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Shane Leslie's Ghost Book
From the dust jacket:
"Shane Leslie describes this book as the 'drift and silt of a life-long interest in ghosts.'
He begins with a discussion of ghosts and poltergeists and the Church's attitude towards them, then comes to the main part of the book, his own collection of 'Catholic ghost stories.' A few of them - such as the story of a priest mysteriously summoned to a death-bed - most of us have heard in one form or another. But we do not think many readers know of the dead parish priest who came to have a look at his successor, the lady ghost who went to the midnight Mass and helped a lame friend to the altar rail as she had been accustomed to do, the Protestant children who learned to sing plainchant by 'listening' to a table which had been an altar (some harassed pastors might like to try this method) or of the ghostly nun who has been seen, time and again, busily scubbing the convent steps.
Most of the stories are more amusing than alarming, but a few are as terrifying as anyone could wish - in particular the gruesome account of a house whose occupants were constantly tempted to suicide."
"Shane Leslie describes this book as the 'drift and silt of a life-long interest in ghosts.'
He begins with a discussion of ghosts and poltergeists and the Church's attitude towards them, then comes to the main part of the book, his own collection of 'Catholic ghost stories.' A few of them - such as the story of a priest mysteriously summoned to a death-bed - most of us have heard in one form or another. But we do not think many readers know of the dead parish priest who came to have a look at his successor, the lady ghost who went to the midnight Mass and helped a lame friend to the altar rail as she had been accustomed to do, the Protestant children who learned to sing plainchant by 'listening' to a table which had been an altar (some harassed pastors might like to try this method) or of the ghostly nun who has been seen, time and again, busily scubbing the convent steps.
Most of the stories are more amusing than alarming, but a few are as terrifying as anyone could wish - in particular the gruesome account of a house whose occupants were constantly tempted to suicide."
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1955
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70 people want to read
About the author
Shane Leslie
109 books4 followersSir Shane Leslie, Bt., KCSG
A prolific figure in Irish literature and a man of letters, Leslie achieved success on both sides of the Atlantic. Christened "John Randolph" in honour of his father John and his maternal uncle by marriage and godfather Lord Randolph Spencer Churchill (who had married his maternal aunt Jennie Jerome).
He was a graduate of Eton and received his degree from King's College, University of Cambridge.
An Irish Nationalist and supporter of Home Rule for Ireland, he changed his name to Shane - an Irish equivalent of John. A convert to Roman Catholicism, many of his literary works reflect his Catholic faith.
In 1910 he narrowly lost election to Parliament as representative for Derry City. His own political ambitions were not fulfilled, but his family was politically well-connected as his maternal first cousin was Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill.
He wrote novels, poetry, biographies, studies of Celtic legend and folklore, apologetics, histories, and several volumes of memoirs. In 1916, he became editor of the prestigious 'Dublin Review.'
A frequent visitor and lecturer in the United States (he was half-American, via his mother), he was the earliest literary mentor of F. Scott Fitzgerald who later dedicated his novel 'The Beautiful and Damned' (1922) to him.
During World War One, before the entry of the United States in the war, Leslie volunteered for service with the American Ambulance Corps and was wounded. He was later engaged by the British government to visit the United States (1916 to 1917) and assist the British Ambassador, Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, in gauging the attitudes of Irish-Americans toward the Great War and forming an alliance with Great Britain. As an Anglo-Irish aristocrat who was also a Catholic and half-American, he was well-suited for the role in helping to sway the majority of Catholic Irish-American opinion toward support of Britain in the war.
During World War Two, he volunteered for service in the British Army's Home Guard and was duly commissioned. He was stationed in the West End of London where he served as a captain during the Blitz. Upon his father's death in 1944, he became the third Baronet (Leslie of Glaslough).
He promoted the teaching of the Irish language in schools, was a strong advocate for reforestation in Ireland, and encouraged conservation. Proud of his American heritage, in 1947 he became a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Notre Dame, was an Associate Member of the Irish Academy of Letters, invested a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great (KCSG) in 1960, and was appointed Privy Chamberlain of the Sword & Cape to Pope Pius XI. Proud of his half-American ancestry, as well as his English and Anglo-Irish heritage, he was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Leslie and his work have been the focus of several biographical and critical studies. His papers are in collections held by Eton College, University of Cambridge, Georgetown University, Boston College, University of Notre Dame, the National Library of Ireland, and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
- Biographical sketch provided courtesy of its researcher.
