In January of 1892, British newspapers from Angus, Scotland, down to Hampshire, England, announced they would be running a 13-part series. It was titled “Haunted Ancestral Homes: Their Legends, Ghostly Visitants, and Portents” and was written by Henry Frith. Here’s what that announcement looked like in the January 19 issue of the Brechin Herald:
The subject of Frith’s series is very similar to John H. Ingram’s book The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain, published the previous decade. However, Frith takes greater creative license, replacing Ingram’s strict reporting with, for instance, word-for-word dialogue that no one could’ve recorded. This is despite Frith introducing the series in the first article by saying “no inventions of the writer shall interfere with” his chronicles.
I intend to make the entire “Haunted Ancestral Homes” series available here in the BLOG section. If I can find a bit of extra information on the haunting or its location — maybe an update or a related image — I’ll toss that in at the end. You’ll find all 13 articles posted on a weekly basis, the way readers enjoyed them in 1892.
1: THE DEMON DRUMMER OF CORTACHY CASTLE
If you’re intrigued by Victorian ghostlore, consider purchasing The Victorian Ghost Hunter’s Casebook. It features fourteen firsthand chronicles of actual ghost hunts.
Click on the cover to learn more.
BROM BONES BOOKS 