Robert Westall – Ghost Stories

Robert Westall (ed.) – Ghost Stories (Kingfisher, 1993)

Illustrations by Sean Eckett

Franz Kafka – The Knock At The Manor Gate
Gahan Wilson – Yesterday’s Witch
John Hynam – A Legion Marching By
Charles Dickens – The Lawyer And The Ghost
Anonymous (India) – The Ghost Who Was Afraid Of Being Bagged
Psu Sung-Ling (Adapted by Vida Derry) – School For Ghosts
Mary Williams – The Little Yellow Dog
Kenneth Grahame – The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Alison Prince – The Lilies
Ray Bradbury – The Emissary
Ruth Manning-Sanders – John Pettigrew’s Mirror
Saki – Sredni Vashtar
Philippa Pearce – Miss Mountain
Guy de Maupassant – Was It A Dream?
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch – A Pair Of Hands
Robert Westall – The Boys’ Toilets
John Gordon – Left In The Dark
W. W. Jacobs – The Monkey’s Paw
M. R. James – Lost Hearts
Perceval Landon – Thurnley Abbey
Jean Richardson – Not At Home
Joan Marsh – The Shepherd’s Dog

Blurb:

Haunting! Shiver and shake at these spine-chilling tales of ghosts and ghouls from top authors. Guaranteed to give you goose bumps!

David A Sutton – Horror on the High Seas

David A Sutton (ed) – Horror on the High Seas: Classic Weird Sea Tales (Shadow Publishing, 2014)

Cover Artwork by Jim Pitts

David A. Sutton – Introduction and author notes

J. A. Barry – A Derelict
Edgar Allan Poe – MS. Found in a Bottle
William Hope Hodgson – The Riven Night
Vernon Lee – Dionea
F. Marion Crawford – Man Overboard!
Richard Middleton – The Ghost Ship
Rudyard Kipling – A Matter of Fact
W. W. Jacobs – The Rival Beauties
William Hope Hodgson – The Phantom Ship
Warren Armstrong – A Phantom of the Seas

Blurb:

The oceans have long been places of danger, mystery and horror. From ancient times there has been the terror that a trip might lead to edge of the world and the nameless place beyond its edge. There have been the strange lights of St. Elmo’s Fire. The sunken cities of Atlantis and Lyonesse. The Sargasso sea entrapping ships. The Bermuda Triangle. And within the ocean’s depths sea creatures both real and unreal. The great white whale in Moby Dick and the giant octopus in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The oceans beckon us… and repel us. And storytellers have used the sea as a basis for ghost and horror stories down the centuries. In this anthology there are stories about phantom ships and their phantom sailors, weird encounters with spirits, a vengeful sea sprites, and sea serpents, and all manner of horror below decks. So, readers, take a passage with us to the weird realms of the benighted oceans!

Alan C Jenkins (ed.) – Thin Air

Alan C Jenkins (ed.) – Thin Air   (Blackie, 1966)

Alan C. Jenkins – Introduction
M. R. James- The Treasure of Abbot Thomas
Algernon Blackwood – Running Wolf
Andrew Lang – The Ghost of Glam
S. L. Sadhu – The Haunted Mosque
Oscar Wilde – The Canterville Ghost
Sir Arthur Grimble – The Whistling Ghosts
Elliott O’Donnell – A Ghost in the Ring
Warren Armstrong  – A Phantom of the Seas
Francis Hayley Bell – The Unforgiving Garden
W. W. Jacobs – The Monkey’s Paw
H. G. Wells – The Inexperienced Ghost
W. H. Barrett – The Ghost of a Saint
Rudyard Kipling – My Own True Ghost Story
Charles Downing – The Death Watch
Saki – The Open Window
Guy de Maupassant – An Apparition
Washington Irving – The Spectre Bridegroom
William Fryer Harvey  – Sambo
 Edgar Allan Poe – William Wilson
Richard Middleton – The Ghost Ship
Hugh Walpole – A Little Ghost
Charles Dickens – The Signal-Man
E. F. Benson – The House with the Brick-Kiln
Arthur Quiller-Couch  – A Pair of Hands
Oliver Onions – Phantas
A. E. D. Smith – The Coat
Roger Lancelyn Green – The Story of Admetus
Ambrose Bierce – The Stranger
Geoffrey Palmer & Noel Lloyd – The Haunted Forest
Alexander Woollcott  – Full Fathom Five

