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The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories
A collection of supernatural tales from the gothic graveyards of the 19th-century to spine-tingling and unusual settings of the modern age which includes work by Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bram Stoker, Rudyard Kipling, M.R.James, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Edith Wharton and Claire Colvin.ContentsPrefaceRobert Aickman The Unsettled DustLouisa Baldwin How He Left the HotelNugent Barker WhessoeE.F. Benson The Shuttered RoomAmbrose Bierce An Inhabitant of CarcosaCharles Birkin Is there Anybody there?Algernon Blackwood The WhisperersL.M. Boston CurfewA.M. Burrage I'm Sure it was No. 31Ramsay Campbell The GuideR. Chetwynd-Hayes The Limping GhostWilkie Collins Mrs Zant and the GhostBasil Copper The House by the TarnRalph A. Cram In Kropfsberg KeepDaniel Defoe The Ghost in all the RoomsCharles Dickens The Bagman's UncleArthur Conan-Doyle The Bully of Brocas CourtAmelia B. Edwards In the ConfessionalShamus Frazer The Tune in Dan's CafJohn S. Glasby Beyond the BourneWilliam Hope Hodgson The Valley of Lost ChildrenFergus Hume The Sand-WalkerHenry James The Real Right ThingM.R. James The Haunted Dolls' HouseRoger Johnson The Wall-PaintingRudyard Kipling TheyD.H. Lawrence The Last LaughMargery Lawrence Robin's RathJ. Sheridan Le Fanu The DreamR.H. Malden The SundialRichard Marsh The Fifteenth ManJohn Metcalfe Brenner's BoyEdith Nesbit Uncle Abraham's RomanceFitz-James O'Brien What was It?Vincent O'Sullivan The Next RoomRoger Pater The Footstep of the AventineEdgar Allan Poe William WilsonForrest Reid CourageMrs J.H. Riddell The Last of Squire EnnismoreL.T.C. Rolte The Garside Fell DisasterDavid G. Rowlands The Tears of St. AgathaSaki The Soul of LaploshkaSapper The Old Dining-RoomMontague Summers The Between-MaidMark Twain A Ghost StoryMark Valentine The FollyH. Russell Wakefield Out of the Wrack I RiseKarl Edward Wagner In the PinesManly Wade Wellman Where Angels FearEdward Lucas White The House of the NightmareOscar Wilde The Canterville GhostWilliam J. Wintle The Spectre Spiders
654 pages, Paperback
First published July 25, 1990
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Richard Dalby
124 books22 followersRichard Dalby (1949-2017) was an editor and literary researcher.
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September 25, 2023I'd read this previously (as Phantastic Book of Ghost Stories) but that was prior to joining Goodreads, and despite my scheduling mistake, I decided not to miss the chance to get formal reviews of a bunch of classics into GR. Also, I started this around Halloween and (at a 654 page count) I knew it would likely carry over into the x-mas season (the second ghost story holiday!)
And at that stated length, this will have to be a three-tier review. As always, full review of all stories comes last!
FIRST TIER: So what you get for your money is a large collection of 52, count 'em, 52 ghost stories! This is a nice sampler of the range to be found in the classic Ghost Story - and, as always, I again mention that "ghost stories" are not necessarily "horror stories". Yes, there are some spookers in here, but you also get the sentimental, the folkloric, the religious, the gentle, the familiar, the straightforward, the satiric, etc. Still, not a bad sampler.
SECOND TIER: Those who read a lot of supernatural fiction probably have a number of these stories in other collections, but this is a handy package with only a few bum pieces. It strikes me that this might make a perfect gift for a child who is a little more adventurous in their reading (although the alphabetic author conceit means we start out with Robert Aickman, which might prove difficult for a kid). That conceit also means that the chips of "quality" and "theme" fall where they may (so much for the editor's job as "arranger"). Also, while the majority of the work here is older, there is a deliberate attempt to salt in a few more recent (at least at publication) authors.
THIRD TIER: And on we go...as always, least effective to most effective. Honestly, this is a huge book so I wouldn't blame you for skipping this review or just hunting up specific comments, the book itself is a very solid, worthwhile sampler of the ghost story in a number of forms.
As I said, a few bum notes here. I didn't originally like (and so did not re-read) Wilkie Collins's long "Mrs. Zant And The Ghost", and downgraded William Hope Hodgson's "The Valley Of Lost Children" from just "okay" to "no" on the fact that it's treacly, sentimental slop.
