As night closes in .... Favourite ghost stories

[TomPinch]

My favourite three, for starters:

Count Magnus by M R James.
The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

Let's be having yours!

ghostly bump

Absolute favourite is Smee by A.M. Burrage - classic story of gathered friends, a large country pile and strange happenings on Christmas Eve.

Very short Ghost Stories..

1st
The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door ...

2nd
I woke to the sound of a voice crackling through the baby monitor, comforting my baby son. As I turned to make myself comfortable, my arm brushed against my wife.

3rd
As I was looking through my phone, I found a photograph of.me sleeping last night... I live alone..

4th
I woke at 3am with a dry mouth, as I reached for the glad dog water ruby my bed, someone handed it to me.

5th
My mother called me down the stairs for breakfast, as I reached the top of the stairs I heard my mother from her bedroom say,
"Don't go down there, I heard it too"

6th
I grew up with cats and dogs and got used to them scratching at my bedroom door to sleep on my bed. Now I'm an adult nd have no pets, the scratching at the door is much more unsettling.

The Crown Derby Plate by Marjorie Bowen
Best read in a dimly lit room, with a cuppa.
Here’s a link: raincoaster.com/2016/12/21/christmas-ghost-stories-the-crown-derby-plate-by-marjorie-bowen/

Also a favourite of mine.

I thought Dark Matter by Michelle Paver was very creepy

And I clearly didn’t see that was already listed by OP! Oops!

The Phantom Coach, by Amelia Edwards.
Aferward, Edith Wharton, very creepy.

But it is very good, and so worth listing twice.

And unusual because it's not a short story, meaning the suspense (essential for a good ghost story) has to be sustained for much longer, and it is.

The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions.

The Mezzotint by M. R James

@oakleaffy , The Mezzotint was on TV last Christmas, very well and creepily done, IIRC by the Beeb.

A Warning to the Curious by M R James - my absolute favourite.

Lots of the above.

Lots of the above. Edith Nesbit's Man-size in Marble.

A View from a Hill by M R James
Man Size in Marble
How Peace came to the Long Gallery
( title might not be accurate. I think the author is E F Benson )

This is a fantastic thread, well done OP! I’m busy browsing my kindle now!

Me too! On you tube -
One of my favourite 19th C ghost stories is
”The upper berth” by Marion Crawford.
A family friend read it to me as a child, and I loved it then, as now.

Re. M.R James, there are some excellent films of his stories on you tube.
“A view from a hill “ is good.
(Old BBC ones.)

James is THE master of ghost stories in my opinion.

Is the EF Benson story the one about the ghost twins? It’s great if so.

I love all the BBC ghost stories for Christmas and the original stories they were adapted from, there's a new adaptation by Mark Gatiss again this year. Favourite ones are:
Oh, whistle and I'll come to you, my lad
The Tractate Middoth
Stalls of Barchester
Lost Hearts
The Signalman (probably my favourite even though it isn't MR James)

If you like the TV adaptations as well as the stories, Remember Me the series with Michael Palin in was in that style and very good if you haven't seen it

Literally a bump in the night

I loved Last Days of Jack Sparks.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is unbeatable. Actually makes me feel ill when I read it as it's so odd. Is that a good thing? I mean, it has a visceral effect and havent forgotten it ever after one read.

I love MR James and agree that the Mezzotint and the view from the Hill are great. The View from the Hill isn’t one of his most famous, but it’s sooo chilling

Another mention for Michelle Paver's Dark Matter and M R James, the BFI set is brilliant!