The 15th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

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I am of the opinion that to write a successful ghost story, the author must believe in the existence of ghosts. I do – although I have yet to experience any form of psychic phenomenon myself – and cannot understand why anyone should harbour doubts. Surely it is inconceivable that such a complicated being as an intelligent man or woman ceases to be once the chains of corporeal life have fallen away. And if we are granted a state of continuous memory, then it must follow that regrets, awareness of incompleted tasks, a burden of guilt that may well be the result of misdeeds spread over several lifetimes, might compel certain of us to linger in this vale of tears.

One does not usually associate W. Somerset Maugham with ghost stories, but I have found two: The Taipan, which appeared in the 13th Ghost Book and The Man from Glasgow, which I am including in this collection. I have not been able to discover Maugham’s own views on the hereafter, but he certainly tells a most convincing ghost story, which suggests he at least had an open mind on the subject. The wretched man who came from Glasgow was hitting the bottle pretty hard, and really one can scarcely blame him. So would I if subjected to what murdered his sleep every full moon.

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