Holy Ghosts

A couple witnesses a ghostly procession from centuries past; a tourist confesses her sins to a priest long since dead; cursed statues torment a sinning Archdeacon.

Churches, monasteries and convents have long been associated with sanctuary: sacred spaces should offer protection from evil in all its forms. This new anthology raises questions about the protection offered by faith, bringing together a collection of tales in which holy places are filled with horror; where stone effigies come to life and believers are tormented by terrifying apparitions.

In a host of uncanny stories published between 1855 and 1935, Holy Ghosts uncovers sacrilegious specters and the ecclesiastically eerie. Reincarnating forgotten authors, from Mrs Henry Wood to Ada Buisson, Robert Hichens to M R James; Amelia B Edwards to Vernon Lee, the anthology exhumes stories buried deep in the British Library stacks.

Fiona Snailham is an academic based at the University of Greenwich, whose research and published work explores nineteenth-century literature and culture, and the intersection between Christian theology and Victorian mediumship and spiritualism. She is also a contributor to BBC History Extra and History Today.