Ghostly encounters

Witchcraft, shamanism, and Séances. Clairvoyance, kundalini, and kabala. Auguries and mediums, oracles and psychics. There is a peculiar spine-chilling thrill that attract us to them. Sometimes with a strong belief in these practices; often out of curiosity that is likely to transform itself into something irreversible. Sometimes for a peep into the future so we can exercise some control over our lives, at other times, with the hope of acquiring power over the forces of nature. Sometimes, though rarely, to get rid of ‘ghosts’ of our own creation, ghosts of our past, or ghostly visitations that disturb our daily lives. What then, one asks, is the attraction of a soul towards writing about ghosts? In this day and age? And one is overwhelmed with the incredible popularity of Harry Potter. In this day and age.

There has of course been a great deal of criticism that the Harry Potter books "have fuelled a rapidly growing interest in witchcraft among children." Rowling herself admitted in an interview that she has received letters begging to be let into Hogwarts. There is a very real fear that these books could lead to “dangerous dabbling with occult powers”; a fear that is further translated to the possibility of serious psychological and spiritual damage. There are some who even claim that Rowling has done a deep study of the “blackest of witchcraft training manuals” – and is now imparting that knowledge to the children. Let’s keep her popularity aside: what prompted her to write the series about boys flying on broomsticks and rushing through brick walls? Or for that matter, what inspired Steven Spielberg to come out with his “sharp-toothed sea creatures and extinct clawed-carnivores”? A disturbed childhood certainly – which he does not deny. He admits also that during his growing years he had to deny being a Jew and that he was angry with his father for “far too long”. Much of this is reflected in his movies. Danielle Berrin mentions in her article published in “Hollywood” (October 2012) that “through his work, he was able to expurgate the long-held family narrative that stifled his soul”.

Should we then assume a similar Freudian discontentment in Montague Rhodes James? Critics have raved about him. Ruth Rendall has called him “probably the finest ghost-story writer England has ever produced …superb examples of beautifully-paced understatement, convincing background and chilling terror.” Ruskin Bond says that he first read James as a boy in a forest rest-house “and he had me hooked on ghost stories for the rest of my life.” The stories in the present selection (two books) are no doubt engaging – though not quite the edge-of-the-seat variety. Rendall’s reference to the “understatement” is a perfect description. There is a fear that just about reaches your throat but doesn’t quite boil over; the chill that you expect will run up your spine actually does so …one vertebral step at a time …hovering half-way to terror until the climactic end. However, it is interesting to note the observation of James's biographer Michael Cox: "One need not be a professional psychoanalyst to see the ghost stories as some release from feelings held in check." That could be an explanation for his predilection for things that go bump in the night.

But even running a fine comb through his life one finds nothing that could have upset his young mind. His father, a clergyman, spent over 40 years in Suffolk – which lent the setting for two of James’ stories which are included in the present selection: “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” and “A Warning to the Curious”. The titular

story “The Haunted

Dolls’ House” haunts you for a long time after you’ve finishing reading both the books – competing for attention with “The Creature on the

Moonlit Road”, The stories mostly related to an old book or object that is found by a wayfarer of sorts, and there is a strange reaction within the object itself or some supernatural force is released against the unfortunate finder/possessor of the item. According to James (in an essay written in

1929), “malevolence and terror, the glare of evil faces, 'the stony grin of unearthly malice', pursuing forms in darkness, and 'longdrawn, distant screams', are all in place, and so is a modicum of blood, shed with deliberation and carefully husbanded.” George Orwell, in his “Decline of

the English Murder” (1946) had tried to define the Sunday paper readers’ fretful comment that ‘you never seem to get a good murder nowadays’. Most ghost stories tend to leave us with the same feeling – of disappointment. But if you want to read one “good” ghost story (after another), here’s a masterful presentation. One’s estimation of Ruskin Bond also jumps several notches …