Anonymous – Ghost Stories

Anonymous – Ghost Stories   ( Cathay, 1984)

illustrations by Ian McCraig

H. P. Lovecraft – The Music of Erich Zann
Charles Dickens – The Ghost in the Bride’s Chamber
M. R. James – A School Story
Oscar Wilde – The Canterville Ghost
Edgar Allan Poe – The Tell-Tale Heart
R. Chetwynd-Hayes – The Cat Room
Catherine Crowe – The Monk’s Story
Saki  – Laura
Fritz Leiber – Smoke Ghost
Frederick Marryat – The Phantom Ship
Leon Garfield – An Adelaide Ghost
E. Nesbit – Man-Size In Marble
Hugh Walpole  – A Little Ghost
Rosemary Timperley  – The Mistress in Black
Guy de Maupassant – An Apparition
Penelope Lively  – The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (extract)
Algernon Blackwood – The Occupant of the Room
Jerome K. Jerome  – The Haunted Mill
Elizabeth Le Fanu – The Harpsichord
J. S. Le Fanu – The White Cat of Drumgunniol
W. W. Jacobs – The Three Sisters
Joan Aiken  – Sonata For Harp and Bicycle

Robert Westall – Ghost Stories

Robert Westall (ed.) – Ghost Stories (Kingfisher, 1993)

Graham Potts

Illustrations by Sean Eckett

Franz Kafka – The Knock At The Manor Gate
Gahan Wilson – Yesterday’s Witch
John Hynam – A Legion Marching By
Charles Dickens – The Lawyer And The Ghost
Anonymous (India) – The Ghost Who Was Afraid Of Being Bagged
Psu Sung-Ling (Adapted by Vida Derry) – School For Ghosts
Mary Williams – The Little Yellow Dog
Kenneth Grahame – The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Alison Prince – The Lilies
Ray Bradbury – The Emissary
Ruth Manning-Sanders – John Pettigrew’s Mirror
Saki – Sredni Vashtar
Philippa Pearce – Miss Mountain
Guy de Maupassant – Was It A Dream?
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch – A Pair Of Hands
Robert Westall – The Boys’ Toilets
John Gordon – Left In The Dark
W. W. Jacobs – The Monkey’s Paw
M. R. James – Lost Hearts
Perceval Landon – Thurnley Abbey
Jean Richardson – Not At Home
Joan Marsh – The Shepherd’s Dog

Blurb:

Haunting! Shiver and shake at these spine-chilling tales of ghosts and ghouls from top authors. Guaranteed to give you goose bumps!

John Edgell – Ghosts

John Edgell (ed.) – Ghosts (Firefly, 1970)

John Edgell – Introduction

John Edgell – The Funeral
John Edgell – May I Join You?
John Edgell – All Change
John Edgell – Skin Deep
John Edgell – For Appearance’s Sake
John Edgell – The Screaming Skull
John Edgell – The Number Thirteen Bus
John Edgell – Summons From Altica
John Edgell – Nightwatch
John Edgell – Just Married
John Edgell – The Hallowe’en Party
John Edgell – The Last Programme
John Edgell – Old Wine In New Bottles
John Edgell – Dead – And Buried?
John Edgell – Four Twenty-Four Previously
John Edgell – Dead Line
John Edgell – A Night With The Mummies
John Edgell – Purr
John Edgell – The Perfect Murder
John Edgell – Night Flyer
John Edgell – The Invitation
John Edgell – The Diary Of John Pilgrim
John Edgell – Walking On Your Grave
John Edgell – Bookworm
John Edgell – The Summer House On The Lake
John Edgell – Did You See the Window-cleaner?
John Edgell – The Mahogany Wardrobe
John Edgell – The Portrait
John Edgell – Accident Black Spot
John Edgell – Davy Jones
John Edgell – Bones
John Edgell – A Desirable Residence

Ambrose Bierce – a Tough Tussle
E. F. Benson – Caterpillars
Richard Middleton –  On The Brighton Road
W. W. Jacobs – The Monkey’s Paw
E & H. Heron – The Story Of The Spaniards, Hammersmith
E. Nesbit – Man-Size In Marble
Vincent O’Sullivan – When I Was Dead
E & H. Heron – The Story Of Yand Manor House
Vincent O’Sullivan – The Business Of Madame Jahn
E. Nesbit – John Charrington’s Wedding
Ambrose Bierce – The Man And The Snake

Anonymous – Tales Of Horror & Mystery

Anonymous – Tales Of Horror & Mystery (Dean, 1993)

