William Croft Dickinson (1897 ~ 1963) was an English historian and writer. He was one of the foremost experts in the history of early modern Scotland (his first scholarly work appeared in The Scottish Historical Review in 1922) and the author of both fiction for children and ghost stories for adults.

Dickinson's first volume of supernatural stories, The Sweet Singers, and Three Other Remarkable Occurrents, was published by Oliver and Boyd in 1953. The four stories that book contained (The Sweet Singers, Can These Stones Speak?, The Eve of St. Botulph, and Return at Dusk) were later republished, along with nine other tales, in Dark Encounters, by Harvill Press in 1963.

First published in 1963 by Harvill Press, Dark Encounters is an elegantly spine-tingling collection of ghost stories set in the brooding landscape of Scotland and often referring to real people, places and objects.

From a demonic book that brings its readers to an early death to the murderous spectre of a feudal baron, these tales are a welcome addition to the long and distinguished canon of Scottish ghost stories.

For those who seek the unnerving and the inexplicable, Dark Encounters is guaranteed to raise the hairs on the back of your neck.