A prolific figure in Irish literature and a man of letters, Leslie achieved success on both sides of the Atlantic. Christened "John Randolph" in honour of his father John and his maternal uncle by marriage and godfather Lord Randolph Spencer Churchill (who had married his maternal aunt Jennie Jerome).
He was a graduate of Eton and received his degree from King's College, University of Cambridge.
An Irish Nationalist and supporter of Home Rule for Ireland, he changed his name to Shane - an Irish equivalent of John. A convert to Roman Catholicism, many of his literary works reflect his Catholic faith.
In 1910 he narrowly lost election to Parliament as representative for Derry City. His own political ambitions were not fulfilled, but his family was politically well-connected as his maternal first cousin was Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill.
He wrote novels, poetry, biographies, studies of Celtic legend and folklore, apologetics, histories, and several volumes of memoirs. In 1916, he became editor of the prestigious 'Dublin Review.'
A frequent visitor and lecturer in the United States (he was half-American, via his mother), he was the earliest literary mentor of F. Scott Fitzgerald who later dedicated his novel 'The Beautiful and Damned' (1922) to him.
During World War One, before the entry of the United States in the war, Leslie volunteered for service with the American Ambulance Corps and was wounded. He was later engaged by the British government to visit the United States (1916 to 1917) and assist the British Ambassador, Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, in gauging the attitudes of Irish-Americans toward the Great War and forming an alliance with Great Britain. As an Anglo-Irish aristocrat who was also a Catholic and half-American, he was well-suited for the role in helping to sway the majority of Catholic Irish-American opinion toward support of Britain in the war.
During World War Two, he volunteered for service in the British Army's Home Guard and was duly commissioned. He was stationed in the West End of London where he served as a captain during the Blitz. Upon his father's death in 1944, he became the third Baronet (Leslie of Glaslough).
He promoted the teaching of the Irish language in schools, was a strong advocate for reforestation in Ireland, and encouraged conservation. Proud of his American heritage, in 1947 he became a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Notre Dame, was an Associate Member of the Irish Academy of Letters, invested a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great (KCSG) in 1960, and was appointed Privy Chamberlain of the Sword & Cape to Pope Pius XI. Proud of his half-American ancestry, as well as his English and Anglo-Irish heritage, he was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Leslie and his work have been the focus of several biographical and critical studies. His papers are in collections held by Eton College, University of Cambridge, Georgetown University, Boston College, University of Notre Dame, the National Library of Ireland, and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
- Biographical sketch provided courtesy of its researcher.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 16, 2018
Sir Shane Leslie (1885-1971) was a scion of the Anglo-Irish landed gentry, an adult convert to Roman Catholicism, and a prominent 20th-century British Catholic intellectual and writer on various subjects. He also had a lifelong interest in the serious study of the paranormal. This particular book, first published in 1956, was suggested by and partly modeled on an earlier tome, Lord Halifax's Ghost Book: A Collection of Stories of Haunted Houses, Apparitions, and Supernatural Occurrences (which I haven't read), by his High Anglican friend Charles Wood, Viscount Halifax, and like that book is a compendium of short accounts, mostly by the persons who experienced them, of encounters with phenomena broadly referred to as "ghosts." (One incident, dealt with at some length, is actually a case of two printed drawings, described as "cheap oliograph(s)" of the Sacred Heart, which in World War I-era France apparently exuded blood which was confirmed by a British laboratory to be mammalian, though not definitely identified as human; I wouldn't characterize this phenomenon as "ghostly" in nature, but I found it quite fascinating.)
Unlike Halifax's book, however, Leslie's treatment focused strictly on supernatural experiences that happened to Catholics or in Catholic-related settings, and sought to interpret them within a Roman Catholic theological framework, which presupposes the immortality of the human soul. He took the position that authoritative Catholic theology neither requires nor precludes belief in ghostly phenomena, and that the subject is a legitimate area for scientific inquiry (which can be informed by religious beliefs, but is distinct from them), which he felt may or may not in time yield an understanding of communication between the afterlife and this one as governed by natural laws not currently understood. (In his view, at the present time human knowledge in this area is still at a primitive, information-gathering stage.) While Catholics are forbidden to engage in occult practices that attempt to conjure the dead for fortune-telling purposes (as prohibited in the Old Testament), believers who have psychic gifts for seeing or hearing spontaneous manifestations from the afterlife are not prohibited from using them, and the Church does not forbid scientific inquiry into such possible manifestations.
My copy is a 2017 reprint edition, kindly given to me by my friend and fellow writer of supernatural fiction (although he writes much better, and more prolifically, in the genre than I do!) Andrew M. Seddon, who knows that I share his interest in real-life paranormal phenomena as well. In addition to the author's Introduction, it has a short Foreword by Roman Catholic writer, historian and blogger Charles A. Coulombe. These are followed by a couple of rather rambling chapters of general discussion of ghostly phenomena in Catholic thought and church history, followed by a number of mostly short (the longest one is 12 pages long) reports on specific incidents. Leslie drew on, besides Halifax's material, reports by Catholic members of the Society for Psychical Research --including Everard Fielding, who investigated the bleeding pictures mentioned above-- earlier books such as The Story of My Life by Augustus Hare (who died in 1903, and before that experienced or heard about a fair amount of paranormal occurrences) and journalist William Stead's Real Ghost Stories, posthumously published in 1921, and a variety of other published and unpublished writings and oral statements. None of this material was written under "scientific" conditions, but it derives from sources generally regarded as truthful, and was clearly vetted for credibility. Personally, I don't have any problem in regarding all of it as straightforward accounts of incidents, however they're to be explained, that genuinely happened.
This is only one of several books I've read on the general subject of the paranormal, most of the principal ones having been written after Leslie's (although the 1914 collection of case reports, True Irish Ghost Stories by St. John Seymour and Harry Neligan, is older, and it's somewhat surprising that Leslie didn't refer to it, since the accounts were collected in heavily Catholic Ireland); so I have the benefit of a broader perspective, more information and more recent thinking on these subjects than he had. I'm persuaded that "poltergeist" phenomena, some of which are discussed here, is explainable by subconscious telekinesis effected by individuals in very stressed domestic situations, as suggested by William G. Roll in The Poltergeist. On the general subject of actual demonic activity, I think the best, and even definitive treatment to date is Between Christ and Satan by Kurt Koch. Other phenomena described by Leslie fit patterns also observed elsewhere: Seymour and Neligan extensively document sightings of the spirits of dying people appearing to family and friends far from the place where the person is dying, and the incidents of children being able to hear Gregorian chanting in places or around objects where Catholic rites were observed in the past appear to me to be further probable cases of "psychic imprinting." (Roger Clarke's fuller account of the claimed instances of "hauntings" at Borley Rectory in Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof is more critical than the references here, though I haven't directly compared the two authors.)
As a Protestant Christian whose views are formed by my own understanding of the Bible, Leslie would probably have considered me a heretic. :-) In practice, though, my overall theological assessment of the kind of phenomena described here isn't much different than his. To be sure, I personally believe (though not even all Protestants would agree with me) that the dead generally sleep unconsciously until the final resurrection, and I don't believe in Purgatory as an actual place. But I recognize that the Bible doesn't furnish enough information to justify dogmatism, and that what's "generally" the case doesn't automatically preclude exceptions. Like Leslie, I believe that any actual interactions between the living and the departed are ultimately under the control of God, and like him, I take an attitude of cautious openness to the idea as a possibility. (To my mind, it's plausible that the dead might desire the prayers of the living, because God experiences all of time as an eternal present and can utilize posthumous prayers while their object is still alive. I also don't see it as improbable that a deceased soul might be concerned about unfinished earthly business, or might have an interest in seeing Christian spiritual ministration --of whatever denomination!-- provided to a fellow human on the cusp of death, and in need of comfort or forgiveness.)
The conventional attitude of dogmatic materialists can be summed up as, "There are obviously no ghosts, because there is no empirical proof of their existence. And if empirical proof is claimed, we know that all of it is false, because there are obviously no ghosts!" I have never found this circular system of reasoning to be convincing. Leslie has accumulated a body of empirical evidence of human experiences that I don't think can categorically be dismissed as obviously false; and it adds to a larger body of evidence amassed elsewhere. I find it to be, at the very least, quite intriguing!
Unlike Halifax's book, however, Leslie's treatment focused strictly on supernatural experiences that happened to Catholics or in Catholic-related settings, and sought to interpret them within a Roman Catholic theological framework, which presupposes the immortality of the human soul. He took the position that authoritative Catholic theology neither requires nor precludes belief in ghostly phenomena, and that the subject is a legitimate area for scientific inquiry (which can be informed by religious beliefs, but is distinct from them), which he felt may or may not in time yield an understanding of communication between the afterlife and this one as governed by natural laws not currently understood. (In his view, at the present time human knowledge in this area is still at a primitive, information-gathering stage.) While Catholics are forbidden to engage in occult practices that attempt to conjure the dead for fortune-telling purposes (as prohibited in the Old Testament), believers who have psychic gifts for seeing or hearing spontaneous manifestations from the afterlife are not prohibited from using them, and the Church does not forbid scientific inquiry into such possible manifestations.
