Thursday 21 July 2011

My Top 5 Favourite Ghost Stories

These days my fiction writing is pulling me towards the supernatural and in particular ghosts rather than your straight horror. I began thinking about what I would list as my all time favourite ghost stories, there's a hell of a lot of stuff I've read but have forgotten and some of my selections were read/seen so long ago that I'll keep this brief. In no particular order:

1) Scrooge (1951 British version, film) Based on Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". A Christmas ghost story, I have to watch it every year.

2) Woman In Black (Novel by Susan Hill and a theatre production) Creepy, atmospheric and traditional.

3) Apartment 16 (Novel by Adam Nevill) An original modern day haunting that adds plenty of depth.

4) Haunted (Novel by James Herbert) Probably one of the first ghost stories I read.

5) The Moonlit Path (short story by Ambrose Bierce) Effectively tells an event from 3 different perspectives, each with a unique voice, each filling in the gaps for the reader.

So what are your favourite ghost stories?

Other posts you may enjoy:

Review - Apartment 16
Blogger Zombie Walk

5 comments:

Coral said...

Ghost Story by Peter Straub or Shadowland - one of these changed the way I looked at life when I read it. I'm loathe to pin it down because I'm afraid I'd lose the magic. hehe

I have two ghost stories I'd love for you to read if you like!

Katy Bennett said...

I honestly can't remember if I've read ghost story or not. I'll have to check out shadowland.

occhio sulle espressioni said...

Hi!
Blog that is useful for my taste. Very nice, compliment! :)
I do not know any ranking of favorite ghost story, but my hero is Montague Rhodes James. I remember the stories "Rats," "There Was a Man ​​dwelt by a Churchyard" and "Martin's Close".
Then I have a book with several authors and two stories i liked a lot: "Come, Follow" of Sheila Hodgson and "On the Leads" of Sabine Baring-Gould.
Recently i read an anthology of an italian, Mario Soldati, and a story struck me: "La palla da tennis" (The tennis ball).
Bye! :)

Luigi

Katy Bennett said...

Hi Luigi,

Thanks for dropping by. All good suggestions.

Keith said...

Ghost stories.

Anything mostly by MR James, though "Whistle and I'll Come for You" is top of mind.

Also, there is a terrific ghost story by Elizabeth Jane Howard titled Three Miles Up. Published in a collaboration book with Robert Aiken titled We're for the Dark.

And Algernon Blackwood's The Listener.

Nice blog!