Centuries ago, ghosts and demons were a topic of conversation, and these creatures continue to be remembered today. However, people's understanding of ghosts remains limited to urban legends and horror stories. Presently, numerous scientists are devoted to investigating paranormal phenomena, employing advanced equipment to capture ghostly images and comprehend their nature. Some researchers study the potential influence of ghosts on the laws of physics, while others employ regular cameras to capture otherworldly entities, often seeking financial gain. Certain universities even house specialized departments dedicated to studying spirits, ghosts, and demons. Their primary objective is to unravel the mystery surrounding ghosts and determine whether they are truly the spirits of the deceased.

Audiobook: 

Ghastly Ghosts

CHAPTER ONE

What is a Ghost?

Centuries ago, people talked about ghosts, spirits and spooks, and they still talk about them today. But no one knows exactly what a ghost is!

Certain scientists and psychic experts study ghosts and haunted places. They try to understand supernatural events of the past and present.

Psychic experts use complex machines to discover ghosts. Others try to photograph ghosts. Sometimes ghosts appear in photographs and no one can explain why!

Today several important universities have a Parapsychology Department. In these departments, experts study the supernatural and try to find an answer to old questions.

So what is a ghost? The most common explanation is this: ghosts are spirits of the dead. Their death was a tragic or terrible one. They haunt the place where they died. It can be a house, a castle, a theatre, a forest, a road or a ship. They cannot rest in peace!

Do ghosts really exist? What do you think? Read this book carefully and become a ghost investigator. Fill in the 'Phantom File' with your opinion after each case... and then decide!

CHAPTER TWO

The Horror of Berkeley Square

There are many ghosts in the city of London. There are haunted houses, theatres, streets and pubs! One of the most evil ghosts is the one at Berkeley Square.

Between 1870 and 1900, no one wanted to live at 50 Berkeley Square. There were footsteps at night and macabre appearances. One particular room in the house was especially dangerous.

In 1870, a brave young man decided to sleep in the haunted room for one night.

'Ghosts don't scare me,' he said.

The next morning he was dead. His body was in the middle of the evil room.

A year later, a young girl slept in the haunted room. That night she saw or heard something horrible. The next morning she was mad! She could not speak about her horrifying experience to anyone.

Lord Lyttleton was an English lord. 'I don't believe in ghosts,' he told his friends.

'I will sleep in that house and nothing will happen to me.'

During the night, the people in the next house heard a gunshot.

The next morning Lord Lyttleton was terrified and told them, 'Something came into the room from that corner. It was slimy and had an evil smell. I fired my gun at it and the ghost disappeared. It was horrible! I cannot describe it. That house IS haunted by a ghastly spirit.'

A year later, a maid was cleaning the haunted room. She did not know about the evil ghost. At midnight, horrible cries came from the haunted room. The people in the house ran upstairs. They found the poor maid on the floor in convulsions. Her terrified eyes stared at a corner of the room. It was the same corner Lord Lyttleton indicated.

The maid refused to speak. Her only words were, 'What I saw was TOO HORRIBLE to describe.' The next morning she died at St. George's Hospital.

The story of the two sailors is perhaps the most famous of all. In 1875, two sailors arrived in London. They wanted to work on a ship. They had no money and nowhere to sleep. They walked around London and came to Berkeley Square.

'Look!' said the younger sailor. 'There's an empty house. We can sleep there.'

The sailors entered the dark, empty house. They went up the stairs.

The older sailor said, 'This house is cold and dark. I don't like it. It scares me.'

'Don't be silly!' said the younger sailor. 'We have nowhere to sleep. Let's stay here!'

They slept in the haunted bedroom. In the middle of the night, they both woke up.

'Listen!' said the younger one. 'There's someone downstairs. Can you hear the noise?'

'Yes,' said the other. 'I can hear footsteps. Oh no, the footsteps are coming upstairs!'

At that moment, the door opened slowly. A big, dark figure came in. The older sailor was terrified. He could not move. He just sat and looked at the horrible thing.

