True Ghost Stories by Townshend & ffoulkes
True Ghost Stories (1936)
by Marchioness Townshend & Maude ffoulkes
287 pages - Senate
This is a reprint of a book originally published in 1936. Sadly it's quite a cheap printing, so the photos (about 10 or so) accompanying the text look like bad photocopies, and other than the brief text on the back it doesn't put the contents into any sort of context, or tell you much about who either Townshend or ffoulkes (yes, that is the correct spelling) were. Still, it's interesting to read both for the stories themselves and as well as an artifact of the times, as it's somewhat in the tone of the spiritualist fad, and ffoulkes especially is never shy about adding personal observations and commentary into the stories.
The stories themselves usually concern either Townshend, ffoulkes, or someone they are closely or distantly acquainted with; sometimes the story passes through several hands before it gets to them. Though there's a bit of colour and pacing added most of the stories are fairly short and don't give you the sort of dramatic/emotional/intellectual payoff you would get with most purely fictional ghost stories. As for what kind of ghost stories they are, most of them are the kind of experiences of ghosts that could easily be mistaken for the sound of wind/rain/critters, or briefly falling asleep and into a dream, or strong memories combined with being in a still and dark place, or the mental confusion that comes with a stroke or heavy fever. Perhaps I'm being a bit unkind, as I really did enjoy the book for the most part, but reading on and on it just got to be too much. I think if it was half the length, keeping the better half of the tales, it would have been far more effective.
by Marchioness Townshend & Maude ffoulkes
287 pages - Senate
This is a reprint of a book originally published in 1936. Sadly it's quite a cheap printing, so the photos (about 10 or so) accompanying the text look like bad photocopies, and other than the brief text on the back it doesn't put the contents into any sort of context, or tell you much about who either Townshend or ffoulkes (yes, that is the correct spelling) were. Still, it's interesting to read both for the stories themselves and as well as an artifact of the times, as it's somewhat in the tone of the spiritualist fad, and ffoulkes especially is never shy about adding personal observations and commentary into the stories.
The stories themselves usually concern either Townshend, ffoulkes, or someone they are closely or distantly acquainted with; sometimes the story passes through several hands before it gets to them. Though there's a bit of colour and pacing added most of the stories are fairly short and don't give you the sort of dramatic/emotional/intellectual payoff you would get with most purely fictional ghost stories. As for what kind of ghost stories they are, most of them are the kind of experiences of ghosts that could easily be mistaken for the sound of wind/rain/critters, or briefly falling asleep and into a dream, or strong memories combined with being in a still and dark place, or the mental confusion that comes with a stroke or heavy fever. Perhaps I'm being a bit unkind, as I really did enjoy the book for the most part, but reading on and on it just got to be too much. I think if it was half the length, keeping the better half of the tales, it would have been far more effective.