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Night Terrors: The Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson
‘His body was pressed against the wall at the head of the bed, and the face was a mask of agonised horror and fruitless entreaty. But the eyes were already glazed in death, and before Francis could reach the bed the body had toppled over and lay inert and lifeless. Even as he looked, he heard a limping step go down the passage outside.’
E. F. Benson was a master of the ghost story and now all his rich, imaginative, spine-tingling and beautifully written tales are presented together in this bumper collection. The range and variety of these spooky narratives is far broader and more adventurous than those of any other writer of supernatural fiction. Within the covers of this volume you will encounter revengeful spectres, vampires, homicidal spirits, monstrous spectral worms and slugs and other entities of nameless dread. This is a classic collection that cannot fail to charm and chill.
722 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1992
232 people are currently reading
4647 people want to read
About the author
E.F. Benson
1,025 books357 followersEdward Frederic "E. F." Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer.
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 125 reviews
January 17, 2020
E.F. Benson, one of the most accomplished practitioners of the classic English ghost story, usually begins his tale in a tranquil upper class British setting--perhaps a country house party or a fishing lodge or a newly acquired apartment--in which the horror gradually unfolds. His stories are invariably well-written, but there are two drawbacks to his work. First of all, he often sets his stories in a milieu where people openly proclaim their belief in ghosts and their own psychic abilities, engage in conversations about ghosts, and construct elaborate theories concerning their manifestations. Although this context has the advantage of making his stories credible, it has the disadvantage of making them less uncanny and consequently less frightening. Secondly, Benson habitually strives for a brief, understated ending, and although he most often succeeds, he sometimes fails, resulting in an impression of anticlimax and haste.
Benson's ghost stories contain a few recurrent themes, the most interesting being the frightening presence of dominating, handsome middle-aged women, usually with sadistic or vampiric tendencies. "The Room in the Tower," "The Outcast," "Inscrutable Decrees," "Mrs. Amworth," "The Corner House," "The Wishing Well" and "The Bath Chair" all contain variations on this theme, and each is an excellent example of Benson's craft. On the other hand, more than a few of his stories ("Empty House," "Naboth's Vineyard and "The Dance") feature a sinister limping man who carries a cane. There are also a handful of tales ("The Thing in the Hall," "Negotium Perambulans" and "And No Bird Sings") in which Elementals--half-physical/half-psychical entities, usually in the form of slugs--supply a visceral Lovecraftian sort of creepiness not otherwise found in his stories. (Benson's formidable mother had a reputation for sexual voraciousness, and his father the Archbishop of Canterbury was cruel to his children and walked with a limp and a cane. I don't know where the slugs came from.)
Something that distinguishes Benson's work is a few stories which do not frighten but console, that feature benign hauntings, spiritual healing and reconciliation. Benson is not the only author who attempts such tales, but in my experience he is the only one who succeeds. "How Fear Departed the Long Gallery," "Roderick's Story," "Reconciliation" and "Pirates" are all fine examples.
Benson is an excellent craftsman. Each of these fifty-four stories deserves a read, and perhaps two-thirds merit a second reading. At least seven--"Mrs. Amworth, "Caterpillars," "The Man Who Went Too Far," The Face," "The Temple," "Pirates" and "The Sanctuary"--are classics of the genre, and should be read by anyone who admires fine short fiction.
This edition contains the added bonus of an early essay written by Benson concerning the recent murder of a supposed witch in the Irish market town of Clonmel. Benson shows his humanity and compassion here by arguing against the death penalty on the grounds that the murderers sincerely believed in demonic possession, and therefore were not vicious criminals but unfortunate victims of popular superstition. It is a well-argued essay, and may have contributed to a lighter sentence for the defendants.
All in all, The Collected Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson is consistently enjoyable throughout its six hundred pages, and is highly recommended.
February 13, 2013
The blurb on the back of my copy of this book states that this edition is "one book that no fan of Benson or of good storytelling can afford to miss." Since this is a book of ghost stories, I'll add that this volume is a definite no-miss if you are a fan of the well-told, classic ghostly tale. At 672 pages, this book became my leisurely go-to, late-night, under-the-covers read to be enjoyed once the house was quiet rather than a one-sitting kind of thing, and thinking back on it, I see a great deal of merit in approaching the book this way.
There are 54 stories in this collection that encompass ghostly visitations, physical manifestations of evil, devil worship, revenge, vampires, spiritualism, and my perpetual favorite category in ghost stories, haunted houses. None of these tales are your garden variety ghost story -- many, as Richard Dalby states in his introduction, have an "autobiographical thread" that runs through them, an important notion to consider as you read. For example, some of his stories feature domineering women or women who, for no apparent reason, were the perpetuators of evil; Joan Aiken's foreward explains that Benson had an "underlying fear and dislike of ... "the large, bossy, dynamic, interfering, knowing kind of women." In making one woman a vampire, for example, his contempt and fear become obvious. In others the main character is a bachelor happiest in the company of a good male friend; still others feature men who limp who may also represent Benson, who later in life suffered from arthritis severe enough to require the use of "two sticks" to walk. The thing is, even if you don't really care about the sources of Benson's inspiration, the stories alone are enough to keep you interested in his work.
While a few of the stories here failed to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight, and while some were just kind of silly (mostly those dealing with mediums and spiritualism), I found a number of disturbing tales that I really liked and which got a second read: "The Dust Cloud," which first appeared in 1906 and reflects anxiety about the new technology of motorcars that seem "to possess an independent life" of their own; "The Shootings of Achnaleish" (1906), where modern hunters clash with the traditional beliefs of highlanders in a remote village; "Negotium Perambulans," (1922) set in an isolated village in Cornwall; "Mrs. Amworth," a vampire story; "Reconciliation," and "Expiation," both haunted house stories; "The Face," a definite chiller, as is "The Step," probably one of the creepiest in the entire collection. I also liked "The Temple" for its menacing atmosphere and "Pirates" which really reminded me somehow of Peter Pan. The problem with putting together a volume such as this one is that Benson's stories are often formulaic, especially in the ones where a man goes to spend time with a friend at a country house that is the site of strange, ethereal events, but I found that my piecemeal approach helped to break up some of the sameness. Overall, it is an excellent collection and like most any other anthology, you have some stories that really work for you along with those that won't. With only a few exceptions, especially in those stories where evil is manifested in giant, disgusting slugs, the horror in this volume is cerebral, geared to those who prefer to experience the disturbing dread in their minds rather than see it spelled out and splashed out onto the pages. If you are an avid reader of the old, classic ghost story, you'll definitely want to add this to your reading list. Benson was a master craftsman of the genre, and deserves to be more widely read.
There are 54 stories in this collection that encompass ghostly visitations, physical manifestations of evil, devil worship, revenge, vampires, spiritualism, and my perpetual favorite category in ghost stories, haunted houses. None of these tales are your garden variety ghost story -- many, as Richard Dalby states in his introduction, have an "autobiographical thread" that runs through them, an important notion to consider as you read. For example, some of his stories feature domineering women or women who, for no apparent reason, were the perpetuators of evil; Joan Aiken's foreward explains that Benson had an "underlying fear and dislike of ... "the large, bossy, dynamic, interfering, knowing kind of women." In making one woman a vampire, for example, his contempt and fear become obvious. In others the main character is a bachelor happiest in the company of a good male friend; still others feature men who limp who may also represent Benson, who later in life suffered from arthritis severe enough to require the use of "two sticks" to walk. The thing is, even if you don't really care about the sources of Benson's inspiration, the stories alone are enough to keep you interested in his work.
While a few of the stories here failed to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight, and while some were just kind of silly (mostly those dealing with mediums and spiritualism), I found a number of disturbing tales that I really liked and which got a second read: "The Dust Cloud," which first appeared in 1906 and reflects anxiety about the new technology of motorcars that seem "to possess an independent life" of their own; "The Shootings of Achnaleish" (1906), where modern hunters clash with the traditional beliefs of highlanders in a remote village; "Negotium Perambulans," (1922) set in an isolated village in Cornwall; "Mrs. Amworth," a vampire story; "Reconciliation," and "Expiation," both haunted house stories; "The Face," a definite chiller, as is "The Step," probably one of the creepiest in the entire collection. I also liked "The Temple" for its menacing atmosphere and "Pirates" which really reminded me somehow of Peter Pan. The problem with putting together a volume such as this one is that Benson's stories are often formulaic, especially in the ones where a man goes to spend time with a friend at a country house that is the site of strange, ethereal events, but I found that my piecemeal approach helped to break up some of the sameness. Overall, it is an excellent collection and like most any other anthology, you have some stories that really work for you along with those that won't. With only a few exceptions, especially in those stories where evil is manifested in giant, disgusting slugs, the horror in this volume is cerebral, geared to those who prefer to experience the disturbing dread in their minds rather than see it spelled out and splashed out onto the pages. If you are an avid reader of the old, classic ghost story, you'll definitely want to add this to your reading list. Benson was a master craftsman of the genre, and deserves to be more widely read.
Read
November 2, 2017I had read E.F. Benson's "The Horror Horn" to start with (a collection of 13 of his best ghost stories), after seeing that it was considered one of the Top 100 Horror Books of all time in Newman & Jones' excellent overview volume. Each of those 13 stories was so good that I just had to have more, and so picked up this collection of every single one of Benson's spooky tales, 54 in all. This collection certainly did not disappoint; I loved every single one of these ghost stories, and was riveted for the full 640-page length of this generous book.
The tales in this volume are extremely varied. Most deal with ghosts of the conventional kind: the spirits of the deceased with grudges against the living or unfinished business here on the material plane. Unlike the ghosts of Oliver Onions--another great English supernatural writer of the early 20th century, whose ghosts can often be seen more as the mental aberrations of the protagonist--the ghosts of E.F. Benson are decidedly and objectively REAL. There's no question that these occult manifestations are really happening, and not just in the mind of the main character. This--for me, anyway--makes for a more chilling experience. Other tales in this volume deal with vampires, cancer-inducing caterpillars, devil worship, elementals, ghostly slugs, witches and seances. The fact that a character is sympathetic is no guarantee of his or her survival in these Benson stories; anyone is capable of being offed! Indeed, in "The Face," one of the scarier stories of the bunch, a kindly woman, a mother of two and a good wife, meets a pretty horrible end for no particular reason. Benson never married, and may have been something of a misogynist; the women in his stories, anyway, are usually given a rough time, or are presented as rather repellent creatures. Take the levitating lead character in "Mrs. Amworth," a nice English biddy who just happens to be a blood-sucking vampire; or the bloated and horrible husband killer of "The Corner House"; or the female, yetilike creature of "The Horror Horn"; or the sadistic Sybil Rorke of "Inscrutable Decrees"; or Bertha Acres of "The Outcast," a woman so vile that the very earth spits out her coffin. Then there are the dueling witches of "The Wishing-Well" and the vampire witch of "The Room in the Tower." Yes, Mr. Benson surely didn't have too much use for the ladies.
