A to Z Challenge 2014 - Ghosts - E is For Endurance, Amelia Anne Blanford Edwards & The Enfield Poltergeist

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Amelia Edwards, lady Egyptologist and novelist is the subject of my author recommendation today. I'm also delving into a more modern haunting than those which I've discussed so far in the form of the 1970's Enfield Poltergeist. Plus, in my discussion of ghostly tales, I'm talking about endurance, the ability to continue beyond an initial scare.

E is for Endurance | The Burning Web | Author Info | British Hauntings

E is for Endurance

So, what do I mean when I say endurance and what does it have to do with ghost stories? Well, what I'm trying to encapsulate, somewhat clumsily, with my choice of word, is the capability of a character to go back, to carry on after an initial disturbance. Ghost stories are very rarely about one momentary encounter, if the plot is building the tension, usually there are hints, unnerving events, moments of disquiet that lead the way to the main event. Parts of this type of endurance, may be down to bravery, pig-headedness, even self-doubt at what is happening. Whatever is behind it, if characters did not brave these moments for their readers, then ghost stories would be very short! :)

In On Whistle, and I'll Come To You, My Lad, M R James builds the tension  and terror of Parkins, the professor who finds a whistle on the dunes where he is walking. On blowing it, he invokes a creature that makes its body from bedsheets, sightings and events growing more and more unnerving. It is Parkins' rational mind that stops him believing, that creates his endurance in the story, allowing him to be present in the hotel room when he comes face to sheet with the terrifying entity.

If you've read the previous parts of The Burning Web, you'll know that Tris, my protagonist, has already had his first scare. But was it real, or just a consequence of his brain injury? That's the thing, doubt of his own senses that leads this next section of the story.  

The Burning Web
Part 5

by Sophie Duncan

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Tris plodded into the flat, dropped the bag he was carrying, let his stick fall against it and then flopped down onto the sofa. He closed his eyes and yawned, listening to Xander coming in behind him. It had been an unsettled night after the nightmare and he was expecting it when Xander told him, "Go to bed and get some more sleep."

"What about you?" he checked, since Xander often forgot about himself.

"I'll join you once I've put everything away. We can have a lazy Sunday watching telly and doing crosswords."

Tris appreciated the effort Xander was making to be cheerful.

"I'll do the telly watching, you can do the crosswords," he decided, but didn't move from the sofa, since his skin was prickling and his bones were aching with his lack of sleep and it just felt too good to move.

"Deal," Xander replied, picking up Tris' abandoned bag on the way past and heading towards the bedroom.

Tris indulged the need to relax in the familiar surroundings. He was safe here, he knew every inch of their rather poky London flat and there were no corners unfilled that could hide any shadows. Still, the way his new home had spooked him didn't sit comfortably, and as it nagged at his thoughts, he opened his eyes and sat up again. They had been so happy the day before, making plans, thinking of the future, and the night terrors had put a damper on all that. They were just his mind playing tricks, a symptom of the injury as his brain rewired and healed itself, he'd had them on and off since he'd collapsed on the steps of the court building, and he was damned if they were going to beat him now.

Standing up and grabbing his stick, he headed after Xander and announced round another yawn, "I'm going back to the house on Monday when you're back at work."

Xander, who was returning their stuff to their bathroom, leant out of the door into the bedroom and, raising an eyebrow, reminded him, "You can't drive."

"I'll take the train," Tris barrelled on, throwing his stick and then himself onto the bed. "It's only half a mile from the station in the village to the house and Helen's always telling me during my physio sessions that I need to give this bloody leg some more exercise."

"More like a mile, and I refer you back to our discussion yesterday about gentle exercise," Xander objected, but went back to arranging their items in the bathroom, so Tris didn't think he was going to have to fight too hard.

"I'll rest all today and then take it slow tomorrow, I promise, but I want to chat with Bill some more about the surfaces he's going to leave for decorating," Tris pushed and beamed at Xander when he came out of the bathroom, arranging finished.

Xander stood over Tris at the end of the bed, hands on his hips, lips pursed, but he was not looking too serious.

"You, Tristan McCall, are a pain in the arse," Xander bemoaned and lightly kicked Tris' foot.

Tris sat up and slid his thumbs into the back of Xander's waistband. Leaning back a little and looking up at his husband, he made sure Xander could see his sincerity.

"I can't sit on my arse in this flat for another week. I'll go crazy thinking about our house and everything I could be doing. I promise I will be careful and I won't push myself."

Xander sighed, resting his hands on Tris' shoulders, but he looked placated.

"Alright, but I'm giving you a curfew. Leave it till after the rush hour and be back here in time for supper, okay?"

Tris nodded and Xander bent down to him. They sealed the promise with a light kiss and then Xander broke away. He didn't look back as he began to pick their clothes out of the overnight bag, but he waggled a finger back at Tris and ordered, "Now, bed."

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Author Info: Amelia Anne Blanford Edwards

Amelia Edwards was an Egyptologist, as well as an author. She wrote a bestselling travellogue, A Thousand Miles Up The Nile and dedicated herself to the subject of Egypt old and new for much of her later life. This meant she largely gave up her novel writing, but she still left us with some memorable ghosts stories.

No 5 Branch Line: The Engineer is a rather tragic story of friend killing friend thanks to a manipulative woman, whom the survivor later tries to take revenge upon. The ending is uplifting, however, when the old friend's ghost intervenes to save a soul. This story is a little drawn out in its style for me, and it is Amelia Edwards' other ghost story, The Phantom Coach, which encourages me to recommend her to you. A traveller is stranded on a snowy moor, and thus has an encounter with strange man and his servant. This is unnerving enough, but that's not the whole story. Anxious to return to where he should be, the traveller begs guidance to the next coach and is shown the way to where to meet it. As you may guess from the title, the coach that stops for him is not all that it seems. The reason I find this story so spine-chilling is that the traveller is then totally immersed in this apparition, surrounded by death, being driven along by death and the total horror of it crept into my head and down my back as I was reading it. He cannot run away, he is trapped - terrifying!

British Hauntings: The Enfield Poltergeist

Enfield is a borough of North London, a thoroughly modern place, and this story took place on a council estate in an ordinary terraced house in the full glare of 1970's media. I think what scared me so much about this story as a child was that it involved an ordinary family, three children and their mother, living in a normal house: in other words, ghosts weren't just for ancient houses and graveyards, they could contact anyone.

In 1977, police were called to this suburban house because the children were claiming there was knocking and furniture was moving. Thus followed over a year of chaos, where evil entities plagued the children, destroyed objects, threw people across rooms, and much of it was witnessed by independent investigators. The reports stopped by 1979, but the Enfield Poltergeist is one of the most documented incidents in the history of British Hauntings.

The case is so famous that it inspired a mockumentary in 1992, made by the BBC, called Ghostwatch, a night of investigations into a supposedly haunted council house in London. I remember watching it live, and it scared me silly. :)

I'd love to hear your own spooky stories, add them to the blog comments. :)

A few of us discovered that we all had supernatural themes for the AtoZ so we got together and did a mini list. If you also have a supernatural theme (ghosts, monsters, witches, spells etc), please feel free to add yourself to the list.

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