154. Spirits of the Season: Christmas Hauntings – Ed. Tanya Kirk

Actually taking place on Christmas ghost stories that included some really creepy ones from Marjorie Bowen and A.M. Burrage. The one by A.M. Burrage, “Smee,” managed to not be at all about the character from Peter Pan and make hide and seek way creepier than ever necessary. It also includes the ubiquitous M.R. James, but also E. Nesbit and “The Curse of the Catafalques” from F. Anstey which includes several lines about gibbering that were very funny to me.

This was a collection of pretty wide variety and I don’t think there was a dud in the bunch. I also know I’ve read “The Demon King” by J.B. Priestley before, and certainly I’ve had time since it was published in 1931, but I cannot remember where I saw it previously at all, which is a bit vexing. So far what I’ve read from the line of Tales of the Weird from the British Library has really been worthwhile and I highly recommend these collections, at least the ones for the winter solstice and Christmas time. They’ve also got great cover illustrations.

One thing Ozma could not do was gibber. I guess she also couldn’t be creepy, not even on Christmas.