Why does the word "cloisters" always carry a whiff of the naughty? Monks with Rabelaisian habits, nuns with fits of the titters . . . The bawdy gives way to the supernatural in these stories, however. Here be haunted crypts, ghastly manifestations, terror-filled tombs, uneasy graves, possessed priests, ghoulish abbots and jittery bishops. There are stories here dating from the 18th century right up to the present day. Particular favourites of mine are W.M.
Thackeray's "The Devil's Wager" and Sheridan Le Fanu's "Green Tea". But they are all guaranteed to induce a delicious, ice-down-the-spine shiver.