A Natural History of Ghosts by Clarke Roger (2013-11-26) Paperback

by Roger Clarke

Genres: Nonfiction, Ghosts, History

Unknown Binding

About the author

I was educated at Oxford University where I read English at Magdalen. I've written about books and film for 20 years, at one point writing three weekly columns for The Independent newspaper. I've written an opera libretto, performed at the Almeida Theatre in 1993, and a wrote a book of poetry when I was a student. I was for two years the UK London correspondent for the Zagat food guides. 'Ghosts' is a return to a subject that fascinated me as a child.

Reviews

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this quite interesting to read. I found it hard to find a cohesive thread running through it; it wasn’t really a chronological history of belief in ghosts, and I think is best looked at as a collection of essays on the topic. Some of these were more interesting than others, especially towards the end, when I felt like some of the stories and case studies became a bit repetitive or similar in nature.

The author is a good storyteller and some of the best parts were those covering very famous hauntings. It was quite creepy and I liked that he kept it quite vague in the sense of not arguing one way or the other whether ghosts were real or not.

It was al little dry in points and some of the chapters felt a bit underwhelming, as if he wasn’t sure where he was going with his argument, but as a whole I found this an interesting and spooky book.

Content Notes:

Warnings: References throughout to violence, death, murder, child murder, sexual abuse, possession, slavery, Nazism, racism..

[Martin Sykala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghosts, what are they? A figment of our imagination perhaps? The author decided to call this little gem a natural history of ghosts. He proved that that Angel of Mons was fiction having been written by Arthur Machen - his story called The Bowman became a fact. Oh dear.

Then we have our Borley Rectory haunting. Nicely explained away as again fiction. Pity.

From the Victorian flashmobs who created ghosts so pickpockets could operate to the churches who made money out of ghosts. But. We just don't know do we. Many other ghosts haven't been explained, we could surmise Quantum this or particle that to give us an insight into why some hauntings move with an object.

It's a very interesting read. can't explain why my old home - 2 Kenthouse Road, Sydenham was haunted for years and what the hell it was that i often saw on the staircase - or that my friends run away when seeing 'things'. He ends it by simply saying - belief. Ghosts have been with us for thousands of years and we are still no closer to finding out what they are.

[Trevor P. Kwain · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you think this book is about debunking the scientific rejection of ghosts and promote once.more the belief in the supernatural, well think again. This book, even though written by someone who may have been described once as a "ghost detective", it is actually a curious narrative of how the world of ghosts came about and how its folklore came and went in fads across centuries, with stories told and retold to the point the original myth is murky and just a fraud. Clarke picks a few kew English stories to document the most common tropes in English ghost stories (and a bit beyond to Germany, Ireland and the US). While his choice of chapter structure was not my favourite, it was a curious book to read from a socio-cultural and anthropolical perspective, about one of the weirdest beliefs us humans have manufactured.

[James Tester · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, occasionally in-depth but always passionate history of ghosts, hauntings, demons and other realms of the supernatural. The mostly England focused (though some European countries and America do get a look in) does feel constrained in it's brevity, yet because Clarke focuses his attention mostly upon the U.K he manages to give more detail to certain cases. There is much missed out here when it comes to famous hauntings, photographs, and the modern sensation of tik tok and youtube "ghost videos" would have made an excellent addition to a revised edition, but what we have is sometimes illuminating, filled with odd little details and involvement from real life figures leading to many strange coincidences. A worthy introduction.

[J.F. Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the final chapter, Roger Clarke comments that perhaps England is the world's 'most haunted' country because it contains the most people who believe in ghosts. This paradox is a fitting conclusion to what is an erudite and thoughtful book about all kinds of ghosts and hauntings, written with intelligence and often wry humour. Clarke systematically examines the evidence, explores scientific explanations, untangles (often media-created) webs of misdirection and debunks many myths and yet ultimately he still leaves the reader wondering whether there might be 'more things in heaven and earth' than people are prepared to admit. Excellent stuff!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a very engaging read, well-written and highly literate. It covers a number of famous cases that may well be familiar to many, in an entertaining and illuminating way.

It's probably not giving much away to say that the sub-title "500 Years of Hunting for Proof" implies that proof, if available at all, remains elusive to the present day. Consequently, this is more a history of changes in human perception based on religion, the need to believe and the profit motive, than a collection of spine chilling investigations. In short, a level headed look at the phenomenon of supernatural belief.

[Teagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was quite informative, it definitely shows a good grasp on the history of ghosts, how it started, how they developed overtime.
From talking about the Victorian seances and fictional ghosts stories that became popular, Roger really included a lot of information and linked a lot of the chapters together. However i found it a bit confusing to fully understand sometimes because i do find he would jump throughout a chapter. He’ll go from talking about what the chapter is initially called but then go onto talking about something quite different.
I think it’s definitely a book i’d read once but nonetheless i enjoyed it, however glad to have finished it.

[El Maslin]

It started off quite hard to get into as was written in the form of an elongated essay with lots of names & places thrown in. The more I read the more I became engrossed in it & it turned into not just words on a page but a journey through the exploration of ghosts. It doesn’t really make you strongly believe in ghosts but it takes you through experiences & how they have been explored across centuries which is fascinating in itself - even if it makes you more of a sceptic.

Some notable quotes:
“Ghosts exist because people constantly report that they see them”
“These tales are everywhere, and there’s something intensely private about them”

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all scary...Roger Clarke examines some of the most famous hauntings in British history and debunks them. He is quite scientific and logical. There are some early hauntings that are merely recounted--the buildings long gone--but the famous photographs and sightings of others can be logically explained. For serious investigators, you'll enjoy this.

[Meg 🐞 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh- didn’t completely finish, it was really good at some parts, others not so much- I wish the author had included more headings because some of the stories blended together and the structure made it a bit confusing

[Lauren Doherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

2022 read - interesting content but just found it really difficult to get through

[Louisa Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing read - I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in ghosts or the history of ghosts, especially focusing on the UK.

[Sian Lile-Pastore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short book, but took me a while to get through. I enjoyed a lot of the information but it sometimes felt a bit of a slog and I feel like it wasn't quite what I was after.

[Linsey Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD

[Rebecca Crofts · Rating 3 out of 5]

got bored