However, in the bulk of these stories, the main characters are single, unattached, scholarly, middle-aged men--like Benson himself--who go on long summer holidays to Cornwall, Norfolk or Sussex, rent homes and get involved with all sorts of ghostly mishegas. (Modern-day readers will no doubt feel twinges of envy at the extended summer vacations that all these characters seem able to take!) Of course, space doesn't permit me to rave about each of the wonderful 54 tales in this volume, but I would like to single out for special mention a few of my favorites. "Pirates," for example, is an incredibly beautifully written tale of a man who is haunted by the spirits of his youth when he revisits his old home. "Mr. Tilly's Seance" is a very unique story, in that it is a seance tale told from the point of view of the spirit. I've never read another one like it. "The Man Who Went Too Far" tells of a man who gets just a wee bit too close to Mother Nature; fans of Algernon Blackwood should especially like this one. "And the Dead Spake--" deals with a scientist who invents a device that enables him to play the brain cells of a corpse like a phonograph! It's a story that H. G. Wells himself might have written. And then there's "How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery," Benson's favorite tale of the bunch, and one of mine, too. In this one, a house is haunted by the spirits of three-year-old twins; just to see these ghostly children spells sickness and death for the viewer. It is a lovely story, actually, well told and suspenseful. But then again, all the tales herein are well told and suspenseful, and elegantly written. Benson certainly deserves his place in that pantheon of great English supernaturalists that includes M.R. James, Sheridan LeFanu, Oliver Onions and Algernon Blackwood. Read this book, and you'll see that he was indeed one of the greats.
The tales in this volume are extremely varied. Most deal with ghosts of the conventional kind: the spirits of the deceased with grudges against the living or unfinished business here on the material plane. Unlike the ghosts of Oliver Onions--another great English supernatural writer of the early 20th century, whose ghosts can often be seen more as the mental aberrations of the protagonist--the ghosts of E.F. Benson are decidedly and objectively REAL. There's no question that these occult manifestations are really happening, and not just in the mind of the main character. This--for me, anyway--makes for a more chilling experience. Other tales in this volume deal with vampires, cancer-inducing caterpillars, devil worship, elementals, ghostly slugs, witches and seances. The fact that a character is sympathetic is no guarantee of his or her survival in these Benson stories; anyone is capable of being offed! Indeed, in "The Face," one of the scarier stories of the bunch, a kindly woman, a mother of two and a good wife, meets a pretty horrible end for no particular reason. Benson never married, and may have been something of a misogynist; the women in his stories, anyway, are usually given a rough time, or are presented as rather repellent creatures. Take the levitating lead character in "Mrs. Amworth," a nice English biddy who just happens to be a blood-sucking vampire; or the bloated and horrible husband killer of "The Corner House"; or the female, yetilike creature of "The Horror Horn"; or the sadistic Sybil Rorke of "Inscrutable Decrees"; or Bertha Acres of "The Outcast," a woman so vile that the very earth spits out her coffin. Then there are the dueling witches of "The Wishing-Well" and the vampire witch of "The Room in the Tower." Yes, Mr. Benson surely didn't have too much use for the ladies.
However, in the bulk of these stories, the main characters are single, unattached, scholarly, middle-aged men--like Benson himself--who go on long summer holidays to Cornwall, Norfolk or Sussex, rent homes and get involved with all sorts of ghostly mishegas. (Modern-day readers will no doubt feel twinges of envy at the extended summer vacations that all these characters seem able to take!) Of course, space doesn't permit me to rave about each of the wonderful 54 tales in this volume, but I would like to single out for special mention a few of my favorites. "Pirates," for example, is an incredibly beautifully written tale of a man who is haunted by the spirits of his youth when he revisits his old home. "Mr. Tilly's Seance" is a very unique story, in that it is a seance tale told from the point of view of the spirit. I've never read another one like it. "The Man Who Went Too Far" tells of a man who gets just a wee bit too close to Mother Nature; fans of Algernon Blackwood should especially like this one. "And the Dead Spake--" deals with a scientist who invents a device that enables him to play the brain cells of a corpse like a phonograph! It's a story that H. G. Wells himself might have written. And then there's "How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery," Benson's favorite tale of the bunch, and one of mine, too. In this one, a house is haunted by the spirits of three-year-old twins; just to see these ghostly children spells sickness and death for the viewer. It is a lovely story, actually, well told and suspenseful. But then again, all the tales herein are well told and suspenseful, and elegantly written. Benson certainly deserves his place in that pantheon of great English supernaturalists that includes M.R. James, Sheridan LeFanu, Oliver Onions and Algernon Blackwood. Read this book, and you'll see that he was indeed one of the greats.
September 19, 2023
E.F. Benson is better known for his Mapp & Lucia stories, which I adored when I discovered them as a young adult. I didn't know that he wrote ghost stories but when I came across a podcast which is working its way through the stories in a leisurely fashion, I immediately began listening. The narration is wonderful and the stories are excellent.
This collection has a lot more stories than the podcast, some very funny, some very creepy - all wonderful. The variety and range of these ghost stories is wonderful. E.F. Benson might be my second favorite ghost story writer. Right after M.R. James!
This collection has a lot more stories than the podcast, some very funny, some very creepy - all wonderful. The variety and range of these ghost stories is wonderful. E.F. Benson might be my second favorite ghost story writer. Right after M.R. James!
October 29, 2012
Wordsworth Editions! How much I love you! Let me count the ways... Or rather, I won't because it would take me forever to achieve the proper numerals.
This dirt cheap volume has a mammoth number of 720 pages and there is not a single bad sentence on it. E.F. Benson's ghostly tales are varied as they are enjoyable. Ghosts, Psychic Vampirism, Healers, Witches, Reincarnated souls, human sacrifices brought on by ghosts, dangerous and secret cults, Vampires, Elementals, Charlatan Psychics, haunted automobiles and even giant monkeys populate these pages of absolutely engrossing supernatural tales. Even the moods that pervade these stories are quite varied; some are very bleak and grisly considering the period at which they were written, others humorous and easy going. The worst that can be said about the stories in this collection is that in most of them the main character's backgrounds are all too similar; they are usually somewhat wealthy gentlemen who upon vacationing in the countryside or small towns stumble upon supernatural entities. Also, some may have a problem with the fact that ghosts are the most frequent entity to feature amongst these stories. However these are very minor gripes considering the vast array of creatures that "haunt" these pages and the quality of these stories. My personal favourites are "The Room in the Tower", "How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery", "Caterpillars", "The Outcast", "The Face", "At the Farmhouse", "The House with the Brick Kiln" and my personal favourite, "The Temple". Out of all of these flesh-creeping tales there was only one story I didn't care for (The Dust-Cloud) and considering there are over fifty of them in this volume I'd say it's bound to satisfy the avid supernatural tales aficcionado.
This dirt cheap volume has a mammoth number of 720 pages and there is not a single bad sentence on it. E.F. Benson's ghostly tales are varied as they are enjoyable. Ghosts, Psychic Vampirism, Healers, Witches, Reincarnated souls, human sacrifices brought on by ghosts, dangerous and secret cults, Vampires, Elementals, Charlatan Psychics, haunted automobiles and even giant monkeys populate these pages of absolutely engrossing supernatural tales. Even the moods that pervade these stories are quite varied; some are very bleak and grisly considering the period at which they were written, others humorous and easy going. The worst that can be said about the stories in this collection is that in most of them the main character's backgrounds are all too similar; they are usually somewhat wealthy gentlemen who upon vacationing in the countryside or small towns stumble upon supernatural entities. Also, some may have a problem with the fact that ghosts are the most frequent entity to feature amongst these stories. However these are very minor gripes considering the vast array of creatures that "haunt" these pages and the quality of these stories. My personal favourites are "The Room in the Tower", "How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery", "Caterpillars", "The Outcast", "The Face", "At the Farmhouse", "The House with the Brick Kiln" and my personal favourite, "The Temple". Out of all of these flesh-creeping tales there was only one story I didn't care for (The Dust-Cloud) and considering there are over fifty of them in this volume I'd say it's bound to satisfy the avid supernatural tales aficcionado.
August 1, 2007
Not all of Benson's ghost stories hit the mark, but the ones that do -- well, they'll literally haunt you. My favorite stories in this anthology, though, are wistful and gentle tales, such as "How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery" and "Pirates." I read my favorites from from time to time, and they only seem to improve with each reading. Benson is best known for his comic masterpieces such as the Lucia series, but he's equally adept at the classic ghost tale. His ability to evoke atmosphere is uncanny; I'd rate him right up there with Algernon Blackwood, MR James, and other masters of the genre.
November 7, 2009
This collection is brilliant, and apart from MR James there is no teller of ghost stories who can make my hair stand on end and give me deliciously disturbed dreams like Benson. It's a book to read together, shortly before Christmas, by candlelight, snuggled up on a couch, with giggles and shivers and looking over the shoulder occasionally into the shadows, then running upstairs in the dark and laughing at such things. In my dreams...
July 29, 2008
Benson is uneven - some of this themes seem to crop up again and again - but at his best he is a superb writer of ghost stories, and this book is a bargain! If you cannot afford the five volume set from Ash-Tree including quite a few stories that never made their way into the canonical collections, do not hesitate to buy this one.
