William James Wintle (1861-1920) was a Welsh writer who later became Oblate for the Abbey of Caldey Island in Wales. It was there that he wrote a series of ghost tales for the entertainment of eight boys who attended there. Wintle wrote that the stories were originally told on Sunday nights while "crouching over a wood fire on a wind-swept island off the Western shore".

'The Ghost at the Blue Dragon' tells the story of Professor Latham, an academic who spends the summer at The Blue Dragon - an old inn in Saltminster with a reputation for being haunted. Early on in his stay he realizes that he has a doppelganger in the hotel. To begin with, the mysterious double seems bent on damaging the professor's reputation...but as the story progresses, it emerges that the intent is far more sinister....