The BBC had a ghost story on over Christmas, a mostly forgotten festive tradition that I applaud and want to see more of.

Crooked House, shown in three parts on BBC 4, reminded me of the VHS machine my dad used to bring home for the holidays from the school he taught at when I was a kid. The machine was the old 1970s kind with the clicky switch-down buttons at the front. We only had two tapes to play on it – a pirate copy of Star Wars,, and a BBC Education drama series called Middle English, which featured a couple of ghost stories with titles such as The Hairy Hand, the plot of which revolved around a scary hairy hand. We watched them over and over again. The ghost stories were clumsily made, but had moments of brilliant terror which are the reason I remember the clicky buttons on the VHS machine so clearly today.

We really love the eerie ink pen illustrations of artist Will Jacques, an American illustrator based in the suitably ghost-infested swamps of Southern Georgia. Jacques takes his inspiration from anything from paranormal literature to Pagan symbolism. You can see more of his work at ghastlydoor.com.

Apparently, the first story to claim this title appeared in the December 1948 edition of Thrilling Wonder Stories, one of those brilliant pulp sci fi mags with garish bug eyed monsters and big brea

If you’re based in London, put this Tuesday 10th June in your diary – it’s the latest Liars’ League short story event.

You can download a free audio book recording of the classic ghost story "The Upper Berth" by F.

The horrifying, spectral and rather marvellous One Eye Grey magazine is out this month.

The horrifying, spectral and rather marvellous One Eye Grey magazine is out this month.

If you have a secret addiction to Most Haunted, then this will be the equivalent of going to an AA meeting.

Birmingham has the highest recorded level of supernatural activity in the UK, according to a new survey of UK “Twilight Zones” carried out by the editor of the Fortean Times David Sutton.

If you're based in London you might be interested in going along to the latest Liars' League short story event. Their tag line - "Writers write. Actors read. Audience listens. Everyone happy." sums the event up - you get four or five short stories on a particular theme read out by actors, in a room above a pub, with beer freely flowing. The stories are often funny and usually enjoyable, and because they're read out by professionals you don't have to put up with the mumbling stuttering writer syndrome apparent at other reading events.