From Dark Beginnings...

Mary Shelley opens her story, Frankenstein, with letters written from Robert Walton. These letters gave the story context of why it was written, instead of just having a story just somehow being written. This allows me know who is writing the story and the letters establish a foreshadowing of what is to come (such as Walton meeting Victor). If I were to start a ghost story, I would try to start it the same way by establishing the narrator and creating an aura of uncertainty. I would probably do this through either the narrator's dark tones or some sort of hectic event that is putting the narrator in a panic. Later on in the story when the plot finally reaches his situation, it will be much more understandable for the reader.