Ghostland

by Edward Parnell

  Epilogue

  Four years have passed since I last came here with my brother. Longer, if I discount that previous bittersweet occasion when all of us – my sister-in-law, nieces, and my partner – trekked, mob-handed, in the wake of his scooter, to the beach huts at the end.

  It’s the middle of June and the sky is cobalt. I’m back at Hengistbury Head, the place Chris and I visited so often together – usually to look for birds that never materialised, birds that might have been.

  We take the inland route to begin with, stopping to admire the vibrancy of the wild-flower meadow behind the new visitor centre, then pause to watch a whitethroat singing in the scrub beyond. We stand aside, off the tarmac, to let a teenage army on a school geography trip pass, their procession weighed down with quadrats and tape measures. Several gangling lads grin and say hello. ‘Do they think we don’t know they’re taking the piss?’ my friend Philip asks, laughing, as they move further along the track. Once we get to the wooded gully we head right, scrambling on a dirt path up the slope onto the heathland, the sea a glinting fire before us. Up here, Chris and I once watched a pair of maroon Dartford warblers flitting between the clumps of gorse. And on the day this one most brings to mind we sat by the coastguard’s lookout as waif-like storm petrels – swallow-sized black seabirds – fluttered low over the water in the fierce, warm breeze.

  How can something so delicate spend its life at sea, I remember wondering.

  The view from the hill could be a postcard: Christchurch Harbour’s boat-filled lagoon, sheltered behind the beckoning, hut-lined finger of the spit. Like so much of Dorset, this is a site riddled with the remains of tumuli and ancient settlements, of vanished lives long gone.

  We talk about books and wildlife – it feels good to be here again in the company of a friend. In this harsh light – later, when I get back, I realise my neck is red raw and burnt from the incessant sun – the area directly below the soft clay cliffs has a New England feel.

  ‘It could be Nantucket,’ Philip says.

  Desert-dry clumps of succulents and desiccated grasses lay out their tendrils across the transient surface of the dunes, grasping onto what little there is to sustain them. There’s a chattering above as a sand martin returns to the nest hole it’s tidying, before plunging and twirling into the blinding glare. I watch its shadow pass over the exposed cliff face.

  The ghost of a bird.

  Plant burrs have secretly attached themselves to my shoes, and for a second, in my head, I’m back on Holy Island with Chris and Dad – back inside my earliest memory.

  I’m wearing slippers. I am adamant about this, though no one else now can confirm or deny its truth. I am wearing slippers, and we are walking up sand dunes. Sticky burrs have adhered to the felt of my footwear and I stoop to pick them off. We are probably lost, but Chris does not seem concerned, so I’m not either. He is nearly six years older than me, making him around nine. We are on Holy Island – Lindisfarne – and the two of us have wandered from where we were having a picnic with Mum and Dad. A voice shouts in the distance. Chris ignores it, so I do too.

  The dunes rise to the height of mountains, the sun is fierce. Grass needles my bare legs if I’m not super careful where I tread. The burrs poking through my slippers prickle too, hence why I’ve stopped to try and remove them. And now Dad is striding up over the ridge of sand that crests the hollow we’re exploring. He emerges dramatically, though perhaps a little flustered.

  ‘There you are! You mustn’t go wandering off like that. Me and Mum were worried.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Chris mumbles, staring at the ground. I am still picking at my footwear, no doubt oblivious to any tension. I am not and have never been worried in the minutes (how many?) that we’ve been walkabout, because I’m with Chris and he is looking after the two of us and it will always be like this.

  We tramp back together. We hadn’t got far, just scaled seven or eight dunes before we came to the crater. Mum and Dad aren’t mad for long and I wasn’t ever scared – we weren’t, were we Chris – though I am afterwards that same holiday when I meander off the path at the place where we’re staying and cannot find our chalet among the rows of identically painted wooden houses. I knock on a door I hope might be the right one, only a stranger lady opens it. I don’t recall the resolution of this story, the grand reunion, but do remember the incident being later repeated to me as a parable against the dangers of going off by myself. And I do remember the dunes, and the burrs on my slippers, and my dad’s white legs – a rare summer sight in shorts. My brother and me, oblivious, exploring the excitement of the world.

