The English Ghost

The English Ghost is Peter Ackroyd’s study of spectres through time. Apparently the English see more ghosts than any other nation, with each region laying claim to its own particular spirits – from the Celtic ghosts of Cornwall to the dobies and boggarts of the north. Like all good ghost stories, the tales featured here are comical and scary, but all have something to say about the English psyche and its yearnings for justice, freedom and love. Some spirits speak, some are silent, and some waft with the fragrance of thyme whilst others smell of old leather. Ackroyd has compiled a treasury of English sightings packed with eerie detail, from medieval times to present day, ranging from the moaning child that terrified Wordsworth’s nephew in Cambridge to the headless bear of Kidderminster, via the violent cravat strangling daemon of Devon and right up to the modern-day hitchhikers on Blue Bell Hill.