Halloween author Q&A: Yvette Fielding on Jack the Ripper and ghosts

October 29th 2022

About Yvette Fielding As a presenter, producer, and young adult fiction author, Yvette's career spans decades. Her novels are heavily inspired by her hosting and production experience on the popular TV show Most Haunted, as well as her own personal encounters with the paranormal. Yvette also hosts a paranormal podcast...she's a self-proclaimed scary lady! DISCOVER THE GHOST HUNTER CHRONICLES

In Yvette Fielding's latest instalment in The Ghost Hunter Chronicles, The Ripper of Whitechapel, trainee ghost-hunters Eve, Tom, and Clovis are back on the case. But this is no simple haunting, especially with the spectral shadow of the real-life Victorian murderer Jack the Ripper looming. Yvette Fielding talks to Peters about the scary inspiration behind her latest books for teenagers, just in time for Halloween.

Warning: question two contains content which may be upsetting to sensitive readers.

Can you tell us a bit about your new young adult fiction book?

I've always been fascinated with Victorian London and especially its grisly past. The character of Jack the Ripper has always been a subject that millions of people world-wide love to discuss and sink their teeth into. Who was he? Where did he go? What did he look like? Was there more than one killer? These are just a few questions that intrigued historians and amateur sleuths alike. I being one of them.

So, when I began to think of the next books for secondary schools and young adults, I knew that I wanted the ghost of Jack the Ripper to be a main character. It also made me wonder if his spirit is still lurking in the small back streets of Whitechapel and if so, has any one ever seen his ghost?

I have to say, whilst writing this book, his image certainly haunted me and there were so many nights where I wake up screaming convinced that a tall man, wearing a top hat and black cloak was stood at the foot of my bed. This was the stuff of nightmares.

Did you draw on any of your own spooky experiences when writing?

I most certainly did. I think that’s really important. I wanted my reader to know that some of the paranormal occurrences really happen and have happened to me. I will never forget the first time I ever witnessed scratches and burn marks and it absolutely traumatised me for years. So much so, I actually resigned from the TV show Most Haunted as I was too scared to continue as the lead investigator and host.

I had witnessed with horror one of my investigators scream in agony as huge scratches appeared live on air, whilst the show was transmitted all across Great Britain and the USA. There was blood everywhere. When the sound recordist had to be taken to hospital and have stitches in his leg, I was inconsolable. I kept bursting into tears live on air. How I managed to get to the end of the transmission I will never know. I always thought ghosts couldn’t harm you, but now I know that isn’t true at all. They can harm you and have been doing so for thousands of years.

The first time I saw burns on a victim in a haunted house it left me speechless and terrified. It was inside a very normal looking family home in Leeds. My husband Karl and my cousin Stuart were upstairs investigating a bedroom. I was downstairs with the rest of my team when all of a sudden, we all heard a loud bang and screaming. We rushed upstairs to see Karl and Stuart holding their arms. Both had sustained horrific burns in exactly the same place on their fore arms. The massive bang we all heard was a thirty-thousand-pound camera hitting the deck as Stuart pulled his arm up in pain and fright.

My experience led me to pull my big girl pants up and look into this kind of phenomena. Sure enough I discovered that for many years there have been thousands of cases around the world where scratches, burns and bruises have all been reported and witnessed by reliable sources. Many violent hauntings have been made into horror films, such as The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Conjuring, The Amityville Horror, The Entity and many more. By the way, I’ve not seen them all. Far too scary. It will give me nightmares!

How did you first become interested in ghosts and the paranormal?

I loved watching a TV programme called ‘Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World’. It was fascinating to me. Mr Clarke would travel the world, trying to get to the bottom of some rather strange, peculiar and weird stories. I loved the spooky ones, although I found it hard to sleep at night after watching his shows - but secretly I was mesmerised by a world full of secrets, mysteries and spooks.

What has been the most enjoyable part about writing these books?

I loved creating a new place. I love Uncle Rufus’s house; it’s based a little on my own home, which is haunted by the way. It dates back to the 15^th Century and has low ceilings, crooked stairs and, of course, its own ghosts.

I tuck myself away in my office, which is crammed full of strange objects and wonders I have collected on my adventures. I sit and travel to Eve, Tom and Clovis’s world and imagine I’m there but watching from above. I’m in my office all day until my husband comes in and tells me it’s gone midnight and it’s time for bed.

Do you have a favourite place to write?

As I’ve already mentioned I do love my office, but my husband Karl has converted an old stable for me on our land and panelled it out and decorated it. Now in the summer I sit with the doors open, under a weeping willow tree, and tap away on my computer. It’s a very calming place and I find ideas can come easier in this space.

And finally, what was your favourite book when you were growing up?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. I read it so many times, I loved it. I adored the part where the children could walk inside a wardrobe and step out into a new land. How wonderful for any child to read that and how many of us (me included) tried it with our own wardrobes. Mine wasn’t as grand as the one in the book, it was made from plywood and bought from the MFI.

The Ripper of Whitechapel Our curriculum specialists were impressed with this novel, saying: "It's quite scary in a gripping, page-turning way, and the link to Jack the Ripper only adds to the atmospheric, descriptive writing. There's tension, a solid plot and courageous characters. It's the second in a series, but fine as a stand-alone and a very good read." DISCOVER

Looking for more spine-chilling stories for secondary students? Brave our Halloween booklist!

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