  Looking back to that dream landscape, I suppose I might expect some foreboding to remain with me from those half-lost wanderings. In Arthur Machen’s short story ‘Out of the Earth’ a young lad stumbles screaming from the dunes, frightened by ‘funny children’ who have emerged from beneath the ground to take growing delight in the chaos of the gathering Great War. I’m lucky to have escaped – for a few years, at least – what that unfortunate boy saw among the sand and swaying marram.

  Perhaps instead, the experience might have offered me an early token of what it is to be alone in the world, to be adrift without purpose or direction? But I can’t imagine that’s what I was feeling in that moment. I was there with my brother and he was leading the pair of us onwards, and we were content beneath the baking sun. Then Dad came along, interrupting our fun, and we returned with him – though we were fine on our own anyway. Yet why did Mum look so worried when we descended the last slope to where the chequered tartan blanket lay folded on the sand, the uneaten food stacked away neatly beside in Tupperware containers?

  Philip and I approach the glinting water. A charcoal-cloaked brute – an adult great black-backed gull – is hunched on the shore, nonchalantly jabbing at something in the shallows. It’s a garfish, a silver-green sea serpent in miniature. Its eye has a circular black pupil set into a pale iris – like that of a jackdaw. The gull hammers its reddened bill into the middle of the shining, floundering body, never letting up. The fish twitches, flipping itself over among the shingle and sand at the point where the waves are gently breaking.

  ‘There’s only going to be one winner,’ I say, and it’s not long before the bird is choking down the inert, folded-up form. The elongated head of the garfish protrudes from the gull’s mouth, its staring black pupil still obscenely visible.

  Like your snake and the frog in reverse, Chris.

  Behind us there’s a commotion among the sand martins as two crows carry out a sortie in front of the colony; the hirundines exit their holes en masse in a show of solidarity, wisps of air chuntering around the jet-black silhouettes, irritating and annoying the larger birds until they have disappeared over the ridge.

  We head back under the coolness of the oaks and birches, stopping to watch the shadows and reflections that play on the path, like flickering pictures on a screen. ‘They’re beautiful,’ Philip says.

  I am all right with everything now, I think. I’ve learned to keep my stories in reach. Learned how, when I need to, to dig beneath my skin of soil without unleashing whatever lies buried there. Without sacrificing too much of my present.

  I stare down at the kaleidoscopic circles of light. For a moment I half-see my brother’s face among the glimmering, shifting shapes. But only for a moment.

  Always the ghosts.

  Selected List of Sources

  The following is a selection of the books, films, television programmes and articles that have contributed to Ghostland. They are arranged in alphabetical order per chapter (each source is noted only once, in the first chapter to which it pertains.)

  Prologue

  James, M. R. Introduction to Ghosts and Marvels, edited by V. H. Collins. Oxford University Press, London, 1924.

  Maple, E., Humberstone, E. and Myring, L. Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World, Usborne, London, 1979.

  Chapter
1: LOST HEART

  BBC Genome Project. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. (Online archive of Radio Times TV listings.)

  British Film Institute. The M. R. James Collection: Tales from the Master of the Ghost Story (booklet accompanying DVD box set). BFI, London, 2012.

  Boston, Lucy M. Curfew & Other Eerie Tales. Swan River Press, Dublin, 2014.

  Boston, Lucy M. The Children of Green Knowe. Faber, London, 2006. (Originally pub. 1954.)

  Boston, Lucy M. Memories. Colt Books, Cambridge, 1992.

  Boston, Lucy M. An Enemy at Green Knowe. Puffin Books, London, 1977. (Originally pub. 1964.)

  Campbell, Ramsey (introduced by). Meddling with Ghosts. British Library, Boston Spa & London, 2001.

  Cant, Colin (Dir.). The Children of Green Knowe. BBC, 1986.

  Cavaliero, Glen. The Supernatural and English Fiction. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995.

  Clark, Lawrence Gordon. Interview on DVD extras of ‘Lost Heart’, featured on The M. R. James Collection. BFI, 2012.

  Clark, Lawrence Gordon (Dir.). The Signalman. BBC, 1976.

  Clark, Lawrence Gordon (Dir.). Lost Hearts. BBC, 1973.

  Clarke, Roger. A Natural History of Ghosts: 500 Years of Hunting for Proof. Penguin, London, 2013.

  Cox, Michael. M. R. James: An Informal Portrait. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1983.

  Dickens, Charles. Supernatural Short Stories. Alma Classics, Richmond, 2012.

  Dunn, Clive (Dir.). A Pleasant Terror: The Life and Ghosts of M. R. James. Anglia TV, 1995.

