Title : The Signalman and the Ghost at the Trial

Author : Charles Dickens

Genre : Horror
Levels : Beginner
Serial Number : ISBN 979-523-612-1
Publisher : Dian Rakyat
Year : 2003
Reviewed By : Annisa Adelina Fajri

The Signalman and the Ghost at the Trial is a ghost book story which written by Charles
Dickens. The original book was published at 1866. It is one of some Charles Dickenss books
that had been filmed. Now, the books were published and distributed by PT. Dian Rakyat for sale
in Indonesia. This book is used to help the learners at beginner level of English. This book
contains 2 short stories, the first story is The Signalman, and the second story is The Ghost at the
Trial. In this change, I will explain the second story, The Ghost at the Trial.
The Ghost at the Trial tells about a man, George Fotherly. He had a job in a famous bank
in London. He lived in his apartment with his servant. He had no wife and family. One day, he
was reading a newspaper on is sitting room. On the front page, there was a news about a horrible
murder. After he read that news, he had a dream about the victims room that he read before.
When he woke up, he saw a strange thing happened in front of his apartment. He saw a
frightened man who was followed by a pale faces man. Both of them are staring at him. Three
days later, some police arrested a man who accused as the murderer.
Two month later, George and his servant saw a ghost in his dressing room. They were
frightened. The next morning, George got a letter from the Law Courts. He was asked to be a
member of the jury in a trial. He must stay together with the other members of jury at night. The
jury has a job to find out the fact of the case in the trial. They must discuss about the truth based
on the evidence from the witnesses. In the trial, George had some strange experience again. First,
he saw the frightened man that he saw in front of his apartment two months ago as the accused
person. And he lifted his hands up when the judge asking who wants to be the foreman between
the jury, and the last, He saw thirteen juries in the trial. Meanwhile in the list there were only
twelve juries. The thirteenth jury is a shadow of the ghost. And he recognized the ghost faces as
the pale mans face that he saw two months ago in front of his apartment and followed the
accused man.
On the fifth day of the trial, George realized that the ghost who kept following him
during the trial is the victim of murderer case and he wanted him to recover the fact. The ghost
wants George to prove that the accused man is guilty and must be punished. George decided to
help the ghost. And at the last day of the trial, the judge spoke to the jury. George as the foreman
told the judge about the accused man, the victim, and the witnesses. At that time, the ghost
appeared in the trial room. But, George was the only one who can see him. When the judge
finally decided that the accused man is guilty, the ghost disappeared. His revenge has been paid.
The story told us a strange relation between the death and life people, I think its hard to
believe that they can make a contact. But from this story we can learn one thing, we should help
each other. However, the truth will always be the winner and the bad one will get punishment.
George characters reminds us that we must help to recover the fact.
I recommended this book for the reader at beginner level in English. This book using
simple vocabulary and its easy to understand. It also explains us about the condition of the mid-
nineteenth century with some picture. Besides, the size of this book is small so it can be brought
everywhere easier than another book which much thicker.