Brief description: Letter, Charles Dickens to William Howitt, 31 October 1859
Label: On Halloween, Dickens asked well-known spiritualist William Howitt to recommend haunted houses for his friend, John Hollingshead, who was keen to witness a supernatural occurrence. Dickens and other sceptics were against spiritualists who exploited people for money, but he was fascinated with ghost stories and their effects. Dickens had an ongoing correspondence with Howitt about ghosts from September to December 1859.
Collection: Archives & Manuscripts
Object number: A973
Object type: letter
Production date: 31/10/1859
Inscription content: Gad's Hill Place,
Higham by Rochester, Kent
Monday, Thirty-First October, 1859.
My Dear Mr. Howitt,

I have been away and unable to acknowledge the receipt of your last note. Let me do so now.
I will only add on the general subject that if you know of any haunted house whatsoever within the limits of the United Kingdom where nobody can live, eat, drink, sit, stand, lie or sleep, without spirit-molestation, I believe I can produce a gentleman who will readily try its effect in his own person.
Faithfully yours
Charles Dickens
Credit line: Purchased with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund, the Friends of the National Library and the Dickens Fellowship.
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Letter from Charles Dickens to William Howitt, 31 October 1859