Ghost Stories

Ghostly illustration from “All About Ghosts – by a Man Who Knows Them,” 1903 (The Inter Ocean, via Newspapers.com™)

This collection highlights some of the Ghost Stories that have thrilled and chilled newspaper readers across the centuries.

More famous Ghost Stories, like the Flying Dutchman or the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, have been circulated and retold many times over the years. But less-familiar hauntings are often as mysterious (or as bleak) as the popular tales, and there are many to find in old newspapers.

Learn more about Ghost Stories through historical newspapers from our archives. Explore newspaper articles, headlines, images, and other primary sources below.

Articles and Clippings about Ghost Stories

Christmas ghost in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire (1762) 27 Mar 1762, Sat Jackson's Oxford Journal (Oxford, Oxfordshire, England) Newspapers.comGhost story of a "female figure, all in white" (1786) 24 Jan 1786, Tue The Leeds Intelligencer and Yorkshire General Advertiser (Leeds, West Yorkshire, England) Newspapers.com"Singular History of a Ghost" given in trial (1793) 12 Jun 1793, Wed The Northern Star (Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland) Newspapers.com"Jack Ghost" aboard the ship Broot (1798) 07 Feb 1798, Wed The North American (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com"The Flying Dutchman" ghost story (1821) 27 Jul 1821, Fri The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com"The Tennessee Ghost" Bell Witch ghost story (1856) 26 Jan 1856, Sat New England Farmer (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com"A Murder Revealed by a Ghost at Kendal" (1861) 19 Jan 1861, Sat The Preston Chronicle and Lancashire Advertiser (Preston, Lancashire, England) Newspapers.com"The Haunted Rock" ghost story (1871) 26 Jan 1871, Thu The Bradford Observer (Bradford, West Yorkshire, England) Newspapers.comMr. Stanwood and the "Woman in White" ghost story (1874) 18 Jul 1874, Sat Omaha Daily Bee (Omaha, Nebraska) Newspapers.com"The Ghost of a Ferocious Dog Appears to Several Persons" (1876) 21 Feb 1876, Mon St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, Missouri) Newspapers.com"Brooklyn's Lively Ghosts Puzzling Clinton Avenue Residents by Their Antics" (1878) 20 Dec 1878, Fri The Sun (New York, New York) Newspapers.com"Ghosts, Weird Lights, and Other Mysterious Things in an Ohio Cave" (1880) 25 Jul 1880, Sun The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana) Newspapers.com"A Haunted Mine - Some Strange Supernatural Sights and Sounds in the Yellow Jacket" (1887) 27 Nov 1887, Sun The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) Newspapers.com"Tony Ghosts. Stories of How They Haunt New York." Ghost story collection (1889) 16 Jun 1889, Sun The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com"Have You Ever Seen a Ghost?" Ghost stories collected across Missouri and Illinois (1889) 02 Jun 1889, Sun St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) Newspapers.com"Anne Boleyn's Ghost" (1898) 03 Sep 1898, Sat The Brooklyn Citizen (Brooklyn, New York) Newspapers.com"California's Cock Lane Ghost," or the Shasta Mystery (1903) 13 Sep 1903, Sun San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California) Newspapers.com"All About Ghosts - by a Man Who Knows Them." (1903) 08 Feb 1903, Sun The Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois) Newspapers.com"A Weird Story of a Remarkable Crime." Zona Heaster Shue ghost story (1904) 18 Feb 1904, Thu The Independent-Herald (Hinton, West Virginia) Newspapers.com"Haunted by Dead Mother" (1906) 27 Jan 1906, Sat Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) Newspapers.comGhost of Abraham Lincoln haunts the White House (1913) 02 Mar 1913, Sun The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana) Newspapers.com"Ouija Board Again Brings Marvelous Mysterious Messages" or the ghost of Patience Worth (1915) 11 Dec 1915, Sat The Ogden Standard (Ogden, Utah) Newspapers.com"He Met 20 Ghosts; Liked All but One" (1922) 12 Mar 1922, Sun New York Herald (New York, New York) Newspapers.comTopsy the Ghost Cat (1923) 15 Jun 1923, Fri Daily Republican-Register (Mount Carmel, Illinois) Newspapers.com"The Gray Man" ghost of Pawleys Island (1925) 03 May 1925, Sun The State (Columbia, South Carolina) Newspapers.com"Ghost Carriage Haunts Castle of Dragsholm" (1926) 29 Oct 1926, Fri Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Newspapers.com"The Brown Lady" ghost photographed at Raynham Hall (1937) 17 Jan 1937, Sun Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, West Midlands, England) Newspapers.comThe Bell Witch ghost story (1937) 19 Dec 1937, Sun Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) Newspapers.com"Ghostly Lady in Black Still Haunts Boston's Fort Warren" (1946) 31 Oct 1946, Thu The Daily Herald (Provo, Utah) Newspapers.comResurrection Mary, Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, and other ghostly stories of Chicago (1974) 13 May 1974, Mon Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) Newspapers.com"Gray Man" ghost of Pawleys Island (1990) 28 Oct 1990, Sun The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina) Newspapers.com