  Gatiss, Mark (Writer/Presenter). M. R. James: Ghost Writer. BBC, 2013.

  Gifford, Denis. A Pictorial History of Horror Movies. Hamlyn, London, 1973.

  Hardy, Phil (ed.). Horror: The Aurum Film Encyclopedia. Aurum, London, 1993 (revised ed.).

  Hutchinson, Tom, and Pickard, Roy. Horrors: A History of Horror Movies. W H Smith, London, 1983.

  James, M. R. Curious Warnings: The Great Ghost Stories of M. R. James. Jo Fletcher Books, London, 2012.

  James, M. R. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. Edward Arnold, London, 1904.

  James, M. R. Suffolk and Norfolk. J. M. Dent and Sons, London, 1930.

  Jones, Darryl (ed.). Introduction to Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011.

  Kneale, Nigel. Introduction to Ghost Stories of M. R. James by M. R. James. Folio Society, London, 1973.

  Malden, R. H. Nine Ghosts. Edward Arnold, London, 1943.

  Murnau, F. W. (Dir.). Nosferatu. 1922.

  Oxford University Press. The Compact Edition of the Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, London, 1975.

  Pevsner, Nikolaus. The Buildings of England: Suffolk. Penguin, Harmondsworth. 2nd ed., 1974.

  Pfaff, Richard William. Montague Rhodes James. Scholar Press, London, 1980.

  Pincombe, Mike. ‘Homosexual Panic and the English Ghost Story: M. R. James and others’ in The Ghosts & Scholars M. R. James Newsletter, ed. Rosemary Pardoe. Issue 2, Sept 2002, Part 1.

  Rolt, L. T. C. Red for Danger: A History of Railway Accidents and Railway Safety Precautions. Pan, London, 1960.

  Rye, Renny (Dir.). The Box of Delights. BBC, 1984.

  Tomalin, Claire. Charles Dickens: A Life. Viking, London, 2011.

  Wiene, Robert (Dir.). The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. 1920.

  Chapter 2: DARK WATERS

  Abe, Naoko. ‘Cherry’ Ingram: The Englishman Who Saved Japan’s Blossoms. Chatto & Windus, London, 2019.

  Aickman, Robert. Know Your Waterways: Holidays on Inland Waterways. Temprint Press, London. Fifth edition, revised c. 1964. (Originally pub. 1955.)

  Aickman, Robert and Howard, Elizabeth Jane. We Are for the Dark. Jonathan Cape, London, 1951.

  Barker, A. L. ‘Submerged’ in The Pan Book of Horror Stories, selected by Herbert van Thal. Pan, London, 1959.

  Bewick, Thomas. History of British Birds: Vol II containing the history and description of water birds. Edward Walker, Newcastle, 1804.

  Blanshard, Fred (ed.). Boston Society: an illustrated monthly magazine of facts, fancies and fashions. Vols. 1–3, 1899–1902, p. 34.

  Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. Service & Paton, London, 1897. (Originally pub. 1847.)

  Cooper, Artemis. Elizabeth Jane Howard: A Dangerous Innocence. John Murray, London, 2016.

  Cooper, Susan. The Dark is Rising. Aladdin, New York, 1999. (Originally pub. 1973.)

  Cox, Michael (ed.). The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996.

  Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Penguin Classics, London, 2000. (Originally pub. 1926.)

  Gordon, John. Ordinary Seaman: a teenage memoir. Walker Books, London, 1992.

  Gordon, John. The House on the Brink. Hutchinson, London, 1970.

  Grant, Jeff (Dir.). Lonely Water. 1973.

  Gyllenhaal, Stephen (Dir.). Waterland. 1992.

  Harvey, Herk (Dir.). Carnival of Souls. 1962.

  Hennels, C. E. ‘The East Lighthouse at Sutton Bridge’. East Anglian Magazine, Vol. 38, No. 3, Jan. 1979.

  Higgins, Charlotte. ‘Susan Cooper: a life in writing’. Guardian, 21 December 2012.

  Howard, Elizabeth Jane. Slipstream: A Memoir. Pan, London, 2003.

  Illustrated London News. Articles on the sinking of the Lady Elgin and death of Herbert Ingram MP. Sept. 29, 1860 and Oct. 6, 1860.

  Lockwood, W. B. The Oxford Dictionary of Bird Names. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993.

  Manning, Lesley (Dir.). Three Miles Up (as part of the series Ghosts). BBC, 1995.