And, as might be expected, a set of weak "okay" stories as well. I upgraded "How He Left the Hotel" by Louisa Baldwin on my re-read - my initial reading probably found this tale (of a war veteran, now elevator operator and his last, posthumous transport of a kindly old gentleman) as too familiar and un-scary, but with a little more maturity and and exposure to supernatural fiction under my belt, I enjoyed the narrator's character and some details, even if the plot trajectory is transparently obvious. Charles Birkin's "Is there Anybody There?" has an interesting set-up - a nervous old woman in a supposedly haunted house who, with her psychic sensitivity, becomes aware of the spirits in the place and their eventual tragedy - and an interesting filigree - the ghosts, while playing out their endless drama, are AWARE she is watching them and resent it - but the resolution hinges on an unlikely coincidence. In "I'm Sure It Was No. 31" by A.M. Burrage, a man, searching for a house to rent, spends a pleasant visit with a woman and her adult daughter, only to find they moved away 2 years previous. Eh. "The Limping Ghost", upgraded on the re-read, has the over-emotional daughter of bullying parents develop an attachment to their prosaic, puttering ghost. While the twist in this is fairly familiar story conceit, R. Chetwynd-Hayes does deliver a gruesome ending. Charles Dickens' "The Tale Of The Bagman's Uncle" involves a jolly uncle who takes a drunken walk through Edinburgh and then has a vision of a ghostly past wherein a helpless lady needs some rollicking daring-do to rescue her from blackguards. Eh, squared.
Still in the "okay" strata: A woman author retires to an isolated cottage where she encounters spectral evidence of a ghost child in John S. Glasby's "Beyond The Bourne". Unfortunately, she incorrectly presumes that the ghost of an innocent child cannot portend bad fortunes. Kind of weak. M.R. James is a master, no doubt, but I've never been a big fan of "The Haunted Doll's House". Rereading it here, I enjoyed the authorial intrusions that satirize little aspects of ghost stories (and short fiction in general) in a knowing way, the passive/aggressive haggling dialogue that opens the piece and the brief description of the hideous haunter is effective (James is nothing if not an assured writer). But still, this story of a collector who buys a marvelous and enormous doll's house for a song, only to find that in the evening it becomes something like a miniature stage on which terrible historical deeds are replayed, still seems too much like a rehash of James' superior "The Mezzotint" to me, and the passive aspect of the main characters makes it feel a little removed from the fear. Richard Marsh's "The Fifteenth Man" (much like "How He Left The Hotel") is thuddingly obvious as to where it's tale of a rugby team bedeviled by a spectral, unstoppable member of the opposing team - and that team has a critically injured member in hospital (what book are you reading, huh?) - but was kind of interesting as an example of "sports fiction". In "The Tears of St. Agatha" by David G. Rowlands a priest involves himself in the search for a holy relic in rural France and eventually, after suffering an accident, he is led by a vision. Not a "spooky" story in any way, this follows the classic "ghost points to treasure" folklore trope, with the odd detail of attempting to introduce a rational explanation for the miracles associated with the relic. Not very satisfying. Finally, Mark Twain is represented here with "A Ghost Story", a satire of Victorian supernatural fiction (the effect achieved by breathlessly piling up the standard cliches (drops of blood, a clammy hand, booming footsteps) which then turns into a parody of the poplar "false fossil", The Cardiff Giant.
Next are the solidly "good but slightly flawed" stories: in "Whessoe" by Nugent Barker an aged hermit in his large mansion begins to suspect that something he had expected for years has finally happened, his home has been invaded by ghosts. I upgraded this on the -re-read simply because, while the outcome is predictable, it features interesting, oddly stylized language. "The Ghost in all the Rooms", one of the oldest stories here, concerns a servant's dreamed premonition of bandits' home invasion while the master is away, which comes true but is then foiled by a spirit who moves from room to room. Surprisingly action filled work by Daniel Defoe. Amelia B. Edwards' "In the Confessional" has a man traveling the Rhine river who stops in a quaint Swiss town where he learns about the tragic demise of the town's pastor, now replaced by the man's brother. Although familiar, there's some nice scene setting and a slight plot feint at the end I wasn't expecting. Henry James retains his reputation for a heavy, dense style in "The Real Right Thing" as, post death, the task of composing a famous figure's biography falls on his associate and the man's wife, who gradually sense that his spirit would rather it *not* be written at