Since 2013 I’ve been continually collecting real life ghost stories, and this is the title of the book I’m now working on. We live in an age which prides itself on challenging taboos and listening to difficult stories. But ghosts and poltergeists have become a huge new taboo in recent years. Their public profile is badly distorted by an essentially religious bunch of pseudo-sceptics, who seem to have written almost every Wikipedia entry on the paranormal. The funny thing is, in one sense the paranormal is surprisingly normal. The stories are everywhere. Ask your friends or family or colleagues and you will hear one in no time. I regularly collect new stories from complete strangers. People want to talk about this, and need to talk about it; but can get very hostile responses, even from family, friends or partners.

If you have a story, I would love to hear it. If you want an Introduction to my book and my experiences, you can listen to the Ghost episode of my new podcast, Dark Histories from the Secret University. There’s much more there too: readings from my bestselling books, Fairies: A Dangerous History, and Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires; and some fictional ghost stories in time for Christmas. I aim for this show to become the most fun, exciting and wide-ranging university course you could ever take with just one tutor (from 2001-2017 I lectured in English & History at the universities of Cardiff and Durham, where I was nominated for the award of Best Lecturer in 2012).

Thanks for listening, and for reading.

https://www.podpage.com/dark-histories-from-the-secret-university/