Luis Rey

Horror Stories

Roald Dahl – The Landlady
Walter De La Mare – The Riddle
W. W. Jacobs – The Monkey’s Paw
Ruth Ainsworth – Through The Door
E. Nesbit – Man-Size In Marble
Edgar Allan Poe – The Tell-Tale Heart
Helen Cresswell – A Kind Of Swan Song
Gene Kemp – The Clock Tower Ghost
Robert Arthur – The Haunted Trailer
Ambrose Bierce – The Stranger
Walter De La Mare – Bad Company
Michael Joseph – The Yellow Cat
W. W. Jacobs – The Well
Saki – Laura
Joan Aiken – The Swan Child
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Brown Hand
H. G. Wells – The Red Room

Mystery Stories

Joan Aiken – The Blade
M. R. James – Lost Hearts
Charles Dickens – The Signalman
Oscar Wilde – The Picture Of Dorian Gray (Extract)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Silver Mirror
Bret Harte – The Stolen Cigar Case
Honore De Balzac – The Mysterious Mansion
Nicholas Fisk – Sweets From A Stranger
Roald Dahl – The Hitch-Hiker
Wilkie Collins – The Dream Woman
Edgar Allan Poe – The Masque Of The Red Death
Karen Blixen – The Sailor Boy’s Tale
Guy de Maupassant – The Horla
Theophile Gautier – The Mummy’s Foot

Blurb:
“It is very seldom that one encounters what would appear to be sheer unadulterated evil in a human face; an evil, I mean, active, deliberate, deadly, dangerous.”

This anthology contains more than thirty spine-chilling stories by contemporary and classic writers, drawing us into a world of ghosts, demons and horrific happenings.

In Walter de la Mare’s Bad Company who is the evil-looking stranger on the Underground who leads us to a frightening discovery? And in Roald Dahl’s The Landlady what sinister secret is the mysterious proprietress of the guesthouse witholding from her unsuspecting guest?

These startling and compelling stories by some of the world’s greatest writers will enthrall readers to the very last page.

Michael Newton – The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories

Michael Newton (ed.) – The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (Penguin, Feb 2010, £10.99)

Acknowledgements
Chronology Of The Ghost Story 1820-1914
Introduction
Further Reading
A Note On The Texts

Elizabeth Gaskell – The Old Nurse’s Story
Fitz-James O’Brien – What Was It?
Edward Bulwer Lytton – The Haunted And The Haunters: or, The House And The Brain
Mary E. Braddon – The Cold Embrace
Amelia B. Edwards – The North Mail
Charles Dickens – No 1 Branch Line: The Signalman
J. S. Le Fanu – Green Tea
Harriet Beecher Stowe – The Ghost In The Cap’n Brown House
Robert Louis Stevenson – Thrawn Janet
Margaret Oliphant – The Open Door
Rudyard Kipling – At The End Of The Passage
Lafcadio Hearn – Nightmare Touch
W. W. Jacobs – The Monkey’s Paw
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman – The Wind In The Rose-Bush
M. R. James – “Oh Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad”
Ambrose Bierce – The Moonlit Road
Henry James – The Jolly Corner
Mary Austin – The Readjustment
Edith Wharton – Afterward

Glossary Of Scots Words
Biographical And Explanatory Notes

Blurb:
‘The ghost is the most enduring figure in supernatural fiction. He is absolutely indestructible… He changes with the styles in fiction but he never goes out of fashion. He is the really permanent citizen of the earth, for mortals, at best, are but transients’ – Dorothy Scarborough

This new selection of ghost stories, by Michael Newton, brings together the best of the genre. From Elizabeth Gaskell’s ‘The Old Nurse’s Story’ through to Edith Wharton’s ‘Afterword’, this collection covers all of the most terrifying tales of the genre. With a thoughtful introduction, and helpful notes, Newton places the stories contextually within the genre and elucidates the changing nature of the ghost story and how we interpret it.

Anon – Fifty Masterpieces Of Mystery

Anon – Fifty Masterpieces Of Mystery (Odhams, nd.  [1937])

Crime Stories

Dorothy L. Sayers – The Learned Adventure Of The Dragon’s Head
Austin Freeman – The Magic Casket
H. C. Bailey – The President Of San Jacinto
Anthony Berkeley – Outside The Law
The Baroness Orczy – The Regent’s Park Murder
Margery Allingham – They Never Got Caught
J. J. Connington – Before Insulin
Stacy Aumonier – The Perfect Murder
G. K. Chesterton – The Shadow Of The Shark
O. Henry – The Marsonettes
F. Britten Austin – Diamond Cut Diamond
Augustus Muir – Murder At The Microphone
Milward Kennedy – Death In The Kitchen
Freeman Willis Croft – The Vertical Line
Edgar Wallace – The Clue Of Monday’s Settling
Gerard Fairlie – The Ghost Of A Smile
Bertram Atkey – Sons Of The Chief Warder

