After the End of the Line: Railroad Hauntings in Literature and Lore

In the mid-1800s, ghosts and trains seemed to be headed in opposite directions. Some claimed ghosts were disappearing along with the superstitious past while trains were speeding into the future as a thundering example of mechanical progress. Yet it did not take long for new ghosts to rise and ride on the modern railways. After the End of the Line: Railroad Hauntings in Literature and Lore brings together fiction and non-fiction sources — short stories, newspaper reports, poetry, memoir, and more — to reveal how their cross-influence created horrifying accounts of apparitions on the tracks, haunted train tunnels and switching stations, even phantom locomotives!

Read the Introduction

To get a sense of After the End of the Line, here’s a .pdf version of the introduction:

After the End of the Line Introduction

(Scholars: despite appearances, the pagination here is different from the actual book, so cite this source as a .pdf retrieved online.)

Railroad Hauntings
You Can Still Visit

My research into historical accounts of haunted tracks, creepy railway tunnels, phantom trains, and similar phenomena is ongoing. When I discover a location that can still be explored, I blog about it. Maybe there’s a spectral switchman or a demonic depot near you! (Click on the haunted spot to read the post.)

United States

Alabama: The Mechanic Shops in Decatur
California: The Roundhouse in San Francisco
Connecticut: The Engine House in Old Saybrook
Illinois: Sag Bridge in Cook County
Missouri: The MK&T Freight Yard in St. Louis
New Jersey: The Tracks Near West Trenton Station
New York: A Railway Crossing in Carthage
Ohio: The Curve Near Republic
Pennsylvania: Port Kennedy Station
Virginia: Big Bull Tunnel in Wise County
West Virginia: Hempfield Tunnel in Wheeling

United Kingdom

Lancashire: An Engine Shed in Chorley
Northumberland: A Station-Master’s House in Chollerford

Phantom Traditions Library

After the End of the Line is the fifth volume in the Phantom Traditions Library, a series of anthologies featuring unusual and forgotten genres of fiction that flourished in the 1800s.

The other volumes are:

• Entranced by Eyes of Evil: Tales of Mesmerism and Mystery
• Echoing Ghost Stories: Literary Reflections of Oral Tradition
• Ghostly Clients & Demonic Culprits: The Roots of Occult Detective Fiction
• Imagining Life on the Moon During the Rise of the Telescope
• From Eerie Cases to Early Graves: 5 Short-Lived Occult Detective Series