Jim
Jim
March 24, 2023
Foreword by Joan Aiken ✔
Introduction by Richard Dalby ✔
The Room in the Tower • (1912) 4.5⭐
The Dust-Cloud • (1906) 4.25⭐
Gavon's Eve • (1906) 4⭐
The Confession of Charles Linkworth • (1912) 3⭐
At Abdul Ali's Grave • (1899) 4⭐
The Shootings of Achnaleish • (1906) 4.25⭐
How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery • (1911) 5⭐
Caterpillars • (1912) 5⭐
The Cat • (1905) 4⭐
The Bus-Conductor • (1906) 4.25⭐
The Man Who Went Too Far • (1904) 3⭐
Between the Lights • (1912) 4⭐
Outside the Door • (1910) 3⭐
The Terror by Night • (1912) 4⭐
The Other Bed • (1908) 3.5⭐
The Thing in the Hall • (1912) 5⭐
The House with the Brick-Kiln • (1908) 3.5⭐
"And the Dead Spake—" • (1922) 5⭐
The Outcast • (1922) 4.5⭐
The Horror-Horn • (1922) 5⭐
Machaon • (1923) 4⭐
Negotium Perambulans • (1922) 4⭐
At the Farmhouse • (1923) 4.5⭐
Inscrutable Decrees • (1923) 3.25⭐
The Gardener • (1922) 3⭐
Mr. Tilly's Séance • (1922) 4.25⭐
Mrs. Amworth • (1922) 5⭐
In the Tube • (1922) 3.75⭐
Roderick's Story • (1923) 4⭐
Reconciliation • (1924) 3.25 ⭐
The Face • (1924) 5⭐
Spinach • (1924) 3.25⭐
Bagnell Terrace • (1925) 4.25⭐
A Tale of an Empty House • (1925) 3.25⭐
Naboth's Vineyard • (1923) 3.25⭐
Expiation • (1923) 3⭐
Home, Sweet Home • (1927) 3.5⭐
"And No Bird Sings" • (1926) 4⭐
The Corner House • (1926) 3.5⭐
Corstophine • (1924) 4.25⭐
The Temple • (1924) 5⭐
The Step • (1926) 5⭐
The Bed by the Window • (1929) 4⭐
James Lamp • (1930) 4⭐
The Dance • (1934) 5⭐
The Hanging of Alfred Wadham • (1928) 4⭐
Pirates • (1928) 5⭐
The Wishing-Well • (1929) 4⭐
The Bath-Chair • (1934) 4⭐
Monkeys • (1933) 4.5⭐
Christopher Comes Back • (1934) 3.5⭐
The Sanctuary • (1934) 4⭐
Thursday Evenings • (1920) 3⭐
The Psychical Mallards • (1921) 4⭐
The Recent "Witch-Burning" at Clonmel • (1895) 4⭐
Postscript (The Recent "Witch Burning" at Clonmel) by Richard Dalby ✔
Introduction by Richard Dalby ✔
The Room in the Tower • (1912) 4.5⭐
The Dust-Cloud • (1906) 4.25⭐
Gavon's Eve • (1906) 4⭐
The Confession of Charles Linkworth • (1912) 3⭐
At Abdul Ali's Grave • (1899) 4⭐
The Shootings of Achnaleish • (1906) 4.25⭐
How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery • (1911) 5⭐
Caterpillars • (1912) 5⭐
The Cat • (1905) 4⭐
The Bus-Conductor • (1906) 4.25⭐
The Man Who Went Too Far • (1904) 3⭐
Between the Lights • (1912) 4⭐
Outside the Door • (1910) 3⭐
The Terror by Night • (1912) 4⭐
The Other Bed • (1908) 3.5⭐
The Thing in the Hall • (1912) 5⭐
The House with the Brick-Kiln • (1908) 3.5⭐
"And the Dead Spake—" • (1922) 5⭐
The Outcast • (1922) 4.5⭐
The Horror-Horn • (1922) 5⭐
Machaon • (1923) 4⭐
Negotium Perambulans • (1922) 4⭐
At the Farmhouse • (1923) 4.5⭐
Inscrutable Decrees • (1923) 3.25⭐
The Gardener • (1922) 3⭐
Mr. Tilly's Séance • (1922) 4.25⭐
Mrs. Amworth • (1922) 5⭐
In the Tube • (1922) 3.75⭐
Roderick's Story • (1923) 4⭐
Reconciliation • (1924) 3.25 ⭐
The Face • (1924) 5⭐
Spinach • (1924) 3.25⭐
Bagnell Terrace • (1925) 4.25⭐
A Tale of an Empty House • (1925) 3.25⭐
Naboth's Vineyard • (1923) 3.25⭐
Expiation • (1923) 3⭐
Home, Sweet Home • (1927) 3.5⭐
"And No Bird Sings" • (1926) 4⭐
The Corner House • (1926) 3.5⭐
Corstophine • (1924) 4.25⭐
The Temple • (1924) 5⭐
The Step • (1926) 5⭐
The Bed by the Window • (1929) 4⭐
James Lamp • (1930) 4⭐
The Dance • (1934) 5⭐
The Hanging of Alfred Wadham • (1928) 4⭐
Pirates • (1928) 5⭐
The Wishing-Well • (1929) 4⭐
The Bath-Chair • (1934) 4⭐
Monkeys • (1933) 4.5⭐
Christopher Comes Back • (1934) 3.5⭐
The Sanctuary • (1934) 4⭐
Thursday Evenings • (1920) 3⭐
The Psychical Mallards • (1921) 4⭐
The Recent "Witch-Burning" at Clonmel • (1895) 4⭐
Postscript (The Recent "Witch Burning" at Clonmel) by Richard Dalby ✔
February 6, 2017
Oh my god, guys, I finished it. This thing. This collection of...I have no idea how many stories. 600ish pages doesn't sound like a lot, but in this case, it has been experience. I'd like to thank my cat, for crawling on top of me while I was trying to concentrate. I'd like to thank my insomnia, for giving a few sleepless nights to get a few more in. I'd like to thank Joe Hill, Phil Rickman, Reggie Oliver, and all the other authors that I read when taking a break. Love to my mom, etc etc etc
Now that that is out of the way, let's talk about how to review this book. There would be, as is true of all collections of short stories no matter the number of authors or years contained within, two broad strokes that can be applied: heterogenic vs monolithic. In the former, there is the general idea that the collection is just that, a basket of fruit and individual fruits may be eaten and the rest left, so that any review in general can only generally talk about the goodness and badness of this or that apple, with maybe some comment on the basket-preparer's general sense of what goes where. Except, to someone thinking of buying this book, hearing that there are "some good stories" and "some poor stories" does not quite fulfill their question. On the other hand, the monolithic approach does not treat the subject as itself. No one is required to eat all the fruit in the basket, and the fruit comes from wholly different seasons. If the middle third of the fruit is too sour for eating, it does not mean that the basket as a whole is a lesser thing, maybe just of lesser overall value. The usual response to a reviewer like me is to try both, give a run down of stories good and bad, and then to sum up feeling as a whole, but that feels wrong, here, so I will try a different tack.
If you were to take the 54 stories here (I went and looked it up after starting the review), my guess would put 27 or so of them as unnecessary. In that 27, you have repetition from better stories - another middle-aged bachelor sees something after playing bridge and finds his friend's new house has an odd past that will be vanquished in the last few paragraphs without proper resolution - and even, in a few cases, truly poor stories without even Benson's generally charming writing to make it feel worthwhile. The other half, the 27 kept, range from the spectacular to the wonderfully mediocre. Benson, as a writer, feels like he builds off of a toolkit. He has a box of spook story creation, and largely uses the same pieces:
* A middle-aged, middle-class man (who is broadly Benson himself, though not always a perfect fit) becomes entangled with someone else's horror story.
* A discussion of the nature of haunting, time, spiritualism, evil, and/or fear will develop at some point between characters, often at the beginning or at least by the middle, which will explain the nature of the horror being faced.
* There will be a vacation, a trip, or some new real-estate bought to set up the story.
* Smoking cigarettes, playing bridge, playing golf, and just walking about (and, to a lesser degree, fishing, hunting, or other outdoor pursuits) will be mentioned. [I would have to go back and count, but I would wager that characters smoke cigarettes in something like 95% of these stories, and play bridge in around 80%.]
* There is often some sort of malaise upon a character: a change in life is needed, a tiredness, a need to escape for a short time.
* The ghost will generally just be seen as a person, sometimes with a limp, mostly at a distance, and will largely be unterrible except that the text makes sure to tell you the character is terrified by the very thing.
* There are often non-specific hints at a certain wickedness at play, people who live sinful lives without a definition of their sin [it a few places, it makes you wonder if Benson is playing at his own homosexuality].
* The final resolution is generally short and incomplete, and not in a good way, mostly in a "darkness cannot overcome light so why did it ever bother" kind of way.
* There might be a coda that just wraps everything up in a quick explanation, and more than once (much more than once, even), it starts with something like "You might remember the murder trial at X" and then just tells you what the ghost was.
And here is the rule of Benson stories, the great law I found: the further he deviates from this path, the better his stories often are. Those 27 or so I discarded so rapidly to start, those probably ticked just about every point off on the list. The kept stories play with them to lesser or greater degrees. This is where the meat of the collection is, a man who knew ghost stories, who knew spiritualism, and was willing to play in the toolbox from time to time (when, I suspect, he wasn't merely trying to make money from publishing safe tales to press).
There you have stories like "Caterpillars", where strange, fleshly caterpillars with pincer feet crawl about a house at night and infect their victims with cancer. Here you have "The Face", where a loving wife/mother is haunted by a future vision of her own death and is driven to it by chance. You have the more playful "Spinach" and "Psychical Mallards" and "Mr. Tilly's Seance", where he takes friendly potshots at spiritualists and makes humorous and likeable protagonists. There is "The Man Who Went Too Far" and "The Thing in the Hall" (which is a broadly weaker story, overall) where a proto-Lovecraftian character pushes too far into the realm of knowledge and is punished for it. You have the sluglike elemental that punishes sinners in "Negotium Perambulens" (and a similar one that haunts the woods in "And no bird sings..."). You have the wicked man haunted by his own sins, eventually realized in a faceless but fleshy spectre, in "The Step". The Satanic cult of "The Sanctuary". The slightly saucy ghost of "Thursday Evenings". The experiment upon dead brains in "And the Dead Spake--". The Machen-esque survival of the "Horror Horn". The famous future haunting of "The Bus-Conductor". There is a hint of folk-horror in "The Temple". There is the moral incertitude of "The Hanging of Alfred Wadham". Even in the depths of his toolbox, the melodramatic "How Fear Left the Long Gallery" has heart.
Those stories, and more, are a tribute to the genre. There are others, such as "The Room in the Tower" and "Mrs. Amsworth" that play at the line between ghost and vampire that are well loved (but while the former is interesting in its imagery, the latter is mostly about a lovely woman being evil, something Benson plays around with a bit too much overall). Benson plays at future hauntings, at occasional moral ambiguity, at horror hitting upon somewhat normal folks (if country estates and lots of leisure time is "normal"). His stories have elements that show a foot firmly in the past and the future of the genre. It is phenomenal. BUT, if you read this collection from page 1 to page 600+, you are going to find those stories at best every-other-story and sometimes with several milder or poorer tales in-between. In this way, I think a better curated collection of maybe 15 or so stories would be a much more potent way to learn Benson. Or, use this review as a way to get something of a map of stories to start with, and then bounce around a few of the more "typical" tales like "The Tale of an Empty-House" that are fair in their own right.
