Tales from the Terrific Register: The Book of Murder

by Cate Ludlow (Editor)

Sure to fascinate anyone with an interest in true crime, this selection contains the most gruesome tales from this 185-year-old publication. Including "the horrible murder of a child by starvation," dreadful executions, foul tortures, and one of the earliest mentions of a now notorious killer who turned his victims into pies, it will chill all but the sturdiest of hearts.

Genres: True Crime

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2009

Reviews

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice)]

Definitely don't read this historical true crime before your bedtimes readers! Lots of bloody gore throughout. This collection was inspired by the publication called Terrific Register that Charles Dickens used to read when he was in his teens/adulthood. Interesting read but doesn't hold back from details!

[Nancy Hammons]

It was ok, not as terrifying as the blurb on the back would have you believe.

[Mel]

When we went to the British Library Dickens and the supernatural exhibition I made a note of the name of the Penny Dreadful that Dickens read that was full of supernatural and spooky stories. While we were out yesterday Bill found this collection of stories from the Terrific register and so I decided I had to buy it. As a historical record it's not that great, there is no information about when any of the stories were published, or any context at all. However, as entertainment it is pretty great. The tales, which are mostly set in the 18th century and of foreign parts are still quite gruesome. Reading it you get the impression that if you tried to do any traveling at all you'd end up robbed and likely killed. The most gruesome story was about a man and women in Scotland who married and lived in a cave where they proceeded to rob, murder and eat people for 25 years, they had children who had children with each other. When they were finally discovered they were executed without trial. The men had their dicks cut off, limbs cut off and were left to bleed to death. The women watched the execution of the men and then were thrown into fires. The tales were definitely more folk tale than history but told as if they were real events. One of the things that was quite interesting was the story of Sweeny Todd was told but it was told as happening in France and the barber was given a Parisian address. The editor of the book has made several other collections from the Terrific Register, Ghosts, wonders, London and Highwaymen and Pirates. I've already ordered the Ghosts one before finishing this. Definitely a book I'd recommend for those interested in the gruesome and bizarre!

[Wayne Farmer]

An interesting piece of history - The terrific register is definitely something I would have read had I been around in the 1820s. I'm not sure how true many of the stories are, some of them are definitely just folklore, but they are an interesting read in regards to how life was back in time. I was also quite surprised by some of the moral points being made in some of the tales in regards to executions, etc - it seems we were far more "human" back in the 1820s than we sometimes think we were. Worth having just for the account of Sawney Bean, and also the story of Sweeney Todd, but set in France...