Moon Mausoleum
An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.
You probably have heard about Ghost writers, but have you heard about ghost books? Over the years, there have been books and channeled texts that come from the afterlife. These books and the mediums that penned them claim that they were actually written by famous writers as well as long dead and unknown ghosts.
You probably have heard about Ghost writers, but have you heard about books written by ghosts? Over the years, there have been books and channeled texts that come from the afterlife. These books and the mediums that penned them claim that they were actually written by famous writers as well as long dead and unknown ghosts.
Through the popularity of spiritualism and mediums at the turn of the century, some books were written through a medium either using a Ouija board or through automatic writings. There were also a surge of writings like this in the spiritual revival period of the 70s.
When you find these strange ghost books in the library, they are often cataloged under the writer’s name, not the medium. They are also known as the last written work of said author if they ever were published because none could prove that they didn’t write them.
Here are some examples of books written by ghosts, or at least that people claim are written by spirits long dead:
Seven years after his death, the medium Emily Grant Hutchings together with Lola Hayes, claimed that a book was dictated to them from American author, Mark Twain.
The books written by ghosts was published in 1917 after a two year communications through the ouija board according to Hutchings. The book came into notoriety when the New York Times published a piece on it, and many found the story indeed in Twain’s spirit.
Spiritism was at its peak and it was not an uncommon thing that books were written by ghosts and it was only one of a few books published in that year that came through a medium as a channeled text, although Mark Twain was definitely one of the more well known authors.
However, the daughter of Mark Twain, Clara Clemens did not find this publication to be that of her father and tried to take the case to court. She managed to get Hutching to stop publishing the book and have copies of it destroyed.
Check out further and read the book
According to the library, there are in fact more than one book written by Shakespeare spirit like in the book Shakespeare’s Revelations and My Proof of Immortality. And in Shakespeare’s bibliography there are more than one volume of books written by ghosts.
It was actually through the medium Sarah Taylor Shatford these works were produced. She was a poet herself, and published the first book of poems in 1919, filled with poems reflecting the wartime, and encouraged readers to follow a Christian life.
Shatford said that she first encountered the voice of Shakespeare through the Ouija board, but later through a Clairvoyant, where he was basically talking through her.
Check out the book: Shakespeare’s Revelations
This is not the only medium/writer that claims to have been the ghost writer of the great Shakespeare. In 1920, Gregory Thornton published Sonnets of Shakespeare’s Ghost. This piece of work was closer to Shakespeare’s voice we can find in his other writings from his living days. It turned out, Thornton was actually a pseudonym for a literature professor named T.G Tucker.
Check out the book: Sonnets of Shakespeare’s Ghost
But it wasn’t only poems Shakespeare allegedly wrote from the afterlife. In 1916, an author by the name Lincoln Phifer self published Hamlet in Heaven, a sequel to Hamlet. Apparently, Phifer received the writings from Shakespeare like he would have a telephone call.
Check out the Book: Hamlet in heaven : a five act play purporting to have been written by William Shakespeare by automatic writing through the hand of Lincoln Phifer
In 1964, Ian Fleming, most known for the James Bond novels, died. But it wasn’t the last James Bond novel written under his name. In 1970, a manuscript from a middle aged woman named Vera came to the author’s brother, Peter Fleming’s attention. In 1970 a retired bank officer only known as Mr. A and his daughter, known as Vera, claimed to have transcribed works from the afterlife by more than one deceased authors. The most well known case and novel was called Take over: A James Bond Thriller and was apparently written by his brother’s ghost.
Vera started corresponding with the dead once after her mother’s death and had allegedly no literary background or desire to write fiction. She continued to explore this medium and found her handwriting becoming her mothers, writing her mother’s words to her from beyond the ground.
Her mother started to dictate late authors works of fiction, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G Wells and Ian Fleming.
Peter Fleming read the script they claimed was that of his lost brother, but was very skeptical as it was nothing like his brother’s writing. Even though he was skeptical, he was fascinated by Vera and how she wrote on a pad during her seances.
