Trying to find a kids compilation of horror stories 1987ish

[emmasegura]

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to find a book now for many years with no success. It's a compilation of kids horror stories from around 1987. I remember the book was very thick with a shiny black front cover. I believe it was British as many of the stories had British references in them and I got it from my school book club.

There was a story about a girl who had an evil doll who tried to burn down the house (there was a reference here about her 'wolfing down' her Sunday roast (I think the girl's name was Anna, and how her mum couldn't believe how much she could eat). Another story about an evil teacher who would hit kids with a cane and who taught some grammar - I remember the words 'ring rang rung, but not bring brang brung and perhaps a fire at the school where he taught. There was another story about a girl going to a 'coming out' party- She has a wee nip of sherry and ends up dancing with a ghost. I remember the end of this story was something like ..'she doubted she would ever be warm again.' Finally, I remember a story about a banshee and about a coffin that appeared in the road as an omen/warning to someone (I think he might have been a doctor). I also recall a story about a ghost boy from world war 2 - another boy meets him and wonders why he is eating a carrot on a stick and then the ghost boy disappears when there is an air-raid siren. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I've been looking for years and can't find anything!
Emma

[dem bones]

Hi Emma

I think it might be Mary Danby's The Green Ghost & Others, a compilation of stories from the Armada Ghost books. Anna and the evil doll sounds as though it might be Terry Tapp's The Doll and the serial flogging teacher is surely Rosemary Timperley's The Sinister Schoolmaster ("You cling. you clung; you ring, you rung; you bring, you brung .....")