Ghost Stories of a Historian

Francis Young (b. 1981) is a historian who teaches at the University of Oxford's Department for Continuing Education. He is the author of some eighteen nonfiction books, including English Catholics and the Supernatural, 1553-1829 (2013), A History of Exorcism in Catholic Christianity (2016), Peterborough Folklore (2017), Magic as a Political Crime in Medieval and Early Modern England: A History of Sorcery and Treason (2017), Suffolk Fairylore (2018), Magic in Merlin's Realm: A History of Occult Politics in Britain (2022), and the just-published Twilight of the Godlings: The Shadowy Beginnings of Britain's Supernatural Beings (2023). 

Just looking at the subjects of his books, one might expect Young to be very interested in both the scholarly work of and the fiction by M.R. James. And that is the case, even to the point that Young has published two slim collections of ghost stories, both under the byline F.K. Young (his full name is Francis Kendrick Young). The first is Yellow Glass and Other Ghost Stories (2020). It contains a Preface (where Young details his interest in M.R. James), and seven stories.  The best story is "Yellow Glass" which describes some haunted stained glass in a small remote cathedral. It is very much in the style of M.R. James. Some of the other stories go in very different directions, like "Afturganga," set in Iceland and dealing decades later with the results of a death, and "The Dreamt Book," which deals with a long-term shared dream among three people that requires all three to exorcise it, even though one of the dreamers died years ago. All seven of the stories are interesting, but some of the others use familiar plot elements, which lessen a story's impact. The one flaw I see in Young's tales is that his endings are often too abrupt.  It's not that the resolutions are badly done, or inappropriate, it's just that after a pleasant and leisurely buildup of detail as the stories unfold, the endings are too quick, sometimes with insufficient detail to give a complete picture in the reader's mind. It's not that they are ambiguous (a fine thing when done well), it's just that the curtness feels unsatisfying after what has come before. 

The same flaw persists in some of the stories in Young's second collection, Shades of Rome: Ghostly Tales of Roman Britain (2023), published a few months ago.  Here again Young gives us a Preface (characterizing the collection as dealing with elements of Britain's Roman past), and seven stories. "Saturnalia" deals with a haunting of a mere (one can listen to the author reading the story here, if you want to sample it). For me, the best stories in the collection include "The Green Girl" (an interesting take on the historical tale of the Green Children of Woolpit), "Defixio" (about a previously unknown Roman curse inscription), and "Abcester" (about a Roman altar found in a church being closed down). The collection closes with what were, for me, the two least satisfying stories out of both Young's collections.  In "Nighthawk" a detectorist is involved with shady underworld types, while in "The Shrubton Oracle" an eccentric billionaire plans a reconstruction of a Roman temple to Apollo, with Method actors inventing interpretations of rituals. Both stories have trite and slightly cringeworthy scenes, involving modern people that feel like caricatures. Young is at his best when bringing artifacts or legends out of the past and into new focus for modern readers. 

Here is a short article on Christmas Ghosts that blends Young's interests together; and a longer podcast on the same subject.  I hope Young will continue to produce ghosts stories, and I look forward to reading them.