recent past of the uncommonly rich folk heritage of West Virginia. This

    Thirteen-year-old Roger's disappointment is greatest, since, having moved place to place all his life with his gifted actor-father, he longs for some measure of stability. Then Roger and his father discover under peeling wallpaper and rotted paneling traces of a much older, more graceful house, and their misgivings disappear— until, that night, the house is filled with a sound of wild grieving that Roger traces to an empty room. Only Roger— and later his small stepsister Pippa— sees the ghosts, among them that of Tom Garland, a well-known actor in Shakespeare's time. But Roger's father, playing Hamlet in the famous National Theatre, is caught up, unknowingly, in Tom's old tragedy. It is a frightened Roger who has to risk his life to find a way to mend the past before the present becomes its tragic echo. POOR TOM'S GHOST, dramatic, wholly convincing, a fascinating intermingling of the centuries, portrays a family whose uncertain bonds are tested and strengthened by a threat from the past.

    

    It would have been disastrous if a magnificent vampire story like Carmilla, or tales dealing with ghouls (Pickman's model), a werewolf (Gabriel-Ernest) and Black Magic (Casting the runes), had been excluded for the sake of adhering to a category which is at best imprecise. Any supernatural element in a story made it eligible for inclusion - those finally selected are the best.Contents:- Introduction (1977) by Charles Fowkes- The House and the Brain (1859) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton- The Masque of the Red Death (1842) by Edgar Allan Poe- The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar (1845) by Edgar Allan Poe- Ligeia (1838) by Edgar Allan Poe- Carmilla (1872) by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu- Was It a Dream? (1887, La morte) by Guy de Maupassant- The Horla (1887, Le Horla) by Guy de Maupassant- Count Magnus (1904) by M.R. James- An Episode of Cathedral History (1914) by M.R. James- The Diary of Mr. Poynter (1919) by M.R. James- Casting the Runes (1911) by M.R. James- The Furnished Room (1904) by O. Henry- The Monkey's Paw (1902) by W. W. Jacobs- The Novel of the White Powder (1895) by Arthur Machen- The Great God Pan (1894) by Arthur Machen- The Novel of the Black Seal (1895) by Arthur Machen- How Love Came to Professor Guildea (1897) by Robert Hichens- Lukundoo (1907) by Edward Lucas White- The Man Who Went Too Far (1904) by E.F. Benson- Negotium Perambulans (1922) by E.F. Benson- The Willows (1907) by Algernon Blackwood- The Glamour of the Snow (1911) by Algernon Blackwood- The Decoy (1921) by Algernon Blackwood- Ancient Sorceries (1908) by Algernon Blackwood- Gabriel-Ernest (1909) by Saki- The Music on the Hill (1911) by Saki- All Hallows (1926) by Walter de la Mare- Mr. Kempe (1925) by Walter de la Mare- The Beckoning Fair One (1911) by Oliver Onions- The Story of a Panic (1904) by E.M. Forster- The Story of the Siren (1920) by E.M. Forster- The Sailor-Boy's Tale (1942) by Karen Blixen- Pickman's Model (1927) by H.P. Lovecraft- The Dunwich Horror (1929) by H.P. Lovecraft- The Music of Erich Zann (1922) by H.P. Lovecraft- The Rats in the Walls (1924) by H.P. Lovecraft- The Shout (1929) by Robert Graves- Are You Too Late or Was I Too Early? (1951) by John Collier- A Woman Seldom Found (1956) by William Sansom