The work of Ian Fleming was not Vera’s last work though. In 1971, Vera started to transcribe a full length novel by W. Somerset Maugham. He was the author of works like Of Human Bondage, The Painted Veil and The Moon and Sixpence, and now, he had allegedly books written by his ghost.
It was given to Peter Fleming as well, who remarked how the style of the author had changed dramatically since his death. But before she finished transcribing the novel, her husband died. After this, she devoted her time exclusively to correspond through automatic writing with her deceased husband.
Patience Worth was allegedly a spirit contacted by Pearl Lenore Curran, a remarkable woman whose intriguing journey began in Illinois. However, she spent her formative years in Texas, which greatly influenced her character and perspective on life. Starting in July 1912, Pearl Curran, along with her friend Emily Grant Hutchings, embarked on an unusual adventure as they began using the Ouija Board, a mystical tool that they believed would help them communicate with the beyond. According to their accounts, they soon made contact with several spirits, each bringing their own unique messages and stories from the afterlife.
Among these spirits, it was on June 22, 1913, that the spirit known as “Pat-C” began to make her presence felt, captivating Pearl and Emily with her eloquence and personality. This marked the beginning of a profound exploration of spirituality and creativity, ultimately leading to the publication of numerous works believed to be dictated by Patience Worth through Pearl’s hand.
This purported relationship produced several novels, poetry and prose which Pearl Curran claimed were delivered to her through channeling the spirit of Patience Worth. This case is very different from the mediums claiming to channel the likes of Shakespeare, Fleming and other well known best sellers. This was a complete unknown female spirit with little details around her. It was said she was from England, but not specified any more than that. She apparently lived from 1649–94 and voyaged to America by boat. Pearl later alluded that Patience had actually been killed by Natives.
Pearl and Patience together wrote several novels including Telka, The Sorry Tale, Hope Trueblood, The Pot upon the Wheel, Samuel Wheaton, An Elisebethan Mask among some of their work.
She continued to communicate through Pearl until November 25, 1937. Psychologists and skeptics who have studied Curran’s writings are in agreement that Patience was a fictitious creation of Curran, a product of her imagination that reflected her personal struggles and desires. Although debunked in the eyes of many, the case of Pearl and Patience’s authorship continues to intrigue people, sparking lively debates about the nature of reality and the complexities of the human psyche.
Check out the Books: Hope Trueblood or The Pot Upon the Wheel
James Ingram Merrill (March 3, 1926 – February 6, 1995) was an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1977 for Divine Comedies. His work is divided into two main styles: the early polished lyric poetry and the later epic narrative about communicating with spirits and angels, titled The Changing Light at Sandover (published from 1976 to 1980). So in contrast to the many other channeled text, he was already a well respected author.
His first contact and writings from the afterlife was Voices from the Other World, first published in book form in The Country of a Thousand Years of Peace (1959).
The Changing Light at Sandover is a 560-page epic poem by James Merrill (1926–1995), widely regarded as one of his most significant works. Sometimes described as a postmodern apocalyptic epic, the poem was published in three volumes from 1976 to 1980. A lot of the installments in this work ended up coming from ‘the other side’.
With his partner David Jackson, Merrill spent more than 20 years transcribing purportedly supernatural communications during séances using a Ouija board, a process that not only influenced the structure and themes of the poem but also invited readers to ponder the boundaries between the living and the dead. The work intricately weaves together elements of mythology, philosophy, and personal history, reflecting Merrill’s keen interest in the nature of existence and the passage of time while simultaneously offering a commentary on the human condition through rich imagery and eloquent verse.
Check out the Book: The Changing Light at Sandover: Including the whole of The Book of Ephraim, Mirabell’s Books of Number, Scripts for the Pageant and a new coda, The Higher Keys
Sonnets by Shakespeare…’s spirit? – The Collation
Jap Herron: A Novel written from the Ouija Board (1917)
Thank you Stacia for the tips. Had to revisit the article again now and add her. Thank you for stopping by and reading.
You might enjoy the story of bestselling author Patience Worth, who was channeled by Pearl Curran, in the 1920s, as I recall. Sorry, I don’t have a good link for you — I’m on my phone.
Stacia Schwartz