The ancient shipping port and market town of King's Lynn is an often overlooked repository of ghostly tales and legends. Apart from a compilation of stories in a 1986 booklet, the tales connected to this town are frequently ignored in books covering the area. Indeed, the same can be said of West Norfolk which would seem to have a very sparse ghostly population if one were to go by previously published books. This book helps to address that misconception. The town, in fact the whole area, is replete with many dozens of stories dating from the 18th century to the present day. Considering its small size, King's Lynn might even be one of the most haunted towns in the UK. This book details many stories that have accumulated over the decades; the alleged phantom fiddler said to have been heard exploring tunnels beneath a local park ... a mischievous ghost inhabiting a charity shop on a modern housing estate ... an evil spectre that wanted to push a bride-to-be down the stairs in her home to her death ... the less-than-truthful phantoms at an old RAF base ... and the antics of other worldly entities in care homes in the town. Comprising 306 pages (16 of which form a comprehensive index), most of the nearly 200 tales in this volume are being published in book form for the first time.

The green fields of Britain hide a grim secret. Beneath the buttercups are the bones of untold numbers of soldiers who died for causes now lost in the mists of time. From hotels to houses, castles to council estates, these warriors walk reminding us of our bloody past.

Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Enlightenment argues for the centrality of magical practices and ideas throughout the long eighteenth century. Although the hunt for witches in Europe declined precipitously after 1650, and the intellectual justification for natural magic came under fire by 1700, belief in magic among the general population did not come to a sudden stop. The philosophes continued to take aim at magical practices, alongside religion, as examples of superstitions that an enlightened age needed to put behind them. In addition to a continuity of beliefs and practices, the eighteenth century also saw improvement and innovation in magical ideas, the understanding of ghosts, and attitudes toward witchcraft. The volume takes a broad geographical approach and includes essays focusing on Great Britain (England and Ireland), France, Germany, and Hungary. It also takes a wide approach to the subject and includes essays on astrology, alchemy, witchcraft, cunning folk, ghosts, treasure hunters, and purveyors of magic. With a broad chronological scope that ranges from the end of the seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century, this volume is useful for undergraduates, postgraduates, scholars, and those with a general interest in magic, witchcraft, and spirits in the Enlightenment.

The biography of an enigmatic Victorian pioneer. The first critical appraisal of this sporting legend and antiquary, using his own archives and writings. Important glimpses of everyday Victorian life. Suitable for those with interests in sport, local history, genealogy and record editing. Walter Rye was a London solicitor until he retired to Norwich, but it was three spare-time passions that earned him his place in the Dictionary of National Biography: physical exercise, record-searching, and a devotion to his ancestral county of Norfolk. His love of the outdoors was unbounded: athlete, cyclist, sailor and archer, keen amateur gardener and naturalist. Despite this, mortal illness seemed to stalk him, and yet he lived well into his eighties. In A Passion for Records, Rye’s prolific writings as author, columnist and correspondent, replete with witty put-downs, offer many laugh-out-loud moments. His antiquarian writings invite more serious attention, after cautionary tales about his editorial techniques.