Who doesn't love a good ghost story? Today, "ghost tours" are a popular tourist item. Apparently they were just as popular in Victorian days as well, as our "rambles" through haunted London and haunted Scotland demonstrate. Most educated Victorians, however, also wanted to be perfectly clear that they didn't really believe in such outmoded superstitions, so many tales of ghosts and hauntings include an attempt to find a "rational" explanation for the phenomena. At the same time, the Victorian era marked the emergence of spiritualism, seances and such - meaning that many Victorians (including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) not only actively "believed" in ghosts but spent a great deal of time and money trying to contact them!

Ghosts & Haunted Places

Haunted London (Leisure Hour, 1860)

The White Lady of the Berlin Castle, by Karl Blind (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1884)

A ghostly lady who is considered a harbinger of death whenever she is seen walking through the Emperor's castle.

A Girl's Rambles Through Haunted London, by James and Nanette Mason (Girl's Own Paper, 1886)

A multi-part article covering sites (some haunted) throughout metropolitan London.

The Brunswick Ghost, by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1887)

Was an 18th-century German schoolmaster walking the halls of the Carolinium College of Brunswick?

An Old Hackney Ghost Story, by Mrs. G.L. Banks (Girl's Own Paper, 1889)

The Ghost of the Hackney Churchyard.

A Bedlington Legend (Monthly Chronicle of North-County Lore and Legend, 1890)

A north-country ghost story.

The Lark Hall Sprite (Monthly Chronicle of North-County Lore and Legend, 1890)

Today this would probably have been classified as a poltergeist.

Stephen Hollin's Ghost (Monthly Chronicle of North-County Lore and Legend, 1890)

The lively exploits of the ghost of a murder victim.

Ghosts, by Irving Montagu (The Strand, 1891B)

Spooky tales of the Demon Huntsman, the White Lady of Berlin, the Miser of Rosewarne, the Spectre Bridegroom, and several others.

Royal Ghosts in Hampton Court Palace (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1894)

Tales of some of the ghosts in one of the (allegedly) most haunted palaces in England...

A Girl's Rambles Through Haunted Scotland, by James and Nanette Mason (Girl's Own Paper, 1902)

Monsters, Sprites, and Other Things that Go Bump in the Night

Deep-Sea Damsels (Atlantic Monthly, 1865)

Monsters (Harper's Monthly, 1882A)

After a somewhat wandering beginning, this article looks at such items as a Japanese siren, the medieval mandrake, the Scythian lamb, and a number of other "monsters" whose nature does not withstand too much scrutiny...

Fairies and Druids of Ireland, by Charles de Kay (Century Magazine, 1889A)

Cutty Soams (Monthly Chronicle of North-County Lore and Legend, 1890)

A goblin thought to inhabit coal mines.

The Shilbottle Blue Bonnet (Monthly Chronicle of North-County Lore and Legend, 1890)

The Blue Bonnet or Bluecap, a supernatural being found in coal mines.

A Chat About Fairies, by H. Ormonde (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1891)

The Origin of the "Brownies," by Palmer Cox (Ladies' Home Journal, 1892)

The author of the popular "Brownies" series discusses some of the folklore of the brownies.