The subject of Ghosts and Ghostly happenings has always aroused a vast
amount of interest, much fear, some amusement and varying degrees of
ridicule, but in recent years the names of so many prominent and
influential people have been directly associated with it and used in
support of the existence of spiritual intercourse that it has become
worthy of a careful examination. This fact, and the reported
reappearance of the “brown lady” of Raynham Hall, the home of the
Marquis Townshend, in the latter part of last year, led the Editor
of the Home Magazine Page of the Daily News, in co-operation with
the Publishers of this book to invite readers to give their
experiences in this matter. In extending this invitation the Daily
News, in its issue of November 6th, 1926, stated:
“A vast number of people do believe in ghosts—many on the most
inadequate evidence. But up and down the country, in lonely farms,
in quiet suburban roads, in London flats—in fact, wherever the
living dwell and the dead have dwelt, there are people who fully
believe that they have seen mysterious apparitions, sometimes
uncanny, sometimes not even uncanny, strange noises unaccountable by
any human agency known to the witness. And these agencies they
believe to be ghosts.
"Let us find out what these occurrences amount to. We ask our
readers, in the interests of sober truth, to tell us of the stories
which are authentically within their own knowledge—not the feverish
traditional stories of the countryside, but the sights and sounds
which they themselves have seen and heard, or which their friends and
neighbours have seen and heard, and which have convinced them that
ghosts really exist.
“Many will hesitate because the story they have to tell, though
inexplicable, seems so futile; but futility is often characteristic
of the real living contemporary ghost story as distinguished from the
blood-curdling romance handed down from the past, with dripping hands
and clanking chains."
As a small recognition of the service rendered by the writers of
these experiences, a daily prize was given by the Daily News for the
first ghost story published each day during the appearance of the
correspondence. It was also announced that it was felt that this
important body of evidence on a subject of continual controversy
should not be lost, and, therefore, the Publishers of this book
undertook to gather into book form the best of the stories, and to
equally divide a further sum of £20 in prizes to the authors of the
ten best stories used in this way.
It was then thought that one book would be adequate for the
presentation of these selected stories, but the response to the Daily
News invitation was so enormous, that no less than four books of most
extraordinary stories are now completed and published, and the awards
have been increased to £40.
The Editor of these books has read through every story received—some
three thousand in all—and endeavoured to classify them and then group
the various phases of the subject under appropriate titles. It has
been a tremendous undertaking, and the work has occupied several
months. Every selected story has been reproduced without alteration
of fact, and in almost every case the actual wording of the stories
has been adhered to.
The task of scrutinising this vast amount of matter could be done by
only one person where the merits of each story were to be judged for
the purpose of awarding prizes. And that single-handed task had its
compensations as well as its trials, because it yielded a
comprehensive survey that could not have been accomplished by
collaboration.
The outstanding feature of this examination was the total absence of
the really horrible stories of Ghosts that have been served out to
the public from time to time. There was no lack of extraordinary
incidents, as the stories which we now reproduce will show; and
generally there was a wholesome respect for the nature of the great
subject under consideration. Most of the stories prove honesty of
purpose on the part of the narrators, and the fact that the writers
of some of the most striking occurrences represent every class, from
the poor and unlettered, to those well-placed in the world, is an
indication that the subject of Ghosts or Spirits has an amazing
interest for the public. Reverend Gentlemen, Magistrates,
Professional Men, Nurses, all figure in the list of those whose
stories we reproduce, and the nature of the great majority of the
letters received indicates a desire for serious inquiry rather than a
mere relation of something to excite or frighten.
All those stories which showed abnormal temperament—and there were
many of those—have been carefully excluded in the preparation of these
books, but full advantage has been taken of the stories which were
sent to explain away strange happenings and to relieve the ghostly
atmosphere with healthy humour.
We make no claim to attempt to answer the question “Do Ghosts
exist? ”; we simply present in the most careful manner the best
incidents out of the many sent to us in support of the Ayes and Nos,
and to the many who have experienced inexplicable manifestations and
await an explanation, we can only say that unless such can be gleaned
from the sequels to supposed Ghostly happenings with which this
collection of stories is interspersed, we are afraid this great
subject has not yet been sufficiently investigated to yield them
complete satisfaction.
One thing this vast amount of correspondence has proved is, that
while the least temperamental of us may scoff at the idea of Ghosts,
and the humorously inclined may find it a happy sporting ground for
the exercise of wit, there is something which surrounds the lives of
a large number of apparently sane and decent-living people, that
cannot be analysed as we are used to analysing things in this modern
age. And this something is sufficiently diversified to arouse in
those who are not immune from it feelings varying in degrees between
the two extremes of uncontrollable dread and deep reverence. To have
accomplished this alone would have been a complete justification for
the preparation and publication of these books, but we hope something
further will be accomplished, namely, to prove the futility, if not
the danger, of putting on the market literature on this subject of
such an extravagant nature that it not only injures in its undue
infliction of terror those who read it, but detrimentally affects the
merits of a subject which, to those who are interested in it, has as
many claims to investigation as Wireless or any other subject of
equally uncanny surprises and possibilities.
Having thus dealt with the main aspects of this correspondence, there
are two matters which must not be overlooked: one is a protest that
was included in the correspondence—a protest against the publication
of these Ghost stories, and the other the very emphatic “No” which is
given by several writers to the question “Do you believe in Ghosts?”
Below we give in full the protest referred to, and also the principal
“Nos.” The former, we believe, is sufficiently answered in the
foregoing remarks, and the latter constitute another interesting
phase of this very interesting subject.
For the information of those who may desire to secure the whole of
the four books in this series or any particular one dealing with a
special phase of the subject, a full description is given on the back
of the title page of this book.
The fact that the names and addresses of the writers of these stories
have been withheld, and also names of people and places mentioned in
the stories, must not be regarded as a reflection upon the truth of
the story or the honesty of the writer; it is essential in the best
interests of everybody.
It should also be mentioned that in the case of those stories which
are set out under headings of Counties or Towns it does not follow
that the incidents related always apply to the Town or County under
which they appear; they mostly indicate the place from which the
story was received.