all. Thick going. Previously, I was not a fan of Rudyard Kipling's "They", but on the re-read I found some things to appreciate in this tale of a traveler (in a newfangled motor coach) who stumbles onto the sprawling property of a blind landholder, said grounds seemingly populated by dozens of half-glimpsed children. Not so much a good read for the story, per se, as for the details: some wonderful landscape descriptions (the forested area lies near the sea), the woman's flashes of telepathic empathy, a desperate dash by motor car to save a dying child. A very sedate, melancholy story that's not scary but interesting. A Catholic priest recounts his tale of spectral footsteps encountered while visiting the Chuch's Aventine holdings in Rome in Roger Pater's "The Footstep of the Aventine" - a quaint, quiet tale of a religiously based haunting. An opportunistic spendthrift dies while still being owed a pittance by our narrator, who is then haunted by the notorious cheapskate in "The Soul Of Laploshka" by Saki. The various actions taken to resolve the debt make up this cute trifle. Sapper (The creator of "Bulldog Drummond") gives us the tale of an ancient place in a country house, once the site of treacherous events that now echo into a current day tragedy, in "The Old Dining-Room" - efficiently, if a bit blandly, told. A young ghost-hunting couple journey to an abandoned house (with a history of suicidal hangings) in "Where Angels Fear" by Manly Wade Wellman - once again, a familiar twist in the end, but atmospherically told. "The House Of The Nightmare" by Edward Lucas White has an early motorist suffer a crash near a dilapidated rural home, where he stays for the night only to suffer a dream of a black boar. And once again, the payoff is expected but the atmosphere suffices to entertain. Finally W.J. Wintle's "The Spectre Spiders" is a passable story that lifts "plump, furry" imagery from James' "The Ash Tree" for the story of a man plagued by phantom arachnids. And while it has much to commend in its creepy and gruesome (the "too light" corpses) imagery, mention must be made that Wintle still succeeds in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory when presenting the symbolic motivation for why our main character is so beset - it's because he's a genteel, money-grubbing, usurious Jew, you see, whose greatest claim to personal pride is that he never anglicized his name to fit in.
Then come the unreservedly "good" stories: Robert Aickman starts off the anthology with "The Unsettled Dust", a tale told by the Special Duty Officer of the Historic Structures Fund (one of three known hauntings he experienced) of Clamber Court, the large estate and grounds occupied by the Breakspear sisters, which unaccountably finds its interior covered with a coating of dust, not to mention glimpses of a young gentleman. The unnerving tension between the siblings, couched in cold formality, and the initial ghostly manifestation (exploiting the reflection of a lighted room's interior on the outside dark) are well done. "The Shuttered Room" by E.F. Benson is familiar as an old shoe and, putting aside the tidiness of the plot, could almost be a "true-life haunting" story. A young couple come to reclaim a family home from two anti-social hermit uncles, one of whom disappeared a few years before the other's death. But as they out the house in order they sense a watching prescence that eventually divulges the secret of the one Uncle's disappearance. Perfectly ordinary, but I liked the descriptions of the overgrown garden and the scene where the ghost interacts with the woman as her eyes are closed. Three Children spend their holidays at their Aunt & Uncle's cottage on the grounds of a defunct manor house, the refurbishing of which turns up a stone coffin and a supposedly cursed bell from the drained lake in "Curfew" by L.M. Boston, a nicely shivery piece of rural British spookery. Ramsey Campbell's "The Guide" features an elderly man who discovers an original printing of one of M.R. James's church guidebooks, with annotations in an unknown hand....said annotations leading him to a lonely sea-cliff church. A nice James homage. Similarly, "The House By The Tarn" by Basil Copper has a ghost hunting author hike out into the isolated hill country to visit Four Winds, the shell of a shunned place of ill history. There's some good mood work here - lots of brooding atmospheric description as the storied occultists faces off against the implacably evil abode. Satisfying. And yet again similarly, two headstrong travelers decide to challenge the superstition surrounding a ruined Viennese castle's ghostly occupant in Ralph Adams Cram' "In Kropfsberg Keep", only to have one suffer a hideous vision of a fiery dance of death. "The Bully of Brocas Court" by Arthur Conan Doyle has a young boxing contender choose to engage a mysterious figure on a lonely road who reportedly accosts travelers with a challenge to bare-knuckled fisticuffs. A good story, not particularly frightening, but engaging.