Strange And Horrible Stories

Seamark – Query
Ralph Straus – The Room On The Fourth Floor
A. E. W. Mason – The Wounded God
Lord Dunsany – The Electric King
A. J. Alan – Charles
John Metcalfe – The Funeral March Of A Marionette
W. W. Jacobs – The Interruption
C. D. Heriot – Nobody At Home
Agatha Christie – The Blood-Stained Pavement
Mrs. Belloc Lowdnes – St. Catherine’s Eve
F. Marion Crawford – The Screaming Skull
Joseph Conrad – The Idiots
Sydney Horler – The Vampire
Saki – The Interlopers
L. P. Hartley – The Travelling Grave
E. A. Poe – The Tell-Tale Heart
H. Spicer – The Bird Woman
W. Fryer Harvey – The Dabblers

Ghost Stories

Vernon Lee – Marsyas In Flanders
Eleanor Scott – The Room
Marjorie Bowen – Florence Flannery
Ernest Bramah – The Ghost At Massingham Mansions
Norman Matson – The House On Big Faraway
Naomi Royde-Smith – Madam Julia’s Tale
L. A. G. Strong – Sea Air
Ann Bridge – The Buick Saloon
May Sinclair – The Token
Oliver Onions – The Cigarette Case
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch – A Pair Of Hands
H. R. Wakefield – Blind Man’s Buff
Algernon Blackwood – The Man Who Was Milligan
Richard Hughes – The Ghost
A. M. Burrage – The Room Over The Kitchen
J. S. LeFanu – Mr. Justice Harbottle
Anonymous – The Dead Man Of Varley Grange

Includes:

Eleanor Scott – The Room: “I’m not going to try and tell you what it was … I’d as soon try to describe the most loathsome surgical operation or the most indecent physical illness. And if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Thank Heaven, we haven’t made the word for what I saw.”

A room in Massingham’s house has the reputation of being haunted, so when five of his friends answer his invitation to stay with him, naturally they decide to each take a turn at spending a night in the creepy chamber and “do down the spook!” By the time Amery the Parson gets to take his turn, it’s clear from the state of Grindley and Vernon that whatever is in there is far more powerful and evil than a mere ghost. By the following morning, the Parson is a broken man, but Reece, the ‘simple’ little curate, is insistent that he’s not going to be denied the experience. Although we’re never told outright what each man endured in the room – the closest we get is with Amery who is confronted by the past crimes of his Church – it hardly makes the goings-on any less unsettling. Not quite as striking as Randall’s classic Celui-La but very deserving of your attention i’d have said. “There must be an amazing amount of goodness somewhere when here is such a quantity of unspeakable evil in men like us, who thought ourselves decent fellows enough.”

John Metcalfe – The Funeral March Of A Marionette: On a snowy, bitterly cold November 4th, budding entrepreneur Alf and little George drag a trolley along the Millbank, collecting a small fortune in coppers from admires of their uncannily lifelike Guy. Unfortunately, old Gus the tramp isn’t equip to handle the sub-zero temperatures ….

A. M. Burrage – The Room Over The Kitchen: A weary rambler arrives in Penhiddoc, his one thought to get a room at the inn for the night. In the doorway, he’s accosted by a fellow who he takes to be the local harmless lunatic who implores him not to take the room over the kitchen. It transpires that twenty years ago, four Oxford students stayed at the inn. For a chuckle, a trio of these fellows, in cahoots with the landlord, convinced the nervous young Mr. Farney that his room was haunted. They pushed the joke too far ….

C. D. Heriot – Nobody At Home: Frank and Maurice have drifted out of each others lives since Oxford, and now the former, learning his old pal has fallen on hard times, is keen to put the friendship back on course. Maurice has tried to make a go of it as a poet, but as soon as he arrives at the decrepit old schoolhouse that serves as his home, Frank realises it’s gone very badly for him. At first, Frank is angry that he may have made a wasted journey as no-one replies to his knocks at the door. But when he takes a look through the letterbox ….

Henry Spicer – The Bird Woman: A young lady answers an advertisement for a position as carer to “an invalid, infirm or lunatic person” at a dingy-looking house which has the reputation of being haunted. “Having little fear of anything human and none at all of apparitions” she’s confident that she’ll be able to cope with her charge – until she actually claps eyes on the owl-like travesty she’s expected to look after.

