# The Bus-Conductor explained — Ghost Stories > Chapter companion for Ghost Stories by E. F. Benson. ## What happens Hugh Grainger recounts his terrifying ghostly experience to the narrator, describing a vision of a hearse driver that later manifests as a bus conductor moments before a fatal accident. ## Themes in this chapter ### Fear and Terror The narrator describes abject fear during the ghost hunt, and Hugh experiences panic-terror upon recognizing the bus conductor. ### Supernatural and Occult The story revolves around a ghostly vision and a theory of spiritual perception through aligned 'spyholes'. ### Death and the Afterlife The vision of a hearse and the fatal bus crash underscore themes of mortality and premonition. ## Character check-ins ### Unknown Narrator The narrator listens to Hugh Grainger's story and comments on his own fear and fascination with ghosts. ### Hugh Graham Hugh Grainger tells the story of his ghostly vision and the subsequent bus accident. ## Key lines > Fear is the most absorbing and luxurious of emotions. One forgets all else if one is afraid. The narrator claims that fear is a deeply engaging and pleasurable feeling that makes one forget everything else. _Expresses the narrator's attitude towards fear and ghost-seeking._ > I want first to tell you quite shortly my theory about ghost-seeing... Imagine then that you and I and everybody in the world are like people whose eye is directly opposite a little tiny hole in a sheet of cardboard... Hugh explains his theory that ghost sightings occur when a person's perceptual 'hole' aligns with a corresponding hole in the spiritual plane. _Hugh's theoretical framework for supernatural experiences._ > Just room for one inside, sir... At that a sort of panic-terror took possession of me... The bus conductor's offer of a seat triggers a sudden, overwhelming fear in Hugh. _Climactic moment where Hugh recognizes the conductor from his earlier vision._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/ghost_stories_se/chapters/the-bus-conductor - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/ghost_stories_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/ghost_stories_se/chapters