Now that that is out of the way, let's talk about how to review this book. There would be, as is true of all collections of short stories no matter the number of authors or years contained within, two broad strokes that can be applied: heterogenic vs monolithic. In the former, there is the general idea that the collection is just that, a basket of fruit and individual fruits may be eaten and the rest left, so that any review in general can only generally talk about the goodness and badness of this or that apple, with maybe some comment on the basket-preparer's general sense of what goes where. Except, to someone thinking of buying this book, hearing that there are "some good stories" and "some poor stories" does not quite fulfill their question. On the other hand, the monolithic approach does not treat the subject as itself. No one is required to eat all the fruit in the basket, and the fruit comes from wholly different seasons. If the middle third of the fruit is too sour for eating, it does not mean that the basket as a whole is a lesser thing, maybe just of lesser overall value. The usual response to a reviewer like me is to try both, give a run down of stories good and bad, and then to sum up feeling as a whole, but that feels wrong, here, so I will try a different tack.
If you were to take the 54 stories here (I went and looked it up after starting the review), my guess would put 27 or so of them as unnecessary. In that 27, you have repetition from better stories - another middle-aged bachelor sees something after playing bridge and finds his friend's new house has an odd past that will be vanquished in the last few paragraphs without proper resolution - and even, in a few cases, truly poor stories without even Benson's generally charming writing to make it feel worthwhile. The other half, the 27 kept, range from the spectacular to the wonderfully mediocre. Benson, as a writer, feels like he builds off of a toolkit. He has a box of spook story creation, and largely uses the same pieces:
* A middle-aged, middle-class man (who is broadly Benson himself, though not always a perfect fit) becomes entangled with someone else's horror story.
* A discussion of the nature of haunting, time, spiritualism, evil, and/or fear will develop at some point between characters, often at the beginning or at least by the middle, which will explain the nature of the horror being faced.
* There will be a vacation, a trip, or some new real-estate bought to set up the story.
* Smoking cigarettes, playing bridge, playing golf, and just walking about (and, to a lesser degree, fishing, hunting, or other outdoor pursuits) will be mentioned. [I would have to go back and count, but I would wager that characters smoke cigarettes in something like 95% of these stories, and play bridge in around 80%.]
* There is often some sort of malaise upon a character: a change in life is needed, a tiredness, a need to escape for a short time.
* The ghost will generally just be seen as a person, sometimes with a limp, mostly at a distance, and will largely be unterrible except that the text makes sure to tell you the character is terrified by the very thing.
* There are often non-specific hints at a certain wickedness at play, people who live sinful lives without a definition of their sin [it a few places, it makes you wonder if Benson is playing at his own homosexuality].
* The final resolution is generally short and incomplete, and not in a good way, mostly in a "darkness cannot overcome light so why did it ever bother" kind of way.
* There might be a coda that just wraps everything up in a quick explanation, and more than once (much more than once, even), it starts with something like "You might remember the murder trial at X" and then just tells you what the ghost was.
And here is the rule of Benson stories, the great law I found: the further he deviates from this path, the better his stories often are. Those 27 or so I discarded so rapidly to start, those probably ticked just about every point off on the list. The kept stories play with them to lesser or greater degrees. This is where the meat of the collection is, a man who knew ghost stories, who knew spiritualism, and was willing to play in the toolbox from time to time (when, I suspect, he wasn't merely trying to make money from publishing safe tales to press).
There you have stories like "Caterpillars", where strange, fleshly caterpillars with pincer feet crawl about a house at night and infect their victims with cancer. Here you have "The Face", where a loving wife/mother is haunted by a future vision of her own death and is driven to it by chance. You have the more playful "Spinach" and "Psychical Mallards" and "Mr. Tilly's Seance", where he takes friendly potshots at spiritualists and makes humorous and likeable protagonists. There is "The Man Who Went Too Far" and "The Thing in the Hall" (which is a broadly weaker story, overall) where a proto-Lovecraftian character pushes too far into the realm of knowledge and is punished for it. You have the sluglike elemental that punishes sinners in "Negotium Perambulens" (and a similar one that haunts the woods in "And no bird sings..."). You have the wicked man haunted by his own sins, eventually realized in a faceless but fleshy spectre, in "The Step". The Satanic cult of "The Sanctuary". The slightly saucy ghost of "Thursday Evenings". The experiment upon dead brains in "And the Dead Spake--". The Machen-esque survival of the "Horror Horn". The famous future haunting of "The Bus-Conductor". There is a hint of folk-horror in "The Temple". There is the moral incertitude of "The Hanging of Alfred Wadham". Even in the depths of his toolbox, the melodramatic "How Fear Left the Long Gallery" has heart.
Those stories, and more, are a tribute to the genre. There are others, such as "The Room in the Tower" and "Mrs. Amsworth" that play at the line between ghost and vampire that are well loved (but while the former is interesting in its imagery, the latter is mostly about a lovely woman being evil, something Benson plays around with a bit too much overall). Benson plays at future hauntings, at occasional moral ambiguity, at horror hitting upon somewhat normal folks (if country estates and lots of leisure time is "normal"). His stories have elements that show a foot firmly in the past and the future of the genre. It is phenomenal. BUT, if you read this collection from page 1 to page 600+, you are going to find those stories at best every-other-story and sometimes with several milder or poorer tales in-between. In this way, I think a better curated collection of maybe 15 or so stories would be a much more potent way to learn Benson. Or, use this review as a way to get something of a map of stories to start with, and then bounce around a few of the more "typical" tales like "The Tale of an Empty-House" that are fair in their own right.
September 20, 2011
I've not quite read every story in this just yet, but close enough. I'll be finishing it today. But I think I've read enough to say that it's amazing, and I loved it!
I was, of course, familiar with some of Benson's work from anthologies and the like, and I recently read his collection Spook stories and enjoyed it, but I didn't realize how much I loved Benson until I got this whole collection and started going through the stories, picking at them willy-nilly in whatever order struck me. I didn't re-read all the stories from Spook stories, but I got through the others. A few of my (many) favorites include "The Room in the Tower," "How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery," "Caterpillars," "Negotium Perambulans," and "Monkeys." But there were lots of others.
Benson is a natural successor to M.R. James, but while his stories are less masterful, they're even more charming, and I'd argue that there's probably not a more charming writer of "spook stories" (what a great term) than Benson.
I was, of course, familiar with some of Benson's work from anthologies and the like, and I recently read his collection Spook stories and enjoyed it, but I didn't realize how much I loved Benson until I got this whole collection and started going through the stories, picking at them willy-nilly in whatever order struck me. I didn't re-read all the stories from Spook stories, but I got through the others. A few of my (many) favorites include "The Room in the Tower," "How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery," "Caterpillars," "Negotium Perambulans," and "Monkeys." But there were lots of others.
Benson is a natural successor to M.R. James, but while his stories are less masterful, they're even more charming, and I'd argue that there's probably not a more charming writer of "spook stories" (what a great term) than Benson.
December 23, 2015
Cornwall Seems to Be a Pretty Dangerous Place
I had never heard of E.F. Benson before, and to be honest, the cover of this book made me open it with a feeling of skepticism – only to find out that this is one of the eeriest, most bloodcurdling collections of horror stories that I have ever read.
Of course, a collection of horror stories by the same author will always feature some repetitive elements – like the motif of popping down to Cornwall for relaxation only in order to meet with some malevolent supernatural presence, which made me actually count myself lucky for never having been in Cornwall up to now and consider paying a holiday in Cornwall for some of my choicest relatives instead –, but all in all, these stories are rich in variety and seldom failed to make my hair stand on end. My favourite story was “Caterpillars”, which is all about some gruesome, deathly insects, and there was a bunch of others I can particularly recommend – such as “How Fear Departed from the Great Gallery”, “At Abdul Ali’s Grave”, “The Room in the Tower”, “The House with the Brick-Kiln”, “’And No Bird Sings’”, “The Face” and “A Tale of an Empty House”. Benson really manages to describe some really intense moments of horror without ever becoming too graphic and gory.
The stories give a variety of horrors – from vampires to ghosts (quite often limping ones), slug-like elementals, which I found particularly gruesome, evil dreams and Satan-whorshippers – and sometimes even, Benson writes tongue-in-cheek, as in “Mr. Tilly’s Séance”. According to Benson’s preface, his stories are mainly meant to entertain his readers, and they did exactly that in my case – as well as make me feel lucky for being in possession of a thick duvet I could hide under after finishing one or two of them before switching off the light.
I had never heard of E.F. Benson before, and to be honest, the cover of this book made me open it with a feeling of skepticism – only to find out that this is one of the eeriest, most bloodcurdling collections of horror stories that I have ever read.
Of course, a collection of horror stories by the same author will always feature some repetitive elements – like the motif of popping down to Cornwall for relaxation only in order to meet with some malevolent supernatural presence, which made me actually count myself lucky for never having been in Cornwall up to now and consider paying a holiday in Cornwall for some of my choicest relatives instead –, but all in all, these stories are rich in variety and seldom failed to make my hair stand on end. My favourite story was “Caterpillars”, which is all about some gruesome, deathly insects, and there was a bunch of others I can particularly recommend – such as “How Fear Departed from the Great Gallery”, “At Abdul Ali’s Grave”, “The Room in the Tower”, “The House with the Brick-Kiln”, “’And No Bird Sings’”, “The Face” and “A Tale of an Empty House”. Benson really manages to describe some really intense moments of horror without ever becoming too graphic and gory.
The stories give a variety of horrors – from vampires to ghosts (quite often limping ones), slug-like elementals, which I found particularly gruesome, evil dreams and Satan-whorshippers – and sometimes even, Benson writes tongue-in-cheek, as in “Mr. Tilly’s Séance”. According to Benson’s preface, his stories are mainly meant to entertain his readers, and they did exactly that in my case – as well as make me feel lucky for being in possession of a thick duvet I could hide under after finishing one or two of them before switching off the light.
Read
January 7, 2025PLACEHOLDER REVIEW
In "James Lamp", our titular character is the housekeeper (along with his wife) of the summer home of some better offs. But as the owner returns, he learns that Lamp's wife has disappeared, presumably having run off with someone else... but that wouldn't explain why he and his associate keep seeing her around, down the street or taping on the window in the foggy night. I upgraded this a bit on the reread, because, while it is familiar and predictable, it's also nicely (pardon the pun) atmospheric, what with the foggy town and all.
In "The Wishing Well", Judith, middle-aged daughter of the vicar in the small Cornish fishing village of St. Gervase, finds herself attracted to the rumored, folkloric power of the local wishing-well, supposedly used by the recently deceased town witch to inflict curses on individuals - and Judith is also wounded by and jealous of the romance between a local boy now returned as a handsome man and a young woman who is a member of her choir... I slightly upgraded this one on the reread as well, as the sketching of rural witch traditions and the portrayal of Judith's corruption is well done, as is the depiction of a local "good witch" figure.
A professional needs to knuckle down on some work without distraction so rents a room in an isolated village in "The Bed By The Window." But as his work gets done, he gradually becomes aware of subtle indications of disharmony in the household, and momentary flashes of disturbing, spectral sights and sounds.... Well, any ghost story that begins with a layman's discussion about how time works (which was common in discussions of the day, thanks to Einstein, general relativity and various popular writers) will very likely have an expected outcome - as does this one. But I upgraded it a bit on the re-read simply because the deployment of details is nicely done - "glimpses" of sights and sounds that add up in the expected way but are effective in a story sense. This story strikes me as similar to the psychical concerns/approach of H.R. Wakefield and would make a creepy short film.
A man who resides in "Bagnell Terrace" covets the residence of another, somewhat mysterious, resident. But it is only after the man returns from Egypt with a little cat statue that the desired residence becomes available, although the new resident now seems to be pestered by various manifestations of ghosts and cats. Not bad - a little loosey-goosey with the logic chain, but some nice evocation of unfocused, Bast-ian powers.
A man, visiting friends, takes a shortcut through a section of forested grounds which inexplicably seems suffused with a gloomy sense of darkness, not to mention that "'And No Bird Sings'" there. His hosts agree there is something odd and vaguely disturbing about the place - and so he and his host determine to investigate and see if they can solve the problem. This is still an enjoyable read - if not perfect. The setting and atmosphere and threat are all very well done - if there's a flaw it's that which haunts writers of weird tales who produce voluminous amounts of stories can occasionally be a bit forgetful and glib - here, there's no explanation for the "elemental" thing's origins, which seems an odd omission when even a few words might have covered it. Still, very effective. We ran it as episode 793 of Pseudopod.
"Pirates" - A businessman in his forties, having suffered the vicissitudes of life (lost a wife, lost all his siblings over time), finds himself reflecting on a long-cherished dream of re-buying his old family home in Cornwall, though it makes almost no logical sense in his current circumstances, and he honestly realizes, it is not the house he actually wants but a return to the sweet days of youth spent there. And when business sends him to the West Country, he finds himself in Penzance with wondrous nostalgic memories of his tenth birthday, and then visits his old home, now abandoned and run down, and its gardens where he used to play the titular game with his siblings... and, later, he receives a warning from his doctor about his bad heart.... As I said about a recent Oliver Onions read, it is nice to occasionally stumble across a sentimental ghost story (and, yet again, this is not really a "ghost story") that - thanks to the superb abilities of the author is moving and emotional and rewarding, and not just some treacle. Here, while the trajectory is obvious almost from the start ("and, most of all, of the suspicion that the place was supposed to be haunted. It was just because it was haunted that he longed for it, and the more savagely and sensibly he assured himself of the folly of possessing it, the more he yearned after it, and constantly now it colored his dreams"), as regards a man's loneliness and desire to return to his happy childhood as he advances in years - Rod Serling made much use of such material, and here Benson gives us the realization of what may, for most at least, be one of the most commonly held and fervently hoped-for dreams of humankind. Moving and excellent.
"The Hanging Of Alfred Wadham" - a priest tells a story (in service of his point of not trusting communications from the dead at seances) about how he learned, through confession, that an innocent man would be put to death for another's murder, but the seal of confession forbid him from informing the authorities. And then he was haunted by awful images of the executed man... Eh, this was okay - it seems more an exercise in explaining the finer points of confession than it does an illustration of its supposed point, but the deliberate engagement of the question over whether spiritualist phenomena is merely supernatural or demonic is interesting.
In "James Lamp", our titular character is the housekeeper (along with his wife) of the summer home of some better offs. But as the owner returns, he learns that Lamp's wife has disappeared, presumably having run off with someone else... but that wouldn't explain why he and his associate keep seeing her around, down the street or taping on the window in the foggy night. I upgraded this a bit on the reread, because, while it is familiar and predictable, it's also nicely (pardon the pun) atmospheric, what with the foggy town and all.
In "The Wishing Well", Judith, middle-aged daughter of the vicar in the small Cornish fishing village of St. Gervase, finds herself attracted to the rumored, folkloric power of the local wishing-well, supposedly used by the recently deceased town witch to inflict curses on individuals - and Judith is also wounded by and jealous of the romance between a local boy now returned as a handsome man and a young woman who is a member of her choir... I slightly upgraded this one on the reread as well, as the sketching of rural witch traditions and the portrayal of Judith's corruption is well done, as is the depiction of a local "good witch" figure.
A professional needs to knuckle down on some work without distraction so rents a room in an isolated village in "The Bed By The Window." But as his work gets done, he gradually becomes aware of subtle indications of disharmony in the household, and momentary flashes of disturbing, spectral sights and sounds.... Well, any ghost story that begins with a layman's discussion about how time works (which was common in discussions of the day, thanks to Einstein, general relativity and various popular writers) will very likely have an expected outcome - as does this one. But I upgraded it a bit on the re-read simply because the deployment of details is nicely done - "glimpses" of sights and sounds that add up in the expected way but are effective in a story sense. This story strikes me as similar to the psychical concerns/approach of H.R. Wakefield and would make a creepy short film.
A man who resides in "Bagnell Terrace" covets the residence of another, somewhat mysterious, resident. But it is only after the man returns from Egypt with a little cat statue that the desired residence becomes available, although the new resident now seems to be pestered by various manifestations of ghosts and cats. Not bad - a little loosey-goosey with the logic chain, but some nice evocation of unfocused, Bast-ian powers.
A man, visiting friends, takes a shortcut through a section of forested grounds which inexplicably seems suffused with a gloomy sense of darkness, not to mention that "'And No Bird Sings'" there. His hosts agree there is something odd and vaguely disturbing about the place - and so he and his host determine to investigate and see if they can solve the problem. This is still an enjoyable read - if not perfect. The setting and atmosphere and threat are all very well done - if there's a flaw it's that which haunts writers of weird tales who produce voluminous amounts of stories can occasionally be a bit forgetful and glib - here, there's no explanation for the "elemental" thing's origins, which seems an odd omission when even a few words might have covered it. Still, very effective. We ran it as episode 793 of Pseudopod.
"Pirates" - A businessman in his forties, having suffered the vicissitudes of life (lost a wife, lost all his siblings over time), finds himself reflecting on a long-cherished dream of re-buying his old family home in Cornwall, though it makes almost no logical sense in his current circumstances, and he honestly realizes, it is not the house he actually wants but a return to the sweet days of youth spent there. And when business sends him to the West Country, he finds himself in Penzance with wondrous nostalgic memories of his tenth birthday, and then visits his old home, now abandoned and run down, and its gardens where he used to play the titular game with his siblings... and, later, he receives a warning from his doctor about his bad heart.... As I said about a recent Oliver Onions read, it is nice to occasionally stumble across a sentimental ghost story (and, yet again, this is not really a "ghost story") that - thanks to the superb abilities of the author is moving and emotional and rewarding, and not just some treacle. Here, while the trajectory is obvious almost from the start ("and, most of all, of the suspicion that the place was supposed to be haunted. It was just because it was haunted that he longed for it, and the more savagely and sensibly he assured himself of the folly of possessing it, the more he yearned after it, and constantly now it colored his dreams"), as regards a man's loneliness and desire to return to his happy childhood as he advances in years - Rod Serling made much use of such material, and here Benson gives us the realization of what may, for most at least, be one of the most commonly held and fervently hoped-for dreams of humankind. Moving and excellent.
"The Hanging Of Alfred Wadham" - a priest tells a story (in service of his point of not trusting communications from the dead at seances) about how he learned, through confession, that an innocent man would be put to death for another's murder, but the seal of confession forbid him from informing the authorities. And then he was haunted by awful images of the executed man... Eh, this was okay - it seems more an exercise in explaining the finer points of confession than it does an illustration of its supposed point, but the deliberate engagement of the question over whether spiritualist phenomena is merely supernatural or demonic is interesting.
June 13, 2018
Such wonderful variety, from the almost campy creeps of 'Spinach' and 'Mrs Ampworth' to the grimmer 'The Room in the Tower' and 'Negotium Perambulans'. Benson is widely acknowledged as one of the masters of the ghost story, but I feel he has become somewhat underrated in current 'weird fiction' circles.
March 1, 2018
This book might well qualify as the perfect bedtime read: the stories are all around 10 to 15 pages, so ideal for a twenty-minute read, then lights out, lie down and suddenly jerk awake as the house creaks and some presence enters the room... So, maybe not ideal bedtime reading, if you're prone to nightmares. I, though, am not, so I really did take this as my nightly read for a couple of months, working my way through these morbidly satisfying stories. EF Benson is a rare beast: a writer whose work survives him in two wholly different genres: these tales of the supernatural but also with his stories of Mapp and Lucia, comedies of middle-class snobbery. Reading up on the author, it turns out that Benson was a member of an extraordinary family: his father, Edward White Benson, was the Archbishop of Canterbury who devised the festival of Nine Carols and Readings now said throughout the world before Christmas, and his siblings included Arthur Benson, master of Magdalen College and author of the words to 'Land of Hope and Glory', and Robert Benson, Catholic convert and priest who wrote the early dystopian novel Lord of the World.
None of Edward Benson's children married and, indeed, the typical protagonist of these tales is an unmarried male in his middle-age, comfortably off in the peculiarly comfortable manner that seems to have been possible for the English upper middle classes in the early 20th century, where it appears to have been normal practice to take a three-month break in the summer at some rural getaway (having dispatched one's servants there the day before to make everything shipshape). Having fetched up at some idyllic country retreat - Benson's descriptions of the English rural idyll are a delight and underwrite the deep vein of nature mysticism that threads through English patriotism - some incongruous detail begins to hint that behind the perfect appearance something strange and sinister might be lurking. By the end of the story, the strange has crept forward into the twilight, and the idyll has been lost, although usually our bachelor hero escapes relatively unscathed. So, yes, you could say the stories tend towards the fomulaic, but Benson spins enough variations to keep the reader interested, as well as every so often changing the formula entirely, for particularly effective results.
So, highly recommended for readers of supernatural fiction and, unusually, fans of English country fiction.
None of Edward Benson's children married and, indeed, the typical protagonist of these tales is an unmarried male in his middle-age, comfortably off in the peculiarly comfortable manner that seems to have been possible for the English upper middle classes in the early 20th century, where it appears to have been normal practice to take a three-month break in the summer at some rural getaway (having dispatched one's servants there the day before to make everything shipshape). Having fetched up at some idyllic country retreat - Benson's descriptions of the English rural idyll are a delight and underwrite the deep vein of nature mysticism that threads through English patriotism - some incongruous detail begins to hint that behind the perfect appearance something strange and sinister might be lurking. By the end of the story, the strange has crept forward into the twilight, and the idyll has been lost, although usually our bachelor hero escapes relatively unscathed. So, yes, you could say the stories tend towards the fomulaic, but Benson spins enough variations to keep the reader interested, as well as every so often changing the formula entirely, for particularly effective results.
So, highly recommended for readers of supernatural fiction and, unusually, fans of English country fiction.
November 17, 2025
There are, I think, about 750 pages of horror stories by Benson. 63 of them, give or take. I’ve read only 29, in “Best of…” collections and here picked more or less at random from reader recommendations. I liked them so much I want to come back and finish this (in)complete collection.
Though there’s a sameness to the stories and the endings are often duds—a flaw common to the genre—I was somehow always engrossed. I mean without fail. I don’t know how Benson does it. Tame as they are, I caught myself glancing over my shoulder on more than one occasion. The author’s guided tours of fictional, summery hamlets are quite nice and owe a debt, I think, to Sleepy Hollow. Benson (ahem) prefers the company of men, and this fondness for just-the-boys environments is rather refreshing. A writer who actually likes men? I want to go on one of their salmon fishing trips. The style is inviting, the ambience irresistible, and, best of all, there’s nary a hint of madness to weigh down the supernatural. Benson does not act coy with the reader. The ghosts here are unambiguous.
I crowned my favorites 👑, and jotted down notes on the ones not previously reviewed by me (in The Horror Horn and Other Stories, and in Ghost Stories, edited by Mark Gatiss).
____
THE SHOOTINGS OF ACHNALEISH (1906)
Scottish hunting trip goes severely awry after a giant, black hare gets run over.
____
HOW FEAR DEPARTED FROM THE LONG GALLERY (1911) 👑
Benson’s personal favorite of his “spook stories.” I might say the same. Especially colorful, and terrible. The gallery’s atmosphere is a pleasing concoction: humming with cheerful activity during the day, and representing certain death at night—a threat so perceptible that ghostly laughter can be heard from the landing outside. The unspeakable deaths early in the story set up the suspenseful ending. It’s suspenseful even though I saw it coming, and even though I saw it coming I was grateful it came.
Note: I think Stephen King stole two things from this tale: the algae-like growth that covers the face of one of the characters, and the ghosts of the dead children. But Benson’s toddling twins are scarier.
____
BETWEEN THE LIGHTS (1912)
“Why, there are seven, eight skeletons in this room now, covered with blood and skin and other horrors.”
“We had had no frost that autumn, and a temerarious dahlia was still in flower. I have always thought that it must have been mad.”
____
AND THE DEAD SPAKE (1922) 👑
Sci-fi horror. I ate it up. It’s expertly done, the stage full of wonderful props: steel globes, batteries, lancets, “spirit lamps” etc. At one point Benson foresees organ transplants. Actually the main idea—about being able to recapture the past and read memories from the brain as a needle reads a gramophone record—is superbly inventive.
Also clever is that bit about hiring a housekeeper who’d been accused of murdering her husband, because it’s the safest servant you could have. Who would be less likely to want another dead body associated with them?
The backdrop of the World War I bombings adds to the tumultuous atmosphere.
____
THE OUTCAST (1922) 👑
“…but though the grave was dug deep and well, it spewed her forth again.”
A woman has such a horrifying aura that even the ocean rejects her after a sea burial. The brief backstory, about a young husband who married her for her wealth yet quickly blew his brains out, raises the stakes in the reader’s mind when some townsfolk meet their new neighbor. About Judas reincarnated but touches on nearer terrors.
Benson develops simple mysteries in all these stories that readers can see just ahead of the characters.
____
AT THE FARMHOUSE (1923) 👑
“A noose, a knot drawn quickly taut, and he would have paid her back with justice and swifter mercy for the long strangling which he had suffered.”
Crime horror fiction, very vividly and elaborately described. The dark family history in the beginning is good and the ending is, well, horrifying!
____
THE TEMPLE (1924)
Vintage Benson. This time the rented cottage is built over a Druidic sacrificial slab. I liked the heroic ending.
____
A TALE OF AN EMPTY HOUSE (1925)
A vast estuary. A sudden downpour. A lonely house on a spit of land. Sheltering in the kitchen as the sound of the rain turns into a roar. And then the bang of the front door, and a shuffling step.
____
THE STEP (1926)
“How the fellow had skipped off when he heard talk of the dog!”
Scrooge in Egypt. A belated Imperial Gothic, but delectable. Benson’s perennial slug manifests itself here in human form. The featureless face is like that of a worm.
____
PIRATES (1928)
A prosaic businessman is mining the Cornish land where he was raised, which causes him to mine his childhood memories. He returns to London, yet gradually gets called back to restore his family home, which is perhaps haunted by his deceased loved-ones. There’s a touch of Vertigo in this, in his obsessive wish to meticulously recreate the past and bring it back to life.
A lovely ghost story about trying to raise the dead, but with a bittersweet twist that feels surprising yet natural.
____
THE FLINT KNIFE (1929? Not included in this collection)
Centers on the usual sacrificial altar from Druid times, but the setting—a walled-in and doorless plot of land—is striking.
____
THE DANCE (1934) 👑
“Rare sport: they would have killed him, he thought, if they had the spirit of a louse between them.”
A delightfully fiendish main character. There’s something wonderfully angry about this tale. I almost felt I was supposed to root for the sadistic villain, the same way he roots for a neat, cruel spider trapping a clumsy wasp.
____
GAVON’S EVE (1906)
____
THE HOUSE WITH THE BRICK-KILN (1908) 👑
____
THE HORROR-HORN (1922) 👑
____
THE THING IN THE HALL (1912)
____
THE FACE (1924) 👑
____
THE BED BY THE WINDOW (1929) 👑
____
MONKEYS (1933) 👑
____
THE SANCTUARY (1934) 👑
____
SPINACH (1924)
____
IN THE TUBE (1922)
____
THE MAN WHO WENT TOO FAR (1904)
____
MRS. AMWORTH (1922) 👑
____
THE ROOM IN THE TOWER (1912)
____
THE BUS-CONDUCTOR (1906)
____
NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS (1922) 👑
____
AND NO BIRD SINGS (1926)
____
CATERPILLARS (1912)
__________________________
Marginalia:
*Benson was a student at Cambridge and a member of the Chit-Chat Club when MR James would give his Christmas Eve ghost story readings.
*Everyone in Benson’s family—father, mother, brothers and sisters—was brilliant, bipolar, and homosexual. Really just an insane (sometimes homicidal) group. The children, incidentally, weren’t allowed breakfast until they’d asked for it in rhyming couplets.
____
Further reading:
Dust-cloud
Confession of Charles Linkworth
At Abdul Ali’s Grave
Cat
Outside the Door
Terror by Night
Other Bed
Machaon
Inscrutable Decrees
Gardener
Mr. Tilly’s Séance
Roderick’s Story
Reconciliation
Bagnell Terrace
Naboth’s Vineyard
Expiation
Home Sweet Home
Corner House
Corstophine
James Lamp
Hanging of Alfred Wadham
Wishing-well
Bath-chair
Christopher Comes Back
Thursday Evenings
Psychical Mallards
Clonmel Witch Burning
More not included in this collection (see The Outcast: and Other Dark Tales):
Dummy on a Dahabeah
A Winter Morning
The Passenger
The Light in the Garden
The Top Landing
By the Sluice
The Secret Garden
The Flint Knife (reviewed above)
Billy Comes Through
Though there’s a sameness to the stories and the endings are often duds—a flaw common to the genre—I was somehow always engrossed. I mean without fail. I don’t know how Benson does it. Tame as they are, I caught myself glancing over my shoulder on more than one occasion. The author’s guided tours of fictional, summery hamlets are quite nice and owe a debt, I think, to Sleepy Hollow. Benson (ahem) prefers the company of men, and this fondness for just-the-boys environments is rather refreshing. A writer who actually likes men? I want to go on one of their salmon fishing trips. The style is inviting, the ambience irresistible, and, best of all, there’s nary a hint of madness to weigh down the supernatural. Benson does not act coy with the reader. The ghosts here are unambiguous.
I crowned my favorites 👑, and jotted down notes on the ones not previously reviewed by me (in The Horror Horn and Other Stories, and in Ghost Stories, edited by Mark Gatiss).
____
THE SHOOTINGS OF ACHNALEISH (1906)
Scottish hunting trip goes severely awry after a giant, black hare gets run over.
____
HOW FEAR DEPARTED FROM THE LONG GALLERY (1911) 👑
Benson’s personal favorite of his “spook stories.” I might say the same. Especially colorful, and terrible. The gallery’s atmosphere is a pleasing concoction: humming with cheerful activity during the day, and representing certain death at night—a threat so perceptible that ghostly laughter can be heard from the landing outside. The unspeakable deaths early in the story set up the suspenseful ending. It’s suspenseful even though I saw it coming, and even though I saw it coming I was grateful it came.
Note: I think Stephen King stole two things from this tale: the algae-like growth that covers the face of one of the characters, and the ghosts of the dead children. But Benson’s toddling twins are scarier.
____
BETWEEN THE LIGHTS (1912)
“Why, there are seven, eight skeletons in this room now, covered with blood and skin and other horrors.”
“We had had no frost that autumn, and a temerarious dahlia was still in flower. I have always thought that it must have been mad.”
____
AND THE DEAD SPAKE (1922) 👑
Sci-fi horror. I ate it up. It’s expertly done, the stage full of wonderful props: steel globes, batteries, lancets, “spirit lamps” etc. At one point Benson foresees organ transplants. Actually the main idea—about being able to recapture the past and read memories from the brain as a needle reads a gramophone record—is superbly inventive.
Also clever is that bit about hiring a housekeeper who’d been accused of murdering her husband, because it’s the safest servant you could have. Who would be less likely to want another dead body associated with them?
The backdrop of the World War I bombings adds to the tumultuous atmosphere.
____
THE OUTCAST (1922) 👑
“…but though the grave was dug deep and well, it spewed her forth again.”
A woman has such a horrifying aura that even the ocean rejects her after a sea burial. The brief backstory, about a young husband who married her for her wealth yet quickly blew his brains out, raises the stakes in the reader’s mind when some townsfolk meet their new neighbor. About Judas reincarnated but touches on nearer terrors.
Benson develops simple mysteries in all these stories that readers can see just ahead of the characters.
____
AT THE FARMHOUSE (1923) 👑
“A noose, a knot drawn quickly taut, and he would have paid her back with justice and swifter mercy for the long strangling which he had suffered.”
Crime horror fiction, very vividly and elaborately described. The dark family history in the beginning is good and the ending is, well, horrifying!
____
THE TEMPLE (1924)
Vintage Benson. This time the rented cottage is built over a Druidic sacrificial slab. I liked the heroic ending.
____
A TALE OF AN EMPTY HOUSE (1925)
A vast estuary. A sudden downpour. A lonely house on a spit of land. Sheltering in the kitchen as the sound of the rain turns into a roar. And then the bang of the front door, and a shuffling step.
____
THE STEP (1926)
“How the fellow had skipped off when he heard talk of the dog!”
Scrooge in Egypt. A belated Imperial Gothic, but delectable. Benson’s perennial slug manifests itself here in human form. The featureless face is like that of a worm.
____
PIRATES (1928)
A prosaic businessman is mining the Cornish land where he was raised, which causes him to mine his childhood memories. He returns to London, yet gradually gets called back to restore his family home, which is perhaps haunted by his deceased loved-ones. There’s a touch of Vertigo in this, in his obsessive wish to meticulously recreate the past and bring it back to life.
A lovely ghost story about trying to raise the dead, but with a bittersweet twist that feels surprising yet natural.
____
THE FLINT KNIFE (1929? Not included in this collection)
Centers on the usual sacrificial altar from Druid times, but the setting—a walled-in and doorless plot of land—is striking.
____
THE DANCE (1934) 👑
“Rare sport: they would have killed him, he thought, if they had the spirit of a louse between them.”
A delightfully fiendish main character. There’s something wonderfully angry about this tale. I almost felt I was supposed to root for the sadistic villain, the same way he roots for a neat, cruel spider trapping a clumsy wasp.
____
GAVON’S EVE (1906)
____
THE HOUSE WITH THE BRICK-KILN (1908) 👑
____
THE HORROR-HORN (1922) 👑
____
THE THING IN THE HALL (1912)
____
THE FACE (1924) 👑
____
THE BED BY THE WINDOW (1929) 👑
____
MONKEYS (1933) 👑
____
THE SANCTUARY (1934) 👑
____
SPINACH (1924)
____
IN THE TUBE (1922)
____
THE MAN WHO WENT TOO FAR (1904)
____
MRS. AMWORTH (1922) 👑
____
THE ROOM IN THE TOWER (1912)
____
THE BUS-CONDUCTOR (1906)
____
NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS (1922) 👑
____
AND NO BIRD SINGS (1926)
____
CATERPILLARS (1912)
__________________________
Marginalia:
*Benson was a student at Cambridge and a member of the Chit-Chat Club when MR James would give his Christmas Eve ghost story readings.
*Everyone in Benson’s family—father, mother, brothers and sisters—was brilliant, bipolar, and homosexual. Really just an insane (sometimes homicidal) group. The children, incidentally, weren’t allowed breakfast until they’d asked for it in rhyming couplets.
____
Further reading:
Dust-cloud
Confession of Charles Linkworth
At Abdul Ali’s Grave
Cat
Outside the Door
Terror by Night
Other Bed
Machaon
Inscrutable Decrees
Gardener
Mr. Tilly’s Séance
Roderick’s Story
Reconciliation
Bagnell Terrace
Naboth’s Vineyard
Expiation
Home Sweet Home
Corner House
Corstophine
James Lamp
Hanging of Alfred Wadham
Wishing-well
Bath-chair
Christopher Comes Back
Thursday Evenings
Psychical Mallards
Clonmel Witch Burning
More not included in this collection (see The Outcast: and Other Dark Tales):
Dummy on a Dahabeah
A Winter Morning
The Passenger
The Light in the Garden
The Top Landing
By the Sluice
The Secret Garden
The Flint Knife (reviewed above)
Billy Comes Through
October 29, 2012
E.F. Benson's ghostly tales are varied as they are enjoyable. Ghosts, Psychic Vampirism, Healers, Witches, Reincarnated souls, human sacrifices brought on by ghosts, dangerous and secret cults, Vampires, Elementals, Charlatan Psychics, haunted automobiles and even giant monkeys populate these pages of absolutely engrossing supernatural tales. Even the moods that pervade these stories are quite varied; some are very bleak and grisly considering the period at which they were written, others humorous and easy going. The worst that can be said about the stories in this collection is that in most of them the main character's backgrounds are all too similar; they are usually somewhat wealthy gentlemen who upon vacationing in the countryside or small towns stumble upon supernatural entities. Also, some may have a problem with the fact that ghosts are the most frequent entity to feature amongst these stories. However these are very minor gripes considering the vast array of creatures that "haunt" these pages and the quality of these stories. My personal favourites are "The Room in the Tower", "How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery", "Caterpillars", "The Outcast", "The Face", "At the Farmhouse", "The House with the Brick Kiln" and my personal favourite, "The Temple". Out of all of these flesh-creeping tales there was only one story I didn't care for (The Dust-Cloud) and considering there are over fifty of them in this volume I'd say it's bound to satisfy the avid supernatural tales aficcionado.
October 3, 2020
This sprawling collection contains some of the best tales of terror after the work of M. R. James. While I appreciate how thorough this anthology is, there is a lot here that's not worth reading: the simple rule is, if there's a mention of a seance skip it. But there are so many tales to which the simply phrase "ghost story" simply can't encompass, and Benson is best when he's at his weirdest. Fortunately, that's pretty often!
October 3, 2009
my all time favorite book!!!!!!!!!!!
November 20, 2013
I think I remember The Twilight Zone episode Wikipedia is talking about, that one inspired by “The Bus Conductor”, although I don’t recall whether it impressed me as much as this short story did. As this entire volume did.
I must confess I’m not a compulsive reader of Gothic literature, but now and again I feel like looking into the dark side of imagination☺. And here I am, somehow guiltily enjoying this collection of “spook” stories, some of them really, really good.
What I liked best and marked as an original approach to supernatural was the characters’ familiarity with magic. Every one of them accepts it as natural, as part of life, and despite the terror tries to communicate, understand or help. This attitude influences, of course, the reader’s, who never feels a lasting fright after reading one short story or another, and some considered this a flaw, but to me is rather a deliberate ambiguity, a slightly parodic reinterpretation of the genre.
Sometimes the stories (the most conventional ones) are about haunted galleries, rooms or yards where victims or killers wait for redemption. Sometimes weird creatures lurk in the dark. Or cars have live of their own, like in The Dust-Cloud, (Christine’s ancestor?), or weird medical experiments are conducted Frankenstein-style, like in And the Dead Spake, or pacts with the evil for money or love are made, like in At Abdul Ali's Grave or Gavon's Eve.
At least four are extremely well written: The Bus Conductor, The Man Who Went Too Far, The Cat and The Room in the Tower. While the interest of the first lies in the ingenious developing of premonition theme, for the other three the original blend of magic and mythology is most captivating.
The Man Who Went Too Far is the story of a former painter who thought he had discovered the secret of the eternal youth:
“I sat down and waited; I looked at happy things, zealously avoided the sight of anything unhappy, and by degrees a little trickle of the happiness of this blissful world began to filter into me. (…). When a man's body dies, it passes into trees and flowers. Well, that is what I have been trying to do with my soul before death."
But this form of animism turns out to be an illusion, since it systematically avoids the suffering, which is also part of this world, and this is one lesson the hero will have to learn in the end.
Another painter, who seems to have been revealed the secret of creation by suffering this time, is the main character of The Cat. After being jilted, his painting becomes suddenly brilliant and his former fiancée, now a Lady by marriage, asks him to paint her.
“She was one of those blonde, lithe, silken girls, who, happily for the peace of men's minds, are rather rare, and who remind one of some humanised yet celestial and bestial cat.”
This sort of zoomorphism fascinates and horrifies the hero who, like the other painter in the other story, will be found with angry animal marks on his lifeless body.
Finally, The Room in the Tower is built around a recurrent nightmare, which becomes reality but the hero is fortunate enough to escape both.
The last piece, Mr. Tilly's Séance, is told ironically from the point of view of a spectre killed while going to a séance where he goes anyhow only to learn that the medium is a fraud – or almost, because even if he doesn’t see any of the spirits she usually invokes he can communicate with her.
Overall, an interesting book, not only for Gothic lovers but also for anyone in search of a good light reading.
I must confess I’m not a compulsive reader of Gothic literature, but now and again I feel like looking into the dark side of imagination☺. And here I am, somehow guiltily enjoying this collection of “spook” stories, some of them really, really good.
What I liked best and marked as an original approach to supernatural was the characters’ familiarity with magic. Every one of them accepts it as natural, as part of life, and despite the terror tries to communicate, understand or help. This attitude influences, of course, the reader’s, who never feels a lasting fright after reading one short story or another, and some considered this a flaw, but to me is rather a deliberate ambiguity, a slightly parodic reinterpretation of the genre.
Sometimes the stories (the most conventional ones) are about haunted galleries, rooms or yards where victims or killers wait for redemption. Sometimes weird creatures lurk in the dark. Or cars have live of their own, like in The Dust-Cloud, (Christine’s ancestor?), or weird medical experiments are conducted Frankenstein-style, like in And the Dead Spake, or pacts with the evil for money or love are made, like in At Abdul Ali's Grave or Gavon's Eve.
At least four are extremely well written: The Bus Conductor, The Man Who Went Too Far, The Cat and The Room in the Tower. While the interest of the first lies in the ingenious developing of premonition theme, for the other three the original blend of magic and mythology is most captivating.
The Man Who Went Too Far is the story of a former painter who thought he had discovered the secret of the eternal youth:
“I sat down and waited; I looked at happy things, zealously avoided the sight of anything unhappy, and by degrees a little trickle of the happiness of this blissful world began to filter into me. (…). When a man's body dies, it passes into trees and flowers. Well, that is what I have been trying to do with my soul before death."
But this form of animism turns out to be an illusion, since it systematically avoids the suffering, which is also part of this world, and this is one lesson the hero will have to learn in the end.
Another painter, who seems to have been revealed the secret of creation by suffering this time, is the main character of The Cat. After being jilted, his painting becomes suddenly brilliant and his former fiancée, now a Lady by marriage, asks him to paint her.
“She was one of those blonde, lithe, silken girls, who, happily for the peace of men's minds, are rather rare, and who remind one of some humanised yet celestial and bestial cat.”
This sort of zoomorphism fascinates and horrifies the hero who, like the other painter in the other story, will be found with angry animal marks on his lifeless body.
Finally, The Room in the Tower is built around a recurrent nightmare, which becomes reality but the hero is fortunate enough to escape both.
The last piece, Mr. Tilly's Séance, is told ironically from the point of view of a spectre killed while going to a séance where he goes anyhow only to learn that the medium is a fraud – or almost, because even if he doesn’t see any of the spirits she usually invokes he can communicate with her.
Overall, an interesting book, not only for Gothic lovers but also for anyone in search of a good light reading.
