The Screaming Staircase

Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase is a novel that deliberately breaks many traditions of classic British ghost stories while simultaneously upholding others. For example, the story includes overt allusions to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which features a prince who is haunted by his father’s ghost. The novel also forges connections to a variety of ghost stories from the Victorian era, which often featured images of spirits wearing iron chains. (A classic example of this trope is the character of Marley’s Ghost in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.) In a creative twist, the protagonists of Stroud’s novel use iron chains as a form of protection.

Furthermore, the novel references “ghost-lamps,” which are large oil lamps designed to keep ghosts away; ironically, in Victorian England, these lamps often emitted an odor strong enough to cause hallucinations, which may explain some of the ghost sightings that were so commonly reported at the time. Finally, Stroud’s decision to utilize a photograph of Annabel and her killer as the key to unlocking her murder is likely an homage to Victorian-era spirit photography. Stroud also adds his own unique twists to further embellish the trappings of the classic ghost story, and he refers to this tendency in the foreword of the novel when he describes his decision to feature child heroes who are actually successful in defeating their adversaries. Additionally, Stroud outlines his decision to arm the children with unique weapons and skills, and these advantages further separate them from the traditional roles of helpless humans who falls victim to the whims of an angry spirit. That said, Lockwood, Lucy, and George do sometimes reveal their vulnerability and even come close to death in their battles against various spirits. Finally, Stroud has clearly outlined his desire to create ghost stories that are overwhelmingly haunted and filled to the brim with spirits, a feature that contrasts with traditional ghost stories, which tend to feature a single entity.