Gazetteer of British Ghosts (1971)

Gazetteer of British Ghosts (1971)[1] was the first published book by Peter Underwood (parapsychologist), 'Sherlock Holmes of psychical research' (as Dame Jean Conan Doyle would say - when introducing him); it was mentioned amongst many other works in The Guardian's obituary for the author,[2] and reviewed in Time Magazine[3] and the Academic Journal Folklore (See The Folklore Society).[4] Underwood was commissioned by Paul Tabori to contribute 'the first real attempt at a comprehensive survey of Britain's haunted sites'.[5] Forming part of Frontiers of the Unknown (a series by Souvenir Press), it would help constitute a 'library of psychic knowledge'.[6] Underwood's original 'working title' was An Encyclopaedia of Ghosts and Hauntings. The final title was suggested by Tabori - whom Underwood would later work together with on The Ghosts of Borley (1973).[7]

The use of the gazetteer form (a geographical directory) which he employed - as mentioned in The Independent's obituary for him,[8] as a structuring device, gave the book its novel form. It invited readers to use it in conjunction with a map; to visit these sites for themselves. (Each entry in the book ends with a nearby recommended hotel.) Conveying through its form the exhaustive surveying or mapping of paranormal phenomena, it conferred authority to Underwood (in terms of thoroughness of research), and a concomitant degree of seriousness and significance to his work; to the investigation of ghosts: ghost hunting - to which Underwood would dedicate his life - something which he described with words borrowed from Homer, which formed the title of his autobiography: No Common Task (1983).[9]

In an interview with the BBC, Underwood elaborated upon the account he gave of the ghost associated with Littlecote House.[10][11] In 2011, the account he gave of the supposed apparition of Jane Seymour was mentioned in the online news and entertainment website The Morton Report.[12][13]

In its comprehensiveness and function as a survey, Gazetteer of British Ghosts changed the field of paranormal literature, and became the basis for many subsequent works that modelled themselves on it (Underwood personally recommended Haunted Britain (1973) by Hippisley Coxe,[14] who includes Gazetteer of British Ghosts in his bibliography).[15] Decades later, Haunted Britain (2001) by Richard Jones, follows the same model of the geographical survey established by the Gazetteer - as can be seen from its table of contents - covering reports and stories of ghosts and haunted places according to the same division of the country into regions (just as he did in his Haunted London (2009), which modelled itself on Underwood's own Haunted London (1973) - the first comprehensive survey of London).[16]

Published in paperback form by Pan Books in 1973, Gazetteer of British Ghosts was reissued in hardback form in 1992 (and in subsequent editions) by Chancellor Press - under a new title which the work has come to be known by: The A-Z of British Ghosts, which later inspired an electronic, new-age music album directly inspired by Underwood's accounts.[17] It was also translated into Japanese in 2010.[18]

Phil Rickman, author of supernatural and mystery novels, makes reference to Underwood's account of Ludlow in Shropshire in the Gazetteer in his book The Smile of a Ghost (2005). Set in the historic town of Ludlow, Rickman's novel concerns the investigation of the mysterious death of a teenage boy in the ruins of Ludlow Castle - a site Underwood investigated regarding claims to being haunted both by the wandering figure of the 'White Lady' (Marion de la Gruyere) and 'a curious gasping or breathing sound', near the garderobe.[19]

Decades after the book's initial publication, authors still recognise their debt to the Gazetteer, which appears in the bibliographies of much literature on the paranormal, including paranormal historians Paul Adams and Eddie Brazil,[20] whom Underwood collaborated with on The Borley Rectory Companion, and Shadows in the Nave.[21][22]

The many other authors and paranormal historians (or parapsychologists) who have made reference in their work to Underwood's Gazetteer include Graham Chainey's A Literary History of Cambridge (1995), which mentions Underwood's account of the ghostly monk at Elm's Haunted Vicarage;[23] Neil Arnold's Haunted Chatham (2012), which recalls Underwood's entry on that town in Kent;[24] Peter Marshall's Mother Leakey and the Bishop: A Ghost Story (2009), which cites Underwood's account of the Somerset ghost of Old Mother Leakey;[25] chapter eight ('Ghost Hunters') of Colin Wilson's Supernatural: Your Guide Through the Unexplained, the Unearthly and the Unknown (2011); John Fraser's Ghost Hunting: A Survivor's Guide (2010), Paul Adam's Written in Blood: A Cultural History of the British Vampire (2014), and Roger Clarke's A Natural History of Ghosts: 500 Years of Hunting for Proof (2013).[26]