Continuing the "good" stories: A young couple takes refuge in an empty restaurant, only to hear a jukebox that plays the same song repeatedly, and a tale recounting the violent death of a criminal patron in Shamus Frazer's "The Tune in Dan's Cafe" - later adapted on NIGHT GALLERY - another simple and effective tale. A traveling salesman stays at a remote North Seas cottage where a mysterious figure is often seen in Fergus Hume's "The Sand-Walker" which, despite the quaintly dramatic climax, is suspenseful and dramatic. I downgraded Margery Lawrence's "Robin's Rath" on this re-read, but this tale of a new landowner who dismisses town "superstition" about clearing a patch of wild ground to build a shortcut, and is then confronted by a mysterious groundskeeper, while overly familiar, is effective (small note - technically *not* a ghost story). What's interesting is the prim and coded way the story intimates sexual passion/desire, while still retaining its "comeuppance" ending. J. Sheridan Le Fanu's "The Dream" (aka "The Drunkard's Dream") is a cautionary tale, not a ghost story, of a reprobate who seemingly recovers on his death bed with the tale of a dream in which he visited Hell and struck a deal with the Devil to return. The story's depiction of abject poverty, the fiery underworld & the gruesome & shocking description of the initial "corpse" (put me in mind of Poe's "Valdemar"), as well as it's hopeful/fateful view of man's actions make this an evocative read. Also in the tradition of James is "The Sundial" by R.H. Malden, which has a retiree remove an obstruction from the garden of his newly purchased country estate, whereupon all kinds of Jamesian events happen (half-glimpsed odd figures in the distance, etc.). The climax, while slightly unsatisfying, is preceded by an effective nightmare of a chase that reverses itself inexplicably. I downgraded John Metcalfe's "Brenner's Boy" on the re-read - this odd story (in which an old sea-captain and his childless wife find themselves unexpectedly, after a chance meeting, playing host to an Admiral's mischievous son) has a surprisingly cruel coda. "Uncle Abraham's Romance" by E. Nesbit, in which a lonely bachelor relates his childhood romance with a strange girl in a cemetery, is in no ways scary but still oddly touching. I'm not sure I would classify Edgar Allan Poe's "William Wilson," in which a debauched man relates the tale of an identical twin figure (that shares his own name) who has haunted him throughout his wayward life and spotted criminal career, as a ghost story (unless we accept the metaphorical take that it's the ghost of Wilson's conscience?) but it's still a solid doppelganger tale, subdued in it's fantastique elements and notable for it basic simplicity.
CONTINUED IN FIRST COMMENT
And at that stated length, this will have to be a three-tier review. As always, full review of all stories comes last!
FIRST TIER: So what you get for your money is a large collection of 52, count 'em, 52 ghost stories! This is a nice sampler of the range to be found in the classic Ghost Story - and, as always, I again mention that "ghost stories" are not necessarily "horror stories". Yes, there are some spookers in here, but you also get the sentimental, the folkloric, the religious, the gentle, the familiar, the straightforward, the satiric, etc. Still, not a bad sampler.
SECOND TIER: Those who read a lot of supernatural fiction probably have a number of these stories in other collections, but this is a handy package with only a few bum pieces. It strikes me that this might make a perfect gift for a child who is a little more adventurous in their reading (although the alphabetic author conceit means we start out with Robert Aickman, which might prove difficult for a kid). That conceit also means that the chips of "quality" and "theme" fall where they may (so much for the editor's job as "arranger"). Also, while the majority of the work here is older, there is a deliberate attempt to salt in a few more recent (at least at publication) authors.
THIRD TIER: And on we go...as always, least effective to most effective. Honestly, this is a huge book so I wouldn't blame you for skipping this review or just hunting up specific comments, the book itself is a very solid, worthwhile sampler of the ghost story in a number of forms.
As I said, a few bum notes here. I didn't originally like (and so did not re-read) Wilkie Collins's long "Mrs. Zant And The Ghost", and downgraded William Hope Hodgson's "The Valley Of Lost Children" from just "okay" to "no" on the fact that it's treacly, sentimental slop.
And, as might be expected, a set of weak "okay" stories as well. I upgraded "How He Left the Hotel" by Louisa Baldwin on my re-read - my initial reading probably found this tale (of a war veteran, now elevator operator and his last, posthumous transport of a kindly old gentleman) as too familiar and un-scary, but with a little more maturity and and exposure to supernatural fiction under my belt, I enjoyed the narrator's character and some details, even if the plot trajectory is transparently obvious. Charles Birkin's "Is there Anybody There?" has an interesting set-up - a nervous old woman in a supposedly haunted house who, with her psychic sensitivity, becomes aware of the spirits in the place and their eventual tragedy - and an interesting filigree - the ghosts, while playing out their endless drama, are AWARE she is watching them and resent it - but the resolution hinges on an unlikely coincidence. In "I'm Sure It Was No. 31" by A.M. Burrage, a man, searching for a house to rent, spends a pleasant visit with a woman and her adult daughter, only to find they moved away 2 years previous. Eh. "The Limping Ghost", upgraded on the re-read, has the over-emotional daughter of bullying parents develop an attachment to their prosaic, puttering ghost. While the twist in this is fairly familiar story conceit, R. Chetwynd-Hayes does deliver a gruesome ending. Charles Dickens' "The Tale Of The Bagman's Uncle" involves a jolly uncle who takes a drunken walk through Edinburgh and then has a vision of a ghostly past wherein a helpless lady needs some rollicking daring-do to rescue her from blackguards. Eh, squared.
Still in the "okay" strata: A woman author retires to an isolated cottage where she encounters spectral evidence of a ghost child in John S. Glasby's "Beyond The Bourne". Unfortunately, she incorrectly presumes that the ghost of an innocent child cannot portend bad fortunes. Kind of weak. M.R. James is a master, no doubt, but I've never been a big fan of "The Haunted Doll's House". Rereading it here, I enjoyed the authorial intrusions that satirize little aspects of ghost stories (and short fiction in general) in a knowing way, the passive/aggressive haggling dialogue that opens the piece and the brief description of the hideous haunter is effective (James is nothing if not an assured writer). But still, this story of a collector who buys a marvelous and enormous doll's house for a song, only to find that in the evening it becomes something like a miniature stage on which terrible historical deeds are replayed, still seems too much like a rehash of James' superior "The Mezzotint" to me, and the passive aspect of the main characters makes it feel a little removed from the fear. Richard Marsh's "The Fifteenth Man" (much like "How He Left The Hotel") is thuddingly obvious as to where it's tale of a rugby team bedeviled by a spectral, unstoppable member of the opposing team - and that team has a critically injured member in hospital (what book are you reading, huh?) - but was kind of interesting as an example of "sports fiction". In "The Tears of St. Agatha" by David G. Rowlands a priest involves himself in the search for a holy relic in rural France and eventually, after suffering an accident, he is led by a vision. Not a "spooky" story in any way, this follows the classic "ghost points to treasure" folklore trope, with the odd detail of attempting to introduce a rational explanation for the miracles associated with the relic. Not very satisfying. Finally, Mark Twain is represented here with "A Ghost Story", a satire of Victorian supernatural fiction (the effect achieved by breathlessly piling up the standard cliches (drops of blood, a clammy hand, booming footsteps) which then turns into a parody of the poplar "false fossil", The Cardiff Giant.
Next are the solidly "good but slightly flawed" stories: in "Whessoe" by Nugent Barker an aged hermit in his large mansion begins to suspect that something he had expected for years has finally happened, his home has been invaded by ghosts. I upgraded this on the -re-read simply because, while the outcome is predictable, it features interesting, oddly stylized language. "The Ghost in all the Rooms", one of the oldest stories here, concerns a servant's dreamed premonition of bandits' home invasion while the master is away, which comes true but is then foiled by a spirit who moves from room to room. Surprisingly action filled work by Daniel Defoe. Amelia B. Edwards' "In the Confessional" has a man traveling the Rhine river who stops in a quaint Swiss town where he learns about the tragic demise of the town's pastor, now replaced by the man's brother. Although familiar, there's some nice scene setting and a slight plot feint at the end I wasn't expecting. Henry James retains his reputation for a heavy, dense style in "The Real Right Thing" as, post death, the task of composing a famous figure's biography falls on his associate and the man's wife, who gradually sense that his spirit would rather it *not* be written at all. Thick going. Previously, I was not a fan of Rudyard Kipling's "They", but on the re-read I found some things to appreciate in this tale of a traveler (in a newfangled motor coach) who stumbles onto the sprawling property of a blind landholder, said grounds seemingly populated by dozens of half-glimpsed children. Not so much a good read for the story, per se, as for the details: some wonderful landscape descriptions (the forested area lies near the sea), the woman's flashes of telepathic empathy, a desperate dash by motor car to save a dying child. A very sedate, melancholy story that's not scary but interesting. A Catholic priest recounts his tale of spectral footsteps encountered while visiting the Chuch's Aventine holdings in Rome in Roger Pater's "The Footstep of the Aventine" - a quaint, quiet tale of a religiously based haunting. An opportunistic spendthrift dies while still being owed a pittance by our narrator, who is then haunted by the notorious cheapskate in "The Soul Of Laploshka" by Saki. The various actions taken to resolve the debt make up this cute trifle. Sapper (The creator of "Bulldog Drummond") gives us the tale of an ancient place in a country house, once the site of treacherous events that now echo into a current day tragedy, in "The Old Dining-Room" - efficiently, if a bit blandly, told. A young ghost-hunting couple journey to an abandoned house (with a history of suicidal hangings) in "Where Angels Fear" by Manly Wade Wellman - once again, a familiar twist in the end, but atmospherically told. "The House Of The Nightmare" by Edward Lucas White has an early motorist suffer a crash near a dilapidated rural home, where he stays for the night only to suffer a dream of a black boar. And once again, the payoff is expected but the atmosphere suffices to entertain. Finally W.J. Wintle's "The Spectre Spiders" is a passable story that lifts "plump, furry" imagery from James' "The Ash Tree" for the story of a man plagued by phantom arachnids. And while it has much to commend in its creepy and gruesome (the "too light" corpses) imagery, mention must be made that Wintle still succeeds in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory when presenting the symbolic motivation for why our main character is so beset - it's because he's a genteel, money-grubbing, usurious Jew, you see, whose greatest claim to personal pride is that he never anglicized his name to fit in.
Then come the unreservedly "good" stories: Robert Aickman starts off the anthology with "The Unsettled Dust", a tale told by the Special Duty Officer of the Historic Structures Fund (one of three known hauntings he experienced) of Clamber Court, the large estate and grounds occupied by the Breakspear sisters, which unaccountably finds its interior covered with a coating of dust, not to mention glimpses of a young gentleman. The unnerving tension between the siblings, couched in cold formality, and the initial ghostly manifestation (exploiting the reflection of a lighted room's interior on the outside dark) are well done. "The Shuttered Room" by E.F. Benson is familiar as an old shoe and, putting aside the tidiness of the plot, could almost be a "true-life haunting" story. A young couple come to reclaim a family home from two anti-social hermit uncles, one of whom disappeared a few years before the other's death. But as they out the house in order they sense a watching prescence that eventually divulges the secret of the one Uncle's disappearance. Perfectly ordinary, but I liked the descriptions of the overgrown garden and the scene where the ghost interacts with the woman as her eyes are closed. Three Children spend their holidays at their Aunt & Uncle's cottage on the grounds of a defunct manor house, the refurbishing of which turns up a stone coffin and a supposedly cursed bell from the drained lake in "Curfew" by L.M. Boston, a nicely shivery piece of rural British spookery. Ramsey Campbell's "The Guide" features an elderly man who discovers an original printing of one of M.R. James's church guidebooks, with annotations in an unknown hand....said annotations leading him to a lonely sea-cliff church. A nice James homage. Similarly, "The House By The Tarn" by Basil Copper has a ghost hunting author hike out into the isolated hill country to visit Four Winds, the shell of a shunned place of ill history. There's some good mood work here - lots of brooding atmospheric description as the storied occultists faces off against the implacably evil abode. Satisfying. And yet again similarly, two headstrong travelers decide to challenge the superstition surrounding a ruined Viennese castle's ghostly occupant in Ralph Adams Cram' "In Kropfsberg Keep", only to have one suffer a hideous vision of a fiery dance of death. "The Bully of Brocas Court" by Arthur Conan Doyle has a young boxing contender choose to engage a mysterious figure on a lonely road who reportedly accosts travelers with a challenge to bare-knuckled fisticuffs. A good story, not particularly frightening, but engaging.
Continuing the "good" stories: A young couple takes refuge in an empty restaurant, only to hear a jukebox that plays the same song repeatedly, and a tale recounting the violent death of a criminal patron in Shamus Frazer's "The Tune in Dan's Cafe" - later adapted on NIGHT GALLERY - another simple and effective tale. A traveling salesman stays at a remote North Seas cottage where a mysterious figure is often seen in Fergus Hume's "The Sand-Walker" which, despite the quaintly dramatic climax, is suspenseful and dramatic. I downgraded Margery Lawrence's "Robin's Rath" on this re-read, but this tale of a new landowner who dismisses town "superstition" about clearing a patch of wild ground to build a shortcut, and is then confronted by a mysterious groundskeeper, while overly familiar, is effective (small note - technically *not* a ghost story). What's interesting is the prim and coded way the story intimates sexual passion/desire, while still retaining its "comeuppance" ending. J. Sheridan Le Fanu's "The Dream" (aka "The Drunkard's Dream") is a cautionary tale, not a ghost story, of a reprobate who seemingly recovers on his death bed with the tale of a dream in which he visited Hell and struck a deal with the Devil to return. The story's depiction of abject poverty, the fiery underworld & the gruesome & shocking description of the initial "corpse" (put me in mind of Poe's "Valdemar"), as well as it's hopeful/fateful view of man's actions make this an evocative read. Also in the tradition of James is "The Sundial" by R.H. Malden, which has a retiree remove an obstruction from the garden of his newly purchased country estate, whereupon all kinds of Jamesian events happen (half-glimpsed odd figures in the distance, etc.). The climax, while slightly unsatisfying, is preceded by an effective nightmare of a chase that reverses itself inexplicably. I downgraded John Metcalfe's "Brenner's Boy" on the re-read - this odd story (in which an old sea-captain and his childless wife find themselves unexpectedly, after a chance meeting, playing host to an Admiral's mischievous son) has a surprisingly cruel coda. "Uncle Abraham's Romance" by E. Nesbit, in which a lonely bachelor relates his childhood romance with a strange girl in a cemetery, is in no ways scary but still oddly touching. I'm not sure I would classify Edgar Allan Poe's "William Wilson," in which a debauched man relates the tale of an identical twin figure (that shares his own name) who has haunted him throughout his wayward life and spotted criminal career, as a ghost story (unless we accept the metaphorical take that it's the ghost of Wilson's conscience?) but it's still a solid doppelganger tale, subdued in it's fantastique elements and notable for it basic simplicity.
CONTINUED IN FIRST COMMENT
December 22, 2019
Richard Dalby was a editor and researcher best known for his anthologies of ghost stories. Dalby has assembled a nice collection of both older and newer ghost stories, written by masters of the genre...including Aickman, Benson, Campbell, and, of course, M.R. James.
My one quibble with this anthology is not all the ghosts therein are not necessarily malignant nor frightening. But interesting tales nonetheless....
Jeff McIntosh
My one quibble with this anthology is not all the ghosts therein are not necessarily malignant nor frightening. But interesting tales nonetheless....
Jeff McIntosh
May 21, 2023
Preface by Richard Dalby ✔
The Unsettled Dust • (1968) by Robert Aickman 3.5⭐
How He Left the Hotel • (1894) by Louisa Baldwin 3.5⭐
Whessoe • (1928) by Nugent Barker 3.5⭐
The Shuttered Room • (1929) by E. F. Benson 3.5⭐
An Inhabitant of Carcosa • (1886)bby Ambrose Bierce 4.5⭐
"Is There Anybody There?" • (1964) by Charles Birkin 3.5⭐
The Whisperers • (1912) by Algernon Blackwood 4⭐
Curfew • (1967) by L. M. Boston 5⭐
"I'm Sure It Was No. 31" • (1955) by A. M. Burrage 3⭐
The Guide • (1989) by Ramsey Campbell 4.25⭐
The Limping Ghost • (1975) by R. Chetwynd-Hayes (variant of The Ghost Who Limped) 5⭐
Mrs. Zant and the Ghost • (1885) by Wilkie Collins 3⭐
The House by the Tarn • (1971) by Basil Copper 3.5⭐
In Kropfsberg Keep • (1895) by Ralph Adams Cram 5⭐
The Ghost in All the Rooms • (1727) by Daniel Defoe 3.25⭐
The Bagman's Uncle • (1837) by Charles Dickens 3.5⭐
The Bully of Brocas Court • (1921) by Arthur Conan Doyle 3⭐
In the Confessional • (1871) by Amelia B. Edwards 3.5⭐
The Tune in Dan's Café • (1967) by Shamus Frazer 3⭐
Beyond the Bourne by John S. Glasby 3.25⭐
The Valley of Lost Children • (1906) by William Hope Hodgson 3⭐
The Sand-Walker • (1906) by Fergus Hume 3.5⭐
The Real Right Thing • (1892) by Henry James 3⭐
The Haunted Dolls' House • (1923) by M. R. James 3⭐
The Wall-Painting • (1983) by Roger Johnson 4.5⭐
"They" • (1904) by Rudyard Kipling 4⭐
The Last Laugh • (1925) by D. H. Lawrence 4⭐
Robin's Rath • (1923) by Margery Lawrence (variant of February: The Poet's Story: Robin's Rath) 3.5⭐
The Dream • [The Purcell Papers • 3] • (1894) by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (variant of The Drunkard's Dream 1838) 3⭐
The Sundial • (1943) by R. H. Malden 4⭐
The Fifteenth Man • (1900) by Richard Marsh (variant of The Fifteenth Man: The Story of a Rugby Match) 4⭐
Brenner's Boy • (1932) by John Metcalfe 3.5⭐
Uncle Abraham's Romance • (1893) by E. Nesbit 4.25⭐
What Was It? • (1859) • by Fitz-James O'Brien 4⭐
The Next Room • (1928) by Vincent O'Sullivan 4⭐
The Footstep of the Aventine • (1923) by Roger Pater 4.25⭐
William Wilson • (1850) by Edgar Allan Poe 5⭐
Courage • (1918) by Forrest Reid 5⭐
The Last of Squire Ennismore • (1888) by Mrs. J. H. Riddell 3.5⭐
The Garside Fell Disaster • (1948) by L. T. C. Rolt 3⭐
The Tears of St. Agathé • [Father O'Connor] • (1983) by David G. Rowlands 3.5⭐
The Soul of Laploshka • (1910) by Saki 3⭐
The Old Dining-Room • (1920) by Sapper 4.5⭐
The Between-Maid • (1948) by Montague Summers 2⭐
A Ghost Story • (1875) by Mark Twain 4⭐
The Folly • [Ralph Tyler] • (1987) by Mark Valentine 3.5⭐
"Out of the Wrack I Rise" • (1949) by H. Russell Wakefield 4.5⭐
In the Pines • (1973) by Karl Edward Wagner 5⭐
"Where Angels Fear ..." • (1939) by Manly Wade Wellman 3⭐
The House of the Nightmare • (1906) by Edward Lucas White 4⭐
The Canterville Ghost • (1887) by Oscar Wilde 5⭐
646 • The Spectre Spiders • (1921) by W. J. Wintle 3.5⭐
