A Ghost of the Sea by Francis Prevost

From Classic Ghost Stories by Tony Walker

July 1, 2026 · 1h 43m

About this episode

The episode explores a man's haunting encounter with a woman from his past as he faces his mortality by the sea.

On the Cornish coast, a man is dying by the sea. He has chosen to be there, and he knows why, and he is willing — with one exception — to let the world draw its own conclusions. The exception is a story he has told no one: a woman he met in Cairo, a wrong he did her, and something that has followed him across the water ever since. Not threatening. Not reproachful. Simply there, at the edge of the known world, in a light that has no name in any spectrum the living can account for. Prevost's 1893 story asks, without sentimentality and without resolution, what we leave behind us when we refuse an honest encounter — and whether what we leave behind stays left. A Ghost of the Sea was first published in 1893 in Prevost's collection Rust of Gold, issued by Ward and Lock, London. Francis Prevost was the pen name of Harry Francis Prevost Battersby (1862–1949), soldier, war correspondent, novelist, and lifelong investigator of psychical phenomena. Get the London Fae for $5! https://payhip.com/b/ryqKP The Classic Ghost Stories Newsletter — short essays on the genre, odd discoveries, and recommendations. Free, fortnightly. Subscribe: https://www.classicghost.com/#/portal To. buy my paperback…

People in this episode

Host: Tony Walker

Topics covered

ghost stories
psychical phenomena
moral dilemmas
historical fiction
Cairo
Cornish coast

Keywords

ghost
Cairo
Cornish coast
Francis Prevost
psychical phenomena
moral conflict
1893

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Ward and Lock

Books & works: A Ghost of the Sea, Rust of Gold

Places: Cairo, Cornish coast