I first encountered Paul Murray ¡ª the biographer of ¡°Dracula¡± author Bram Stoker and the editor of a new collection of spine-chilling Japanese ghost stories by Lafcadio Hearn ¡ª in a suitably awe-inspiring and spooky location: the Great Hall of Durham Castle in north-east England in 2015. With its impressively paneled walls adorned with battle weapons and Victorian portraits, the castle was an inspiration for Hogwarts in the ¡°Harry Potter¡± films.
We were both speaking at a conference at Durham¡¯s Lafcadio Hearn Cultural Centre ¡ª a pleasant place created to commemorate the mostly miserable boarding school years Hearn spent at nearby Gothically inspired Ushaw College in the 1860s. Holed up in a castle room as the autumnal moon hung mistily over Durham Cathedral outside, flicking between Murray¡¯s 1993 biography of Hearn and some of Hearn¡¯s Japanese ghost stories, I found my fascination for Hearn soar to new heights.
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