The Dead of Night: The Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions

The Dead of Night: The Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions is a mesmerizing collection of elegantly nuanced ghost stories, often with a shadowy psychological bent, as protagonists’ internal demons may indeed lead the external spirits in the pas de deux interplay. But in some cases one might also consider the possibility, and perhaps rightly conclude, that the hauntings are entirely from within. Onions's stories are generally slow-paced and richly appointed in fine detail, sometimes requiring an extra bit of patience from the reader, and the payoff is almost always worth the wait.

Certain imagery and themes recur across the stories. Quite often the tales open at the threshold of a door and/or a straircase, clearly symbolic of entry or show more ascension in another realm (be it external or internal). Indeed the excellent story "The Rosewood Door" centers on an exquisite yet oddly shaped door with mysterious origins, rescued from a house demoliton, and when reinstalled anew sparks bizarre occurences. Artists and their work (painting, sculpture, writing) figure prominently in quite a few stories; their struggles and obsession seem surely one of Onions' signature autobiographical touches.

The standout story is the perfectly crafted and often anthologized "The Beckoning Fair One" wherein a writer moves into a possibly haunted house and experiences a growing obsession with a perceived spiritual presence, as well as a debilitating case of writer's block... or does his mania ensue from his maddening inability to write? Other highlights include "The Rope in the Rafters," a tale of World War I disfigurement; a sculptor's deepening madness and obsession in "Resurrection in Bronze," and a pair of tales concerning time dislocation (past or future events encroaching on the present), "The Cigarette Case" and "The Accident." show less

Have read the portion of stories from 'Widdershins' in another edition, but not the rest.