Charles Dickens and Ghost Stories

From Anglotopia:

Just as any modern movie-goer knows that screams and laughter constantly intermingle during horror films, Dickens understood that, at their heart, ghost stories are just good plain fun. His supernatural writings exemplify “the kinship between gaiety and the grotesque”, said biographer G.K. Chesterton. And, when appropriate, Dickens was brave enough to walk the fine line between the two. For instance, in “The Lawyer and the Ghost”, a mortal makes the tongue-in-cheek argument that ghosts should haunt more pleasant places, and not just the place they were most miserable. “That’s very true,” responds the spirit, “I never thought of that before…it never struck me till now; I’ll try change of air directly.” It’s these light-hearted moments that warm us up from the usual spine-chilling monotony and remind us that, in the title words of one of Dickens’ last ghost stories, such spooky tales are always “To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt.” (Read more.)

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