Classic Ghost Stories: Eighteen Spine-Chilling Tales of Terror and the Supernatural

by Bill Bowers (Editor)

A mesmerizing compilation of the finest classic ghost stories includes works by Ambrose Bierce, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Guy de Maupassant, Edith Wharton, Ambrose Bierce, Edgar Allan Poe, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and other notable authors, Original.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Classics

385 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice collection of classic ghost stories, with some excellent "literary" selections you might not think of when asked about ghost stories. The Kindle version is a but pricy, but there seem to be plenty of the paperbacks used, and it was nicely formatted, compact little volume. Want to look for its companion volume Classic Horror Stories but either it hasn't been publushed yet, or isn't going to be. Either way, this was an excellent read.

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most anthologies, some stories were good, and some fell flat.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite a number of very famous authors being included here, I didn’t like as many of them as I was expecting to. Like, Rudyard Kipling’s The Phantom Rickshaw was downright boring (and kinda misogynistic? It was one of those instances where it’s like “is this really just the POV character being a dick, or does the author actually think this way”) in my opinion. And my initial reaction upon finishing Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe was “well that was dumb” haha. (Although to be fair, after reading about the story more online, it seems that some people believe it was written as satire, so maybe that’s why it was so bad?)
There were some stories I liked though of course. My favorites were probably Teig O’Kane and the Corpse (labeled as “traditional”), The Body-Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Old Nurse’s Story by Elizabeth Gaskell, and August Heat by WF Harvey. The rest of the stories ranged from forgettable to mid to decently good. So yeah, a pretty wide range of quality in my opinion haha.

[Mary Havens · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve been putting this book on the back burner for weeks now. It’s short stories so in theory I could skip around but I just don’t have it in me. You would think greats like Kipling, James, Poe, Conrad, Gaskell would hit all the right spots. But it’s almost like a modern day editor asked these classic greats to “just write a ghost story” and they obliged.
I was standing in line for two hours today in order to get a work laptop and a fellow librarian heard about my struggle and told me to abandon. And I pleaded “but, I should like this” and that’s when I knew the nail was in the coffin for this collection. Books are meant to be enjoyed (for me, at least) and I shouldn’t have to work so hard. So thank you, Betsy, for giving me that push!! And the permission.
I’ve moved on to, you guessed it, another memoir :)

[Leikela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection with a pleasant amount of variety.

I checked this out from the library specifically to read "The Phantom Coach" by Amelia B. Edwards for a discussion group, and read the rest out of curiosity.

[Alicia Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice collection of ghosts stories.