Fifty Great Horror Stories

by John Canning

Traditional and modern tales of terror feature wolves, vampires, and other deadly creatures

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Ghost Stories

494 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Peter]

This is a facsimile copy first published by Souvenir Press and my VERY FIRST encounter with horror and nightmares.

It was about 1976 - 77 that I found my mum's copy sitting on the dressing table with its lurid half transformed werewolf and corpse and still its gives me a scare.

For me this will always be the ultimate horror book and to this day I still do not recognise any of the authors.

Buy it just for that cover, you know you want to!

[Peter]

Could not believe that this being the first US edition is not posted here. Well the error is corrected and this along with the original UK edition are here for your blood curdling pleasure.

A rather fab read, enjoy.

[Nicholas]

A decent amount of good horror stories. A lot of psychological horror mixed with macabre. There were rare misses in a lot of the stories. I like the fact that none of the stories go past the 1970's. Old horror is usually the best kind of horror. I'd recommend it to any horror fans out there looking to get into the spirit.

[Michael Kelly]

A fantastic read!

Written in that deliciously old-fashioned style, each story illustrated with a little scratchy line drawing which is wonderfully evocative of its contents.

The most wonderful thing is that all of these stories are alleged to be based upon true accounts. This gives them a real added piquancy, but also means they do not always conform to the standard patterns of horror story narratives, since the facts do not always fit the patterns of fiction. This needs to be borne in mind, but becomes a delight rather than a disappointment.

50 tales across 500 pages, and if I didn't have so many books awaiting my attention, I would happily start reading it again from the beginning tomorrow.

[Heidi Ladner]

I was in my mid-teens (and going through a "horror story" phase) when I found this in a collection of literature. I have to say the stories were well written, very detailed, and somewhat informative-depending on the story.
Some stories weren't scary at all, and then some were just downright blood-curdling, weird macabre. I spent many late nights reading this and others like it. I wouldn't recommend it now.

[Kwende]

This collection of macabre short stories sparked my life long love of reading. Try it as a gift on your teen.

[W]

Liked it,during my childhood.

[Christine (KizzieReads)]

Some of these were creepy, some gross and some were just plain jaw dropping. Loved them and it's a perfect time of year to read them. Even better with few lights on at night!

[Vanessa]

I really liked this book and some of the stories gave me the chills. This book is a collection of 50 horror stories. I found some of them not to scary but there were a few that were really creepy and made me wonder why I read the book. i loved most of the stories but a few were a bit boring and that's why I rated this book 4 stars instead.

[Sonia]

A great book full of interesting, at times horrific and grisly, tales. It should be included in every horror lover's collection. I consider it a classic.

[Delanie Dooms]

Every time I open this book -- every time -- I begin a story so numb and lifeless, that I must put it down again disgusted. What is the reason for this? Was this collection crafted with the mistaken belief that a horror story describing facts alone sufficed for a scare -- did it think itself a reaction to true crime and criminal fiction, filled with facts? (Not even the best of that!) It's alluring cover is all that it's worth.

(As you can see in the above, I have not read the full book. If you found it good, I would like to know some of the stories herein contained which you enjoyed!)

[Rhys Causon]

I should say I only read half of this book and could not bare to crawl through the rest of the stories in it.

Out of the roughly 25 I read there were only about 4 that I liked in anyway and one of them was the second.

I think my main problem is that these stories are only written by 8 people collectively. So if you don’t like someone’s writing style, it’s likely you won’t be interested in most of the book.

So I can understand why people can give this five stars, I wanted to like it but it’s not for me.

[Chris]

Pls how do I get this book in Nigeria

[Abraham Spencer]

I bought and found this at a thrift store look interesting and just loved it still reading it though but I would recommend to read one of john canning books there great.

[✨Bean's Books✨]

It is clear that most of the authors in this book are either of British origin or writing tales of British origin. I hate to stereotype, but I'm a realist here. In all my many years of watching and reading horror I know this to be true: I do not find British horror scary in the very least. Very beautifully written, yes. Interesting characters, yes. Scary stories, no. I find this all very true with this book. I'd say (in my personal opinion) that out of the 50 stories there are less than 10 that are the least bit interesting let alone scary or even unnerving in the least way. Mostly I found this read very tedious and boring to read. Despite it's boastful title.