Monday 27 August 2007

Things That Go Bump In The Past

This week's question from Authorblog's David McMahon : do you believe in ghosts?

My parents used to have quite a collection of National Geographic magazines from the 1930s and 40s. Some of the pictures have, for some reason, stayed clear in my mind for forty years and more (most are long forgotten).

One was from an article on the fauna of the Pacific, the Ghost Crab. Why do I remember it so clearly? Maybe it was the blue-white pallor of the crab's eye stalks, mouth and claws. Perhaps because it seemed the very spirit of such a far-away and exotic place.

Here, without faking, lens artifacts or double-exposure, is photographic proof that Ghosts exist.

Although I have never actually seen one myself.












Also as a child I had a Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories, which included this chiller by M R James, "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad" (1931).

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

M R James one of my favourites, one of the creepiest writers ever. Loved it when they used to do an M R James on TV every Christmas. No diggin' 'ere.

Top creepiest ever ghost story though was by naturalist Gerald Durrel "The entrance"

On "real" ghosts, me and no 2 son were sat on our stairs once and an infant's voice started babbling from thin air right in front of us. Went on for a about half a minute. We often heard odd cries and running about in those days, it all stopped when we had some major building work done.

Chertiozhnik said...

Thank you for the tip about "The Entrance", I haven't heard of it before... off to the bookshop.

As to "real" ghosts, I keep an open mind but maybe I'm just not tuned in. Still - an interesting tale!

david mcmahon said...

A ``spirited'' post indeed! Great for a pincer movement ....

Chertiozhnik said...

Hi David - well, I could just have said "ghosts? no!" but this way I got a nice picture in :)

Anonymous said...

Of course.
I already told you - I believe in everything except the government.

Gerald Durrell wrote a ghost story!? I thought I read almost everything by that bloke already. Cheers on the heads up.

And that's one creepy stair story.
Why do so many creepy things happen on stairs?

Chertiozhnik said...

The people in the flat over the road are having a party and playing "Heart of Glass" by Blondie. 1978.

Takes me straight back to a brothel in Whitechapel, my first amyl nitrate, rain and

Now the music has stopped and a fight has started. Is nobody in charge?