{"product_id":"2940014593120","title":"THE BEST GHOST STORIES","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                                                       PAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION--\"THE FASCINATION OF THE GHOST STORY\"  _Arthur B. Reeve_   vii\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL                           _Daniel De Foe_     3\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCANON ALBERIC'S SCRAP-BOOK                     _Montague Rhodes James_   18\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS                    _Edward Bulwer-Lytton_   31\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE SILENT WOMAN                                     _Leopold Kompert_   60\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBANSHEES                                                                 79\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE MAN WHO WENT TOO FAR                                 _E.F. Benson_   85\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE WOMAN'S GHOST STORY                            _Algernon Blackwood_ 108\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE PHANTOM RICKSHAW                                  _Rudyard Kipling_ 118\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE RIVAL GHOSTS                                     _Brander Matthews_ 141\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE DAMNED THING                                       _Ambrose Bierce_ 160\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE INTERVAL                                       _Vincent O'Sullivan_ 170\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDEY AIN'T NO GHOSTS                               _Ellis Parker Butler_ 177\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSOME REAL AMERICAN GHOSTS                                               188\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE FASCINATION OF THE GHOST STORY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eARTHUR B. REEVE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat is the fascination we feel for the mystery of the ghost story?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIs it of the same nature as the fascination which we feel for the\u003cbr\u003emystery of the detective story?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf the latter fascination, the late Paul Armstrong used to say that it\u003cbr\u003ewas because we are all as full of crime as Sing Sing--only we don't\u003cbr\u003edare.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThus, may I ask, are we not fascinated by the ghost story because, no\u003cbr\u003ematter what may be the scientific or skeptical bent of our minds, in our\u003cbr\u003einmost souls, secretly perhaps, we are as full of superstition as an\u003cbr\u003eobeah man--only we don't let it loose?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWho shall say that he is able to fling off lightly the inheritance of\u003cbr\u003ecountless ages of superstition? Is there not a streak of superstition in\u003cbr\u003eus all? We laugh at the voodoo worshiper--then create our own hoodooes,\u003cbr\u003eour pet obsessions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt has been said that man is incurably religious, that if all religions\u003cbr\u003ewere blotted out, man would create a new religion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMan is incurably fascinated by the mysterious. If all the ghost stories\u003cbr\u003eof the ages were blotted out, man would invent new ones.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor, do we not all stand in awe of that which we cannot explain, of that\u003cbr\u003ewhich, if it be not in our own experience, is certainly recorded in the\u003cbr\u003eexperience of others, of that of which we know and can know nothing?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSkeptical though one may be of the occult, he must needs be interested\u003cbr\u003ein things that others believe to be objective--that certainly are\u003cbr\u003esubjectively very real to them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ghost story is not born of science, nor even of super-science,\u003cbr\u003ewhatever that may be. It is not of science at all. It is of another\u003cbr\u003esphere, despite all that the psychic researchers have tried to\u003cbr\u003edemonstrate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are in life two sorts of people who, for want of a better\u003cbr\u003eclassification, I may call the psychic and the non-psychic. If I ask the\u003cbr\u003epsychic to close his eyes and I say to him, \"Horse,\" he immediately\u003cbr\u003evisualizes a horse. The other, non-psychic, does not. I rather incline\u003cbr\u003eto believe that it is the former class who see ghosts, or rather some of\u003cbr\u003ethem. The latter do not--though they share interest in them.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47074059878640,"sku":"2940014593120","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014593120","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}