James Turner (ed.) - The Unlikely Ghosts

[dem bones]

James Turner (ed.) - The Unlikely Ghosts (Mayflower, 1969: originally Cassells, 1967).

James Turner - Introduction

Kate Barlay - The Visitation of Aunt Clara
Ronald Blythe - Everything a Man Needs
D. G. Compton - The Eternal Amateur
Ronald Duncan - Diary of a Poltergeist
James Hamilton-Paterson - Salpingogram
Christine Brooke-Rose - The Foot
Anthony Rye - My Man Closters
William Kean Seymour - A Tale in a Club
Jean Stubbs - Are You There?
Paul Tabori - The Bridge
Fred Urquhart - The Ghostess with the Mostest
Rosalind Wade - Shepherd, Show Me ...

Blurb:
Let The Dead Speak For Themselves

12 chilling tales that question the barrier between life and death, exploring the recesses of human consciousness with a weird taste for the comedy of living and dying.

"A collection of off-beat supernatural stories. An admirable anthology" - Irish Times
"Most entertaining ... 12 pieces which invite you to laugh - or at least grimace uneasily - at manifestations of the supernatural." - Sun

"A dozen ghost stories selected by James Turner that entertain without rattling chains, often even light-heartedly." - Northern Echo

"The standard is high." - British Book News.

Kate Barlay - The Visitation of Aunt Clara: Bachka, Hungary, aftermath of the 1848 revolution. Desperate for revenue to maintain the family estate, Sandor reluctantly agrees to sell a strip land to the Count. Before the deal is concluded, Sandor is visited in a dream by the ghost of his sister who reveals the winning numbers of forthcoming lottery draw. Sandor chalks these on the wardrobe, falls back to sleep, dreams of sexy cash. By morning Melie, his house-proud wife, has wiped them away!

Clara's ghost returns the following week, again supplies the precious combination, insinuating that this is his last chance. So Sandor entrusts Bela, his wrong 'un of a brother-in-law, with travelling to Szabadka to stake his numbers .....

Ronald Duncan - Diary Of A Poltergeist: Vindictive revenant of newly dead Mr. Staniforth wrecks despised brother's VIP dinner party, larks about in bank, molests TV personality Lady Hartland with a vegetable, fast tires of mankind , moves on to next realm. Vicious supernatural slapstick exhumed by Richard Dalby for Mystery For Christmas

Ronald Blythe - Everything A Man Needs: Meet Margery Nethersole, Justice of the Peace, OBE, widow, meddler, nosey parker. She has a remarkable talent for worming out the secrets of others while revealing nothing about herself. She is especially circumspect in regard to her marriage to Alfred, who died way back before WWII.

Margery's closest ally is her long-time housekeeper-friend, Perpetua Cramner, a fellow fifty-something with no significant other in her life. Between them these two conjure an imaginary perfect man as their lodger, blue-eyed, fair, twenty-four years of age, devastatingly handsome. They name him Thomas and spoil him rotten. An entire male wardrobe is purchased from Marks and Sparks, including racy tangerine pyjamas, dressing gown, a dozen initialled handkerchiefs ... Perpetua gets so caught up in the fantasy that she suggests a motorbike and record player. Margery, sensing the game is getting out of hand, reminds her that 'Thomas' doesn't exist.

For the first time since the funeral, Margery visits Alfred's grave .... to find it very recently desecrated.

Meanwhile, back at Penault House, Perpetua is persecuted by a violent intruder ...

Exhumed by Denys Val Baker for Phantom Lovers

Jean Stubbs - Are You There?: Where do fraudulent mediums go when they die? Madame Benito (née Ada Norton), who passed away mid-séance, learns what it takes to become a 'spirit guide,' comes to accept that her once profession is the cruellest sham at the expense of the bereaved.