Mary Danby - Armada Ghost 11

[dem bones]

Mary Danby (ed.) - Armada Ghost 11 (1979)

Josh Kirby

Mary Danby - Introduction

Terry Tapp - The Green Ghost
Margaret Biggs - The King Stone
Frank Richards - Tom
Valerie Waters - The Lavender Lady
Eve Gothard - Magic on the Field
Rosemary Timperley - Stella
Daphne Froome - This Book Belongs To ...
Christine Pullein-Thompson - A Ghost in the Family
Ruth Cameron [Rosemary Timperley] - The Ghostly Gardeners
Sydney J. Bounds - The Old Siege House
Mary Danby - The House Ghosts

Blurb:
Interior artwork by Peter Archer

Eleven new tales of the dark unknown ...

Tremble with terror at THE GREEN GHOST, discover the deadly secret of THE LAVENDER LADY, enter the strange, eerie world of THE GHOSTLY GARDENERS ....

A phantom footballer ...
A castle of doom ....
A devil-dog, with eyes of fire ...

They're all here, ready to haunt you with spooky fun!

The Armada Ghosts are pretty addictive once you get stuck in. Four of these would later grace The Green Ghost, two The Bumper Book Of Ghost Stories.

Terry Tapp - The Green Ghost; Eighty-year-old Emma Finch returns to her childhood home, keen to investigate if it is still horribly haunted by the hideous Green Ghost with a snake for a tongue. Current owner invites the old lady to look around while she tidies up. Mrs. Williams' little thumb-sucking daughter explains that the wart-faced phantom was indeed a fixture until very recently: she got rid of it simply by telling it to "buzz off." Brampton Hall is therefore currently ghost-free, and will remain so until the happy day when Emma is ready to take up residence.

Eve Gothard - Magic on the Field : It is the all-consuming ambition of ten-year-old Gerry 'Titch' Holt to play for Fairfield Juniors school team versus St. Kenelms, aka "The Killers," a side they've never beaten in several prior encounters stretching back to his dad's school days. Gerry's problem is that he's scared of heading the ball. Practising late on the playing field, he's approached by Phil, a mystery boy dressed in baggy shorts and heavy boots, who offers encouragement, takes a stint in goal and generally does all he can to improve Gerry's game. A week of Phil's coaching pays off. Mr. "Froggy" Froggart (sports) puts Gerry on the subs bench for the grudge match.

The big day. A nonchalant Kenelms storm to a 2-0 lead. When Fairfield's star player is crippled by a brutal late challenge, Gerry gets his chance - and the rest is history (even if winning goal would never have stood under VAR)!

Rosemary Timperly - Stella: Saintly nurse Stella O'Brien demonstrates professionalism beyond the call of duty in comforting young Robert after an explosion aboard a tube train.

Mary Danby - The House Ghosts: The Wetherby's hopes of a happy Christmas are threatened when ghastly Aunt Prudence invites herself over for the duration. Mischievous phantoms Albert and Victoria remember what it was like to have their festivities ruined by Great Aunt Isobel, and intervene on the family's behalf. A jolly one, similar premise to the original Shiver & Shake strip in Fleetway's "Cor!!" comic, with fifty years dead Albert and Victoria standing in for the Duke's Spook and the lugubrious cavalier.

[dem bones]

Sydney J. Bounds - The Old Siege house: Dale, Isle of Bute. Bully boy Alf, 14, insists little cousin Emma accompany him to the ruins of the old siege house so he can show her how stupid she is for believing in ghosts. They arrive just as Henry III's phantom forces set to butchering the Earl of Rothsay's spectral army.

Daphne Froome - This Book Belongs To ... : "A haunted library!," exclaimed her grandfather, laughing. "I hardly think that's very likely.". Jenny's gramp's is right, after a fashion. It's not entire library that's haunted, just the copy of Richard Carter's exciting The Knight's of Hampden Castle. Mabel Anne has been waiting since 1835 for someone to unbind fastened pages at back so she can finish it.

Valerie Waters - The Lavender Lady: Somerville, Somerset. Simon and Debbie, recently moved into Lavender Cottage, direct the restless ghost of Lillian Lavenham to the secret grave of her dead baby. Nicer even than Stella out of Stella, and miles too mawkish for this reader.

[dem bones]

Final batch from #11, featuring Black Shuck (X 2), a homicidal highwayman, cowled skeletons and a malevolent standing stone.

Christine Pullein-Thompson - A Ghost in the Family: Carl and Melanie Nelson persuade Francis, the new equestrienne kid in the village, to ride with them to Hangman's Crossroads by night and see the ghosts of a killer highwayman and his victim, the coach-driver. "Actually, its our great-great-grandfather being murdered. That's what makes it so interesting for us." When the spectral players arrive, Francis recognises the murderer from a portrait in the family gallery, causing a rift between the friends.

Margaret Biggs - The King Stone: Ross, fourteen and eleven-year-old sister Meg, holidaying at a farmhouse on the Isle of Arran. Ross falls under the evil influence of the tallest of the standing stones on Machrie moor. The King demands human sacrifice.

'Ruth Cameron' - The Ghostly Gardeners: The feverish boy passes through a black door in the wall of the once St. Dominic's monastery, there to encounter three black robed skeletons tending plants in a greenhouse .... fetching Gothic horror imagery arguably wasted on so upbeat a story.

Frank Richards - Tom: Bert Dunham's recently acquired 'Devil-dog' strikes fear into the heart of a small Norfolk community. But Tom comes into his own when a girl is threatened by twin Black Shuck's while returning home late at night.

[Swampirella]

Adding "Margaret Biggs - The King Stone" to the thread "Standing Stones That Are Out to Get You"