I'm not the Crowvus writer who publishes horror. I've appreciated the brilliant books by Judith Crow, but I know it's not something I can write. The supernatural is different. People will - quite rightly - tell you that horror can encompass the supernatural, but the supernatural is not only confined to that genre. The supernatural, by definition, have their roots in the natural. In the case of ghosts, they were once alive, now having transcended from the natural (i.e. worldly) existence, into the supernatural on an unknown plain. The best ghost stories (my opinion only!) are the ones which unite the natural and the supernatural, looking at the shadows and imprints left on the natural world by those now occupying the supernatural one. In essence, when I read through the submissions for the Crowvus Christmas Ghost Story Competition , I'm looking for the human aspect of the story. I love the idea of ghosts trapped in time, I love the idea of ghosts trying to commune with ...
One of the problems – or, perhaps, the best things – about Gothic Horror is that it does tend to be sad. Usually, there are at least one or two characters who don’t deserve whatever is happening to them, or who have done something which is being punished in a way which does not in any way fit the crime. M.R. James’s writing is perhaps a constant reiteration of the old proverb, “curiosity killed the cat”, but curiosity in itself isn’t a bad thing; while Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula finds himself in the initial dangerous situation through no fault of his own.
Perhaps the saddest story in this anthology is The Lady Who Dances in the Ashes, which was first published by Sley House in Tales of Sley House 2022. Here is the story of a man who is facing professional and financial ruin as a result of suggesting that mental health patients can be treated in the community rather than institutionalised. He is one of the most sympathetic narrators you will find in the book, but he badly misjudges a situation which leads to tragedy.
As well as being the most tragic stories in the book, it is also the most akin to M.R. James’s writing. A truly malevolent ghost, bent on revenge for something which happened hundreds of years ago, seeks out to punish those who live beneath a specific roof. It does not matter that they are not the same people against whom they swore revenge. This is something I find genuinely terrifying in the supernatural: that a person could be targeted through no fault of their own by a presence which is too strong for them to overcome. I blame the story The Demon Dog for the fear I feel in this regard: the baby had done nothing wrong, people! It was just a baby!
When you have a story where the innocent are being targeted, you have this constant sense of dread – as though it does not matter what you do, terrible things are still going to happen. Hedgwick Grange came from this idea: a place where even the innocent can suffer for the sins of those who have lived in the house before. It was a setting which I enjoyed creating: even more remote than Broughley Abbey and with a gloriously sinister history. I am a firm believer that setting is the most important foundation stone for a Gothic Horror story. Once you have the setting, the people who live in and visit the house will soon make themselves known to you.
[You can find Judith's other blogs in this series here]
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