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The Big Book of Ghost Stories
It’s time for cozy sweaters and chilling ghost stories! Celebrate the spooky season with this 53-hour compilation that spans over 100 years and features beloved authors like H. P. Lovecraft, Edith Wharton, Joyce Carol Oates, and Donald E. Westlake. “There’s enough in this volume to please both dilettantes and devotees among ghost story readers” (Publishers Weekly).
The ghost story is perhaps the oldest of all the supernatural literary genres and has captured the imagination of almost every writer to put pen to the page. Here, Edgar Award–winning editor Otto Penzler has followed his keen sense of the supernatural to collect the most chilling and uncanny tales in the canon. These spectral stories span more than a hundred years, from modern-day horrors by Joyce Carol Oates, Chet Williamson, and Andrew Klavan, to pulp yarns from August Derleth, Greye La Spina, and M. L. Humphreys, to the atmospheric Victorian tales of Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, and H. P. Lovecraft, not to mention modern works by the likes of Donald E. Westlake and Isaac Asimov that are already classics. Some of these stories have haunted the canon for a century, while others are making their first ghoulish appearance in book form.
Whether you prefer possessive poltergeists, awful apparitions, or friendly phantoms, these stories are guaranteed to thrill you, tingle the spine, or tickle the funny bone, and keep you listening with fearful delight. Including such classics as “The Monkey's Paw” and “The Open Window” and also featuring haunted mansions, midnight frights, lovers from beyond the grave, rapping, tapping, wailing shades, and ghosts, ghouls, and specters galore!
Table of Contents
BUT I’M NOT DEAD YET
Conrad Aiken: Mr. Arcularis
William Fryer Harvey AKA {author:W.F. Harvey]: August Heat
I’LL LOVE YOU—FOREVER (OR MAYBE NOT)
Ellen Glasgow: The Shadowy Third
Ellen Glasgow: The Past
David Morrell: But At My Back I Always Hear
O. Henry: The Furnished Room
Paul Ernst: Death’s Warm Fireside
Andrew Klavan: The Advent Reunion
R. Murray Gilchrist: The Return
Rudyard Kipling: The Phantom Rickshaw
Ambrose Bierce: The Moonlit Road
Lafcadio Hearn: The Story of Ming-Y
Lafcadio Hearn: Yuki-Onna
THIS OLD HOUSE
Amyas Northcote: Brickett Bottom
E.F. Benson: How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery
G.G. Pendarves: Thing of Darkness
Edward Lucas White: The House of the Nightmare
Hector Bolitho: The House on Half Moon Street
Dick Donovan: A Night of Horror
Vincent O’sullivan: The Burned House
KIDS WILL BE KIDS
Rosemary Timperley: Harry
Michael Reaves: Make-Believe
A.M. Burrage: Playmates
Ramsey Campbell: Just Behind You
A.E. Coppard: Adam And Eve and Pinch Me
Steve Friedman: The Lost Boy of the Ozarks
THERE’S SOMETHING FUNNY AROUND HERE
Mark Twain: A Ghost’s Story
Donald E. Westlake: In At The Death
Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Ghost of Dr. Harris
Ingulphus: The Everlasting Club
Isaac Asimov and James Maccreigh: Legal Rites
Albert E. Cowdrey: Death Must Die
Frank Stockton: The Transferred Ghost
Oscar Wilde: The Canterville Ghost
A NEGATIVE TRAIN OF THOUGHT
August Derleth: Pacific 421
Robert Weinberg: The Midnight El
STOP—YOU’RE SCARING ME
Frederick Cowles: Punch and Judy
Henry S. Whitehead: The Fireplace
H.F. Arnold: The Night Wire 400
Fritz Leiber: Smoke Ghost 406
Wyatt Blassingame: Song of the Dead
I MUST BE DREAMING
Wilkie Collins: The Dream Woman 437
Washington Irving: The Adventure of the German Student
A SÉANCE, YOU SAY?
