The Best Ghost Stories Ever Told

by Stephen Vincent Brennan (Editor)

When “gut feelings” have been replaced by a thirst for proof and hard evidence, it’s good to know that you can still be spooked by a collection like this one. Best Ghost Stories is a creepy group of over forty tales by some of the most impressive names in the writing world. Terrifying, bone-chillingly eerie, and good fun, these haunting narratives give vivid descriptions of creepy characters and happenings that will make you hesitate before turning out the light!

More than just a niche product, ghost stories hold a bewitching appeal for all kinds of writers and readers—some of the truly great authors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have lent their horror stories to this collection, including Arthur Conan Doyle, Louisa May Alcott, Joseph Conrad, Robert Louis Stevenson, H. G. Wells, and many more. Count on our Best Stories series for entertaining tales that you won’t soon forget.

Introduction Stephen Brennan;

The Monkey's Paw / W.W. Jacobs;

Green Tea / Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu;

The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes / Rudyard Kipling;

The Mystery of Barney O'Rourke / John Kendrick Bangs;

The Red-Haired Girl / Sabine Baring-Gould;

The Man and The Snake / Ambrose Bierce;

The Open Window / Saki (H.H. Munro);

The Story of Salome / Amelia B. Edwards;

The Black Cat Edgar / Allan Poe;

John Charrington's Wedding / E. Nesbit;

The Old Nurse's Story / Elizabeth Gaskell;

The Business of Madame Jahn / Vincent O'Sullivan;

The Canterville Ghost / Oscar Wilde;

A Haunted Island / Algernon Blackwood;

The Secret of Macarger's Gulch / Ambrose Bierce;

The Romance of Certain Old Clothes / Henry James;

The Lost Ghost / Mary E. Wilkins Freeman;

Man-Size in Marble / E. Nesbit;

The Queen of Spades / Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin;

The Story of the Spaniards / Hammersmith E. and H. Heron;

Number 13 / M.R. James;

The Apparition of Mrs. Veal / Daniel Defoe;

Round the Fire / Catherine Crowe;

The Isle of Voices / R.L. Stevenson;

The Plattner Story / H.G. Wells;

On the Brighton Road / Richard Middleton;

The Last House in C- Street / Dinah M. Mulock;

The Furnished Room / O. Henry.

Hamlet's Ghost / William Shakespeare;

Caterpillars / E.F. Benson;

The Black Mate / Joseph Conrad;

A Tough Tussle / Ambrose Bierce;

Napoleon and the Spectre / Charlotte Brontë;

John Jago's Ghost / Wilkie Collins;

The Terror / Guy de Maupassant;

Not to be Taken at Bed-Time / Rosa Mulholland;

The Haunted House / Charles Dickens;

The Bold Dragoon; or, The Adventure of My Grandfather / Washington Irving;

A Ghost Story / Mark Twain;

Afterward / Edith Wharton;

The Brown Hand / Arthur Conan Doyle;

The Affair at Grover Station / Willa Cather

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Audiobook, Short Stories, Classics, Gothic, Short Story Collection

576 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2011

About the author

Stephen Brennan is the co-author of The Adventurous Boy's Handbook and The Adventurous Girl's Handbook, and editor of The Best Pirate Stories Ever Told and The Best Sailing Stories Ever Told. He has worked as a circus clown, teacher, cabaret artist, actor, director, shepherd, and playwright. He lives in New York City and Woodstock, New York.

Reviews

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with ANY book using the word "Best" in its title doesn't take into account the tastes of its readership, and instead reflects that of its editor.

To my mind, the perfect ghost story offers a malignant or frightening specter - that isn't necessarily banished or overcome by story's end. By this criteria, few of the stories contained within meet this criteria. Of course, this volume contains such old tales as "The Canterville Ghost" (what anthology of ghost stories doesn't...), as well as Saki's "The Open Window" - which to my thinking isn't a ghost story at all. Nor is Poe's "The Black Cat". Conrad's "The Black Mate" and Collin's "John Jago's Ghost" were boring....

"Man-Sized in Marble" is always a treat, as is "Jacob's "The Monkey's Paw". "On Brighton Road" is always nice to come across....but the majority of these stories did not produce a frisson of dread.

[Alexa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a few of these are in fact not Ghost stories, like the take of Morrowbie Jukes and the Open Window. Adventure tales, joke story? Prank story?

And while the not Ghost stories are good it dropped down from a decent 3 story read to 2 stars for that. And these are not the creepiest or spookiest of Ghost stories

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any anthology, the stories in this collection are uneven as to their perceived (by me) quality. Most of the stories in this collection were written in the 19th century; some by famous writers like Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, Ambrose Bierce, Henry James, Mark Twain, et al.; others by lesser known authors - if you were curious as to whom they were or when and where stories were first published, you had to google them since the book's editor provided no biographical details. But all in all, an excellent collection. The last story in the book, Willa Cather's "The Affair at Grover Station" (first published in 1900), was a fast moving tale set in Wyoming which I would rate 5 stars out of 5.

[Eric Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

If book titles were always representative of the contents, a better title might be, "Some Ghost Stories of the 18th Century". Some stories were cute, some were quaint, and some were interesting. None of them were scary and I lost interest in many of them because of archaic language.

This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a great one either. I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of The A Ghost Story by Mark Twain and The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde. I'd never read either of those stories before and I appreciated them being included. I also appreciated the inclusion of portions of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. I never thought of it as a ghost story before, but it fits.

[Jacinta Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book is a bit of a misnomer. Several of the stories in this collection aren't really ghost stories and many are far from being the best. It also makes no sense that this collection was published in 2011, yet all of the stories included are from the late 1800s-early 1900s. Apparently the editor couldn't find a single ghost story from any author who's still living?

[Robert Vanneste · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't the stories . The stories are good for the most part. It is the lack of editing throughout the book . Quiet was used in place of quite . Clown was used in place of down . In the story John Charrington's Wedding Charrington was spelled Gharrington multiple times. Distracting at the very least. It's a shame because the stories deserved better.

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some great stories captured within these pages - and some that are not so great. I enjoyed the read, and the walking through some of the older stories that I have enjoyed.

[Cie Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stories but not quite as good as others I've read/listened to.

[Chuck Engelhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I looked for a good book of ghost stories for quite some time before finding this one. I didn't want "real" ghost stories; I wanted "sit around the campfire telling spooky stories" ghost stories. Stephen Brennan delivered what I was looking for . . . for the most part. I enjoyed the book thoroughly but I must say the absence of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow casts doubt on the title, The Best Ghost Stories Ever Told; I don’t think ghost stories get any better than that Washington Irving tale. I also must also take issue with Mr. Brennan for including non-ghost stories; black magic is not synonymous with ghost. He did however include other wonderful classics and even a ghost clip from Hamlet. Not every story in any collection is going to be the “Best Ever”, but overall, Stephen Brennan pulled together a winner in my estimation.

[Mike Mayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because this is a collection of stories written by different authors (and in my case read by different narrators), I found that I either thoroughly enjoyed or was totally bored by any given story. Some stories were long, drawn-out, predictable and/or pretentious. Others were captivating and held off resolution until the very end.

The version on audible had the added dimension that some of the narrators had reading voices that were very "sing-song" and made you zone out while listening while others had voices that drew you into the story. I am not sure to what extent this impacted my opinion of each story.

[Ak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who doesn't like an old fashion ghost story?