The book began in conversation with my editor John Siciliano, whose patience and feedback have been invaluable. The conversation would not have begun at all without the kindness of Jay Rubenstein. Most of the research for this book took place in the spring and summer of 2015 while I held the Derek Brewer Visiting Fellowship at Emmanuel College at the University of Cambridge, UK. I am profoundly grateful to Professor Elisabeth Van Houts and Master Fiona Reynolds for making this fellowship possible and for providing such a warm welcome to me and my family. It was an exquisite pleasure to complete a book about medieval ghosts in the former haunts of M. R. James.
Throughout this process I received guidance and support from numerous friends and scholars in Cambridge and elsewhere. Many thanks to John Arnold, Julie Barrau, Nora Berend, Nancy Mandeville Caciola, Matthew Champion, Caroline Goodson, Tom Johnson, Miri Rubin, Carl Watkins, and, of course, Anne E. Lester. I am especially grateful to Drew Jones, who kindly translated one of the texts in chapter 6. His virtuosity in medieval Latin is surpassed only by his generosity as a scholar and a friend. My thanks to the students who enrolled in History 4803: Ghosts in the Western Tradition, and Latin 5014: Topics in Latin Prose: Medieval Ghost Stories, which I taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder during the 2015/2016 academic year. They read many of these texts with me and shared their insights about the depiction and function of ghosts in the premodern world. A special thank you to Sean Babbs, Jordan Becker, Amanda Racine, and Manon Williams, who read the entire manuscript. I am richer for their industry and enthusiasm.