Nine Authentic Ghost Stories

by Kirsty Logan (Introduction)

128 pages, Hardcover

Published December 9, 2025

About the author

Kirsty Logan is a professional daydreamer. She is the author of two novels, The Gloaming and The Gracekeepers, and two story collections, A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales. Her fifth book, Things We Say in the Dark, will be published on Halloween 2019.

Kirsty lives in Glasgow with her wife and their rescue dog. She has tattooed toes.

Reviews

[Cristina Zappa · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice little bedtime read.

[Marles Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nine Authentic Ghost Stories was first published in 1886. It is a collection of nine peculiar and eerie tales, all written by anonymous authors. It has recently been reprinted with a new introduction by Kirsty Logan. The collection was first published in 1886. These nine ghost stories are presented as authentic, eyewitness accounts by their authors, of events that sound like they could have happened right before your eyes.

There are very common gothic elements like secret rooms, haunted portraits, things that go clunk in the night, and very mysterious deaths.

I think my favourite was "Helen, Unrestful Helen," and "The 31st of December", and each story was equally as unsettling and creepy as the next. None were overtly horrid or blood curdling, but they did give than sense that something was awry.

The book itself was rather cute, a small hardcover edition that lent itself to that old world charm, and Kirsty’s introduction is beguiling, and encourages you to think twice, and not to cast your doubts aside all at once. Published just in time for Halloween, it’s a quaint little book to potentially keep you awake at night.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have rated it higher but for the seventh story which, annoyingly, is written in Scottish dialect and I therefore did not read it. Why writers do that defeats me, it just destroys the flow of the narrative. All that is required is to explain that the character is of whatever region or country.

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of stories. I didn't care for one of them, which was rather hard to read, and so I skipped most of it. The remainder are decent.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of these tales are good, but some are better then others. I would however especially recommend reading this if you like folklore.

[coveting.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chilling collection of ghost stories featuring haunted portraits, hidden messages and unsolved murders. Uncanny and bewitching.