Ghosts and Family Legends

by Catherine Crowe

A wonderful and entertaining collection of ghost stories by Catherine Crowe.

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Fiction

117 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1859

About the author

Catherine Crowe was an English author of dramas, children's books, and novels. She is remembered mainly for her publication The Night-side of Nature, a collection of stories of the supernatural.

Oxford DNB: (Crowe [née Stevens], Catherine Ann (1790-1872), novelist and writer on the supernatural, born 20 September 1790, died 14 June 1872)

Reviews

[Shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subtitle of my copy of this book was , "A volume for Christmas" which is why I chose to read it at this time of year. Sadly there is nothing remotely festive in any of the stories , nor is there much in the way of spookiness.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, old-fashioned ghost stories told around the fire during a house party over several evenings. Some are more intriguing than others. All are purportedly true, recounted to us by Catherine Ann Crowe, the authoress and one of the largest contributors to Spiritualist research.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Bill Borre]

The Sheep Farmer's Story is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror
The Swiss Lady's Story is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror

[Michael John Paul McManus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read based on true accounts of ghosts and family legends as told to the author, Catherine Crowe. I had read some of the stories before, but all in all a good read.

[Frances · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for an audiobook to listen to in November. If nothing else, "Ghosts and Family Legends: A Volume for Christmas" bridges the gap between Halloween and Christmas. Did you know that people used to tell ghost stories at Christmas? That's the only thing Christmasy about this book.

If Catherine Crowe were around today, she would have her own public access TV show about supernatural events, and then, after she hit it big, she'd get a lucrative contract with either the Sci-fi (sorry, Syfy) network or the History Channel. Or she would have a conspiracy theory website. Maybe she'd even be a 9/11 truther. (I am basing this only on what she wrote in this book.)

The real Catherine Crowe in her own time (early to mid-1800's) was also a novelist and children's book author. She wrote a book about the supernatural which became her most popular work, and she apparently became a celebrity supernatural expert. She wrote this book, Ghosts and Family Legends, as a follow up. It has three parts: a series of short stories and legends supposedly told to her by friends over several evenings while on vacation; some letters sent to the author after she became famous; and some longer, narrative-fiction-style stories. The first part is interesting in the way that telling stories with friends at a dinner party is interesting. The stories don't all have narrative arcs or morals. They cover every kind of ghostly occurrence: haunted houses, haunted animals, seeing live people where they are not, murder victims seeking justice, etc. I would have preferred to read this section rather than listen to a recording of it, to be able to pause between each mini-episode. The second section, of correspondence, I found quite boring. The third section was the best, for me, because the stories had plots and were written like fiction rather than gossip.

Probably the biggest reason why this book disappointed me was that I was expecting to read fiction, and this book is written as if the author does not intend it to be fiction at all. It would be interesting to read in the context of a history course, to illustrate how people acted and thought in the 1800's.