My copy is a 2017 reprint edition, kindly given to me by my friend and fellow writer of supernatural fiction (although he writes much better, and more prolifically, in the genre than I do!) Andrew M. Seddon, who knows that I share his interest in real-life paranormal phenomena as well. In addition to the author's Introduction, it has a short Foreword by Roman Catholic writer, historian and blogger Charles A. Coulombe. These are followed by a couple of rather rambling chapters of general discussion of ghostly phenomena in Catholic thought and church history, followed by a number of mostly short (the longest one is 12 pages long) reports on specific incidents. Leslie drew on, besides Halifax's material, reports by Catholic members of the Society for Psychical Research --including Everard Fielding, who investigated the bleeding pictures mentioned above-- earlier books such as The Story of My Life by Augustus Hare (who died in 1903, and before that experienced or heard about a fair amount of paranormal occurrences) and journalist William Stead's Real Ghost Stories, posthumously published in 1921, and a variety of other published and unpublished writings and oral statements. None of this material was written under "scientific" conditions, but it derives from sources generally regarded as truthful, and was clearly vetted for credibility. Personally, I don't have any problem in regarding all of it as straightforward accounts of incidents, however they're to be explained, that genuinely happened.
This is only one of several books I've read on the general subject of the paranormal, most of the principal ones having been written after Leslie's (although the 1914 collection of case reports, True Irish Ghost Stories by St. John Seymour and Harry Neligan, is older, and it's somewhat surprising that Leslie didn't refer to it, since the accounts were collected in heavily Catholic Ireland); so I have the benefit of a broader perspective, more information and more recent thinking on these subjects than he had. I'm persuaded that "poltergeist" phenomena, some of which are discussed here, is explainable by subconscious telekinesis effected by individuals in very stressed domestic situations, as suggested by William G. Roll in The Poltergeist. On the general subject of actual demonic activity, I think the best, and even definitive treatment to date is Between Christ and Satan by Kurt Koch. Other phenomena described by Leslie fit patterns also observed elsewhere: Seymour and Neligan extensively document sightings of the spirits of dying people appearing to family and friends far from the place where the person is dying, and the incidents of children being able to hear Gregorian chanting in places or around objects where Catholic rites were observed in the past appear to me to be further probable cases of "psychic imprinting." (Roger Clarke's fuller account of the claimed instances of "hauntings" at Borley Rectory in Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof is more critical than the references here, though I haven't directly compared the two authors.)
As a Protestant Christian whose views are formed by my own understanding of the Bible, Leslie would probably have considered me a heretic. :-) In practice, though, my overall theological assessment of the kind of phenomena described here isn't much different than his. To be sure, I personally believe (though not even all Protestants would agree with me) that the dead generally sleep unconsciously until the final resurrection, and I don't believe in Purgatory as an actual place. But I recognize that the Bible doesn't furnish enough information to justify dogmatism, and that what's "generally" the case doesn't automatically preclude exceptions. Like Leslie, I believe that any actual interactions between the living and the departed are ultimately under the control of God, and like him, I take an attitude of cautious openness to the idea as a possibility. (To my mind, it's plausible that the dead might desire the prayers of the living, because God experiences all of time as an eternal present and can utilize posthumous prayers while their object is still alive. I also don't see it as improbable that a deceased soul might be concerned about unfinished earthly business, or might have an interest in seeing Christian spiritual ministration --of whatever denomination!-- provided to a fellow human on the cusp of death, and in need of comfort or forgiveness.)
The conventional attitude of dogmatic materialists can be summed up as, "There are obviously no ghosts, because there is no empirical proof of their existence. And if empirical proof is claimed, we know that all of it is false, because there are obviously no ghosts!" I have never found this circular system of reasoning to be convincing. Leslie has accumulated a body of empirical evidence of human experiences that I don't think can categorically be dismissed as obviously false; and it adds to a larger body of evidence amassed elsewhere. I find it to be, at the very least, quite intriguing!
October 26, 2024
Only if you are interested in ethnology.
This is an interesting read, not for the ghostly content, but for the aspects of religious ethnology and philosphy you encounter. The author was deeply catholic, and it shows in every story he recounts.
This is an interesting read, not for the ghostly content, but for the aspects of religious ethnology and philosphy you encounter. The author was deeply catholic, and it shows in every story he recounts.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews