Pliny the Younger, a Roman writer and historian, wrote that his house in Athens was being haunted by an old man with a gray beard. Pliny’s account may be the earliest literary ghost story, but it was far from being the last. My own passion for ghost stories was conceived when I read The Haunting of Hill House as a girl. It terrified me! but I wanted more.
Ghost stories fall into two categories, as I see it. The first category, obviously, is the fictional ghost story: The Turn of the Screw, The Shining, The Woman in Black, and many more. The second, and the one which prompted me to write my own ghost novel, is the first-person account of an actual extranormal experience. (I don’t love the way “paranormal” has been turned into a word that means “fake,” so . . . I made up my own.)
When someone has a personal experience they can’t explain, whether it’s an apparition, a poltergeist, a presence, or some other manifestation, I think it’s a mistake to discount it. We may try to talk ourselves out of whatever we saw, or heard, or felt, but that’s invalidating our own witness. My family and I have had many of these extranormal manifestations, and thanks to an open-minded grandmother, we’ve never doubted.
Why do we love ghost stories? They’re fun, for one thing. Hill House both scared and thrilled me, and readers love that sort of excitement. Also, ghost stories assure us that something exists beyond physical death. Energy cannot be destroyed, and spirits are energy. In other words, spirits are eternal, whatever form they may take.
Very few extranormal events can be reproduced in a laboratory setting. When it comes to such happenings, context is everything. Why should the full-body apparition I saw in my garden at a moment of great stress reappear in a cold white lab, just for the edification of a researcher? The context is wrong.
My novel The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird is fiction, despite my lived experiences. It was inspired, however, by the true-life account of a friend of mine who had to give up doing psychic counseling because she couldn’t stop spirits from constantly banging on her mental door! Her story became the backstory for my protagonist.
On TikTok, I’ve started telling real-life ghost stories, not just my own, but many shared with me by readers, friends, even strangers. I’ve been attracting these tales for years. When a person lives through an intense experience—exciting, frightening, sometimes comforting—the last thing they want is for it to be discounted, explained away, or worse, laughed at. I am no longer surprised at how quick people are to share what has happened to them, once they know I take them seriously.
Have you seen a ghost, suffered a poltergeist, sensed a presence? Take heart. You are not alone!
A woman’s ability to see ghosts draws her into a journey of redemption and unexpected friendship in this unforgettable story from the acclaimed author of A Secret History of Witches.
Beatrice Bird is plagued by ghosts. It’s a gift she’s had since she was a small child. Unfortunately, it’s a gift that has grown more intense, shifting from flashes and feelings to physical manifestations she can’t escape.
In a desperate attempt for relief, Beatrice flees her home, her partner, and a psychology practice in San Francisco for a remote island with only nuns and a few cows for company. She sees as few people as she possibly can. She doesn’t call home. Then she meets Anne Iredale, a timid woman who has lost everything that matters to her.
For the first time in a long time, Beatrice's gift will be called on to help someone in need. The path to healing awaits both of them—if Beatrice can find the courage to take the first step.
Women's Fiction Historical | Fantasy [Redhook, On Sale: November 21, 2023, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780316628808 / eISBN: 9780316628792]
Louisa Morgan is the author of A Secret History of Witches, and a pseudonym for award-winning author Louise Marley. Louise lives in the Pacific Northwest where she and her Border Terrier, Oscar, ramble the beaches and paths of Washington State.
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