In time for Halloween, Prince Michael of Greece (Sultana, 1983)
presents the dilettantish findings of his spirit-hunting. As a
storyteller, Prince Michael is frankly out of his league, at least
when compared to such writers as M.R. James and Sheridan LeFanu, or
even such true believers as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Accompanied by
a photographer friend (whose work provides an atmospheric backdrop
for the narrative), Prince Michael does some amateur psychic
research in a stately home in England, a castle in Spain, a Russian
palace, a chateau in France, and a manor in Ireland, among other
ostensibly ghostly sites. While he hears tales of transparent
women, lost treasures, evil presences, and things going bump in the
night, the paranormal vibrations he invariably picks up tell
different stories. Unfortunately, those stories - all told in the
first person by female spirits, with Prince Michael as the
medium/amanuensis - usually involving forbidden love affairs, smack
of the historical romance with traces of New Age religiosity. The
most eminent of these narrators is Czarina Maria Feodorovna, the
dyspeptic daughter-in-law of Catherine the Great, whose spirit
hovers about the restored Palace of Pavlovsk, brooding over her
assassinated husband. Most of the spirits Prince Michael contacts
are noblewomen, such as the sadistic medieval figure who inhabited
the sinister Chateau de Niedzica, or the Irish Lady Claire of
Doneraile Court. All the stories fall flat after the eerie backdrop
is parted. Without a trace of irony, the author observes, "Of
course ghosts are real, but those who believe in them too
passionately, and imagine they sense their presence everywhere end
up by creating them from scratch." Prince Michael quickly spoils
the spooky atmosphere with genre novel scenarios and New Age
effects. (Kirkus Reviews)
Eleven Extraordinary Tales Translated by Anthony Roberts The ghosts of Europe's haunted castles and palaces tell their strange and tragic stories in this elegantly written narrative.
Do you believe in ghosts? Perhaps you were once in an empty house, you were alone in that room, yet your intuition told you that someone or something else was there with you. A creak on the stairway, the rustle of a curtain, a barely perceptible change in the air . . . if you had stopped and listened, what else would you have found or seen? From the gothic elegance of Powderham Castle in Devon, to the ruins of the Chateau de Lagnes in Provence, to the moated austerity of Schloss Schwarzenraben in Westphalia, Prince Michael of Greece has sought out eleven of the most celebrated haunted palaces and castles of Europe and describes them on the basis of his personal research and contact with their ghostly inhabitants. Who are the ghosts of these places? A serving woman, an Incan princess, a baronness whose lover was killed by her husband in a duel--Prince Michael gives voice to some of the many spirits who have waited so long to speak. Through wonderfully evocative prose and duotone photographs, the settings and histories of these houses come to life, and the houses' owners bring forth their descriptions and documents as well. But the centerpiece of each tale is the ghost's own dramatic testimony, narrated in the first person by Prince Michael--each graceful tale full of passion and tragedy.
"If we were all prepared simply to acknowledge the existence of the inexplicable, many more of us would include ghosts among our acquaintances."--Prince Michael of Greece
Prince Michael of Greece, grandson of King George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, is a frequent contributor to magazines and has published several books in French and English. He lives in Paris, London, and New York.
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