This collection includes mystical stories by British and American writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Literature from both the Old and New Worlds has always had an interest in the terrifying and supernatural. Ghost stories, which serve as the central characters in this book, undoubtedly occupy a prominent place in the rich repertoire of such themes and plots. Vague shadows haunt ancient chambers, unsettling their new owners; invisible entities permeating all elements of the visible world; the restless souls of victims and murderers; spirits saving mortals and destroying arrogant braggarts; ghosts enduring difficult times in an era of philosophical skepticism, the rise of science, and the triumph of technology; and finally, ordinary people playing a cunning 'ghost game' with their loved ones—the reader will find all this and much more within the pages of this volume. The book's authors include world-famous masters of words (N. Hawthorne, C. Dickens, H. James, J. K. Jerome, H. G. Wells, D. H. Lawrence), luminaries of the Gothic short story genre (A. Edwards, J. S. Le Fanu, M. R. James) and thoroughly forgotten writers (C. L. Young, R. Mulholland, R. Marsh).