R. A. Gilbert

The definitive collection of ghost stories as we've come to know them in the Western world. Cox and Gilbert had five criteria for selecting the tales herein: "each story should reveal to the reader a spectacle of the returning dead, or their agents, and their actions; there must be a dramatic interaction between the living and the dead, more often than not with the intention of frightening or unsettling the reader; the story must exhibit clear literary quality (not as subjectively vague a show more condition as it might sound); there must be a definable Englishness about the story, by which we generally understand English settings, English characters and institutions, and qualities (both stylistic and thematic) representative of the English ghost-story tradition as a whole; and finally, for not entirely practical reasons, the story must be relatively short."

Naturally, some works by prominent American writers like Henry James ("The Friends of the Friends"), Mary E. Wilkins ("The Lost Ghost") and Edith Wharton ("Mr. Jones") found their way into these pages. They stand alongside works by virtually every major British author of ghost stories, from Sheridan Le Fanu ("Squire Toby's Will") to M.R. James ("Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"), from Oliver Onions ("The Cigarette Case") to Robert Aickman ("The Cicerones"). Some of the tales, like Algernon Blackwood's "The Empty House," describe ghostly phenomena with an observant detachment, as a parapsychologist might record data inside a real-life haunted house; others, like Somerset Maugham's "The Taipan" and Walter de la Mare's "Bad Company," are examples of what critic/anthologist David G. Hartwell called the "overtly moral" horror story. Still others are just skin-crawling reminders of our fleeting mortality, like Richard Middleton's "On the Brighton Road" (my favorite story of the entire volume).

Essential. show less

Wonderfully creepy collection with a wide variety of the more high quality Victorian ghost stories. Particularly enjoyed "At Chrighton Abbey" by [a:Mary Elizabeth Braddon|45896|Mary Elizabeth Braddon|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1202597702p2/45896.jpg] and "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street" by [a:J.S. Le Fanu|5784865|J.S. Le Fanu|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg]. It's a really good book for its show more representation of many female authors. show less

I always wondered why "A Christmas Carol" was a Christmas story with such dark and spooky elements. It seems much more suited to Halloween than more modern sugar-coated Christmas tales. Now, from the introduction to this book I know: it was a common tradition in England in the past (I can’t say for the present) to tell ghost stories on Christmas Eve! The introduction is informative and puts the reader in the right frame of mind to read the stories.
This is not a collection of ghost show more stories if you want to be scared, though there are a few with elements that raise goosebumps. I found it more valuable as a window into the Victorian Era. The details that the authors add to make the story more lifelike, and thus add to scariness, are also the details most interesting about the period. When they describe the scenery—often detailed descriptions of the rooms where the horrors take place, it also takes the reader back into the past.
On a different note, I love when they describe the when a building was built or last updated not in years, but by what monarch was on the throne at the time. It’s a very charming collection. show less

Although every word of this story is as true as despair, I do not expect people to believe it. Nowadays a 'rational explanation' is required before belief is possible. Let me then, at once, offer the 'rational explanation' which finds most favour among those who have heard the tale of my life's tragedy. It is held that we were 'under a delusion', Laura and I, on that 31st of October; and that this supposition places the whole matter on a satisfactory and believable basis. The reader can show more judge, when he, too, has heard my story, how far this is an 'explanation' and in what sense it is 'rational'. There were three who took part in this: Laura and I and another man. The other man still lives, and can speak to the truth of the least credible part of my story.

A very well-chosen selection of ghost stories, most of them written between 1890 and 1940, the golden era of English ghost stories.

I had read "The Monkey's Paw", "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad!" and "The Roll-Call of the Reef" before, but the rest were new to me. Between the covers of this book you will find malevolent ghosts, lost and lonely ghosts, and ghosts who needed to make amends. Haunted landscapes and haunted houses, and in some cases it seems to be the house itself that is doing the haunting. Omens of death, murderers haunted by the ghosts of their victims, as well as a couple of ghosts who don't seem to have a grudge against their murderers, and one well-meaning ghost whose well-meaning actions are thwarted by changes that have happened since his death. show less