THE A-Z OF BRITISH GHOSTS Peter Underwood

Land

Nederland

Conditie

Gebruikt

Provincie

Limburg

Omschrijving: THE A-Z OF BRITISH GHOSTS Peter Underwood

An illustrated guide to 236 haunted sites

Boek met harde blauwe kaft met illustratie met witte letteropdruk in perfecte conditie;
256 pagina's met 32 zwart/wit foto's;


This guide looks at 236 accounts of ghostly happenings throughout Britain, ranging from legendary to real-life experiences. Haunted houses such as Borley, Hampton Court and Glamis are covered along with lesser-known hauntings such as those associated with Woburn, the Gargoyle Theatre in London's Soho and Bury St Edmunds. Each entry includes the address of a nearby hotel to assist people planning an overnight stay near a haunted site.

This fascinating guide contains over 200 uncanny accounts ot ghostly happenings tnroughout Britain, ranging from the legendary to real life experiences.
famous haunted houses such as Borley, Hampton Court amd Glamis are covered, along with lesser known hauntings such as those associated with Woburn, the Gargoyle Theatre in London's Soho and Bury St Edmunds.
Every errtry includes the address of a nearby hotel to assist people planning an overnignt stay near a haunted site.

There are more ghosts seen, reported and accepted in the British Isles than anywhere else on earth. I am often asked why this is so and can only suggest that a unique ancestry with Mediterranean, Scandinavian, Celtic and other strains, an intrinsic island detachment, an enquiring nature, and perhaps our readiness to accept a supernormal explanation for curious happenings may all have played their part in bringing about this state of affairs.
Another question I am repeatedly asked is whether I believe in ghosts and my answer is that belief does not come into it as far as my work in this field is concerned. I try to investigate and study reports of these phenomena dispassionately but I am impressed by the wealth of evidence for ghosts and hauntings: strikingly similar reports from all over the world since the beginning of recorded history. I am quite certain t'hat I have spoken to many people who are genuinely convinced that they have seen apparitions, phantoms, spectres, spirits, ghosts—call them what you will.
My interest in ghosts and haunted houses probably stems from the fact that my maternal grandparents lived in a reputedly haunted house and as a child I heard all about ghosts and soon found that other people believed that they, too, lived with them. As a boy I was intrigued that adults should take the subject seriously and I began to collect notes of hauntings and then press-cuttings and reports; a collection that has today grown into an enormous collection of data on the subject, "and from this material, the result of over thirty years study of the subject, I have selected most of the famous cases of haunting and many hitherto unpublished accounts of ghostly phenomena to offer a representative selection of apparently paranormal activity throughout the British Isles.
The entries marked with an asterisk are those about which I have personal knowledge, either having interviewed the witnesses, carried out an investigation of the case, or visited the place in question myself; and I hope that in reading between the lines it will be possible to glimpse my opinion on some of these fascinating mysteries. It is interesting to note, for example, that there are often children up to and around the age of adolescence in the affected houses who may be conscious or unconscious participants in the disturbances and I have also often noticed in such houses a dominating mother or a woman who is unhappy or frustrated. I mention these points not as an explanation but as a simple statement of fact.
The entries are arranged in alphabetical order of the place where the ghost has been sighted or where the curious happenings have occurred, something that has never been attempted before on this scale. I hope the work will be of value as a reference book and as a guide to ghost-hunting, although I must emphasize that the inclusion of a haunted house in this volume does not necessarily mean that the house is open to the public. At the end of each entry I have indicated a nearby hotel which may be of assistance to those who plan a visit or itinerary to some of these haunted places. I did consider referring readers to various volumes containing fuller details of some of the cases included but decided against this because many well-known haun tings are dealt with, with varying reliability, in many books. The select bibliography at the end of this work includes most of the best books of true ghostly experiences published to date.
I would like to acknowledge the help I have received from many correspondents and people I have talked to, for their co-operation extending over many years; to my wife for inexhaustible patience and understanding; to my daughter for reading the first draft and for many helpful suggestions; and particularly to my son Chris who has provided most of the excellent photographs.
I am always interested to receive first-hand or reliable accounts of ghosts and haunted houses: a subject that has interested me for almost as long as I can remember and will probably continue to interest me until, perhaps, I become a ghost myself!
PETER UNDERWOOD
The Savage Club, London S.W.1

ILLUSTRATIONS

The village of Bramber, Sussex
Haunted Berry Pomeroy Castle, near Totnes, Devon
The Black House, Higher Brixham, Devon
Borley Rectory, Essex
Bosworth Hall at Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire
The ruins of Bramber Castle, Sussex
The fifteenth-century 'Crown' inn at Bildeston, Suffolk
Farnhara Parish Church, Surrey
The Ferry Boat Inn, Holywell, St Ives, Huntingdonshire
Flansham Manor, Sussex
The Friary, East Bergholt, Essex
Ham House near Petersham, Surrey
Hampton Court Palace
Hinton Amper Manor House, near Alresford, Hampshire
The courtyard of the Hop Bag Inn, Farnham, Surrey
St John's Priory, Poling, Sussex
Ladye Place, Hurley, Berkshire
Langenhoe Church, Essex
Ludlow Castle, Shropshire
Markyate Cell, Hertfordshire
The 'Old Burlington', Church Street, Chiswick
The parish church of West Dray ton, Middlesex
Penkaet Castle, Pencaitland, Scotland
The Tulip staircase at The Queen's House, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Sherrington Manor, Selmeston, Sussex
The house near Gravesend, Kent, once known as Southfleet Rectory
Spinney Abbev. Wicken. Cambridgeshire
Sixteenth-century Thorington Hall, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk
Upton Court, Slough. Buckinghamshire
Walpole House, Chiswick Mall
Lonely Warbleton Priory near Heathfield, Sussex
'Woodfield', Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire.