Great Classic Ghost Stories

Great Classic Stories (BBC Audio)

by Various

This collection of short ghost stories includes some of the best-known classics in the genre, as well as some that may be new to ghost story fans. This recording The Damned Thing, by Ambrose Bierce; The Empty House, by Algernon Blackwood;The Consequences, by Willa Cather; How It Happened, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; A Ghost, by Guy De Maupassant; The Shell of Sense, by Olivia Howard Dunbar; Ligeia, by Edgar Allen Poe; The Signal-Man, by Charles Dickens; The Secret of the Growing Gold, by Bram Stoker; The Fullness of Life, by Edith Wharton; An Old Womans Tale, by Nathaniel Hawthorne; Playing with Fire, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Narrative of the Ghost of the Hand, by J. Sheridan Le Fanu; The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, by Edgar Allan Poe; My Platonic Sweetheart, by Mark Twain; and The Bold Dragoon (or The Adventure of My Grandfather), by Washington Irving.

Genres: Horror, Audiobook, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Classics, Anthologies

6 pages, Audio CD

First published October 18, 2011

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Cookie M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great, not classic, some even lack ghosts. Definitely not scary, although one by Mark Twain about a dream lover is disturbing.
Audio book adequately, but not brilliantly read by various readers.

[Monica Rudio · Rating 3 out of 5]

To paraphrase Stephen King, "everybody wants a scary story to end happily and conclude with a big bow". After reading these masters of the ghost story, I realize the purpose of a ghost story is to excite or thrill the reader with a spooky situation, while they are reading the story, and leave the reader mulling over what actually happened while thinking, "is it possible that it could happen to me", as the reader snuffs out the candle before bed.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 There are some good stories here, 'Narrative of the Ghost of the Hand' and 'The Empty House' in particular. As in any collection the choices run the gamut and are of course subject to one's taste. The narration is top notch.
The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce, 2.5 stars, with high marks for eeriness and atmosphere. The Empty House by Algernon Blackwood, 5 stars. The Consequences by Willa Cather, 2.5 stars. How It Happened by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 4 stars, short and sweet. A Ghost by Guy De Maupassant, 2 stars . The Shell of Sense by Olivia Howard Dunbar, 2 stars, a sweet and low key ghost story. Ligeia by Edgar Allen Poe, 2 stars. The Signal-Man by Charles Dickens, 3.5 stars, haunting. The Secret of the Growing Gold by Bram Stoker, 2.5 stars. The Fullness of Life by Edith Wharton, 4 stars, so good and so disappointing. An Old Woman's Tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1 star, I'd skip this one. Playing with Fire by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 4 stars, a fun story about a seance. Narrative of the Ghost of the Hand by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, 5 stars, creepy goodness. The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar by Edgar Allan Poe, 3 stars, creepy and weird. My Platonic Sweetheart by Mark Twain, 2 stars, written well but seemed pointless. The Bold Dragoon (or The Adventure of My Grandfather) by Washington Irving, 2 stars, cute.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Classic Stories read by Derek Jacobi, Hugh Laurie, and Stephen Fry



Most of the stories included here have been reviewed separately and they are great: Mad, The Sphinx without a Secret, The Monkey’s Paw, the Girl from Arles and more. The great discovery I made some years ago was the audio book. It was in the British Library that I could enjoy books on tape for the first time: Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle and C. S. Lewis: The Screwtape Letters, read by John Cleese, of Monty Python fame. In fact you can now listen to almost any comedy, or show: Little Britain, Monty Python’s Life of Brian. It used to be audio tapes, now it is mp3, wma, etc.

I got the habit of recording the plays broadcast on the radio and even now I have some of those in the attic, even though they are obsolete. Because there is little chance that they will ever be played again, in the absence, years from now, of the means (tape recorder, player) to play it, I decided to give those precious memories to my macaws. They enjoy them, not the voices, alas, but the tapes as toys to be destroyed and played with little wheels, screws and all.

Fortunately, there are quite a few major projects which provide you with the chance to download for free audio books and under legal circumstances. Many excellent books no longer have the initial copyright protection. Quite a few never had one to start with. At issue are not printed editions, which we obviously cannot Xerox. But the copyrights for Medeea, Oedipus, Plato’s works and many more cannot be claimed, if you go to Livrivox.com or Audio BooksforFree.com, where a bunch of enthusiasts have volunteered and read many of the major works of humanity. I have downloaded recently Gargantua and Pantagruel. They have War and peace, Madame Bovary and many more. Check it out.



You can also try the eBook version at the Gutenberg project, which may be .org, but I am not sure and as I come to think of it, I am not sure for Livrivox or Audiobooksfor free, what the end is: whether .com, org or something else. You Google them and find out.

[Suyog Garg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recording includes:
"The Damned Thing," by Ambrose Bierce;
"The Empty House," by Algernon Blackwood;
"The Consequences," by Willa Cather;
"How It Happened," by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle;
"A Ghost," by Guy De Maupassant;
"The Shell of Sense," by Olivia Howard Dunbar;
"The Secret of the Growing Gold," by Bram Stoker;
"The Signal-Man," by Charles Dickens;
"Ligeia," by Edgar Allen Poe;
"The Fullness of Life," by Edith Wharton;
"An Old Woman's Tale," by Nathaniel Hawthorne;
"Playing with Fire," by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle;
"Narrative of the Ghost of the Hand," by J. Sheridan Le Fanu;
"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," by Edgar Allan Poe;
"My Platonic Sweetheart," by Mark Twain;
"The Bold Dragoon (or The Adventure of My Grandfather)," by Washington Irving.

[Marina Gaston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice collection of vintage ghost and spiritualism stories. As usual with Anthologies, some were great, some not so much. The narrators were varied and performed well, but not entirely my style. Although the exaggerated paused speech was in keeping with the vintage fell of the stories I found it jarring as I prefer contemporary style of narration. All in all, it was certainly enjoyable and worth a listen.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this collection was great! Not sure why this is rated so low… I think part of the problem is that people have a different idea today about what is scary. Victorian ghost stories aren’t about guts and gore. They’re spine tingling… and subtle. The audible narrators did a superb job setting the tone for this series.

[Charles Lupo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I only purchased this on Audible because of Bronson Pinchot. These are mostly forgettable stories and none are particularly haunting. I doubt any of them will stick with me very long, but I was not disappointed by Mr. Pinchot. He's an amazing narrator.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing. Great writers, but are these really Ghost Stories? They aren’t very scary. The readers are ok, but not great. The audiobook “chapters” are weird - they don’t match up to the stories at all.

[EJ Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun collection of classic ghost stories, primarily from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The readers can be a little hit-or-miss, but the tales themselves are great.

[Marce Salazar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very good.

[Ernesto I. Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is interesting to see the portrayal of ghosts by some of the classic authors even by some authors you wouldn't expect to read ghost stories like Mark Twaine.

[Marjorie Noleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stephen King tells better scary stories.

[Red Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very uneven selection in quality of texts. Some very sharp pieces mixed with some rather unfortunate Victorian sentimentality.

[Suhailah]

DNF at 5%

I just couldn't get into this. Not what I expected! So disappointed!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not standout stories by themselves but an adequate smattering of the genre replace with a couple classics for good measure. Good enough for around the campfire or with grandkids.

[Ragne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish due to the narrators.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were great. Some weren't...

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great version of these classics.

[Courtnay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't call these ghost stories. Just short stories about possible paranormal activities.

[Mukund · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories here especially the ones from Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe. They colored my dreary commute with their spooky hues.

[Evie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mix of spooky stories. Poe is clearly the best though :)

[Leowilde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not scary, mostly atmospheric and interesting. There were some gems in here that I enjoyed, but for the most part I had hoped for creepier vibes than many of the stories presented.

[Aidan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

I think that "Great Classic Ghost Stories" was a little bit lackluster. I found it to be mostly average throughout with no real standouts. Ultimately, it was a disappointment that I can't really recommend.

[SheriC]

I think this might have been more interesting in print. Sometimes these classic stories don't translate well to audio, unless you know the text already - they're a difficult listen, because you have to fully pay attention, which I pretty much never do, as I use audiobooks to multitask.