[PW] Shortest ghost story in the world?

[Bye, Dan J]

Right, here is the text from "A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language", Part B: Folk Legends. Volume 1. by Katharine M. Briggs.  London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1971. (this is a four volume work).

In her section on 'ghosts', Briggs states:

"Some ghost stories are not to be found among the legends, as they are obviously exercises in folk fiction. Examples of the kind of thing are two terse ghost stories which are fairly widely known: one of a nervous guest in a haunted room who locked the door, closed the shutters, looked under the bed and into the cupboards before getting into bed, and, just as he blew out the candle, heard a tiny voice coming from the curtains at the head of his bed, "Now we're shut in for the night".  The other, which is supposed to be the shortest ghost story in the world, runs: "He woke up frightened and reached for the matches, and the matches were put into his hand." (p.416)


Dan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org 
> [mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On 
> Behalf Of Bye, Dan J
> Sent: 23 October 2007 18:09
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Subject: Re: [PW] Shortest ghost story in the world?
> 
> 
> 
> In: The Kingfisher Treasury of Ghost Stories, ed. Kenneth 
> Ireland. London: Kingfisher, 2005 (1st published 1992), appears:
> 
> The Shortest Ghost Story Ever Told (Traditional):
> "He woke up frightened, and reached for the matches, and the 
> matches were put into his hand."
> 
> The same book also includes "The Second Shortest Ghost Story 
> Ever Told", also "Traditional", but I can't see it in 
> Amazon's preview.
> 
> It is also referred to by Katharine Mary Briggs in her 
> "British Folk Tales and Legends: a sampler " (2002), p.198, 
> but with no further information.
> 
> Earliest date I've found is its appearance in Percy Lyon's 
> 1933 book, "The Discovery of Poetry".
> 
> 
> Dan
>