The Clown Corner: A Ghost Story

By Cat Thomas

A FORGOTTEN GRAVE REVEALS SINISTER SECRETS

When Susie discovers a secret grave in a deserted corner of a Gothic London cemetery, she knows that things are about to change for her. She’s sure this find will help her turn her troubled life around. Susie sets out to solve the strange mystery of the man who lies there, ‘Clappy the clown’. Who was Clappy? And why was he buried so secretly, 100 years ago?

Her quest leads her to the quirky East End clown museum, and helped by its eccentric curator, Sparky, she begins to find unsettling answers – and a new vocation in life. But as Susie gets to know Clappy better, we begin to realise that neither Clappy, nor Susie, are quite as they seem.

The Clown corner is both a creepy ghost story and a psychological study of how a dark obsession can shade into madness. Cat Thomas’s writing brings a light touch to a deeply twisted tale.

Fans of Susan Hill, Laura Purcell and Kate Morton will enjoy the story’s psychological tension and disturbing narrative.

This is a longer version of the popular free short story. ***Now with added clowns!***

You’ll love The Clown Corner because everyone like a creepy psychological ghost story.
Get it now.

Categories: British and Irish short stories, single authors short stories, ghost short stories, British horror fiction, psychological horror, Gothic, ghost suspense, ghost horror, one-hour literature and fiction short reads, scary stories, clowns, quirky, eccentric, British, London, Edwardian, East End.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cat Thomas
• Release date: Mar 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781916025127

Cat Thomas

Cat Thomas writes spooky sci-fi, ghost stories and other kinds of twisted fiction. Her debut novel, SYNTHETIC, was published in 2019. Her writing is sometimes funny, sometimes spooky, but always lively (unless it is about the undead. Then it tends to be undeadly. In a good way.) Cat lives in east London, UK, with her partner and assorted creatures. You can add Cat on Facebook, where she'd love to meet you. Visit her website to keep up with her books and stories, and access exclusive pre-release materials and giveaways.

Book preview

The Clown Corner

A Ghost Story

Cat Thomas

Gwillion Press

Copyright © Cat Thomas 2019

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN 978-1-9160251-2-7

Gwillion Press

Contents

The Clown Corner

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Also By Cat Thomas

About the Author

Acknowledgments

To all the people – living and dead, human and non-human – who make Stoke Newington’s Abney Park Cemetery such a magical place.

The Clown Corner

‘I t can’t be a grave if it’s not on the map.’ The cemetery keeper frowned. ‘Probably a stone fallen off the wall. There’s a lot here that’s unstable, Susie, you want to be careful where you root around. What made you go crawling through there, anyway?’

‘I just felt there’d be something important there, Dan. Something hidden. And I can get into places lots of people can’t.’ She beamed up at him from her slight five foot nothing.

He nodded, uneasily. Susie was one of the harder working members of the clean-up team, but volunteers could be tricky.

‘I took a photo, look.’ She dug around in her bag for her phone.

Susie had spent the morning clearing knotweed and litter, stacking logs to make homes for beetles, and pulling ivy off overgrown graves. She didn’t have much to occupy her at the moment and she loved the old graveyard. Both cemetery and nature reserve, it was a strange, Gothic home to foxes, owls and bats, not to mention Salvation Army chiefs, now promoted to glory. Crawling through a tiny space between bushes, and climbing a barricade made from fallen angels, she’d discovered and cleared a totally wild corner, right by the rickety old cemetery wall. It looked like no one had been there for decades. And there, cloaked by ivy and brambles that made it seem part of the wall, was the grave.

She thrust her phone towards Dan and his expression changed to one of surprise when he saw the picture of the headstone. Below a happy mask and a sad mask, it said:

Harry Cattermole

of Millfields Road,

Clapton, London

known as

Clappy the Clown

1877–1912

She looked at him expectantly. She was sure he’d be pleased, maybe even impressed. Susie hugged herself, inwardly. Finding Clappy the Clown was a turning