1944 THE NIGHT OF THE WORLD by Frederick Rose
Ken Favery is blown up while fighting a desperate action with the British forces in North Africa. He wakes to find himself surrounded by the ghosts of soldiers killed during the battle and is so moved by their terrible accounts of the foolishness of war that he vows to write down his thoughts and hope that they are found with his body.
1945 ALL HALLOWS’ EVE by Charles Williams
Two young women who have died in a plane crash find themselves as spirits in London where they are able to intervene in the lives of both their friends and adversaries. They become embroiled in a great act of magic where their own supernatural powers are tested to the fullest before the self-defeating nature of evil is exposed.
1945 THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR by R. A. Dick
The recently widowed Mrs Muir takes a little house near the English Channel that is haunted by its previous owner, Captain Gregg, an old sea dog who does not welcome the new tenant. She is made of sterner stuff, though, and after a series of exchanges, they both agree to share the property – until Mrs Muir dies and joins the Captain on the Other Side.
1946 DEATH INTO LIFE by Olaf Stapledon
While flying over Germany, the crew of a British bomber are shot down and killed. Almost immediately, the ghost of the rear-gunner rises above the wreckage and begins a journey of discovery that reveals the futility of war and enables him to grow spiritually before he is finally reunited with his comrades.
1947 THE MEMOIRS OF A GHOST by George W. Stonier
During a German bombing raid over London, the narrator is killed and finds himself turned into a ghost able to see and hear everything while remaining unseen by everyone else in the city. Gradually, however, his energy begins to diminish as the war draws to a close and he becomes no more than a memory.
1947 A NAME FOR EVIL by Andrew Lytle
When Brent buys a rundown plantation in the American South, his attempts to make the property viable are hampered by the intransigence of his workforce and their fear of the ghost of a former owner. Brent soon finds his young wife is also being subjected to the attentions of the evil phantom and has to wage a desperate battle to keep her from being spirited away.
1947 THE MASTER OF THE MACABRE by Russell Thorndike
In the days of Richard I, the ghost of a lewd and wicked monk weaves itself into an ancient cup that once belonged to Mohammed. Centuries later, the cup is obtained by the mysterious “Master of the Macabre” and almost at once finds himself embroiled in a dangerous plot by a group of Orientals to reclaim the relic.
1948 THE HAUNTING OF TOBY JUGG by Dennis Wheatley
The supernatural manifestations that plague Toby Jugg while he is convalescing in Wales prove to be only the start of a plot involving black magicians determined to bring about the downfall of his huge industrial empire. Visions of a giant spider and the Face of Astoroth also cross Toby’s path as he struggles to outwit and smash the diabolists.
1950 BRIMSTONE IN THE GARDEN by Elizabeth Cadell
A trio of ghosts, Frobisher, Telemachus and Captain Verlander haunt Elinor Stirling’s house in a small West Country English village. When she invites a group of relatives and friends to stay with her, they have to compete with the attentions of the phantoms as well as their own mixed emotions about one another in order to resolve the situation.
1954 BRIEF CANDLES by Francis Gaite
Jeremy and Sally Latimer are visiting a district of France where two of their forebears were killed in 1870. Their presence activates the ghosts of the long-dead man and woman and a series of phenomena convince the couple that the spirits are trying to pass on a message. It is only when Jeremy and Sally discover the location of a lost family treasurer that peace can be restored.
1954 MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS by Amos Tutuola
A child, who has escaped from slave traders stalking the African bush, finds himself in “The Bush of Ghosts” where he goes through a succession of terrible experiences that prepare him for manhood. Eventually, with the help of a pair of native ghosts, he returns home and there creates “The Secret Society of Ghosts”, dedicated to ending the persecution of his people.
1957 THE STRANGE CASE OF MR PELHAM by Anthony Armstrong
Pelham, an innocuous little book-keeper, becomes increasingly unnerved when friends report seeing him at places he has never visited and with people he has never met. When he is accused of seducing his secretary and orchestrating a series of dubious business deals, Pelham sets about tracking down his “double” and finds “him” to be a spirit of incredible power.
1957 AMOROUS GHOST by Pierre Bessand-Massenet
A young writer, Michel Panouche, is living in an old office building in Paris when he discovers it was once part of a Royal Palace and is haunted by the ghosts of a group of courtesans. One of these, the pretty Rosette, falls in love with him and it takes all the feminine wiles of Panouche’s real-life lover, Annik, to break the spell and free her man.
1958 A STIR OF ECHOES by Richard Matheson
Tom Wallace has lived an ordinary life until the day he is hypnotized by a friend and begins to “hear” the thoughts of everyone around him. His existence becomes a living nightmare when he starts to receive haunting messages from an entity beyond the grave and finds himself compelled to try and solve a crime of almost unthinkable violence.
1959 THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
Arguably the finest ghost novel of the century. Hill House has a reputation for being plagued by spirits and has changed very little since the 1880s. A psychic researcher invites a group of people to stay in the property to test his theories about the manifestations. Messages smeared in blood, bumps in the night and horrifying phenomena crowd one upon another until a finger of suspicion begins to point at one of the guests.
1960 A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE by Peter Beagle
Jonathan Rebeck lives in a tomb in the Bronx where he has learned to see and talk to ghosts. Some of his most interesting conversations are with Michael Morgan, who claims his wife murdered him, and a beautiful young woman named Laura. When the beguiling widow, Mrs Klapper, induces Jonathan to leave the cemetery, he has to first find time for a little matchmaking between his ethereal friends.
1969 THE GREEN MAN by Kingsley Amis
Maurice Allingham, the owner of a medieval coaching inn, finds his life of debauchery and drinking suddenly affected by the malevolent reappearance of the ghost of Dr Thomas Underbill, a notorious 17th-century practitioner of black magic. Driven by curiosity and a desire to save his own sanity, Allingham has to uncover the secret to the doctor’s evil purpose.
1973 BURNT OFFERINGS by Robert Marasco