Joseph Shearing: They Found My Grave
Edgar Jepson: Mrs. Morrel’s Last Séance
Joyce Carol Oates: Night-Side
CLASSICS
M.R. James: “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad”
W.W. Jacobs: The Monkey’s Paw
W.W. Jacobs: The Toll-House
Edith Wharton: Afterward
Willa Cather: Consequences
Cynthia Asquith: The Follower
Cynthia Asquith: The Corner Shop
H.P. Lovecraft: The Terrible Old Man
Erckmann-Chatrian: The Murderer’s Violin
Saki: The Open Window
Saki: Laura
Fitz-James O’Brien: What Was It?
Alexander Woollcott: Full Fathom Five
H.R. Wakefield: He Cometh and He Passeth By
Perceval Landon: Thurnley Abbey
THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
Algernon Blackwood: The Woman’s Ghost Story
Victor Rousseau Emanuel: The Angel of the Marne
Olivia Howard Dunbar: The Shell of Sense
Marjorie Bowen: The Avengi...
The ghost story is perhaps the oldest of all the supernatural literary genres and has captured the imagination of almost every writer to put pen to the page. Here, Edgar Award–winning editor Otto Penzler has followed his keen sense of the supernatural to collect the most chilling and uncanny tales in the canon. These spectral stories span more than a hundred years, from modern-day horrors by Joyce Carol Oates, Chet Williamson, and Andrew Klavan, to pulp yarns from August Derleth, Greye La Spina, and M. L. Humphreys, to the atmospheric Victorian tales of Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, and H. P. Lovecraft, not to mention modern works by the likes of Donald E. Westlake and Isaac Asimov that are already classics. Some of these stories have haunted the canon for a century, while others are making their first ghoulish appearance in book form.
Whether you prefer possessive poltergeists, awful apparitions, or friendly phantoms, these stories are guaranteed to thrill you, tingle the spine, or tickle the funny bone, and keep you listening with fearful delight. Including such classics as “The Monkey's Paw” and “The Open Window” and also featuring haunted mansions, midnight frights, lovers from beyond the grave, rapping, tapping, wailing shades, and ghosts, ghouls, and specters galore!
Table of Contents
BUT I’M NOT DEAD YET
Conrad Aiken: Mr. Arcularis
William Fryer Harvey AKA {author:W.F. Harvey]: August Heat
I’LL LOVE YOU—FOREVER (OR MAYBE NOT)
Ellen Glasgow: The Shadowy Third
Ellen Glasgow: The Past
David Morrell: But At My Back I Always Hear
O. Henry: The Furnished Room
Paul Ernst: Death’s Warm Fireside
Andrew Klavan: The Advent Reunion
R. Murray Gilchrist: The Return
Rudyard Kipling: The Phantom Rickshaw
Ambrose Bierce: The Moonlit Road
Lafcadio Hearn: The Story of Ming-Y
Lafcadio Hearn: Yuki-Onna
THIS OLD HOUSE
Amyas Northcote: Brickett Bottom
E.F. Benson: How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery
G.G. Pendarves: Thing of Darkness
Edward Lucas White: The House of the Nightmare
Hector Bolitho: The House on Half Moon Street
Dick Donovan: A Night of Horror
Vincent O’sullivan: The Burned House
KIDS WILL BE KIDS
Rosemary Timperley: Harry
Michael Reaves: Make-Believe
A.M. Burrage: Playmates
Ramsey Campbell: Just Behind You
A.E. Coppard: Adam And Eve and Pinch Me
Steve Friedman: The Lost Boy of the Ozarks
THERE’S SOMETHING FUNNY AROUND HERE
Mark Twain: A Ghost’s Story
Donald E. Westlake: In At The Death
Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Ghost of Dr. Harris
Ingulphus: The Everlasting Club
Isaac Asimov and James Maccreigh: Legal Rites
Albert E. Cowdrey: Death Must Die
Frank Stockton: The Transferred Ghost
Oscar Wilde: The Canterville Ghost
A NEGATIVE TRAIN OF THOUGHT
August Derleth: Pacific 421
Robert Weinberg: The Midnight El
STOP—YOU’RE SCARING ME
Frederick Cowles: Punch and Judy
Henry S. Whitehead: The Fireplace
H.F. Arnold: The Night Wire 400
Fritz Leiber: Smoke Ghost 406
Wyatt Blassingame: Song of the Dead
I MUST BE DREAMING
Wilkie Collins: The Dream Woman 437
Washington Irving: The Adventure of the German Student
A SÉANCE, YOU SAY?
