THE OATH OF AESCULAPIUS – An old university dining club always ends its evenings with an armchair ghost tale, only tonight the teller believes he has just had an encounter with real spooks.

The idea for this tale came about when I was reading Rudyard Kipling’s They, which has the line, ‘The Doctor was a man of some humour, for I remember he claimed my car under the Oath of Aesculapius, and used it without mercy.’ Out of curiosity I checked to see whether such an action was legal, but discovered that there is no actual law which states a doctor, nor indeed a police officer, has the right to commandeer a private motor vehicle. However, since I was keen to include a ghost-on-the-road scenario in the collection, I thought the concept of a doctor waving down a car owner in order to take an injured patient to hospital was an interesting starting point for a tale. Yet as I developed the idea it became clear the story wouldn’t be substantial enough on its own and so, as I was also keen to have an armchair ghost tale, the Oath of Aesculapius scenario became the story within the story.

"These ghost tales are vivid, grotesque, funny and curiously believable. Compelling reading for the young, old and in-betweens... Steve Nallon’s The Oath of Aesculapius is a lovely, twisty, gothic horror story about a dining club – think Bullingdon Club – where rich men eat rich food and – hallelujah! – get their just desserts."

Jonny Maitland, Tonight television presenter and author of the play The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson