Ghosts and More Ghosts

by Robert Arthur

Lock your doors, and don't investigate any weird noises! Then, if you dare, settle back and read these ten stories, written by an expert in the art of the strange, the spooky, and the suspenseful. They will give you hours of pleasantly shivery reading ⁠— mixed with some chuckles to relieve the tension.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Ghost Stories, Fiction, Childrens, Ghosts, Young Adult

211 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Robert Arthur (1909-1969) was a versatile mystery writer born November 10, 1909, on Corregidor Island, where his father served as a U.S. Army officer. He is best known as the creator of The Three Investigators, a mystery book series for young people, but he began his career writing for the pulps, and later worked in both radio and television. He studied at William and Mary College for two years before earning a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Michigan. In 1931, he moved to New York City, where he wrote mysteries, fantasies, and horror stories for magazines like Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, Detective Fiction Weekly, and Black Mask throughout the 1930s.

Later, with David Kogan, he co-created and produced The Mysterious Traveler radio show (1944-1952), earning a 1953 Edgar Award. He and Kogan also won an Edgar, in 1950, for Murder By Experts. In 1959, Arthur relocated to Hollywood, scripting for The Twilight Zone and serving as story editor and writer for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, while ghost-editing numerous "Alfred Hitchcock" anthologies for adults and children.

In 1963, Arthur settled in Cape May, New Jersey, where he created The Three Investigators series with The Secret of Terror Castle (1964). He wrote ten novels in the series before his death in Philadelphia on May 2, 1969. The 43-title series, continued after his death by writers-for-hire working for Random House, was published in over twenty-five languages and thirty countries. (Originally branded as "Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators", Random House dropped the Hitchcock name from the series after Hitchcock's death.)

In June of 2024, Hollow Tree Press reissued Robert Arthur's original ten novels as a sixtieth anniversary edition. Those editions have end notes written by his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth Arthur and Steven Bauer, and Hollow Tree Press is also publishing a twenty-six book New Three Investigators series written by Arthur and Bauer.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I read last October was Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery. Since my favorite stories from that wonderful volume were all by Robert Arthur, I wasted no time scouting around for some of his titles. Sad to say that despite Arthur's having written more than 1000 magazine stories, 500 radio scripts, and at least 75 television scripts*, there's not a lot available. Don't get me wrong - he's published tons of stuff, notably the Alfred Hitchcock Three Investigators series . . . but good luck getting your hands on anything else.

I guess it's good news for me that Andrea didn't want her 1972 Christmas gift from Gram L. anymore. (Seriously - how can anyone part with an inscribed book?)

There are ten delightful tales here. They're not particularly terrifying - just well written and highly entertaining. Most have a slightly humorous tone, and indeed seem like they would have worked nicely as Alfred Hitchcock Presents or Twilight Zone scripts. I'm not really sure why these were marketed to children. There's only one child character in the entire book. Was it that adults were not expected to read spooky stories?

Well, call me a child at heart.

Robert Arthur had a lifelong interest in ghosts, haunts, demons, dragons, witchcraft, and magic. Once he lived in an old bat-infested house, where the bats would swoop around his head as he typed - just the right atmosphere for a writer of ghost and mystery stories.*

He died in 1969.

I'll certainly be on the lookout for more of his books



*Taken from the About the Author page in this book.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grabbed this compilation from the used book store because Robert Arthur is one of the favorite authors of my youthful reading (he wrote the first installments of the youth detective series ALFRED HITCHCOCK & THE THREE INVESTIGATORS, which I cherished as a boy). Arthur was a journeyman author, writing for the pulps and anthology radio shows (THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER, THE SEALED BOOK) before landing his lifetime gig as Alfred Hitchcock's editor, assembling and writing all the "Hitch" intros for those endless anthologies for adults and youths (as well as the aforementioned 3 INVESTIGATOR books). I was proud to run a story by him on the fiction podcast I co-edit, Pseudopod (link included later).

This book would be a collection of some of Arthur's pulp work (often re-titled), packaged for the YA audience of Scholastic Books - which makes sense, as Arthur has a very accessible, direct and inoffensive style. Not really a book for those seeking great, lost supernatural stories - despite the title (which one presumes was applied to tie-in to Arthur's other collection, Mystery and More Mystery and his edited collection, Spies and More Spies) - there is only one story with an actual "ghost" [which is only described and doesn't actually appear], although there are a few "monsters", and most are "light fantasy", in all truth. Still, it would make a great gift for a budding reader - and not *everything* here is qualified as adolescent writing. There may have been some minor rewriting as well, as four of the stories here are listed on ISFDB as being part of Arthur's "Murchison Morks" character series, but I think that character only appears twice.

Some of the weaker stories unfortunately are loaded in front. In "Mr. Milton's Gift" (originally "The Man with the Golden Hand" from BLUE-BOOK MAGAZINE), a man stops off in a bizarre curio shop (with an equally bizarre proprietor) to buy his wife a last-minute gift. But the shop only seems to offer malignant possibilities, so the owner "gifts" Mr. Milton with "the ability to make money" (throwing in a bonus gift of "verse"), which ends up allowing Mr. Milton to unconsciously doodle exact counterfeits of currency, while he can't stop speaking in rhyme. This light comedic fantasy is all very cute and innocent (although I did like the shop manager's bewilderment that Mr. Milton wasn't looking for a way to kill his wife). Meanwhile, in "The Rose Crystal Bell" (originally "Ring Once For Death," in AMAZING STORIES), a couple celebrating their anniversary return to an antique shop they last visited on their honeymoon, looking for a keepsake, and the wife chooses a small bell made of rose crystal (missing the matching clapper) which the proprietor is hesitant to sell, having been warned of a curse if it is rung. But, as it turns out, the wife knows exactly where the clapper lies... a variation on "The Monkey's Paw" trope, workmanlike but okay. In "The Marvelous Stamps From El Dorado" (published in ARGOSY as "Postpaid To Paradise"), Murchison tells about some strange stamps he inherited and puzzled over with a philatelist friend - stamps that turn out to transport things and people they are "posted" on to a magical realm. A cute, imaginative (and now hopelessly outdated) yarn for kids, with a light, breezy, fantasy tone, this reminded me a bit of L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt's delightful Tales From Gavagan's Bar stories in their suburban fantasy tone. An enjoyable trifle.

"The Wonderful Day" (a re-titling of ARGOSY's "Miracle On Main Street") has a young boy unintentionally make a wish (after hearing his parents gossiping about the townspeople's flaws and foibles) which transforms some of the residents of the plac into magically altered versions of themselves (the town gossip has two voices, the town layabout causes horses to appear every time he states "I wish...", etc.). Another cute trifle. Meanwhile, a professor who wants to "make a mark in history," uses a book of black magic to travel back to Ancient Rome, where he finds himself occupying the form of a gander in "Don't Be A Goose" (also ARGOSY) - but still manages to "make his mark." Another engaging time-waster.

"Obstinate Uncle Otis" (again, from ARGOSY) has a determinedly set-in-his-beliefs old codger (who refuses to believe that things he dislikes actually exist) struck by lightning and magically gain the ability to "disbelieve" things out of existence. The ending (given the codger's propensity for amnesia as well) is obvious, but the piece is concisely done (concision seems to be Arthur's strong suit). "Garvey's Ghost" (re-titled here, from FANTASY & SCIENCE-FICTION, to "Hank Garvey's Daytime Ghost" unfortunately, as it blows the plot point) has a nephew seek out his oddball relative for an explanation of why the old man sleeps all day and works all night. Again, cute.

There are three solid spook stories here: "Mr. Dexter's Dragon" (originally published as "The Book And The Beast" in WEIRD TALES) has the titular character find a handwritten book of Cagliostro's magic spells, sealed with a lock, in an old dusty bookstore. But what he doesn't realize is the book is locked for a reason... While predictable, I especially liked the accelerated structure which puts the obvious ending off-screen at the halfway point, then precedes to spin out the scenario into the future. Not bad at all. Also quite enjoyable is "Footsteps Invisible" (ARGOSY, again) in which (as you may have guessed from the title) the monster never actually "appears" but we still experience the travails of a British archeologist fleeing the shuffling thing that pursues him around the globe and those of a blind news-seller he befriends. An exceedingly aural tale, which is a wise choice given the whole approach, I liked the little fillip on the end of the story that implies a continuation of the curse in unexpected ways. Good stuff. As mentioned, we presented it on Pseudopod for free at the link!

Finally, "Do You Believe In Ghosts?" (originally "The Believers" in WEIRD TALES, again) features famed ghost hunter Nicholas Deene who plans to fabricate a spook in a suitable setting for his latest radio spectacular - wherein he will be handcuffed to a bedpost in a decrepit mansion as he broadcasts his lies about a legend he's created - but then, something does show up... This story is interesting for a number of reasons - it uses the same basic set-up (ghost hunter's live radio broadcast) as H. Russell Wakefield's "Ghost Hunt," but seven years *BEFORE* that story (although Wakefield's story features a "real" psychical spirit investigation, told first-person like a textual version of our current "found footage" films), while also being a first stab at an idea (the focused will of an audience bringing something unreal into being) that Arthur later explored in 1946 in the radio drama he wrote called "If You Believe" for THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER - and ended up predicting the original intention (and to some degree eventual plot iteration) of the notorious BBC special GHOSTWATCH (from 1992) in which the focused belief of the audience is fed on by a real spook to allow itself to magnify and manifest countrywide. Arthur's story isn't as spot-on as Wakefield's, but it's a cool idea, well deployed...

So, while not a lost gem, I thoroughly enjoyed this charming little collection!

[Cheryl Gatling]

This was my book from childhood. The pages are stiff and yellow. The shiny silver cover is a little roughed up, and bears the price of 85 cents, a ridiculously low amount. I remembered that I had loved these short stories, and had read and re-read them. I recently got this book out again, and asked my daughter to read it to me while I worked.

I noticed a few things. My daughter had to stop several times to ask me what various words meant. When I was a child, I hadn’t noticed that it was hard reading. Were reading standards higher back in the day? Were kids in the past exposed to more challenging words? Or did I just bleep over them in order to pursue the story?

I also noticed that, although this book is intended for young people, the characters, except for one or two exceptions, are adults. My book was published in 1972. The stories were written during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. That was before the birth of YA as a genre. Now it is assumed that teens are only interested in reading about other teens, and children about children. This is obviously nonsense. Anyone can be interested in a story about anyone, if the story is good.

And Robert Arthur had a career in writing and producing TV and movies. He knew something about holding an audience’s attention. These stories are good. He is good with creating a mood. He is good with withholding a detail until the end. The stories are not all about ghosts. Some are about other unexplained phenomena, such as wish fulfillment, or what might be called magic. And many of the stories are funny.

These were my favorites when I was young: “The Marvelous Stamps from El Dorado,” in which some beautiful postage stamps with colorful, hyper-realistic pictures on them have the ability to deliver a letter through the air in a matter of minutes. They can even deliver a cat, in a box, and the cat arrived healthier than ever. What else might they be able to do?

“Do You Believe in Ghosts?” in which a radio personality performs a stunt of staying alone in a haunted house, chained to a bed, while he invents a swamp creature who slithers into the house. He describes the thing so vividly that five million people listening at home believe it is real.

“Mr. Dexter’s Dragon,” in which a man finds an ancient book, with a warning not to leave it open at night, which of course he disregards. Inside the book is a picture of a dragon, looking skinny and hungry, and a pile of 13 human skeletons. But that warning, that wasn't serious, was it?

You might want to read this book. I recommend it. But I’m sure it's out of print. And you can’t borrow mine. I won't let it go. You’ll have to read it here, in my house.

[Raja99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the two or three books that had the biggest impact on me as a kid; I read it many times, and probably can't be objective about it.

Interestingly enough, it was also the first book I reviewed on Amazon. Here's that review, which I posted on July 15, 1998:

Great book of spooky tales for children

I discovered this book when I was the perfect age for it, and I still enjoy it today. It's a collection of ten stories about ghosts and the supernatural with a little fantasy and science fiction (i.e., Time Travel) thrown in. Some of the stories are scary ("Footsteps Invisible", "The Rose-Crystal Bell") while others are funny ("Mr. Milton's Gift", "Don't Be a Goose") and yet others are best described as wistful ("The Wonderful Day", "The Marvelous Stamps from El Dorado"). This was one of my favorite books as a kid, and I still think it's very good.

[Amy (Other Amy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I can't believe I found this. I didn't remember anything but the cover, but looking over the stories in this collection, this is THE strange tales collection for my childhood. Every one of these stories has stayed with me.

The stories:
Footsteps Invisible
Mr. Milton's Gift
The Rose Crystal Bell
Don't Be a Goose
Obstinate Uncle Otis
Do You Believe in Ghosts?
The Stamps for El Dorado
The Wonderful Day
Mr. Dexter's Dragon
Hank Garvey's Daytime Ghost

I found it because I was looking for "The Rose Crystal Bell," but I recall "Footsteps Invisible," "The Stamps for El Dorado," and "Mr. Dexter's Dragon" also as being especially memorable. (Why this is a children's book, I will never know. These are easily nice additions to any adult's weird story collection.)

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books growing up. I would read it every October and often inbetween. I finally found a new copy since my original was so worn out. It is still as good today as when I first read it.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Robert Arthur’s collection of fantastic tales for young readers was among my most distinct memories from elementary school. As a kid I loved the stories in it, the details of many of which I carried with me for years afterward. When my young son started to get interested in horror stories, the book came to mind once again and I tracked down a copy, as much for my benefit as for his. Revisiting it again brought back all of those wonderful memories while simultaneously giving me new insights into the stories it contained. These are:

“Footsteps Invisible” – A blind news vendor is asked by a famed British archaeologist to use his keen hearing to help stay one step ahead of the relentless force hunting him. This one provides a nice, creepy start to the book, highlighting Arthur’s ability to evoke dread in his tales.

“Mr. Milton’s Gift” – A man searching for an anniversary gift for his wife gets more than he bargains for when he comes upon an unusual curio shop. It’s one of the more humorous tales in the collection, and reflects nicely the range of stories of which Arthur was capable.

“The Rose Crystal Bell” – Another story centered around an anniversary gift, it’s about a surgeon and his wife who purchase a unique bell with a forbidding reputation. It’s one of the darkest stories, and one to which Arthur adds an enjoyable element of uncertainty right through to the end as to whether there is even a supernatural force at play in it.

“The Marvelous Stamps from El Dorado” – Easily my favorite tale in the book, it’s about a young man who stumbles across a unique set of postage from a far-off land. The premise is wonderfully magical and the story is fun, with just a touch of melancholy at the end.

“The Wonderful Day” – A feverish child with a magical gift becomes a force of karma in the small town where he lives. This is another story that leans more towards the fantastic rather than the horrific, as it serves up a sizeable heaping of just desserts in a very literal fashion.

“Don’t Be a Goose” – In an attempt to achieve greatness, a nebbish physics professor uses a spell to transport himself into the past, but with surprising results. This is one of my least favorite stories in the collection, largely because it isn’t long into the story before the outcome becomes predictable. Nevertheless, it’s still a fun read.

“Do You Believe in Ghosts?” – A radio show host proves a little too successful at stoking the imagination of his listeners. This is one of the few stories where the premise is better than the execution, though largely because it’s such a fantastic idea.

“Obstinate Uncle Otis” – After being struck by lightning, a stubborn man gains the power to bend his world to fit his views. This is another one that features Arthur’s ability to take a potentially grim premise and turn it into a fun tale about the dangers of being unable to accept reality, which is probably why my memory of it held up as well as it did.

“Mr. Dexter’s Dragon” – An amateur antiquarian discovers more than he bargained for when he stumbles across a book of spells with a special illustration inside it. This was another one of my favorites, and reading it again made for a nice demonstration of how effectively Arthur could write a tale that invokes horror in a story that can still be appropriate for young readers.

“Hank Garvey’s Daytime Ghost” – Another take about the power of obstinacy, as a local character defines the life of his grandson even from beyond the grave. While an enjoyable enough story it’s one of the weakest in the book, as Arthur employs many of the elements in it to better effect in the ones that preceded it.

Though the ghosts themselves are surprisingly few in a book with the title given to this one, there’s plenty of the fantastic and the supernatural for young readers to enjoy. That the book is no longer in print means that the ability for them to do so depends upon stumbling across a yellowing copy on a library shelf or in a used bookstore, but those who do so are in for an enjoyable treat.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a somewhat precocious kid who liked to creep herself out, I really took to these stories. Especially "The Rose Crystal Bell." and "Footsteps Invisible," the latter of which would make an excellent radio drama, if there was still such a thing.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is not one ghost in this book. 🤣🤣🤣

[Derek Lipscomb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that has haunted my family for almost as long as I have been alive. My older brother first possessed a copy, and when I got older, I wanted one for myself. Why?

Ghosts & More Ghosts is hands-down my favorite collection of ghost stories, although to categorize them all as such is a bit inaccurate. Some of these are more along the lines of Twilight-Zone style narratives, offering little to no scares and more whimsy and wonder, like "Hank Garvey's Daytime Ghost" or "The Wonderful Day". All are entertaining, with stand-outs for me being "Do You Believe in Ghosts?"(my top favorite one), "Footsteps Invisible" and "Mr. Dexter's Dragon". The illustrations pair really well with these short stories, offering images of the creepy to the plain weird.

Highly suggest this for those who like thrills, chills and some obsurdities!

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The night was dark, and violent with storm."

So begins this collection of ghostly terror. I bought this when I was in maybe 3rd grade (judging by my handwriting inside the cover and the misspelling of my street name) and it was well above my reading level. I tried again when I was older and really enjoyed it. I was happy to find it stashed away with other books from my youth. Being October, I've picked it up again, but I think I'll take my time with just a story here and there... Just enough to keep me spooked.

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories that are more mysterious than scary. All of the stories are very interesting with a bit of suspense, and are different than most stories of the ghost genre. My favorite by far is The Marvelous Stamps from El Dorado which is a fantasy/mystery but the author leaves you with the feeling that this could possibly have happened!

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the first ghosty collection I ever read. It belonged to my Uncle. This is still one of my very favorites, though it looks to be hard to find now.

[Isabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two stories that I remember from this book, and still give me the shivers to this day: "Footsteps Invisible" and "Do You Believe". The others stories are just okay.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A childhood favorite. A collection of truly eerie short stories, so many of which have stayed with me for nearly 40 years.

[Tonk82 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Arthur fue un escritor muy interesante que realizó programas de radio (el prestigioso The Mysterious Traveler), hizo de "editor fantasma" en mas de quince antologías de Alfred Hitchcock, escribió montones de relatos cortos en revistas de terror, suspense y ciencia ficción, y creó y escribió todos los primeros volúmenes de la famosa serie infantil "Alfred Hitchcock y los tres investigadores".

Este es uno de los pocos recopilatorios que llegó a publicar con sus relatos, bajo su propio nombre. Se supone que con temática de terror y fantasmas, pero la verdad es que hay bastante mas variedad que eso.

Footsteps Invisible (1940) : Uno de los mejores, sobre un ciego, y un hombre que se siente perseguido desde hace años por alguien. 4/5

Mr. Milton's Gift (1953) : Una variación de de las típicas historias de deseos (rollo La pata de mono) con bastante sentido del humor. 2.5/5

The Rose-Crystal Bell( 1954) : Uno de sus relatos mas conocidos, sobre una campanilla que al hacerla sonar puede resucitar a alguien fallecido... ¿o no? Muy twilight zone. 4/5

The Marvelous Stamps from El Dorado (1940) : Una de las fantasiosas historias de Muchison Morks, presumiendo de haber tenido los sellos mas raros de la historia. 2/5

The Wonderful Day (1940) : Otro relato sobre deseos, en este caso multiples a la vez, con connotaciones morales. Es el mas largo del libro, y resulta bastante divertido. 3.5/5

Don't Be a Goose (1941) : Un cientifico logra trasladar su conciencia a otra época... pero acaba metido en el cuerpo de una oca. 2/5

Do You Believe in Ghosts? (1941) : Muy interesante este, sobre un falso narrador de eventos sobrenaturales radiofónicos, que prepara una performance en una decrépita casa y narra en primera persona lo que ocurre. Muy eficaz. 4.5/5

Obstinate Uncle Otis (1941) : Simpático relato sobre que pasaría si un tipo muy obstinado en negar la realidad, de repente pudiese tener el poder de cambiar esa realidad. 3/5

Mr. Dexter's Dragon (1943) : Un libro de magia con un dragón, en torno al que ocurren cosas extrañas. 4/5

Hank Garvey's Daytime Ghost • (1962) : Otro relato humorístico sobre un chaval que acude a Hank Harvey para preguntarle sobre su fantasma diurno, ya que cada vez que pregunta a alguien sobre ese rumor, todo el mundo se rie. 3.5/5

La nota media sería un 3.5/5 y todos ellos se leen con agrado. Arthur era un hombre con muchas ideas interesantes, aunque sus relatos pequen a veces de ser demasiado sencillos en su desarrollo, sin llegar a ser ninguno de ellos realmente una obra maestra.

[Scott Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It was a weird sort of sound he heard, a shuffle-shuffle then a click…”

One of a collection of short story’s found in the book Ghosts and more Ghosts by Robert Arthur Jr. Footsteps Invisible narrates the tale of a blind newspaper salesman Jorman who has the uncanny ability of telling his customers by their footsteps and the story of Sir Andrew who is being chased around the world by something that always tracks him down.

This story holds so much of what scares me in a good horror story. The unseen stalker, the unrelenting persistence in which it continues to hunt its prey, and the futility of resisting the inevitable outcome. The unseen in a horror story always holds more fear as it allows your own imagination to create monsters far better than any author could; in essence part of your self goes into the horror. Looking further I found an element of morality in there, Sir Andrew Carraden knows why he is being perused all over the world by this nameless, faceless prowler. He even accepts that it was his own actions, a law he violated, a law he was aware of but went ahead and broke it anyway “I violated an ancient law, then got panicky and tried to escape the consequences”. That to me changes the element of evil, but makes it no less scary. A great start off and I am looking forward to reading the other nine in the series.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere around a 3.5/5 for me. This was a solid spooky season read! It felt somewhere in-between middle grade & adult. Some stories were more entertaining than others to me- the strongest to me were : footsteps invisible, Mr. Milton's gift, and the rose crystal bell. Others such as don't be a goose and do you believe in ghosts? and Mr. Dexter's Dragon were all solid and entertaining. There were some twists and turns in here that were quite unique and I really enjoyed the vintage vibes (as this was published in the 60s- example- do you believe in ghosts? follows a ghost hunters radio broadcast and it was just very Scooby doo). Overall gave the perfect amount of spooky and uncanny for a fun night's reading without being depraved as so much of the horror genre is. This was actually quite similar to a book I just read - Ray Russell's 'Haunted Castles' which is a gothic horror anthology. I would say the writing in that one is a little stronger and the themes are darker, but very similar to this book in the sense that it's well written, unusual short stories.

[Bobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a kid and remembered two of the stories in it over the years, though not by name: "The Wonderful Day" and "Stamps for El Dorado". A recent search on UNSOLVED: one specific book led me back to it. I had forgotten it was by Robert Arthur, who wrote many of the much-beloved Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators books. A re-read of this book confirms that it preserves much of its charm. "Footsteps Invisible" and "Mr. Dexter's Dragon" are also recommended.

[Michael Fredette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Arthur—creator of the juvenile detective series, Alfred Hitchcock & the Three a Investigators—was my first favorite author. This collection of campfire-worthy ghost stories and Twilight Zone-style weirdness, drawn from post-war periodicals including McCall’s, is a fun read featuring a lot of archetypal horror scenarios (I.e. a mummy’s curse, enchanted objects, arcane occult texts, magic spells & etc.)

[Stormcrow Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun selection of ten stories that are somewhat dated, but still probably great for young readers. As an old reader, I still found Invisible Footsteps, The Stamps of El Dorado, Do You Believe in Ghosts?, and Mr. Dexter's Dragon all enjoyable stories that still held up. A few others are rather silly and I was surprised there weren't more ghost stories in a book with this title.

[Dina]

This is a nice collection of very well thought out short stories. They aren't your typical spooky ghost stories, most of them are more like mysteries. They also delve deeply into human nature. My favorite story involves an ancient unicorn horn!

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a copy of this book, and Mysteries and More Mysteries, and Thrillers and More Thrillers that I would sell together or separately. Message me if interested.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like the Twilight Zone than ghost stories.

[n]

This book is approximately a jillion years old and it still creeps me out to this day.

[Jordan B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, there are almost no actual ghosts in this lol

[delete · Rating 3 out of 5]

“It was a weird sort of sound he heard, a shuffle-shuffle then a click…” One of a collection of short story’s found in the book Ghosts and more Ghosts by Robert Arthur Jr. Footsteps Invisible narrates the tale of a blind newspaper salesman Jorman who has the uncanny ability of telling his customers by their footsteps and the story of Sir Andrew who is being chased around the world by something that always tracks him down.
This story holds so much of what scares me in a good horror story. The unseen stalker, the unrelenting persistence in which it continues to hunt its prey, and the futility of resisting the inevitable outcome. The unseen in a horror story always holds more fear as it allows your own imagination to create monsters far better than any author could, in essence part of your self goes into the horror.
Looking further I found an element of morality in there, Sir Andrew Carraden knows why he is being perused all over the world by this nameless, faceless prowler. He even accepts that it was his own actions, a law he violated, a law he was aware of but went ahead and broke it anyway “I violated an ancient law, then got panicky and tried to escape the consequences”. That to me changes the element of evil, but makes it no less scary.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable collection of classic-style ghost stories intended for precocious kids who like to creep themselves out. This was one of my cherished books when I was young, and I still enjoy going back to it now and then.

I agree 100% with IziEzi that "Footsteps Invisible" and "Do You Believe in Ghosts?" are the stand-outs.

Some of the stories feel a little dated, having been written in the early 1940s (so they already felt that way back when I read them). But I suspect even a post-Gen X kid will still get most of the references. Mid-twentieth century-style radio shows, for example, may be long gone, but there's still NPR. That sort of thing. And these references are really just a minor distraction.

I suppose nostalgia may be helping to push me to that fourth star, but Arthur knew how to tell a good story with spooky atmosphere, and he doesn't shy away from having his characters meet some appropriately grim ends!

[Canavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

✭✭✭½

“Footsteps Invisible” (1940) ✭✭✭✭½
“Mr. Milton’s Gift” (variant title: The Man with the Golden Hand) (1953) ✭✭✭
“The Rose-Crystal Bell” (variant title: “Ring Once for Death”) (1954) ✭✭✭½
“The Marvelous Stamps of El Dorado” (variant title: “Postpaid to Paradise”) (1940) ✭✭✭✭
“The Wonderful Day” (variant title: “Miracle on Main Street”) (1940) ✭✭✭½
“Don’t Be a Goose” (variant title: “The Hero Equation”) (1941) ✭✭✭
“Do You Believe in Ghosts?” (variant title: “The Believers”) (1941) ✭✭✭✭½
“Obstinate Uncle Otis” (1941) ✭✭
“Mr. Dexter’s Dragon” (variant title: “The Book and the Beast”) (1943) ✭✭✭
“Hank Garvey’s Daytime Ghost” (variant title: “Garvey’s Ghost”) (1962) ✭✭

[Douglas]

i love ghost books!