Joseph Shearing: They Found My Grave
Edgar Jepson: Mrs. Morrel’s Last Séance
Joyce Carol Oates: Night-Side
CLASSICS
M.R. James: “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad”
W.W. Jacobs: The Monkey’s Paw
W.W. Jacobs: The Toll-House
Edith Wharton: Afterward
Willa Cather: Consequences
Cynthia Asquith: The Follower
Cynthia Asquith: The Corner Shop
H.P. Lovecraft: The Terrible Old Man
Erckmann-Chatrian: The Murderer’s Violin
Saki: The Open Window
Saki: Laura
Fitz-James O’Brien: What Was It?
Alexander Woollcott: Full Fathom Five
H.R. Wakefield: He Cometh and He Passeth By
Perceval Landon: Thurnley Abbey
THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
Algernon Blackwood: The Woman’s Ghost Story
Victor Rousseau Emanuel: The Angel of the Marne
Olivia Howard Dunbar: The Shell of Sense
Marjorie Bowen: The Avengi...
833 pages, Paperback
First published December 4, 2012
217 people are currently reading
856 people want to read
About the author
Otto Penzler
374 books532 followersOtto Penzler is an editor of mystery fiction in the United States, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, where he lives.
Otto Penzler founded The Mysteriour Press in 1975 and was the publisher of The Armchair Detective, the Edgar-winning quarterly journal devoted to the study of mystery and suspense fiction, for seventeen years.
Penzler has won two Edgar Awards, for The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection in 1977, and The Lineup in 2010. The Mystery Writers of America awarded him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994, and the Raven--the group's highest non-writing award--in 2003.
Otto Penzler founded The Mysteriour Press in 1975 and was the publisher of The Armchair Detective, the Edgar-winning quarterly journal devoted to the study of mystery and suspense fiction, for seventeen years.
Penzler has won two Edgar Awards, for The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection in 1977, and The Lineup in 2010. The Mystery Writers of America awarded him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994, and the Raven--the group's highest non-writing award--in 2003.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
October 22, 2020
The Big Book of Ghost Stories- Otto Penzler – Editor-is a 2012 Vintage Crime/ Black Lizard publication.
If you love Pure ghost stories, this book is one you do not want to miss. Every fall, like many other people, I find myself in the mood for a good old-fashioned ghost story. However, in my search for a pure ghost story, I am often disappointed. Not this time, though!!
The book is broken into sections- such as-
“I’m not dead Yet, I’ll Love you- Forever ( Or Maybe), This Old House, Kid will be Kids, Stop- You’re scaring Me, A Séance, you say? Classics, and much more!
Most of these stories are short- some are a bit longer than others, and several are just a few pages in length. Ghost stories are not just for Halloween, of course. For me, any dark, cold winter night is the perfect setting for a nice ghostly tale. But many of these stories are also suitable for a good campfire Spine-Tingler, too.
In other words, this is a compilation one should not feel obligated to read from front to back- all at one time. I got my Halloween ghost story fix this year, by skipping around between sections, and by choosing to read stories by some authors I did not know much about. However, there are many recognizable names in this collection- some of which, I was surprised to learn, had ever written a ghost story.
Each story begins with a brief note about the author, which is also a nice touch and gave me some reference points so that I could check out more of their work.
Of this massive collection, there were only a handful of stories I recognized, so overall, these are all new to me. Of the stories I have read so far, only one of them did not fit my criteria for a ghost story. It was a good story but was more fitting for an episode of The Twilight Zone, or something. A few of the stories are a little flimsy, but overall, this has proved to be splendid, very comprehensive, and goose pimply collection of ghost stories and hauntings!
September 18, 2024
2 1/2 stars
This book is a grate example that when you try to market to everyone, the book won’t be just right for anyone.