The younger sailor ran out of the room, down the stairs and out of the house. In the street, he found a policeman. They returned to the house, but the sailor was too frightened to enter. The policeman went upstairs alone.

'Is anyone here?' he cried.

There was no answer and he found no one. There was an evil smell on the stairs. He looked everywhere, but he couldn't find the older sailor. Then he looked out of the window. The older sailor was lying in the garden - he was dead.

Did 'something' push him out of the window? Or did he jump out of the window in terror? We will never know.

CHAPTER THREE

Glamis Castle and its Chosts

Scotland is famous for its haunted castles and its ghosts. Glamis Castle has a long history of violent murders and ghosts. It is a big castle with more than one hundred rooms and many secret hiding places. The castle also hides terrible secrets.

During the Middle Ages there was a battle near the castle. After the battle, some men came to the castle. They were afraid and in danger.

'Excuse us, sir. We are in danger. The enemy is following us. Can we stay at your castle for a few days?' they said.

The Earl of Glamis smiled and said, 'Follow me. You can hide in a secret room.'

The men were happy and said, 'Thank you, sir! You are very kind.'

The Earl of Glamis looked at the men but did not answer. He took them to a secret room.

'Enter and don't make any noise,' he said.

The men entered. The Earl locked the door and put the key in his pocket. He never opened that door again! Many years later Lord Strathmore opened that door and fainted! He found a room full of skeletons. Visitors to the castle often hear strange noises in that room. They hear knocks at the door. Perhaps the ghosts of the men want to get out!

The 'Grey Lady' is another ghost of Glamis Castle. Lady Janet Glamis lived during the reign of King James V of Scotland. King James was a cruel man and did not like Janet.

'Lady Janet Douglas Glamis is a witch! She tried to poison me!' he said to his court.

'No, that is not true!' cried Lady Janet. 'I am not a witch! I am innocent!'

The King sent poor Lady Janet to prison for many years and she was very unhappy. Then in 1537, the King's men burnt her. Her ghost haunts the clock tower of Glamis Castle. People say her ghost is transparent and there is a strange red light around her head.

At the beginning of the 1800s, the Earl of Strathmore had a son. The baby was deformed. The parents hid the baby in a secret room. Only the parents and the nurse knew about the baby.

The boy grew up but he always stayed in the secret room. No one knew the terrible secret. One day a workman went to repair the roof. From the roof, he saw the window of the secret room and looked inside.

He was terrified and began to shout, 'There's a strange creature in that room! What people say is true!'

The Earl heard him and said, 'Listen carefully. You saw nothing!'

'But, sir, I did... I saw a...!'

'You saw no one and heard nothing. Do you understand? I am sending you and your family away from Scotland.'

'I don't want to go away, sir.'

Take your family and go to Australia. Here is lots of money. Now go!'

The next day the workman and his family left Scotland.

The creature died when he was very old. Perhaps his skeleton is still in the secret room.

Today people at the castle can hear a child crying at night. Others say that the ghost of a strange creature walks around the castle and makes unusual noises.

CHAPTER FOUR

Borley: a Haunted Village

Borley is a small village about 100 kilometres northeast of London. It has a church, a rectory and a few houses. It also has more ghosts than any other village in England!

In 1863, Reverend Henry D. Bull built the Borley Rectory. When he died in 1892, his son became minister and lived in the rectory with his wife and daughters. On 28 July 1900, Reverend Bull heard a noise outside the rectory. He opened the door and saw his daughters. They were very frightened.

'We saw a ghost!' they cried. 'It was a nun - a young nun. She was silent and very sad. She walked in front of us.'

'Where is the ghost now?' asked Reverend Bull.

'She disappeared,' said one of the girls.

Some people did not believe the girls. But a doctor and a teacher saw the same nun on the same day, 28 July, a few years later. On 28 July 1972, a group of scientists saw her too!

The nun was not the only ghost of Borley Rectory. There was also a headless man, a phantom coach with two horses and others. Other bizarre happenings at Borley included organ music playing in the empty church, lights that went on and off, furniture that moved and stones that fell from the sky!

Reverend Guy Smith arrived at Borley Rectory in 1928. He and his wife didn't like the noises and the other strange events.