References

  1. ↑ Underwood, Peter (1971). Gazetteer of British Ghosts. London: Souvenir Books. ISBN 0285620126.
  2. ↑ Williams, Michael (2014). Haunted North Cornwall. The History Press. p. 41. ISBN 0750954396.; Williams, Michael. "Peter Underwood obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Modern Living: The Great Ghost Haunts". Time. 1971-08-30. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  4. ↑ Briggs, Katharine M. (1971-09-01). "Book Reviews". Folklore 82 (3): 249–260. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1971.9716735. ISSN 0015-587X.
  5. ↑ Underwood would subsequently produce the first 'comprehensive survey of London's ghost population' with his Haunted London (1973); Underwood, Peter (1983). No Common Task. London: Harrap. p. 187. ISBN 024553959X.
  6. ↑ Underwood, Peter (1971). Gazetteer of British Ghosts (1st edition ed.). London: Souvenir Press Ltd. p. Text from back cover. ISBN 9780285620124.
  7. ↑ Underwood, Peter (1983). No Common Task. London: Harrap. p. 183. ISBN 024553959X.
  8. ↑ "Peter Underwood: Urbane and gentlemanly author and ghost-hunter who". The Independent. 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  9. ↑ The line 'No common task his labour claimed...' forms Underwood's epigraph, which comes from the translation of Homer's Iliad by Alexander Pope, and refers to the work of the Greek god of fire and crafts, Hephaestus, who is commissioned to fashion a new set of armor for Achilles (e.g. the shield of Achilles); Underwood, Peter (1983). No Common Task. London: Harrap. p. 4. ISBN 024553959X.
  10. ↑ BBC. "Peter Underwood Ghosthunter at Large". Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  11. ↑ Underwood, Peter (1992-07-15). The A-Z of British Ghosts (1st edition ed.). London: Chancellor Press. pp. 122–125. ISBN 9781851521944.
  12. ↑ Clark, James (2011-10-11). "Royal Phantom Due For Annual Appearance". The Morton Report. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  13. ↑ Underwood, Peter (1993-07-15). The A-Z of British Ghosts: An Illustrated Guide to 236 Haunted Sites (3rd edition ed.). London: Chancellor Press. pp. 85–90. ISBN 9781851521944.
  14. ↑ Underwood, Peter (1983). No Common Task. London: Harrap. p. 183. ISBN 024553959X.
  15. ↑ Hippisley Coxe, Antony (1973). Haunted Britain: A Guide to Supernatural Sites Frequented by Ghosts, Witches, Poltergeists, and Other Mysterious Beings. McGraw-Hill. p. 190. ISBN 0070133107.
  16. ↑ Jones, Richard (2001). Haunted Britain and Ireland. London: New Holland Publishers Ltd. ISBN 9781859748817.
  17. ↑ See the liner notes of Llewellyn (1998), Ghosts, New World Music (new edition released in 2003 by Paradise Music).
  18. ↑ Underwood, Peter (1973). A Gazetteer of British Ghosts. Pan Books. ISBN 0330237284.; Underwood, Peter (1992). The A-Z of British Ghosts. Chancellor Press. ISBN 1851521941.; Underwood, Peter (2010). Gazetteer of British Ghosts. Media Factory. ISBN 4840135703.
  19. ↑ Rickman, Phil (2005). The Smile of a Ghost. Macmillan. ISBN 0857890158.; Underwood, Peter (1971). Gazetteer of British Ghosts. London: Souvenir Books. pp. 156–158. ISBN 0285620126.
  20. ↑ For example: Adams, Paul; Brazil, Eddie; Smith, Guy (2013). Extreme Hauntings: Britain's Most Terrifying Ghosts Kindle Edition. The History Press. p. 204. ISBN 075246535X.; Roud, Steve (2010). London Lore: The Legends and Traditions of the World's Most Vibrant City. Arrow Books. p. 427. ISBN 0099519860.; Lord, Eric (2009). Science, Mind And Paranormal Experience. Lulu. p. 354. ISBN 1435747399.; Ritson, Darren (2013). Haunted Wearside. The History Press. p. 95. ISBN 0752460889.; Ritson, Darren. Ghosts at Christmas. The History Press. ISBN 0752457675.; Hauck, Dennis (2000). The International Directory of Haunted Places. Penguin Books. p. 254. ISBN 0140296352.
  21. ↑ Adams, Paul; Underwood, Peter; Brazil, Eddie (2009-04-09). The Borley Rectory Companion (1st edition ed.). Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 9780750950671.
  22. ↑ Adams, Paul; Underwood, Peter (2011-11-01). Shadows in the Nave: A Guide to the Haunted Churches of England (1st edition ed.). Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 9780752459202.
  23. ↑ Chainey, Graham (1995). A Literary History of Cambridge (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 216. ISBN 052147681X.; Underwood, Peter (1971). Gazetteer of British Ghosts. London: Souvenir Books. pp. 62–64. ISBN 0285620126.
  24. ↑ Arnold, Neil (2012). Haunted Chatham. The History Press. pp. 58, 89. ISBN 0752461737.; Underwood, Peter (1971). Gazetteer of British Ghosts. London: Souvenir Books. pp. 45–46. ISBN 0285620126.
  25. ↑ Marshall, Peter (2009). Mother Leakey and the Bishop: A Ghost Story. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199532079.; Underwood, Peter (1971). Gazetteer of British Ghosts. London: Souvenir Books. pp. 169–170. ISBN 0285620126.
  26. ↑ Wilson, Colin (2011). Supernatural: Your Guide Through the Unexplained, the Unearthly and the Unknown. Watkins. ISBN 1907486550.; Fraser, John (2010). Ghost Hunting: A Survivor's Guide. The History Press. p. 148. ISBN 0752454145.;Clarke, Roger (2013). A Natural History of Ghosts: 500 Years of Hunting for Proof. Penguin. p. 290. ISBN 0141048085.; Adams, Paul (2014). Written in Blood: A Cultural History of the British Vampire. The History Press. p. 30. ISBN 0752497154.
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