Book Description

Arthur Goldstuck made the world of South African urban legends his own with four best-sellers during the 1990s. Now he returns to this landscape, but from a very different angle: looking at the extent to which ghost stories are really urban legends - stories spread by word of mouth (and the media) as absolute truth, but falling short on evidence and reality. In exploring ghost stories as urban legends, Goldstuck makes a fascinating discovery: the ghostly beliefs of each culture across South Africa have had a profound impact on the supernatural beliefs of every other cultural group in the country over the past four centuries. The result is the story of the South African ghost: a unique and complex character that reflects a turbulent history and a harsh existence and sheds a fascinating light on the nature of supernatural experience throughout the world. For instance, what do the Flying Dutchman and the Uniondale Ghost have in common? Why do the ghosts of so many of the country's fallen soldiers wander the earth seeking their forbidden lovers? How do our religious beliefs affect the way we see ghosts? How many ghosts of Daisy de Melker are really out there? Arthur Goldstuck has some of the answers in a book that challenges much conventional thinking about the supernatural.