'I don't believe in ghosts. It's all a lot of nonsense. But I want to understand what is happening,' said Reverend Smith.

So he called Harry Price to investigate. Price was a famous psychic expert. He arrived at Borley with several assistants and started investigating.

On 10 June 1929, there was a sensational newspaper article in the Daily Mirror about the ghostly figures at Borley. Hundreds of curious visitors came to Borley Rectory. They wanted to see the ghosts! Reverend Smith did not like all these visitors. He soon left. But Harry Price continued investigating. He wrote books about the rectory and its ghosts.

Soon Reverend Foyster and his family arrived at Borley.

He and his family had the same problems as the other reverends. He kept a diary of the bizarre events. During this, time mysterious messages appeared on the walls of the rectory. They were written to the reverend's wife Marianne.

Who wrote these messages? Was it a ghost? Or was it Mrs Foyster?

After five years and about 2000 ghostly appearances, Reverend Foyster left Borley! He was the last reverend at Borley Rectory. No one wanted to live there.

On 27 February 1939, a big fire destroyed the rectory. After the fire, workmen found a woman's skull in the ground and several religious symbols. People said the ghosts moved to the church after the fire.

But WHY is Borley haunted? Why does the nun appear to many people in the village? Who are the other ghosts?

A legend says the rectory was built on the ruins of a medieval monastery. Near the monastery, there was a convent. A monk fell in love with a young nun at the convent. On the night of 28 July, they decided to escape together in a coach. But the nuns of the convent discovered their plan. They were very angry. They shut the young nun in a small room and she starved to death. The monk was beheaded.

During the 1960s, a psychic expert called Geoffrey Croom-Hollingsworth was interested in Borley. He and his assistant Roy Potter spent a lot of time there.

This is what Croom-Hollingsworth said, 'One summer night I saw the nun walking across the garden. I called Roy Potter and he saw her too. She was about 4 metres from us. Then she disappeared into a wall.'

Croom-Hollingsworth and Potter studied the bizarre events at Borley for many years. Their conclusion? Borley is haunted!

CHAPTER FIVE

Royal Ghosts

Today the Tower of London is a popular tourist attraction. Millions of people visit it every year. Do they know the Tower is haunted by royal ghosts? William the Conqueror wanted a castle and a prison, and built the Tower of London in 1078. The Tower has a ghastly history of tortures, murders and executions.

Anne Boleyn is a very active royal ghost. In 1533, she became King Henry VIII's second wife. But Henry soon got tired of her because she did not give him a son.

In 1536, Henry decided to marry another woman. He accused Anne Boleyn of treason and put her in the Tower of London. She was beheaded on Tower Green in May 1536.

Her ghost is white and transparent. She haunts Tower Green, the White Tower and the church in the Tower. Sometimes she appears with her head. At other times, she holds her head in her hand!

The ghosts of Henry's other unlucky wives - Catherine Howard and Jane Seymour - haunt Hampton Court Palace, just outside London.

In 1972, a nine-year-old girl visited the Tower of London with her father.

The tourist guide said, 'Anne Boleyn and other royal prisoners were beheaded on Tower Green. The executioner used a big axe to cut off their heads.'

'That's not true! I saw Anne Boleyn a minute ago. But the executioner did not use an axe because Anne Boleyn was a queen. He used a special sword from France.'

The other visitors were surprised. The little girl was right.

'How do you know this?' asked her father.

'I saw the whole execution on Tower Green a few minutes ago!' she said.

Perhaps the most famous ghosts of the Tower are the two princes. They were heirs to the English throne. When Edward V became King of England in 1483, he was only twelve years old and his brother Richard was ten. Their uncle Richard wanted to be King of England. He took the princes to the Tower and soon they disappeared.

People began asking questions, 'Where is young King Edward, where is his brother?'

People said that Richard was responsible for the murder of the princes.

Then one night a soldier saw two children at the bottom of the stairs. They had long white nightclothes. They looked at the soldier silently. They were very sad and frightened. Suddenly they disappeared. Then the soldier understood. The children were the ghosts of the two princes. Many people saw the two ghosts at the bottom of the stairs and people still see them now.

