Haunted England: Royal Spirits, Castle Ghosts, Phantom Coaches, & Wailing Ghouls

by Terence W. Whitaker

A little bit about my books, most are in much better condition than listed I just really need to move them to help pay for hospis/funeral costs for my father. Not only will you be getting a quality book you will be helping a family of four that will be taking on a $700 lost per month as well.

Genres: Nonfiction, Paranormal

222 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1987

Reviews

[MKF · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a kid I loved these old ghost books filled with supposedly real and creepy stories that most people loved. The popular newer ghost books over the years are too busy trying to convince you they're real, that you can use fake tools for proof, and the annoying claims of people being skeptical. Luckily this is an old book from around those early days so I did like it though I swear I've read it before.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debating 4.5✨

Exactly the kind of haunted history I was looking for. Whitaker divides the book by types of hauntings: castles, ladies in waiting, theatre's and the galleries, screaming skulls, nuns/priests, pubs, knights and even traveling. I think thats why I took a little more time with this one. Wanted to give attention to each section since there is a lot of information.

Three ghosts at Heathrow Airport was certainly not something I expected especially since I have been there. It honestly made it feel like all across England you could have a paranormal experience. Absolutely loved reading about English history that starts bleeding into the folklore. Top stories and notes I made were : Body snatchers at the bank, William Corder, Dickie’s Bridge and Emily Bronte appearing annually on her death anniversary at a former pub, now restaurant.


My only pet peeve was how uneven the stories could be. One haunting gets a paragraph while the next gets four or five pages. Since there are a lot of stories certain ones stand out. I don’t think one would get scared reading, maybe more shock? Definitely think if we were put in these situations, fear would absolutely be appropriate. One thing I am highly concerned about is... why is everyone getting sealed into walls?! It happened in almost every chapter, multiple times or in some capacity.


Some prior English history definitely helps. Whitaker mentions different periods, significant religious changes and events without always explaining their significance to the time/place of the event being discussed. Personally was not an issue but I can see others having to do some more research. There are some time jumps but I would say most of it is chronological or close to it for each section.


Highly recommend if you want to get into some deep English supernatural history/folklore. Whitaker even includes some of his own experiences while researching the locations that were chilling. I especially enjoyed the very last page I will include below.





The End?

Well not quite… for the ghosts of England’s past will always be with us.

Tomorrow - today will become yesterday.

And today is the birthday of tomorrow’s ghosts.

(If you see what I mean) - Terence Whitaker

[Amy Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book on ghosts, as usual with these types of volumes there's some really great stories, lots of okay ones and plenty that are pretty dull, I considered quitting at a few points but interesting accounts would turn up again and keep me going. Nice to read about the grey lady at Burton Agnes Hall again, I went there as a kid and was completely enthralled that it was haunted.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry at times, this is still an interesting catalog of hauntings in England, written with a very matter-of-fact and systematizing British tone.