Living With Ghosts: Eleven Extraordinary Tales (Living with Ghosts)

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