Ghosts that Never Haunted Christ Church

Allan Chapman has had a life-long fascination for ghost stories, withan imagination fired from a childhood spent in a tiny, initially gas-litcottage in Lancashire. This imagination lies at the heart of Ghosts thatNever Haunted Christ Church.With the exception of the story of the revival of Anne Greene, a welldocumentedtrue story from 1650, and the recent ‘Ghosts that might well hauntChrist Church’, all the tales in this book are a curious mixture of genuinehistorical fact, legend, and fiction. For while many of the ghosts in these talesmay not have haunted Christ Church—or at least not in the way described—the historical setting which they haunted is largely true. The names of realhistorical figures and Christ Church buildings which either still exist or werelater demolished to be replaced by more recent ones all intermix to form anentertaining combination of fact and fiction.Over the centuries, Christ Church has displayed three notable features: theCathedral Church, with its Canons and clerical dons; a rich and gloriousmusical tradition; and great distinction in scientific and medical research.They all appear, in various guises, in these ghost stories. Clergymen,choristers, organists, chemists, scientists, heroic College porters, inventors,animals, and anatomists are all there. Yet whether a tale be heart-warming,grisly, or downright horrific, each resolves into its own positive ending. ForChrist Church has never been a bleak or negative place, preferring goodfellowship to angst and misery; and so with its ghosts. For at the end of theday, peace comes to all.So read on, and prepare to be affrighted, amused, and delighted!