The Phantoms of Christmas 2009 manifested once more on Twelfth Night, 6th January 2010. Attendance was restricted by the severe winter, with snow lying deep in the streets and more falling in the course of the evenings.
There was indeed some mockery that one of the readers, Sean O'Brien, had decided not to Forest Hall risk the journey into town. Despite this, there was a surprisingly large audience considering the nasty conditions.
Chaz and Gail-Nina Anderson each read an additional story to make up for Sean's absence, and felt that between them they could reasonably claim to equal the missing party. Chaz'z stories were Parting Shots and a new story, The Ferry, the Chain and
the Black Black Water.
Buy the Book
Phantoms at the Phil: the Third Proceedings made its first appearance at the Fourth Proceedings. Uniform with the preceeding volumes, it contains six stories, those from the Third Proceedings and those from the original Midsummer Proceedings. The stories are:
Sean O'Brien: The Cricket Match at Green Lock and In the Silence Room
Gail-Nina Anderson: The Parasol and A Garland with Gloves
Chaz Brenchley: Summer's Lease and The House of Mechanical Pain
It is a hardbound limited edition of 300 copies, published by Side Real Press in association with Northern Gothic, December 2007, and is available here at the special price of £10. Please note that these proceedings were not recorded, and that the third volume therefore, unlike its predecessors, does not contain a CD.
To buy the book, e-mail
, or buy now, using PayPal - just indicate how many you want, then click the link to buy using your debit or credit card:
The Book of the Second Proceedings is also still available, in limited numbers, at the same price (£10). To purchase, e-mail
, or buy now, using PayPal - just indicate how many you want, then click the link to buy using your debit or credit card:
We use PayPal to collect your payment, but you do not need to open a PayPal account to pay this way. Nor do we see your card details, as PayPal deal direct with your bank.
We regret that Book of the First Proceedings is out of print.
Phantoms at the Phil was launched on Monday 13th December 2004, with a repeat performance on Wednesday 15th. Arts Council funding made it possible for the planned mix of ghostly stories, literary setting and seasonal refreshments to be further enriched with atmospheric music, and then recorded for posterity on a CD included in the book of the event.
Phantoms at the Phil (the first collection) is now out of print. It includes an audio CD, an introduction by Ramsey Campbell, master of the contemporary ghost story, and the three short stories from the 2004 proceedings:
Once again, 2005's Phantoms at the Phil consisted of two sold-out readings, but with a difference. On Monday 19th December the contributors were, as last year, Sean O'Brien, Gail-Nina Anderson and Chaz Brenchley - "the Old Contemptibles", in Chaz'z words. They were followed on Wednesday 21st December by "the Young Pretenders": Ann Cleeves, Simon Morden and Carol McGuigan. The result was not just three, but six varied and entertaining new ghost stories -which can be read (or indeed listened to) in the Second Proceedings collection, still available in limited numbers only (see above).
The stories are:
It Follows Therefore by Sean O'Brien
The Chapel of St Thomas by Gail-Nina Anderson
The Deadly Space Between by Chaz Brenchley
The Midwife's Assistant by Ann Cleeves
Seeing Things by Simon Morden
The Dead Reckoning by Carol McGuigan
The Midsummer Proceedings
The Summer Solstice, June 21st 2006, marked an innovation in the now-traditional ghost story events at Newcastle's Lit & Phil: Midsummer Phantoms. The classic line-up of Sean O'Brien, Gail-Nina Anderson and Chaz Brenchley read three new stories -
At the third annual Christmas edition of Phantoms at the Phil, on Monday 18th and Wednesday 20th December, 2006, the three founder members read again, providing four new stories, since Sean O'Brien read different stories at the two events.
The new stories written for, and read on, this occasion were:
Features of the Text by Sean O'Brien
Summer Shadows by Gail-Nina Anderson
The Summer House by Chaz Brenchley
The Fourth Proceedings
In December 2007, Phantoms at the Phil returned to Newcastle's Lit & Phil (Literary & Philosophical Society), for a fourth triumphant year. The company gathered in the Lit & Phil Library for mulled wine and mince pies, then proceeded into the Mining Institute to hear readings of three brand new ghost stories from Chaz, Gail-Nina Anderson and Sean O'Brien (pictured, right, signing the book of the Third Proceedings).
The stories were:
Not in Gateshead Any More by Sean O'Brien
The Manor Ghost by Gail-Nina Anderson
and Walking Wounded by Chaz Brenchley.
In addition to the traditional Lit & Phil sessions on 17th and 19th December, there was an additional event on the shortest night of the year, December 21st at Alnwick's Barter Books: Chaz and Gail-Nina Anderson were joined by Simon Morden (who previously manifested at the Second Proceedings) to tell ghost stories in the Old Waiting Room, Barter Books, Alnwick.
Summer Phantoms 2008
Summer Phantoms, having completed its third triumphant year, may now be regarded as an institution in its own right. On June 24th 2008, Sean O'Brien, Gail-Nina Anderson and Chaz Brenchley gathered in the library of the Lit & Phil before processing through the secret passage to the beautiful panelled lecture theatre in the Mining Institute next door to tell their stories:
Sean O'Brien: Behind the Rain
Gail-Nina Anderson: Untiltled
Chaz Brenchley: Between the Woods and the Water
Phantoms for Old Christmas
The Fifth Proceedings of Phantoms at the Phil was held in the Lecture Theatre of Newcastle's Mining Institute (approached, as is traditional, through the Library of the Lit & Phil, on January 6th 2009 - Twelfth Night, and therefore the last night of the festivities of Christmas 2008.
The Phantoms haunted the library in the high summer once more in 2009. On Thursday July 9th, Newcastle's Literary and Philosophical Society was haunted by Chaz Brenchley, who read his story Walking at the Speed of Light, More Slowly, Gail-Nina Anderson (who read Port in a Storm, which she had co-written with Cardinal Cox) and Sean O'Brien.
