Culture Talk

Ghost stories for Halloween night: let's build a proper reading list

Tomorrow's the 31st and I've got a night off for once, so I'm planning a fire, a pot of tea and a ghost story.

My usual is M.R. James. 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' is still the creepiest thing I know, purely because of a bedsheet. Then Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House if I want a whole novel. Susan Hill's The Woman in Black if I want to be unable to sleep.

I'd love non-English suggestions too. Japan has a huge tradition, I know about Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan but not much beyond it. What does your country read when it wants to be scared?