''Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories'' (1983) is a collection of

ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

chosen by

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

. Dahl read 749 supernatural tales from an array of writers at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

before choosing 14 that he considered the best. In the book Dahl writes; "Spookiness is, after all, the real purpose of the ghost story".Lisa Hefner Heit
Haunted Kansas: ghost stories and other eerie tales
p.178. University Press of Kansas, 1997 He initially did this while working to develop an American television programme that would feature dramatisations of these stories. He wrote a pilot based on

E. F. Benson Edward Frederic Benson (24 July 1867 – 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer. Early life E.F. Benson was born at Wellington College (Berkshire), Wellington College in Berkshir ...

's "The Hanging of Alfred Wadham", that was then filmed, but when producers saw the film they were concerned that it would offend

American Catholics With 23 percent of the United States' population , the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided in ...

, due to the story being about the stipulations of

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

. As a result, the show was cancelled, and years later Dahl decided to use his research to make a book.

*''W.S.'' (1952) by

L.P. Hartley Leslie Poles Hartley (30 December 1895 – 13 December 1972) was a British novelist and short story writer. Although his first fiction was published in 1924, his career was slow to take off. His best-known novels are the '' Eustace and Hilda'' ...

*''Harry'' (1955) by

Rosemary Timperley Rosemary Timperley (20 March 1920 – 9 November 1988) was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. She wrote a wide range of fiction, publishing 66 novels in 33 years, and several hundred short stories, but is best remembered for ...

*''The Corner Shop'' (1926) by

Lady Cynthia Asquith Lady Cynthia Mary Evelyn Asquith (née Charteris; 27 September 1887 – 31 March 1960) was an English writer and socialite, known for her ghost stories and diaries.Richard Dalby, ''The Virago Book of Ghost Stories''.Virago, London, , 1987 (p. 23 ...

*''In the Tube'' (1922) by

E.F. Benson Edward Frederic Benson (24 July 1867 – 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer. Early life E.F. Benson was born at Wellington College in Berkshire, the fifth child of the headma ...

*''Christmas Meeting'' (1952) by

*''Elias and the Draug'' (1902) by Jonas Lie *''Playmates'' (1927) by

A. M. Burrage Alfred McLelland Burrage (1889–1956) was a British writer. He was noted in his time as an author of fiction for boys which he published under the pseudonym Frank Lelland, including a popular series called "Tufty". Bleiler E. F., "A. M. Burrage" ...

*''Ringing the Changes'' (1955) by

Robert Aickman Robert Fordyce Aickman (27 June 1914 – 26 February 1981) was an English writer and conservationist. As a conservationist, he co-founded the Inland Waterways Association, a group which has preserved from destruction and restored England's inl ...

*''The Telephone'' (1955) by

Mary Treadgold Mary Treadgold (16 April 1910 – 14 May 2005) was an English author of books for children and adults, a literary editor and a BBC producer. She won the Carnegie Medal for British children's books in 1941. Life and writing Treadgold was born o ...

*''The Ghost of a Hand'' (1962) by Sheridan Le Fanu *''The Sweeper'' (1931) by

*''

Afterward "Afterward" is a short story by American writer Edith Wharton. It was first published in the 1910 edition of ''The Century Magazine''. and later reprinted in her books '' The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton'' and ''Tales of Men and Ghosts ...

'' (1910) by

Edith Wharton Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...

*''On the Brighton Road'' (1912) by

Richard Barham Middleton Richard Barham Middleton (28 October 1882 – 1 December 1911) was an English poet and author. He is remembered most for his short ghost stories, in particular "The Ghost Ship". Biography Born in Staines, Middlesex, Middleton was educated at Cr ...

*''The Upper Berth'' (1885) by

Francis Marion Crawford Francis Marion Crawford (August 2, 1854 – April 9, 1909) was an American writer noted for his many novels, especially those set in Italy, and for his classic weird and fantastical stories. Early life Crawford was born in Bagni di Lucca, in th ...

References

{{Roald Dahl 1983 anthologies Works by Roald Dahl Jonathan Cape books Ghost stories Horror anthologies Fantasy anthologies Farrar, Straus and Giroux books

Contents

References