In this collection - which might well have been given the title 'Ghost Stories of a Scottish Antiquary' - archaeologists, historians and scientists find themselves unexpectedly faced with a return from the past which comes to them in unusual, and sometimes forbidding forms. Almost every story is based upon some well-known event or incident, and the development of the story is so convincing that it is difficult to decide when - if ever - the known and established facts give way to pure imagination. All good ghost stories should arouse curiosity: some should communicate fear. Professor Dickinson's readers will certainly wonder if these strange happenings could occur - or perhaps even did occur. And sometimes, with a slight shudder down the spine, they will ask themselves how, and why?