A School Story

‘Si tu non veneris ad me, ego veniam ad te’
(If you don’t come to me, I’ll come to you) (page 13)

Two men were talking of their school days, especially concerning ghost stories.
During Latin grammar lessons, Mc Leod stops thinking, maybe feeling something strange coming from the teacher, Mr. Sampson.
One night Mc Leod is watching at the professor’s window: ‘there was a man sitting or kneeling on Sampson’s window-sill … beastly thin … looking around and whispering as if he hardly liked to hear himself.’ (page 15)
The next day Mr. Sampson was gone.

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The Rose Garden

Quieta non movere
or Are ghosts noisy?

Mr. Anstruther and his wife are talking about their rose garden, he disagrees with his wife because the spot is not very nice: there are shrubs, and it is not sunny. Eventually Mrs. Anstruther makes sure that her husband starts the job.
A previous owner of the estate, Miss Wilkins, visits Mrs. Anstruther; they talk about the rose garden. But when Mrs Anstruther is telling to Miss Wilkins her project, the latter thoughts ‘were evidently elsewhere.’ When Miss Wilkins and his brother Frank were children, he disappeared for a while and reappeared on the bench of the rose garden. Frank had been asleep and he had had ‘a very odd disjointed sort of dream.’ Frank was in a court for a trial, and after he was walking towards the gallow. ‘He never saw much of what was around him, but he felt the scenes most vividly.’ (page 30)

The same night, Mr. Anstruther had had the same dream.

‘Mrs. Anstruther … was sure some rough had got into the plantation during the night.
- And another thing, George: the moment that Collins is about again, you must tell him to do something about the owls.’ (page 35)

Are ghosts among us? or are they just owls?

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THE TRACTATE MIDDOTH

Mr. John Eldred is looking for a book in a library. The book is Tractate Middoth from the Talmud. A library assistant, Mr. Garret, helps Mr. Eldred to find the book, but a man is reading the Tractate:

‘It looked to me dry, and it looked dusty, and the streaks of hair across it were much less like hair than cobwebs.’ (page 58)

Mr. Garrett is shocked from the reader of the Tractate and he is forced to stay at home. Before Mr. Garrett returned to work at the library, the librarian wanted that he takes a week’s rest. Mr. Garrett leaves for a village on the sea.

In train he met a landlady, Mrs. Simpson and her daughter. Mrs Simpson had apartments empty at that season, so Mr. Garrett decides to take one.
An evening, during their talk, Mrs Simpson is very interested in Mr. Garrett’s job as librarian. The Simpson’s decide to ask for help to Mr. Garrett: the women have to find a book where inside could be the will of their uncle. The only clue is a number that sounds familiar to Mr. Garrett: it is the number of the book that Mr. Eldred was looking for. Another interesting clue for Mr. Garrett is that Mr. Eldred is Mrs. Simpson’s cousin.

Mr. Eldred is the first to find the mysterious book, but when he is searching for the will in the book:
‘something black seemed to drop upon the white leaf and run down it, and then as Eldred started and was turning to look behind him, a little dark form appeared to rise out of the shadow behind the tree-trunk and from it two arms enclosing a mass of blackness came before Eldred’s face and covered his head and neck.’ (page 79)

The story has a good plot and M.R. James is a master to insert the ghost’s passages only when needed, so to keep the reader’s curiosity high.

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CASTING THE RUNES

Warning: before to write a book’s review, read Casting the Runes (You could change idea!).

The runic alphabet, developed from the Etruscan, was used in northern Europe from third to seventeenth century.
In magical practice ‘casting the runes’ means send curses through slip of paper in runic letters.

Karswell is a writer of alchemy and witchcraft books. When somebody refuses to review or submits a negative one about his books, the reviewer’s fate is marked.

‘The obvious course was to find a match, and also to consult his watch: he might as well know how many hours of discomfort awaited him.
So he puts his hand into the well-known nook under the pillow: only, it did not get so far.
What he touched was, according to his account, a mouth, with teeth, and with hair about it, and, he declares, not the mouth of a human being.’ (page 112)

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The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral

Dr. Black is cataloguing the Barchester’s Cathedral library, when he discovers a box containing some fifty year old diaries.
The diaries concern the death of Dr. Haynes, a former Archdeacon of the Cathedral.

During winter time Dr. Haynes is alone in the cathedral’s apartment, because his sister’s health doesn’t allow her to stay.
Dr. Haynes diaries tell of ordinary events, but soon after the main theme of the diaries are the noises of cats in the cathedral (although Dr. Haynes has never owned a cat).
‘The hall and the staircase seemed to be unusually full of what I can only call movement without sound.’ (page 157)

Has a carved figure on the stalls of Barchester Cathedral something to do with these noises?

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Martin’s Close

- Madam, will you walk, will you talk with me?
- Yes, sir, I will walk, I will talk with you.

The narrator has to visit some land in the West. He is accompanied by the estate handy-man John Hill.
The rector of the parish where there are the properties, tells to the narrator to inquire about Martin’s Close.
During the visit the narrator asks to John Hill about Martin’s Close: the story of this bit of land concerns the murder of a young woman, Ann Clark by George Martin.

George Martin ‘was troubled before his cruel action come to light by the young woman spirit.’ (page 174)

The narrator finds a report of Martin’s trial by Judge Jefferies.

