What Makes the Woman in Black a Successful Ghost Story?

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, is indeed a successful ghost story, but what makes it so, is not violence, gore, or even bloodshed; It is the underlying, psychological fear of the unknown, which almost every person posses, or will posses, after having read the book.
'It was not a story to be told for casual entertainment, around the fireside upon Christmas Eve'. From the beginning, we are held in suspense by Arthur Kipps, the self-described 'even-tempered' man, who, in the very first scene, curiously loses his temper at a Christmas Eve family gathering. This unexplained outburst provokes the reader into wondering what could have made such a seemingly calm individual fly off the handle in such a way, after an innocent rendition of fictional ghost stories by his stepchildren. This outburst, being just one of the not-so-subtle scenes from early on in the story, shows us Kipps' obvious terror of having to relive his past, especially amongst those he cares about.…