As the winter nights draw in and you settle in front of a cosy fire, it’s the perfect time for a dash of fear…spine-chillers from Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells, Edith Wharton and many more

Do you believe in ghosts?

Not monsters, not floating objects or unexplained coincidences, but an actual presence – a flicker in the corner of the eye, a shadow in a darkened hallway, a hand pressed against the window, or a figure at the end of the bed. Sometimes they are a malevolent warning, or they come seeking revenge, or as a horrible reminder of past misdeeds. But ghosts can visit on the brightest summer's day, or on a lonely stretch of beach, making themselves felt just when you least expect it.

The great writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, from Elizabeth Gaskell to Rudyard Kipling, also produced some of the most influential ghost stories ever written, shaping the conventions of the genre for generations of writers to follow. Collected here are some of the most iconic of these Victorian ghost stories, from Charles Dickens's 'The Signalman' to M.R. James's 'A Warning to the Curious', alongside more unexpected contributions from masters of the form such as J.S. Le Fanu and H.G. Wells.

You may think you don't believe in ghosts, but these stories will haunt you nonetheless.