Sydney Horler – The Vampire: Two Roman Catholic priests discuss the case of a man of whom everyone seemed to have an “instinctive horror”. When a terrible murder is committed, leaving the victim minus most of her throat, the shunned individual confesses to Father ——, who, of course, he is powerless to pass on the information to the police. Sometimes published as The Believer

Richard Hughes – The Ghost: Told from the perspective of Millie, who’s just had her head bashed in by cheating husband Johnny. Having spent her life terrified of ghosts, now she’s evidently one herself Millie intends to haunt the murderer, especially as he doesn’t seem the least perturbed about what he’s done.

H. R. Wakefield – Blind Man’s Buff: Aylesbury, Herts. Mr. Cort learns why none of the locals will approach Lorn Manor after nightfall. In pitch darkness, He loses himself within a few feet of the front door and is pursued about the old house by unseen entities.

W. W. Jacobs – The Interruption: With his wife dead at last Spencer Goddard can get his hands on all of her lovely money! How happy he is! For all of twenty seconds. Hannah, his cook, wastes no time in letting on that she knows more about her late mistress’s “illness” – and his part in it – than he’d prefer and neither is she slow in turning the situation to her advantage. Should she die suddenly – like poor Mrs. Goddard for example – she’s left a letter with her sister , the contents of which he should regret being made known to the police. Now he must think of a way to save his neck and see hers stretched he opts for a high risk solution …

Anonymous – The Dead Man Of Varley Grange: Westernshire. When young Henderson takes over the Grange, he unwisely invites eight friends to spend the Christmas holiday with him. Prior to his arrival the property had remained vacant for years due to the dreadful family curse as it is reputed that, some centuries ago, Captain Varley murdered his sister after she fled the Convent and ran off with her lover. Now their phantoms stalk the Grange and if you’re unfortunate enough to see the dead nun’s face you die within the year!

Anon – A Century Of Thrillers: From Poe To Arlen

Anon – A Century Of Thrillers: From Poe To Arlen (Daily Express, 1934)

James Agate – Foreword

Wilkie Collins – The Traveller’s Story of a Terribly Strange Bed
Wilkie Collins – Mad Monkton
Wilkie Collins – The Biter Bit
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Adventure of the Speckled Band
Mary Shelley – The Mortal Immortal
Micheal Arlen – The Gentleman from America
R. H. Barham – The Leech of Folkstone
R. H. Barham – Jerry Jarvis’ Wig
R. H. Barham – The Spectre of Tappington
R. H. Barham – Singular Passage in the Life of the Late Henry Harris, Doctor of Divinity
Mrs Henry Wood – The Ebony Box
A. J. Alan – My Adventure at Chiselhurst
A. J. Alan – The Hair
Edgar Allan Poe – The Gold Bug
Edgar Allan Poe – The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe – The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Edgar Allan Poe – The Mystery of the Marie Roget
Edgar Allan Poe – The Pit and the Pendulum
Edgar Allan Poe – Berenice
Edgar Allan Poe – William Wilson
Edgar Allan Poe – The Masque of the Red Death
Nathaniel Hawthorne – Roger Malvin’s Burial
Nathaniel Hawthorne – Dr Heidegger’s Experiment
Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Grey Champion
Sir Walter Scott – Wandering Willie’s Tale
Sir Walter Scott – The Two Drovers
W. W. Jacobs – The Monkeys Paw
J. S. Le Fanu – Sir Dominick Sarsfield
J. S. Le Fanu – Mr Justice Harbottle
J. S. Le Fanu – Green Tea
Oscar Wilde – The Birthday of the Infanta
Charles Dickens – The Trial For Murder
Charles Dickens – The Story of the Bagmans Murder
Charles Dickens – No 1 Branch Line, The Signalman
Elizabeth Gaskell – The Squires Story
J. S. Fletcher – The Lighthouse of Shivering Sand
Anthony Trollope – Malachi’s Cove
Lord Lytton – The Haunted and the Haunters
Frederick Marryat – The Story of the Greek Slave
Algernon Blackwood – The Woman’s Ghost Story
Algernon Blackwood – Secret Worship
Mrs Oliphant – The Open Door
Ambrose Bierce – The Suitable Surroundings
Ambrose Bierce – One of the Missing
Ambrose Bierce – The Affair at Coulters Notch
Ambrose Bierce – A Tough Tussle
Ambrose Bierce – A Horseman in the Sky

One of the evil clones i mentioned on an earlier Century post.  According to E. F. Bleiler (The Guide To Supernatural Fiction,  Kent State Universtity Press, 1983)

“The CENTURY volumes were one of the results of Depression newspaper wars in Great Britain in the 1930’s. Books of enormous size, they were given as premiums for subscriptions, then taken over by commercial publishing (Hutchinson’s mostly).”

And to think these days we’re happy with the occasional Belles of St. Trinians DVD ….