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What do you do when a story is never over? What do you do when leaving isn’t an option? And when that which plagues you, follows you, and promises never to leave you alone?

Guilt is a recurring theme in many ghost stories. The supernatural can offer a perfect way to represent a mind that knows it has done wrong, but either cannot or will not accept the consequences. It also plays into that sense of justice being done that is such a key pleasure of storytelling - seeing bad people get what’s coming to them.

Of course, in case no. 160, things are more complicated. Was this a deliberate act, or an accident? What is an appropriate punishment for the crime that was committed? And can a man really be followed by a vengeful ghost?

But the essential tension remains the same. Is this a case of one man’s guilt causing him to harm himself? Or is it just as it seems? A ghost enjoying the revenge it could not take in life.

Who knows where it will end? The frightening part of this story is its endurance. The most chilling part, for me, will always be the moment he describes how bad it was for ‘the first year’.

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