In the morning before the ground shook, I was reading Micheal Chabon’s Maps And Legends and came upon his intro to Casting the Runes, an anthology of M.R. James ghost stories. Chabon celebrates the short story “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad!” as M.R. James’ greatest ghost story. He also laments that the ghost story has fallen out of favor with writers.
I concur. There’s something satisfying about a well crafted ghost stories. A well written ghost story sends shivers up your spine and is a joy to read. You’re frightened and elated and that’s a good feeling.
What I liked about Chabon’s essay was that he went touched upon a few things I noticed about ghost stories — things I felt I should write about too. Here’s where I write about them.
Chabon talked about the first person perspective of most ghosts stories. They are mostly told by a narrator describing ghastly things he has seen or has heard about from a reliable source. Chabon talked about the truthiness of the ghost story accounts. The narrator’s account from a first person perspective — can you trust ’em? Or that they seem almost true. Chabon talked about how they were told on cold winter nights around camp fires. That’s the best time for ghost stories. And they are told, spoken, enough to scare you.
I, too, love the first person perspective of the ghost story. “I don’t believe in the supernatural, but….” They always open like that and you get hooked. I don’t believe in the supernatural but I love the chills I get from reading them. I love ’em in the winter. The darkness. The cold. Under the covers. The darkness. All are conducive to being frightened.
It’s almost fall and the day’s are getting longer. It’s almost time for a good ghost story. “I don’t believe in the supernatural…”
