Bostin Bostons
Former curate Noel Boston was a member of a very select group of ghost story writers: those antiquarians, scholars, and clergymen who were inspired to create their own accounts of supernatural occurrences.
Noel wrote his stories for the amusement of himself and his friends, but in 1953 was persuaded to collect five of his tales together in the privately printed (and now very scarce) collection Yesterday Knocks. He was then encouraged to write more ghost stories, which appeared in the magazine Supernatural Stories.
The six tales had never been collected into book form, making the Ash-Tree Press edition of Yesterday Knocks the only complete collection of his ghost stories. A prolific writer, he was an entertaining expert on ancient firearms and musical instruments.
Younger brother the Rev Teddy Boston was well-known as a steam-mad vicar at Cadeby Leicestershire. His friendship with the Rev Wilbert Awry resulted in starring as the fat clergyman in the Thomas stories (far left, above right).