The story that follows tells about the trial’s last days. Accordingly to witnesses ‘Ann Clark was seen after the 15th of May (murder’s day), and that, at such time as she was so seen, it was impossible she could have been a living person.’ (pages 190-1)

‘And prey, what came out (from the cupboard), a mouse?’ (page 199)

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Mr. Humphreys and his Inheritance

Mr. Humphreys has inherited a property from an uncle: ‘neither the property nor the uncle had he ever seen.’ (page 219)
Mr. Cooper, the property’s bailiff, has gone to the train station to pick up Mr. Humphreys.
Soon after arriving at the house, Mr. Humphreys and Mr. Cooper start an exploration of the property. Mr. Humphreys enters into the maze or labyrinth, where he finds a strange sundial. But the first impression is wrong, instead of a sundial on the top there is a stone column with a metal globe engraved with figure of the patriarchs of evil.

The dessecretion of the maze follows a series of strange events.

When Mr. Humphreys is tracing a maze’s plan, he finds a dot or a hole on the plan:
‘An ugly black spot about the size of a shilling. Ink? No.
It resembles a hole, but how should a hole be there? …
It seemed to go not only through the paper, but through the table … and through the floor below that, down, and still down, even into infinite depths.’ (page 269) and ‘far, far down there was a movement, and the movement was upwards - towards the surface. … waving black arms prepared to clasp the head that was bending over them.’ (page 270)

Quid multa?

I didn’t believe in ghosts, not until I became one.


( )

More Haunting of Antiquaries
Review of the Independently Published paperback edition (2021) of the original "More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" (1911) hardcover published by Edward Arnold.

I've been gradually working my way through Collected Ghost Stories (1931 original / 2017 expanded edition) by Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936). In advance of Halloween 2022 I'm reviewing the next set of 7 stories as they were collected in James' second collection in 1911.

This is a classic collection of Edwardian era ghost stories. Almost all of them have been adapted for radio or TV broadcasts in the UK. They are all described on Wikipedia, each with story details (spoilers obviously if you click on the story titles).

James honed his style by giving annual Christmas Eve readings at Cambridge or Eton of his latest effort. These are usually within a set story framework which has since been described as Jamesian. This style involves a) a historic building or setting where b) a gentleman scholar / researcher found or sought c) an artifact or object which is d) later found to be cursed and haunted in some manner. This Jamesian format is thus the precursor all sorts of modern day adventure stories such as the Indiana Jones series or the Robert Langdon series of movies and TV shows.

See original edition at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/More_Ghost_Stories_-_MR_Jame...
A copy of the 1st edition of "More Ghost Stories" as published by Edward Arnold (1911). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Mild Spoilers ahead. I only discuss the setups of most of the stories without disclosing the endings, but some may consider these spoilers, so I've blocked it accordingly. I enjoyed all of these and am not giving individual story ratings. They were all 4-star reads to me.

1. A School Story A teacher at a school is being pursued by a ghost from his past who is sending messages through the students.
2. The Rose Garden The site of a planned rose garden on an estate appears to have been cursed due to an execution which took place there many years previously.
3. The Tractate Middoth A secret will is hidden in an obscure Hebrew book in the British Library and rivals seek to find it in order to claim an estate.
4. Casting the Runes A Mr. Karswell is rebuffed from presenting his paper on Alchemy to a Scientific Society and plans revenge. The fictional Karswell is rumoured to have been based on the real-life [author:Aleister Crowley|3948].
5. The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral The wooden carving that forms part of the pulpit in Barchester Cathedral was made from a tree known as the "Hanging Oak". It will curse evil-doers who touch it.
6. Martin's Close A murderer is on trial in front of Judge Jeffreys, the so-called "Hanging Judge" of the James II era. His defense seems to be based on people having heard and seen his supposed victim after her assumed death.
7. Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance Mr. Humphreys inherits his uncle's estate which includes a temple and a maze with a mysterious globe on a pedestal at its centre.

Trivia and Links
The Ghost Stories of M.R. James have been adapted on an occasional basis by the BBC TV Series A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971-78, 2005-ongoing). The selections adapted to date (Oct. 2022) from More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary are 3. The Tractate Middoth (2013), 5. The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral (1971) and 6. Martin's Close (2019).

More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary can be read for free at both Wikisource and Project Gutenberg.

More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary can also be listened to for free through the public domain audiobook Ghost Stories of an Antiquary at LibriVox. The audiobook also contains the stories from James' earlier Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904). ( )

Nice enough old guy
but the cat knows what he did
killing for the church. ( )

This collection was a lot of fun. Even though some of the stories were very wordy compared to more contemporary tales, it was easy to get past that because of the vivid pictures the words painted.
There were a couple of stories that I thought were just okay, but there were also some real atmospheric knockouts.
I think my favorite in this collection was "Mister Humphreys and His Inheritance", but I could see that possibly changing upon a re-read. These tales were a good time for fans of classic horror.
Recommended! ( )

After watching the well made adaptation of the ghost story Martin's Close broadcast this Christmas, this is the short story collection by master ghost story writer M R James featuring that tale, along with half a dozen others. A couple of these didn't particularly impress me, especially the rather tedious Stalls of Barchester Cathedral. I also found The Tractate Middoth and, to a degree, Casting the Runes rather less good than I expected. The Rose Garden and Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance were probably my favourites. ( )