There is a wide ranges of stories in this book, which is what you would want from a book like this. But feel like the editor wasn’t a big fan of ghost stories or horror (as it is the genre most associated with ghost stories) if someone put together a large collection like this, I would expect them to be an expert to some degree, or have some experience with this type of story to signal they would be good at picking out fine examples of ghost stories to pit into the collection. Some like the monkeys paw, while a grate short story, l wouldn’t class as a ghost story, and it feels odd to see it included in this collection.
Instead I felt like putting this book together was the editors entire experience with ghost stories. The stories picked seemed to have been done so based on who the author was, rather than if it was a good ghost story that aged well.
Now this isn’t to say that all the stories were bad. Some were grate, like the terrible old man, and the murderer’s violin others were good, but most made question why they were put into this book in the first place. So when you find that 2/3 of a book didn’t hold up, it takes away from the book as a whole.
So if you decide to pick up this book, know that chances are there’s gonna be some stories that you enjoy, but most probably will be let down.
This book is a grate example that when you try to market to everyone, the book won’t be just right for anyone.
There is a wide ranges of stories in this book, which is what you would want from a book like this. But feel like the editor wasn’t a big fan of ghost stories or horror (as it is the genre most associated with ghost stories) if someone put together a large collection like this, I would expect them to be an expert to some degree, or have some experience with this type of story to signal they would be good at picking out fine examples of ghost stories to pit into the collection. Some like the monkeys paw, while a grate short story, l wouldn’t class as a ghost story, and it feels odd to see it included in this collection.
Instead I felt like putting this book together was the editors entire experience with ghost stories. The stories picked seemed to have been done so based on who the author was, rather than if it was a good ghost story that aged well.
Now this isn’t to say that all the stories were bad. Some were grate, like the terrible old man, and the murderer’s violin others were good, but most made question why they were put into this book in the first place. So when you find that 2/3 of a book didn’t hold up, it takes away from the book as a whole.
So if you decide to pick up this book, know that chances are there’s gonna be some stories that you enjoy, but most probably will be let down.
April 11, 2018
If you love creepers, go and get this book. It is chock full of goodness.
What I especially loved was Penzler's introduction to the authors and the mini bibliographies.
But what was super cool was the fact that many of these stories originally appeared in Weird Tales magazine.
What I especially loved was Penzler's introduction to the authors and the mini bibliographies.
But what was super cool was the fact that many of these stories originally appeared in Weird Tales magazine.
November 26, 2012
There is truly nothing I like better than a good, old-fashioned ghost story, and here in The Big Book of Ghost Stories, edited by Otto Penzler, I am completely in my element. Ghosts are everywhere, roaming in the old English abbeys, conjured up in the eerie atmosphere of the Victorian seance room, moaning in old castles, sailing the seas, you name it, and a ghost will be found there. This is an incredible collection, one I couldn't wait to get to every time I had a moment to pick it up.
The stories in this book are divided into thirteen (of course!) sections and cover a broad spectrum of authors, many of whom are known for their supernatural writings as well as others whose work is not as famous. As Penzler notes in his introduction, many of the stories that appear in this volume have not previously been anthologized, nor have they appeared in book form anywhere else. And as he states, the stories that are found between the covers cover the range from the Late Victorian era through the heyday of the pulp mags, and he's also included some of the works of modern tellers of ghostly tales. I found perhaps two out of the entire collection that just didn't do it for me; the rest more than surpassed the creep factor I always hope to feel when reading a good anthology of scary stories.
There's just nothing more to say really, except that if you're a huge fan of ghost stories, if you can move beyond the vampire/zombie/werewolf genres that top the horror charts today, and if you are not bound to the gory, hack/slash horror to get your chills, this book just might do it. It's incredibly rare to find a near-perfect anthology of stories; this one definitely fits that bill. There's an added bonus as well: when introducing each story, there is a short blurb about each author and his or her other works. I've used this feature to full advantage for future ghost-story reading.
Super book, best read at night when everyone's asleep and it's eerily quiet, The Big Book of Ghost Stories will likely most please readers of more cerebral weird/horror tales rather than what's popular on the shelves today. I highly recommend it!
