A Natural History of Ghosts: 500 Years of Hunting for Proof

Roger Clarke traces five centuries of Western ghost stories, reported sightings and attempts to establish whether spirits exist. The book considers how hauntings are shaped by the stories told about them, and asks what witnesses believed they had seen, what evidence was offered and why proof has remained elusive.

Among the cases discussed are the Cock Lane poltergeist, the events linked to Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw and the notorious claims surrounding Borley Rectory. Clarke also examines spiritualism, fraud, class conflict and popular delusion, bringing in figures such as Samuel Johnson, John Wesley and Harry Houdini. His account combines historical investigation with reflections drawn from growing up in two allegedly haunted houses.