This week's readalong is ghost stories. I've been busy today so I haven't got much done but I've been getting ahead on 'Haunted Voices' for Thursday and thinking about oral story-telling... What's the first ghost story you were told? #romancingthegothic #iaintscaredofnoghosts

For me, it was a peculiar one that I don't quite remember the details of with an old relative coming from the graveyard step by step by step and eventually stealing a kidney... for some reason! #romancingthegothic #iaintscaredofnoghosts

But thinking about oral story-telling and ghost tales brought me back to the interesting crossover between folk ballads and songs and the Gothic in the 18th century. One of the ghostiest almost vampiric folk ballads out there is 'Unquiet Grave'

Songs and oral folk productions were widely collected in the 18th and 19th century in collections like Percy's Reliques. Another example, that is still performed as a folk song today, is Sweet William's Ghost -

The reading that I did for tonight's ghost story though was from a poem I trust most people will be familiar with. It's Mary Robinson's 'The Haunted Beach'. There's a copy here. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/robinson/other/rmd-beach.html #romancingthegothic #iaintscaredofnoghosts

Mary Robinson is a fascinating 18th century figure. Well worth looking up! She was an actress, famous as the mistress of the Prince of Wales, scandalous, a celebrity of her times who was also an early feminist who became partially paralysed towards the end of her short life.

'The Haunted Beach' is a poem which touches on the old ghost motif of the murderer's haunting - a common theme of many of the ghost ballads of the period and Gothic novels such as 'The Old English Baron' and 'Ethelwina' where avenging ghosts return to see justice done!

Join me at midnight for the premiere. I've been experimenting with lighting so I have a luminous chin. Only 5 minutes for some spooky poetry! What could be better?