The Unsettled Dust • (1968) by Robert Aickman 3.5⭐
How He Left the Hotel • (1894) by Louisa Baldwin 3.5⭐
Whessoe • (1928) by Nugent Barker 3.5⭐
The Shuttered Room • (1929) by E. F. Benson 3.5⭐
An Inhabitant of Carcosa • (1886)bby Ambrose Bierce 4.5⭐
"Is There Anybody There?" • (1964) by Charles Birkin 3.5⭐
The Whisperers • (1912) by Algernon Blackwood 4⭐
Curfew • (1967) by L. M. Boston 5⭐
"I'm Sure It Was No. 31" • (1955) by A. M. Burrage 3⭐
The Guide • (1989) by Ramsey Campbell 4.25⭐
The Limping Ghost • (1975) by R. Chetwynd-Hayes (variant of The Ghost Who Limped) 5⭐
Mrs. Zant and the Ghost • (1885) by Wilkie Collins 3⭐
The House by the Tarn • (1971) by Basil Copper 3.5⭐
In Kropfsberg Keep • (1895) by Ralph Adams Cram 5⭐
The Ghost in All the Rooms • (1727) by Daniel Defoe 3.25⭐
The Bagman's Uncle • (1837) by Charles Dickens 3.5⭐
The Bully of Brocas Court • (1921) by Arthur Conan Doyle 3⭐
In the Confessional • (1871) by Amelia B. Edwards 3.5⭐
The Tune in Dan's Café • (1967) by Shamus Frazer 3⭐
Beyond the Bourne by John S. Glasby 3.25⭐
The Valley of Lost Children • (1906) by William Hope Hodgson 3⭐
The Sand-Walker • (1906) by Fergus Hume 3.5⭐
The Real Right Thing • (1892) by Henry James 3⭐
The Haunted Dolls' House • (1923) by M. R. James 3⭐
The Wall-Painting • (1983) by Roger Johnson 4.5⭐
"They" • (1904) by Rudyard Kipling 4⭐
The Last Laugh • (1925) by D. H. Lawrence 4⭐
Robin's Rath • (1923) by Margery Lawrence (variant of February: The Poet's Story: Robin's Rath) 3.5⭐
The Dream • [The Purcell Papers • 3] • (1894) by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (variant of The Drunkard's Dream 1838) 3⭐
The Sundial • (1943) by R. H. Malden 4⭐
The Fifteenth Man • (1900) by Richard Marsh (variant of The Fifteenth Man: The Story of a Rugby Match) 4⭐
Brenner's Boy • (1932) by John Metcalfe 3.5⭐
Uncle Abraham's Romance • (1893) by E. Nesbit 4.25⭐
What Was It? • (1859) • by Fitz-James O'Brien 4⭐
The Next Room • (1928) by Vincent O'Sullivan 4⭐
The Footstep of the Aventine • (1923) by Roger Pater 4.25⭐
William Wilson • (1850) by Edgar Allan Poe 5⭐
Courage • (1918) by Forrest Reid 5⭐
The Last of Squire Ennismore • (1888) by Mrs. J. H. Riddell 3.5⭐
The Garside Fell Disaster • (1948) by L. T. C. Rolt 3⭐
The Tears of St. Agathé • [Father O'Connor] • (1983) by David G. Rowlands 3.5⭐
The Soul of Laploshka • (1910) by Saki 3⭐
The Old Dining-Room • (1920) by Sapper 4.5⭐
The Between-Maid • (1948) by Montague Summers 2⭐
A Ghost Story • (1875) by Mark Twain 4⭐
The Folly • [Ralph Tyler] • (1987) by Mark Valentine 3.5⭐
"Out of the Wrack I Rise" • (1949) by H. Russell Wakefield 4.5⭐
In the Pines • (1973) by Karl Edward Wagner 5⭐
"Where Angels Fear ..." • (1939) by Manly Wade Wellman 3⭐
The House of the Nightmare • (1906) by Edward Lucas White 4⭐
The Canterville Ghost • (1887) by Oscar Wilde 5⭐
646 • The Spectre Spiders • (1921) by W. J. Wintle 3.5⭐
October 17, 2021
As with the other books on the Mammoth series, it's a hit and a miss collection, but I am glad to report that I found most of the stories are hits. Some are so spooky I had to stand up and do something fun to take my mind off it. My absolute favorites are Charles Birkin's "Is There Anybody There?" and Robert Aickman's "The Unsettled Dust". Overall will still recommend the whole collection.
July 15, 2019
Always my go-to for a good ghost tale. Packed full of eerieness
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December 28, 2015One of the best book of short stories I have read. Nearly all stories rate 4 or more.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews