3 Classic Ghost Stories Perfect For Halloween

Ghost stories have quietly sneaked into the 21st century. They made their presence felt as the Woman in Black stalked Daniel Radcliffe around a peeling Edwardian pile back in the 2012 movie by Hammer Films. I’m not talking about the Paranormal Activity model of low-budget demonic visitations dressed up to look like ghosts. I’m talking about supernatural spectres capable of bending space and time to suit their own spiritual ends.

In 2015, we had the Poltergeist remake, which wasn’t as terrible as I’d expected, and the resounding success of Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak. Then in 2018, we had Ghost Stories, the big screen adaptation of the stage play, Hereditary‘s appalling attempts at chilling horror, and The Little Stranger, the adaptation of the Sarah Waters haunted house novel of the same name.

According to the Guardian, the ghost is back in literature in a big way too, with Gothic blockbusters coming thick and fast. Good old-fashioned chills abound, particularly in the work of Laura Purcell, one of my favourite modern Gothic authors!

So here are three ghost stories perfect for Halloween thrills!

‘The Signal-Man’ by Charles Dickens

Possibly the quintessential ghost story, ‘The Signal-Man’ is guaranteed to raise the hairs on your neck if you’re lucky enough to see/hear it performed. I saw it performed at Belsay Hall by the Don’t Go Into The Cellar theatre company and you could have heard a pin drop.

‘The Signal-Man’ tells the tale of a hapless railwayman haunted by strange things that he has seen during the course of his duties. By telling his story to a passing gentleman, he ensures that the haunting will continue…and now Dickens has passed it to you too…

You can read the full text here.

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This short story doesn’t exactly deal with ghosts of the usual variety; rather it deals with a haunting of a more psychological nature. A woman is confined to her quarters, apparently suffering from some kind of nervous ailment. Some scholars have noted the seeming disinterest of her physician husband, and potential post natal depression, could be the issue here.

Either way, our narrator begins to feel sure there’s something not quite right with the yellow wallpaper in her room. It’s a good reminder that not all ghosts float about rattling chains or going bump in the night. And there are certain wallpaper patterns that I now cannot look at without thinking of this story.

Published in 1892, this short but exceedingly creepy story will have you looking at your walls in a very different way!

You can read the full text here.

‘The Mezzotint’ by MR James

No list of ghost stories would be complete without the inclusion of M.R. James. The Cambridge scholar wrote many a tale of academics uncovering something that they probably shouldn’t. And ‘The Mezzotint’ is a particular favourite of mine.

As always, dusty and dry academics find their safe world interrupted by the weird and the wonderful. This time, it’s the appearance of a mysterious mezzotint that appears to change every time they look at it. Can they work out what is going on in the picture?

You can read the full text here.

And I daresay I can sneak one of my own stories onto the list. How about The Foundling, a slice of flash fiction inspired by my own spooky vibes prompted by a visit to London’s Foundling Hospital Museum?

Have you read any of these classic ghost stories? Which are your favourites and why?