"Lost in London"

(A Ghost Story)

Ten years ago I was teaching in London for six summer weeks under extremely stressful circumstances. I had injured my knee right before the trip; my flat lacked air conditioning; the 90-degree heat knocked out my iPhone more than once; and my pain medication caused insomnia.

There was also something odd about the duplex flat which had been rented by my university. It was luxurious in some ways, with gorgeous vases and paintings, but also surprisingly dirty and definitely creepy around the edges. Maybe it was the heat, pain, and insomnia that combined to make this flat feel almost hostile—or maybe it was something else. Something that didn’t want me there.

Before I left, I made some notes for a short story which I forgot about until the pandemic. Starting in 2021, I found myself experiencing a burst of creativity that has since resulted in seventy+ online and print essay publications, plus a handful of short stories. The world had closed in on me, but my inner world expanded enormously and I felt I had access to memories and ideas in wild profusion.

My inspiration was Daniel Kehlmann’s You Should Have Left, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, and the ghost stories of Edith Wharton. The key to writing this story turned out to be the title. So if you love ghost stories, this Sunday Extra is for you: http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue987/lost_london1.html.

Lev Raphael is the author of a prize-winning book of short stories and twenty-six other books in genres from memoir to mystery. His work has been translated into fifteen languages and he’s done hundreds of invited talks and readings in nine different countries. His regular substack columns on writing and publishing are posted every Wednesday at 8am with occasional extras posted on Sunday mornings. Please note: this substack is free to subscribers—you are not expected to pay to read it.

Photo by Mariana Alves on Unsplash