In 1647, workmen found the skeletons of two children under the stairs. The skeletons were buried immediately. On windy nights, the ghosts of the sad princes still haunt the Tower of London.

The Tower is a very spooky place at night!

CHAPTER SIX

American Spooks

Ghosts, spooks, poltergeists and phantoms are part of America's past and present. Halloween is the festivity of ghosts and the supernatural, and as you know, it is celebrated on October 31.

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, is the spookiest American monument to ghosts. It is a famous tourist attraction and people say that mysterious spooks live there.

Sara Winchester was part of the rich Winchester family. The family made Winchester rifles in the 1800s. During the nineteenth century, these rifles killed many people.

When Sara Winchester's husband and baby daughter died, she was very unhappy. Strange things were happening to her. She went to a psychic expert and asked for help.

The expert told her, 'The spirits of the people killed by a Winchester rifle are angry with you. They want revenge!' 

'What can I do?' Mrs Winchester asked.

The expert answered, 'The spirits want you to build a big home for them. You must follow all their instructions. And you cannot rest - you must work seven days a week.'

Mrs Winchester bought a house in the country. For thirty-eight years, she built a home for ghosts! She and the workmen worked seven days a week. She lived in the haunted house and every evening she wore a long blue dress and had dinner and secret meetings with the ghosts. They gave her instructions for building the strange house. Every night she slept in a different bedroom.

Today the Winchester Mystery House has 160 rooms and is similar to a maze. There are stairs that go nowhere, doors that open onto walls and a window in the floor! Thirteen was a favourite number of the ghosts because there are thirteen bathrooms and all the stairs have thirteen steps.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. He was a famous American writer. His grandfather was a judge at the Salem witch hangings. He was very interested in ghosts, evil spirits and demons.

Every evening after work, Hawthorne went to the Atheneum Library to read the newspaper. Reverend Harris went to the Atheneum Library too. He was an old minister of the church. Hawthorne saw Reverend Harris every evening for many years. But they were not friends.

One evening a friend of Hawthorne said, 'Reverend Harris died last week.'

'What? Are you sure?' Hawthorne asked.

'Yes, of course,' his friend answered and went away.

'How is that possible? I saw Reverend Harris at the library this evening and all last week,' Hawthorne thought.

For many weeks, Hawthorne saw Reverend Harris at the library. He sat in his usual chair and read the newspaper. But the other people at the library could not see him! Hawthorne said nothing to the others.

He was afraid to talk to the ghost. He was also afraid to touch it. After about a month, the ghost started looking at him.

'Why is Reverend Harris' ghost looking at me? Perhaps he wants to say something,' Hawthorne thought.

He was confused. He saw the ghost and did not know what to do. One evening he went to the library and Reverend Harris' chair was empty. Hawthorne never saw the ghost again.

For years he thought, 'Why did I see Reverend Harris' ghost? Why didn't the other people see him?'

Hawthorne thought about Reverend Harris' ghost for a long time, but he was never able to solve the mystery. The White House in Washington D.C. is also a haunted house! The ghosts of assassinated American Presidents haunt it. Abraham Lincoln's ghost is the most famous.

Lincoln was President of the United States during the American Civil War. Many Americans loved him, but he had dangerous enemies too. He stopped slavery in America, but the southern states did not agree with this.

On 5 April 1865, Abraham Lincoln had a very bad dream. He was at the White House and he heard people crying in the next room. He got up and went to the East Room. He saw a coffin in the middle of the room. Many people walked by the coffin.

'Who is inside the coffin?' he asked a man.

'The President of the United States, sir. An assassin killed him!'

'What?' said Lincoln. He looked inside the coffin and saw his own body. He was DEAD! He suddenly woke up. He was very scared about this dream. He told his wife and friends.

On 15 April 1865, Lincoln and his wife went to the theatre. He wanted to relax after a long day. At the end of the performance, John Wilkes Booth shot the President in the back of the head! The President of the United States was dead!

Was Lincoln's dream a coincidence? Or did he have supernatural powers?