  McNeaney, Sean. ‘The Boston Bird of ill omen’: https://ghostsandfolklore.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-boston-bird-of-ill-omen.html.

  Pardoe, Rosemary. ‘An Interview with John Gordon’ in Ghosts & Scholars, 21, 1996.

  Pim, Keiron. ‘Inspired by the Fens’ in The Eastern Daily Press, February 26, 2009.

  Rolt, L. T. C. Sleep No More. Constable, London, 1948.

  Stone, Andrew. ‘Norfolk author passes away after long battle with Alzheimers’. The Eastern Daily Press, 21 November, 2017.

  Swift, Graham. Waterland. William Heinemann, London, 1983.

  Westwood, J. and Simpson, J. The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England’s Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys. Penguin, London, 2005.

  White, Adam. John Clare’s Romanticism. Open University, Milton Keynes, 2017.

  Chapter 3: WALKING IN THE WOOD

  Amis, Kingsley. Rudyard Kipling and his world. Thames and Hudson, London. 1975.

  BBC Books. The Nation’s Favourite Poems. BBC Books, London, 1996.

  Briggs, Julia. Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story. Faber, London, 1977.

  De la Mare, Walter. Missing. Hesperus Press, London, 2007.

  De la Mare, Walter. Selected Poems. Faber, London, 1954.

  De la Mare, Walter. Best Stories of Walter de la Mare. Faber, London, 1942.

  De la Mare, Walter. On the Edge. Faber, London, 1930.

  De la Mare, Walter. The Listeners and other poems. Faber, London, 1942 (new ed.).

  De la Mare, Walter. The Wind Blows Over. Faber, London, 1936.

  De la Mare, Walter. Introduction to They Walk Again: An Anthology of Ghost Stories, chosen by Colin de la Mare. Faber, London, 1931.

  Giddings, Robert. The War Poets. Bloomsbury, London, 1998.

  Hartley, L. P. The Brickfield. Hamish Hamilton, London, 1964.

  Hartley, L. P. The Go-Between. Hamish Hamilton, London, 1954.

  Hartley, L. P. The Travelling Grave and other stories. Arkham House, Sauk City, WI, 1948.

  Kipling, Rudyard. Puck of Pook’s Hill. Macmillan, London, 1906.

  Kipling, Rudyard, Rewards and Fairies. Macmillan, London, 1910.

  Kipling, Rudy
ard, Something of Myself. Macmillan, London, 1937.

  Kipling, Rudyard. Strange Tales. Wordsworth Editions, Ware, 2006.

  Kipling, Rudyard. They. Macmillan, London, 1905.

  Lewis, Roger. Introductory chapter to Kipling’s Rewards and Fairies. Penguin, London, 1987.

  Losey, Joseph (Dir.). The Go-Between. 1971.

  Lycett, Andrew. Rudyard Kipling. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 1999.

  Machen, Arthur. ‘The Line of Terror’. Book review from The New Statesman, 11 October 1930. Re-published in Faunus (The Journal of the Friends of Arthur Machen), Autumn 2018, No. 38.

  Northcote, Amyas. In Ghostly Company. Wordsworth Editions, Ware, 2010.

  Parnell, Edward. The Listeners. Rethink Press, Gorleston, 2014.

  St. John, Christopher. Ellen Terry and Bernard Shaw: A Correspondence. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1931.

  Wilson, Neil. Shadows in the Attic: A Guide to British Supernatural Fiction 1820–1950. British Library, Boston Spa, 2000.

  Wright, Adrian. Foreign Country: The Life of L. P. Hartley. Andre Deutsch, London, 1996.

  Chapter 4: THE ROARING OF THE FOREST

  Ashley, Mike. Starlight Man: The Extraordinary Life of Algernon Blackwood. Constable, London, 2001.

  Blackwood, Algernon. Pan’s Garden: A Volume of Nature Stories. Macmillan, London, 1912.

  Blackwood, Algernon. The Tales of Algernon Blackwood. Martin Secker, London, 1938.

  Booth, Martin. The Doctor and the Detective: A Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Thomas Dunne Books, New York, 2000.

  Briggs, Raymond. When the Wind Blows. Hamish Hamilton, London, 1982.

  Carrington, C. E. The Life of Rudyard Kipling. Doubleday, Garden City, NY, 1955.

  Cocker, Mark and Mabey, Richard. Birds Britannica. Chatto & Windus, London, 2005.