The stories in this book are divided into thirteen (of course!) sections and cover a broad spectrum of authors, many of whom are known for their supernatural writings as well as others whose work is not as famous. As Penzler notes in his introduction, many of the stories that appear in this volume have not previously been anthologized, nor have they appeared in book form anywhere else. And as he states, the stories that are found between the covers cover the range from the Late Victorian era through the heyday of the pulp mags, and he's also included some of the works of modern tellers of ghostly tales. I found perhaps two out of the entire collection that just didn't do it for me; the rest more than surpassed the creep factor I always hope to feel when reading a good anthology of scary stories.
There's just nothing more to say really, except that if you're a huge fan of ghost stories, if you can move beyond the vampire/zombie/werewolf genres that top the horror charts today, and if you are not bound to the gory, hack/slash horror to get your chills, this book just might do it. It's incredibly rare to find a near-perfect anthology of stories; this one definitely fits that bill. There's an added bonus as well: when introducing each story, there is a short blurb about each author and his or her other works. I've used this feature to full advantage for future ghost-story reading.
Super book, best read at night when everyone's asleep and it's eerily quiet, The Big Book of Ghost Stories will likely most please readers of more cerebral weird/horror tales rather than what's popular on the shelves today. I highly recommend it!
September 9, 2022
This was some Halloween read, it's almost Halloween again and I have just now finished it.
This really is an extensive collection of ghost stories.
Here are the ones I liked most:
E. F. Benson, How fear departed from the Long Gallery
David Morrel, At my back i always hear
Rosemary Timperley, Harry
A. M. Burrage, Playmates
Ramsey Cambel, Just behind you
Steve Friedman, The lost boy of the Ozarks
Isaac Asimov and James Maccreigh, Legal rites
Fritz Leiber, Smoke ghost
Albert E. Cowdrey, Death must die
H. F. Arnold, The night wire
Wyatt Blassingame, Song of the dead
Julius Long, He walked by day
M. Rickert, Journey into the Kingdom
I also really liked the writers biographies and the illustrations in this book. All and all a very good read.
This really is an extensive collection of ghost stories.
Here are the ones I liked most:
E. F. Benson, How fear departed from the Long Gallery
David Morrel, At my back i always hear
Rosemary Timperley, Harry
A. M. Burrage, Playmates
Ramsey Cambel, Just behind you
Steve Friedman, The lost boy of the Ozarks
Isaac Asimov and James Maccreigh, Legal rites
Fritz Leiber, Smoke ghost
Albert E. Cowdrey, Death must die
H. F. Arnold, The night wire
Wyatt Blassingame, Song of the dead
Julius Long, He walked by day
M. Rickert, Journey into the Kingdom
I also really liked the writers biographies and the illustrations in this book. All and all a very good read.
April 14, 2013
This was a treat for myself after getting a free lance writing job. I read the entire book over a long period of time by opening it at random to one of these short stories. There are classics (The Monkey's Paw; Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad) and stories from much more modern authors like Donald Westlake, Isaac Asimov, Chet Williamson, and Andrew Klavan. There are so many stories in this "big book" that it took me some time to finish, especially at the meandering, leisurely pace I favor for short story collections. I really enjoyed it because I rarely came across a story I didn't like. I also really enjoyed Otto Penzler's introduction to each of the authors. He gave a good idea of what their overall work was like without giving away the story itself.
My only quarrel is with the categories in the table of contents that tend to give away the surprise for too many of the stories simply by playing on the twist. That actually was the reason for just opening the book and reading the story I found there so that I kept the element of surprise as long as the author's skill allowed.
Kudos to the publisher, Black Lizard, for their production values ... the cover is not only atmospheric because of the vintage image, it is also sturdy. The paper for the pages is lower quality, as one would expect, but the binding is such that you can tell it will hold together no matter how many times that book flops open. The binding also allows the book to lie flat on a surface which is a definite advantage considering the size. And the print is a pleasing size, not the gigantic type which too many modern publishers use to either pad out pages or pander to older eyes.
My only quarrel is with the categories in the table of contents that tend to give away the surprise for too many of the stories simply by playing on the twist. That actually was the reason for just opening the book and reading the story I found there so that I kept the element of surprise as long as the author's skill allowed.