September 24, 2019
A Volume to be savoured
The fatness of this volume, clocking in at over 700 pages, bears testimony to E.F. Benson’s prolific output of ghost stories and supernatural tales. Their range, in terms of both subject matter and tone, is wider than that of most who have written in the genre, which should not be surprising given that he was a highly-successful author of the satirical Mapp and Lucia novels, amongst others.
Perhaps the best known of the short stories included in this anthology is The Bus-Conductor, an unnerving tale that was included in the classic 1945 portmanteau horror film Dead of Night, but many readers may well also have encountered his chilling The Face and In the Tube in horror anthologies alongside the works of other authors.
In a collection of this size, the reader is bound to encounter stories that grip the imagination, whilst others may fall a little flat, but this economical Wordsworth edition is worth every penny for those that do hit the mark, and of them there are many. To enumerate all of the titles included would be tedious for any reader of this review, but I shall mention those that I found particularly appealing.
Benson drew heavily upon Scottish folklore in both Gavon’s Eve and The Shootings of Achnaleish, with the latter in particular possessing a notably folk-horror vibe, prefiguring elements of The Wicker Man and Straw Dogs. How Fear Departed the Long Gallery, on the other hand, is a charming ghost story set in an old country house, whose many spectral inhabitants are largely harmless but for those who perished as a consequence of a dastardly act at the close of the age of the Virgin Queen. Perfectly delicious with a touch of whimsy. The House with the Brick-Kiln is quite murderous, whereas Monkeys would appear to have been informed by Benson’s sister’s expertise in the field of Egyptology, and possesses a most chilling twist. Humour comes to the fore in stories such as Mr Tilly’s Séance, Thursday Evenings and the singularly titled The Psychical Mallards, with the latter featuring a pair of levitating mediums who reach the heights of absurdity. Benson thus proved himself to be equally adept at raising a smile and a shudder, and this is to his credit.
Like M.R. James, Benson’s protagonists are more often than not of a particular type, with both men tending to favour bachelors like themselves. Whereas James’s fellows normally proved to be of a scholarly bent, Benson’s were of a more frivolous type – upper-middle-class chaps of independent means who possessed no greater pleasure than a rubber of bridge of an evening (no, I hadn’t heard of that term either until I read these stories), and renting a house for a month or two to escape the unclean air of London. Whilst all of the stories in this volume may be viewed as period pieces, firmly embedded within the social milieu that was familiar to the author, their ability to entertain the reader remains undiminished. This is a volume to be savoured by any lover of ghost stories, and tales of the supernatural.
The fatness of this volume, clocking in at over 700 pages, bears testimony to E.F. Benson’s prolific output of ghost stories and supernatural tales. Their range, in terms of both subject matter and tone, is wider than that of most who have written in the genre, which should not be surprising given that he was a highly-successful author of the satirical Mapp and Lucia novels, amongst others.
Perhaps the best known of the short stories included in this anthology is The Bus-Conductor, an unnerving tale that was included in the classic 1945 portmanteau horror film Dead of Night, but many readers may well also have encountered his chilling The Face and In the Tube in horror anthologies alongside the works of other authors.
In a collection of this size, the reader is bound to encounter stories that grip the imagination, whilst others may fall a little flat, but this economical Wordsworth edition is worth every penny for those that do hit the mark, and of them there are many. To enumerate all of the titles included would be tedious for any reader of this review, but I shall mention those that I found particularly appealing.
Benson drew heavily upon Scottish folklore in both Gavon’s Eve and The Shootings of Achnaleish, with the latter in particular possessing a notably folk-horror vibe, prefiguring elements of The Wicker Man and Straw Dogs. How Fear Departed the Long Gallery, on the other hand, is a charming ghost story set in an old country house, whose many spectral inhabitants are largely harmless but for those who perished as a consequence of a dastardly act at the close of the age of the Virgin Queen. Perfectly delicious with a touch of whimsy. The House with the Brick-Kiln is quite murderous, whereas Monkeys would appear to have been informed by Benson’s sister’s expertise in the field of Egyptology, and possesses a most chilling twist. Humour comes to the fore in stories such as Mr Tilly’s Séance, Thursday Evenings and the singularly titled The Psychical Mallards, with the latter featuring a pair of levitating mediums who reach the heights of absurdity. Benson thus proved himself to be equally adept at raising a smile and a shudder, and this is to his credit.
Like M.R. James, Benson’s protagonists are more often than not of a particular type, with both men tending to favour bachelors like themselves. Whereas James’s fellows normally proved to be of a scholarly bent, Benson’s were of a more frivolous type – upper-middle-class chaps of independent means who possessed no greater pleasure than a rubber of bridge of an evening (no, I hadn’t heard of that term either until I read these stories), and renting a house for a month or two to escape the unclean air of London. Whilst all of the stories in this volume may be viewed as period pieces, firmly embedded within the social milieu that was familiar to the author, their ability to entertain the reader remains undiminished. This is a volume to be savoured by any lover of ghost stories, and tales of the supernatural.
July 15, 2018
As a chronic insomniac, much of my reading takes place through the night. In some ways, perhaps that is why I completely fell in love with this collection of stories - many of them told in the first person - it began to feel like I was the 'friend' who had happened to call round one evening, on seeing a lamp still lit at my writer friend's window, and we were settling down by the fireside to discuss the strange and the supernatural he so wonderfully describes in his writing. It soon became an irresistible draw, and an added incentive to bring my Kindle with me wherever I went!
The stories themselves, in many ways, are rather like sitting in a favourite chair - you immediately feel at home, and relax into your reading. I wouldn't like to even begin to critique this wonderful collection, so I will not try. I will simply say you will discover a world still within reach (with a little imagination) where the strange, mysterious, and sometimes terrifying, awaits. You will not be disappointed, as some of these strange tales have a habit of lingering in your mind, long after you have switched of the bedside lamp...or, perhaps left it lit. Those shadows in the corner are sometimes just too dark for comfort...
Oh, and I would love to add that this collection also contains perhaps the most beautifully written and poignant ghost story I have ever read, 'Pirates'. It awaits you almost at the very end of the collection, and I almost wish it had been the last story in the book - if you read it, you'll understand the context I have voiced my wish in, as the last part of the book is actually a small addendum of work that was hitherto uncollected, and comes at a time very close to the author's death.
I defy anyone to read 'Pirates' and not shed a bittersweet tear. I freely admit I did. As for the other tales that await...well, they may well keep you up at night, too. I did warn you...!
The stories themselves, in many ways, are rather like sitting in a favourite chair - you immediately feel at home, and relax into your reading. I wouldn't like to even begin to critique this wonderful collection, so I will not try. I will simply say you will discover a world still within reach (with a little imagination) where the strange, mysterious, and sometimes terrifying, awaits. You will not be disappointed, as some of these strange tales have a habit of lingering in your mind, long after you have switched of the bedside lamp...or, perhaps left it lit. Those shadows in the corner are sometimes just too dark for comfort...
Oh, and I would love to add that this collection also contains perhaps the most beautifully written and poignant ghost story I have ever read, 'Pirates'. It awaits you almost at the very end of the collection, and I almost wish it had been the last story in the book - if you read it, you'll understand the context I have voiced my wish in, as the last part of the book is actually a small addendum of work that was hitherto uncollected, and comes at a time very close to the author's death.
I defy anyone to read 'Pirates' and not shed a bittersweet tear. I freely admit I did. As for the other tales that await...well, they may well keep you up at night, too. I did warn you...!
June 3, 2019
There is much to discover and enjoy in this wonderful compilation that never gets repetitive despite the common thread that unites all stories: fear and horror. Sometimes the uncanny comes from ghosts, other times from real everyday objects, and other times from the excited imagination of a gentleman, who might be very proper and all-English, but who is, nontheless, as vulnerable to madness and hallucinations as you and I. I believe all Benson's protagonists are Benson himself, cleverly exorcising his inner demons by putting them on paper. A true genius!
April 4, 2013
Hugo said it for me. Wordsworth have really excelled with these Tales of Mystery and The Supernatural. Without their efforts I would never have realized that Benson is a premier league horror writer - he has his faults - at times in his 'middle period a little too predictive, at times not perhaps horrible enough but there are some utter gems in this collection - 'Steps' being one. He's a four and a half star writer in a five star edition here.
January 22, 2009
To love horror and not to have read E.F. Benson's Collected Stories is to miss out on a real classic. If you read this book, do not read "The Room in the Tower" when you are alone. You will go mad.
February 27, 2012
Head to head with M. R. James for the best of the best in British ghost stories.
July 17, 2007
These aren't ghost stories these are ghost stories.
January 16, 2021
In some ways, E.F.Benson’s ghost stories are of a piece. They are peopled mostly with rich men – only a few women – who spend their time making large fortunes in the City of London, eating lavish meals and playing bridge, golf, or piquet. They spend most of their time in London or Cornwall.
To that extent, then, there is quite a bit of sameness to the stories. There is also an oddly unfinished feel to some of them.
That said, there are some genuinely spooky stories here. One that truly creeped me out was The Step (one of a couple of stories set in Egypt) – I won’t forget that ending in a hurry. Among the others, The Bus-Conductor, Mrs Amworth, and How Fear departed from the Long Gallery stand out.
All in all, I wouldn’t rate Benson’s ghost stories as highly as those of M.R. James, but they’re worth a look.
To that extent, then, there is quite a bit of sameness to the stories. There is also an oddly unfinished feel to some of them.
That said, there are some genuinely spooky stories here. One that truly creeped me out was The Step (one of a couple of stories set in Egypt) – I won’t forget that ending in a hurry. Among the others, The Bus-Conductor, Mrs Amworth, and How Fear departed from the Long Gallery stand out.
All in all, I wouldn’t rate Benson’s ghost stories as highly as those of M.R. James, but they’re worth a look.
October 31, 2022
4.5🌟 I was surprised that E.F. Benson wrote so many creepy and atmospheric ghost stories. His writing is wonderful and I enjoyed pretty much every story. My favorite was The Room in the Tower.
Every story was interesting, but many were also very thrilling and suspenseful. Some of the short stories are vampiric, some focus on elementals and others are just plain ghostly.
It’s hard to describe these stories, but they seemed otherworldly while also being relatable. Highly recommended you give them a try! This collection might be a reread every year from now on!
Every story was interesting, but many were also very thrilling and suspenseful. Some of the short stories are vampiric, some focus on elementals and others are just plain ghostly.
It’s hard to describe these stories, but they seemed otherworldly while also being relatable. Highly recommended you give them a try! This collection might be a reread every year from now on!
June 20, 2019
Beautiful compilation of ghost stories set in the picturesque background of the English country side. Each story pulls you in as the events unfold gradually thus letting the reader savor the intense moments of paranormal manifestation. The overall feel of the read is a cozy one and the description of the English landscape serves the purpose of painting a vivid picture in which the reader is transported from the very first story.
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