Where the Ghosts Walk: The Gazetteer of Haunted Britain is a testament to the sheer amount of work carried out by Peter Underwood, one of the longest-serving paranormal researchers of the 20th century. It’s an extensive, lovingly compiled guide to haunted locations across Britain, and an absolute pleasure to read.
I grew up in a house full of ghost folklore books – a side effect of having a mum who was always interested in the paranormal, which is exactly where I inherited my own fascination from. Over the years I’ve read plenty of regional ghost guides, especially those focused on Wiltshire and the West Country, plus the odd volume covering the wider UK. Very few of them come close to Where the Ghosts Walk.
This is the book I’d put into the hands of anyone with a serious interest in ghosts and ghost lore. The level of detail is wonderful. It’s one of those books you intend to dip into for five minutes and then suddenly you’re three chapters deep because you’ve been pulled along by one story after another. The photographs, many taken by Underwood himself, complement the text beautifully and add a personal touch – there’s something very charming about seeing him in the grounds of the places he writes about.
What really sets this book apart from a lot of other ghost collections is the sense of care. So many paranormal folklore books feel a bit lazy, as though the author has simply rehashed other people’s accounts without much thought. Here, it’s obvious that Underwood respects the stories he’s sharing. Even if you remain firmly sceptical about the existence of ghosts, you get a strong sense that these tales mattered to the people who told them – and that matters in itself.
Of course, stories are not evidence of ghosts, and this book doesn’t pretend otherwise. But I’ve always felt that ghost folklore has a huge role to play in understanding the paranormal, not as proof of hauntings, but as a window into how people interpret strange experiences, local history and landscape. On that level, Where the Ghosts Walk is incredibly rich: the sheer number of accounts, and the variety of places and themes they cover, make it a valuable resource as well as a very enjoyable read.
For me, this book brought back the feeling I had as a teenage ghost hunter, poring over old case stories and plotting trips to ruined houses and creepy lanes. If you’ve ever found delight in a good old-fashioned ghost story, or you’re interested in how haunted Britain looks through the eyes of one of its most dedicated chroniclers, I’d wholeheartedly recommend Where the Ghosts Walk.
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