Kudos to the publisher, Black Lizard, for their production values ... the cover is not only atmospheric because of the vintage image, it is also sturdy. The paper for the pages is lower quality, as one would expect, but the binding is such that you can tell it will hold together no matter how many times that book flops open. The binding also allows the book to lie flat on a surface which is a definite advantage considering the size. And the print is a pleasing size, not the gigantic type which too many modern publishers use to either pad out pages or pander to older eyes.
September 17, 2024
This book was full of classic ghost stories. I was very intrigued with a few of them others not so much. I wouldn’t say this a great read more of a good read.
Read
February 1, 2013Penzler's outstanding selection of ghost stories includes many classic authors in the genre but mostly and thankfully substitutes some of their lesser known gems in lieu of their over-exposed work. Some of the best tales here are by British authors unjustly obscure to American readers and Penzler is to be thanked for producing an instantly indispensable treasury of ghost stories. And don't ask me to name my favorites, 'cause that would be like asking a mother to name her favorite child in the presence of her entire brood. Ghost stories fans, rejoice!
December 27, 2021
Holy cow, so many stars. RTC.
October 22, 2023
Klāt ir oktobris, rudens un drīz jau ziemas tumšie vakari. Īsti piemērots laiks, kad pieķerties klāt spoku stāstu krājumam, kas citkārt atlikts uz vēlāku brīdi. Tomēr jābrīdina, ka, ja ir patiesi vēlme sevi nobaidīt, esot pašam drošībā, tad šie stāsti tam nebūs domāti. Krājuma sastādītājs šķiet vairāk koncentrējies uz izvēlēm, lai atrādītu daudzus autorus no 20.gs, kā arī 19.gadsimta
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Want to read
August 20, 2025Read so far:
But I'm not dead yet
Mr. Arcularis / Conrad Aiken--2
August heat / William Fryer Harvey --3
I'll love you--forever (or maybe not)
The shadowy third / Ellen Glasgow--3
The past / Ellen Glasgow--2
But at my back I always hear / David Morrell--
The furnished room / O. Henry--2
Death's warm fireside / Paul Ernst--
The advent reunion / Andrew Klavan--
The return / R. Murray Gilchrist--2
The phantom rickshaw / Rudyard Kipling--3
The moonlit road / Ambrose Bierce--3
The story of Ming-Y / Lafcadio Hearn--3
Yuki-Onna / Lafcadio Hearn --3
This old house
Brickett Bottom / Amyas Northcote--3
How fear departed from the long gallery / E.F. Benson--3
Thing of darkness / G.G. Pendarves--
The house of the nightmare / Edward Lucas White--3
The house in Half Moon Street / Hector Bolitho--
A night of horror / Dick Donovan--2
The burned house / Vincent O'Sullivan --2
Kids will be kids
Harry / Rosemary Timperley--
Make-believe / Michael Reaves--
*Playmate / A.M. Burrage--
Just behind you / Ramsey Campbell--
Adam and Eve and pinch me / A.E. Coppard--2
The lost boy of the Ozarks / Steve Friedman --
There's something funny around here
A ghost's story / Mark Twain--2
In at the death / Donald E. Westlake--
*The ghost of Dr. Harris / Nathaniel Hawthorne--
The everlasting club / "Inculphus" (Arthur Gray)--2
Legal rites / Isaac Asimov and James MacCreigh--
Death must die / Albert E. Cowdrey--
The transferred ghost / Frank Stockton--3
The Canterville ghost / Oscar Wilde --2
A negative train of thought
*Pacific 421 / August Derleth--
The midnight el / Robert Weinberg --
Stop--you're scaring me
Punch and Judy / Frederick Cowles--
The fireplace / Henry S. Whitehead--3
The night wire / H.F. Arnold--2
Smoke ghost / Fritz Leiber--2
Song of the dead / Wyatt Blassingame --
I must be dreaming
The dream woman / Wilkie Collins--2
The adventure of the German student / Washington Irving --2
A séance, you say?
