Ours is an island of ghosts. From the White Lady of Gibney Hall to the Rossmore banshees, these and other stories have fascinated us for centuries. We have told them to each other at bedtime, around the kitchen table, sitting around the fireside.

In this collection of supernatural tales, E. Jay Gilbert reveals the similarities and differences between the spectres that haunt these isles and asks why are we so intrigued by ghost stories and what do they tell us about the community and people who cultivate them? Why are some tales universal, while others are very much unique to the place they haunt?

Part-chilling tale, part-cultural exploration, Haunted takes us through some of the most unsettling and enduring ghost stories, and discusses what they reveal about the listener, the teller and the times we live in.