A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or the belief of some character(s) in them. In that sense The Tale of Genji contains ghost stories, and Shakespeare's Hamlet is a ghost story. Henry James used the ghost story premise. Stories involving ghosts are found in traditional cultures worldwide. Charles Dickens wrote one of the most famous ghost stories, A Christmas Carol, in which a miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, is visited by four spirits on Christmas Eve. They show him how he has misused his life, and their influence changes him.
In a narrower sense, the ghost story has been developed as a short story format, within genre fiction. As such, it may be a relatively restrained form of supernatural fiction, compared with the excess of the horror story. The ghost stories of M. R. James, Charles Dickens, H. Russell Wakefield, and Sheridan Le Fanu are classic expressions, as is Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Two of the most important twentieth-century authors of ghost stories were Walter de la Mare and Robert Aickman, each a supreme stylist who genuinely believed in the supernatural. De la Mare often brought a poetic vision to his work, whereas Aickman explored the dark, nightmarish and occasionally erotic byways of the subconscious. However, what unites both writers, in addition to their perfection of individual style, is their reliance upon ambiguity as a medium for heightening effect.
Many ghost stories are passed down through the telling of them to family members and friends. However, there are often several versions due to personal changes to the story and forgetfulness.
Japan has a long and complex tradition of ghost stories (kaidan in Japanese), perhaps best-known from Lafcadio Hearn's book, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.
Colloquially, the term also can refer to any kind of scary story.
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The English ghost story
In "Some Remarks on Ghost Stories"[1] (1929), M. R. James identifies five key features of the English ghost story:
- The pretense of truth
- "A pleasing terror"
- No gratuitous bloodshed or sex
- No "explanation of the machinery"
- Setting: "those of the writer's (and reader's) own day"
[NOTE: This abbreviation of five key points in James's essay were first summarized by Prof. Frank Coffman for a course in popular imaginative literature. ]
There is an extensive critical analysis of the work of several English ghost story writers in Jack Sullivan's book Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood (1978) .
See also
- A Chinese Ghost Story
- Ghost movies
- Haunted house
- Perceval Landon
- List of allegedly haunted locations
- Poltergeist
- Balthasar Bekker
- The Signal-Man
Texts
- Felton, D. Haunted Greece and Rome: Ghost Stories from Classical Antiquity, University of Texas Press, 1999.
- Medieval ghost stories : an anthology of miracles, marvels and prodigies / comp. and ed. by Andrew Joynes, Woodbridge: Boydell press, 2003.
References
- ^ Excerpts From "Some Remarks on Ghost Stories". 13 October 2005.
External links
- The Best Ghost Stories at Project Gutenberg - 1919
- Audio recording of a traditional ghost story from Labrador, Canada
- Classic Ghost Stories
- ghosts.org.uk Collection of ghost stories
- Ghostsandstories.com Ghosts stories and hauntings.
- Ghost Stories of Beaufort County, South Carolina -- Beaufort County Library
- Ghost Story Society
- GhostToGhost.com ghost stories
- Haunted River Ghost story publisher & enthusiast
- Sir Alfred Farthing Robbins - A Cornish Ghost Story, 1898
- Real Ghost Stories
- Your Ghost Stories Users submitted ghost stories
- True Ghost Stories From Haunted Britain and Ireland
Erotic Ghost Story: confessions
CAUTION: Contains nudity. Erotic Ghost Story contains a lot of nudity and sex scenes. This clip is about as much as can be shown on youtube.
Author: bjoh2
Keywords: Chinese Cantonese
Added: August 28, 2008
Trailer for new Fanimation Series - My Lovely Ghost
Have to re-edit the first episode of My Lovely Ghost for YouTube limits, but in the meantime, here is a trailer for the series. My Lovely Ghost is based on the Manga series "My Lovely Ghost Kana", and features the story of Amano, a young man down on his luck who moves into the cheapest apartment he can find, only to discover the apartment already has someone "living" there. Full first episode can be watched at: http://revver.com/video/1136024/
Author: ewanrg
Keywords: animation anime manga experimental art trailer kana amano motion graphic music video romance love ghost
Added: August 28, 2008
Haunted Yuna XTidus
Song: Haunted Artist: Kelly Klarkson Story: Yuna is in Love with Tidus but Tidus is not a dream of the faith. He is the dream of Yuna.Its a similar story in FFx.One day Tidus Dissepear. Yuna now that she love a gost of her fantasys but she will be with him.Yuna control her energie and tidus embrace Yuna. But the lovers met a truly tragic end. Yuna and Tidus dies, in the end yuna can't do anithing to make tidus back. A Ghost of her fanatsys. With this knowledge she died.
Author: Hinao666
Keywords: Yuna Tidus Final Fanatsy Haunted Kelly Clarkson another end
Added: August 28, 2008
Cosplay: Katekyo Hitman Reborn "Mysterious Prince"
Story: Katekyo Hitman Reborn Date: 2008.06.07 we were in the abondoned place for photo shooting but suddenly..there was a BIG noise came up which was pretty freaky at the time XD btw, luckily..no ghost came out :P
Author: penguinkiku
Keywords: cosplay katekyo hitman reborn varia vongole
Added: August 28, 2008
Hometown Legends 전설의 고향 4화 080814 7/7
Episode 4 -- Ghost Letter [ 귀서 ] The king, In Jong, suddenly dies only after ruling for nine months. After his death, a mysterious incident occurs where several deaths occur. Certain people believe that this incident is similar to a popular ghost story called "The Legend of Seol Gong Chan." The former king's childhood best friend, Sa Hyun, is a cold-hearted and righteous prosecutor who tries to figure out the matter of the mysterious deaths.
Author: sylverstarr
Keywords: hometown legends 전설의 고향ghost letter귀서 안재모 an ahn jae mo 이덕희 lee duk deok hee hui 이한위 han wie 사현진 sa hyun hyeon jin 김영재 kim yeong young
Added: August 28, 2008