In the 1920s, President Coolidge's wife saw Lincoln's face at the window of the Oval Office. He was very sad.

In the 1930s, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was a guest at the White House. One evening she heard a knock at the door. She opened it and saw Lincoln's ghost. He looked at her and then walked away.

In the 1980s, President Reagan's daughter saw Lincoln's ghost too. Today people at the White House still see his ghost in the East Room, in the Oval Office and in the halls.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Spanish Spirits

Maria, Juan and Miguel Pereira lived in the village of Belmez in southern Spain. They were farmers. On 23 August 1971, Maria Pereira was in the kitchen of her home.

Suddenly she saw an image of a human face on the kitchen floor! She tried to wash the floor but the face did not go away. It became more visible. It was the sad face of a man with big eyes.

'Juan, come quickly! There is something strange on the kitchen floor!' Maria cried.

Her husband came quickly and looked at the floor. He was terrified.

'Oh, no! What is this? A human face! Call Miguel!' Juan said.

Their son Miguel looked at the floor and said, 'What's happening? This is macabre!'

Miguel took a hammer and destroyed part of the floor. But soon after another face appeared and then another. Miguel destroyed another part of the floor. But after a few days other faces appeared. There were faces of men, women and children of different ages. Sometimes small crosses appeared too. At other times, parts of the body were visible: a woman's hand with a flower.

Soon everyone in Belmez knew about the mysterious faces. People came from other parts of Spain to see them. Many psychic experts were interested too. Professor de Argumosa of the University of Madrid started studying the faces. He also studied the chemical composition of the floor. But he found nothing unusual.

Professor de Argumosa discovered that in the 17th century the governor of Granada executed five people in Belmez. But this was not a complete explanation because there were more than five faces.

Workmen started digging under the Pereira's house. They found many skeletons under the kitchen floor. Two skeletons were headless! Was this an old cemetery? Yes, it was. In the past, there was a cemetery in the same place as the house. Perhaps the faces were the spirits of the dead in that cemetery.

Professor de Argumosa heard horrible cries and frightened voices in the Pereira kitchen. He made a recording of the cries and voices. He could also hear words in Spanish.

Experts from other countries went to Belmez to study the mysterious faces. The psychic expert Jose Martinez Romero wrote a book about them. But no one has an answer... yet!

CHAPTER EIGHT

Literary Ghosts

Ghosts and the supernatural are part of literature.

Let's meet some famous literary ghosts. William Shakespeare used ghosts in several of his plays. In Hamlet, the castle guards see the ghost of Hamlet's father one night. Then the ghost speaks to Hamlet and tells him terrible things about his murder.

Shakespeare's play Macbeth begins with three ugly witches. They tell Macbeth and Banquo strange things about their future. Later on in the play, Banquo's ghost appears at a banquet table and scares Macbeth.

In Richard III, the sad ghosts of two boy princes appear to King Richard. He murdered them earlier in the play.

In Julius Caesar, Caesar's ghost appears to remind Brutus of his crime.

The American writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe were very interested in the supernatural and in spirits. Their stories often talk about ghosts, evil spirits and demons. In Poe's stories death and the supernatural are often present. In Eleonora (1842), the ghost of Eleonora returns to give a message to the narrator. In Hawthorne's novel The House of the Seven Gables (1851), unhappy people and strange spirits live in an evil, old house. His short story Young Goodman Brown (1846) talks about a young man and his adventure in the forest with witches and the devil!

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843) is a complete ghost story with four ghosts: Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come. The ghost of Jacob Marley is an important character of the story.

Wilkie Collins was a writer and a friend of Charles Dickens. He was the father of the modern mystery story. He also wrote a complete ghost story called The Haunted Hotel (1879).

At the end of the 19th century, the ghost story became a literary form. The Canterville Ghost (1887) by Oscar Wilde is an excellent example of a humorous ghost story. The ghost makes friends with one of the characters of the story.

In The Turn of the Screw (1898), Henry James created a macabre ghost story about two evil ghosts and their two young victims - a very frightening tale!

- THE END -