?The Signalman? written in the second half of the 19th century by Charles Dickens and ?The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral? written in the 1930?s by M.R.James are both ghost stories. ?The Signalman? is set when it is written, in the late 1800?s, while ?The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral? is set 100 years before ?The Signalman? even though it is written after. These stories are similar in some ways and different in others. Ghost stories need suspense to keep us reading and using different techniques such as setting and the use of language build this up in both texts.

Setting is an important factor when it comes to building up suspense. Settings have to be relevant to the type of story that is being told. In a ghost story, the setting has to be spooky and dark because the dark is associated with supernatural happenings. For example, a story set in somewhere like a sunny park would be a lot less spooky than one set in a dark, old house.

?The Signalman? is set in a cutting at the entrance to a railway tunnel. It is away from civilisation with steep wet walls

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