Ghost Story Quotes

“Oh," the girl said, shaking her head. "Don't be so simple. People adore monsters. They fill their songs and stories with them. They define themselves in relation to them. You know what a monster is, young shade? Power. Power and choice. Monsters make choices. Monsters shape the world. Monsters force us to become stronger, smarter, better. They sift the weak from the strong and provide a forge for the steeling of souls. Even as we curse monsters, we admire them. Seek to become them, in some ways." Her eyes became distant. "There are far, far worse things to be than a monster.”
― Jim Butcher, Ghost Story

“The mad rarely know that they are mad. It's the rest of the world, I think, that seems insane to them.”
― Jim Butcher

“We ask our brain to stop worrying, stop obsessing, stop dreaming the same scary dreams again and again. But our brain rarely takes requests.”
― Dan Poblocki, The Ghost of Graylock

“I am who I am and always shall be.”
― Laura Elizabeth, Farmer

“The lamps were lit, and a good fire crackled in the great stone fireplace. There was a discreet chink of china, the brightness of silver teapot and muffin cover, the comforting smell mingled of steaming hot water, toast and a little sweet tobacco.”
― Susan Hill, The Mist in the Mirror

“Strange though it may seem, people rarely show such enthusiasm as when they are seeking the proof of a ghost story—the soul gathers all this sort of thing to its hungry bosom.”
― Halldór Laxness, Independent People

“You are the embodiment of greed. You’re all that’s left of a malevolent creature some call a windigo. You’re gluttony, decay and death.”
― Diane L. Kowalyshyn, Crossover

“I know that part of the story must be made up, because there's no such thing as curses or cracks in the world, but maybe that's all a good ghost story is: a way of handing out consequences to the people who never got them in real life.”
― Alix E. Harrow, Starling House

“After breakfast the host takes the young man into a corner, and explains to him that what he saw was the ghost of a lady who had been murdered in that very bed, or who had murdered somebody else there - it does not really matter which: you can be a ghost by murdering somebody else or by being murdered yourself, whichever you prefer. The murdered ghost is, perhaps, the more popular; but, on the other hand, you can frighten people better if you are the murdered one, because then you can show your wounds and do groans.

("Introduction" to TOLD AFTER SUPPER)”
― Jerome K. Jerome, Gaslit Nightmares: Stories by Robert W. Chambers, Charles Dickens, Richard Marsh, and Others

“Even if I had convict ancestry, I wouldn’t be ashamed of it. As far as I’m concerned, the real criminals back in those days weren’t twelve-year-old boys nicking a loaf of bread or a pair of socks to ward off hunger and blisters. No, it was those who exploited them; keeping the battler in the gutter while they sat around in their manors, sipping tea and admiring portraits of their toffee-nosed great grandfathers.”
― Cameron Trost, Hoffman's Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales

“(Washington) Irving was only the first of the writers of the American ghostly tale to recognize that the supernatural, exactly because its epistemological status is so difficult to determine, challenged the writer to invent a commensurately sophisticated narrative technique.”
― Howard Kerr, The Haunted dusk: American supernatural fiction, 1820-1920

“If the child gives the effect another turn of the screw, what do you say to two children—?”
― Henry James, The Turn of the Screw

“Oh, she was a great beauty," Maggie replied, and Hetty nodded in agreement.

"The clearest blue-green eyes, and skin like peaches, with a splendid dusting of freckles," she said.

"And her hair -- 'twas flaming red, and fell in marvellous profusion," Maggie added. "We used to call her Queen Elizabeth -- in jest, you understand, for the real Queen was quite fearsome I do believe. Mrs Bramstone almost hated Bessie I think, for how lovely she was".”
― Clementine Darling, The Lost Children of Gloam's End

“Sacrifices can backfire, Mr Ryan.”
― Jonathan Dunne, Rosie

“True love is deeper than any grave.”
― L.C. Marino, Burn the Girls

“The castle rose above the early morning mist like a ship sailing majestically on a grey sea.”
― Ellen Read, Die For Love

“Of course,' he said, 'it is possible to be haunted by the living as by the dead.”
― Reggie Oliver, A Maze for the Minotaur

“She frowned down at what was left of her skirt before gathering the silvery fabric in her fists and tugging. The shreds of fabric tore away as she did, dissipating into the growing rose of the dawn. Clem let out a sudden, delighted laugh, making Sera jump.”
― Avery Carter, The Ghost and the Real Girl

“When the evening turned to twilight, a dark figure appeared in the middle of the main street. The fuzzy edged shape was hard to focus on as it made its way through the shadows of the night.”
― Jodee Patel, The Lady In White Who?

“Moreau, the guy who built the castle at the beginning of the nineteenth century, built it for his wife. But she died shortly after. That's when others began to vanish. It's like a Star Trek vortex. Sucks in women and never spits them back out."
"That's morbid," Cleo said.
Stasia waved her off. "So is crime TV, but I watch it all the time. You don't?"
"No."
"That sucks." Stasia shrugged again, her mouth twisting in a look of pitiful apology. "Crime TV prepares you. Like, you'll never vanish if you know how a killer thinks. You'll be ready for them. True preparedness and survival skills.”
― Jaime Jo Wright, The Vanishing at Castle Moreau

“She has lost everything in life to gain everything in death.”
― Jonathan Dunne, Rosie

“The felines grew restless, mewling and crying like feverish babies.”
― Jonathan Dunne, Rosie

“Victor Ryan was afraid to face the faceless.”
― Jonathan Dunne, Rosie

“With her left hand, Herself clumsily tucked the shells into her nightgown and straightened them, each cuntshell wrapped in its cradle of braided lavender or gray or black cotton thread now touching her skin. Herself had told Donkey that each shell was a woman's life saved at great cost, and she needed to keep the shells warm and safe while she lived, giving these souls their time in the world. Baba Rose had had over a hundred shells on her necklace when she'd finally been unable to get out of bed under the burden. Every time Herself told the story of how Baba Rose died, there was another cause, and Donkey had to assume that the ghost whose fire had warmed their cottage for so many years had died of all of it, of everything.”
― Bonnie Jo Campbell, The Waters

“As I fall into an uneasy slumber, I dream of dark shadows coming through glowing doorways.”
― Jonathan Dunne, Drive

“Ghosts don't have DNA”
― Jonathan Dunne, Drive

“Love is blind, as they say. I was once blinded by love.”
― Jonathan Dunne, Drive

“That thing up there was never human…even when it was alive, it was a monster.”
― Jonathan Dunne, Drive

“I couldn’t feel the spot where the bullet had struck. I couldn’t feel the ground beneath my feet. All I could feel was the icy wave of dread that rapidly engulfed me as I slowly turned to look at the lifeless, blood-soaked figure lying behind me.”
― Jacqueline E. Smith, Secondhand: And Other Stories

“Dead bodies interrupted my dessert course.”
― Byrd Nash, Ghost Talker