They found my grave / Joseph Shearing--2
Mrs. Morrel's last séance / Edgar Jepson--
*Night-side / Joyce Carol Oates --
Classics
"Oh, whistle and I'll come to you my lad" / M.R. James--3
The monkey's paw / W.W. Jacobs--3
The toll-house / W.W. Jacobs--3
Afterward / Edith Wharton--3
Consequences / Willa Cather--2
The follower / Cynthia Asquith--3
The corner shop / Cynthia Asquith--3
The terrible old man / H.P. Lovecraft--2
The murderer's violin / Erckmann-Chatrian--2
The open window / Saki--3
Laura / Saki--4
What was it? / Fitz-James O'Brien--3
Full fathom five / Alexander Woollcott--2
*He cometh and he passeth by / H.R. Wakefield--
Thurnley Abbey / Perceval Landon --2
The female of the species
The woman's ghost story / Algernon Blackwood --2
The angel of the Marne / Victor Rousseau--
The shell of sense / Olivia Howard Dunbar--3
The avenging of Ann Leete / Marjorie Bowen --3
Beaten to a pulp
The dead-wagon / Greye LaSpina--
A soul with two bodies / Urann Thayer--
The ghosts of Steamboat Coulee / Arthur J. Burks--
*The considerate hosts / Thorp McClusky--
The fifth candle / Cyril Mand --
The return of Andrew Bentley / August Derleth and Mark Schorer --
The floor above / M.L. Humphreys--
School for the unspeakable / Manly Wade Wellman--1
Mordecai's pipe / A.V. Milyer--
He walked by day / Julius Long--
Behind the screen / Dale Clark --
Modern masters
Journey into the kingdom / M. Rickert--
Mr. Saul / H.R.F. Keating--
Coventry carol / Chet Williamson--
But I'm not dead yet
Mr. Arcularis / Conrad Aiken--2
August heat / William Fryer Harvey --3
I'll love you--forever (or maybe not)
The shadowy third / Ellen Glasgow--3
The past / Ellen Glasgow--2
But at my back I always hear / David Morrell--
The furnished room / O. Henry--2
Death's warm fireside / Paul Ernst--
The advent reunion / Andrew Klavan--
The return / R. Murray Gilchrist--2
The phantom rickshaw / Rudyard Kipling--3
The moonlit road / Ambrose Bierce--3
The story of Ming-Y / Lafcadio Hearn--3
Yuki-Onna / Lafcadio Hearn --3
This old house
Brickett Bottom / Amyas Northcote--3
How fear departed from the long gallery / E.F. Benson--3
Thing of darkness / G.G. Pendarves--
The house of the nightmare / Edward Lucas White--3
The house in Half Moon Street / Hector Bolitho--
A night of horror / Dick Donovan--2
The burned house / Vincent O'Sullivan --2
Kids will be kids
Harry / Rosemary Timperley--
Make-believe / Michael Reaves--
*Playmate / A.M. Burrage--
Just behind you / Ramsey Campbell--
Adam and Eve and pinch me / A.E. Coppard--2
The lost boy of the Ozarks / Steve Friedman --
There's something funny around here
A ghost's story / Mark Twain--2
In at the death / Donald E. Westlake--
*The ghost of Dr. Harris / Nathaniel Hawthorne--
The everlasting club / "Inculphus" (Arthur Gray)--2
Legal rites / Isaac Asimov and James MacCreigh--
Death must die / Albert E. Cowdrey--
The transferred ghost / Frank Stockton--3
The Canterville ghost / Oscar Wilde --2
A negative train of thought
*Pacific 421 / August Derleth--
The midnight el / Robert Weinberg --
Stop--you're scaring me
Punch and Judy / Frederick Cowles--
The fireplace / Henry S. Whitehead--3
The night wire / H.F. Arnold--2
Smoke ghost / Fritz Leiber--2
Song of the dead / Wyatt Blassingame --
I must be dreaming
The dream woman / Wilkie Collins--2
The adventure of the German student / Washington Irving --2
A séance, you say?
They found my grave / Joseph Shearing--2
Mrs. Morrel's last séance / Edgar Jepson--
*Night-side / Joyce Carol Oates --
Classics
"Oh, whistle and I'll come to you my lad" / M.R. James--3
The monkey's paw / W.W. Jacobs--3
The toll-house / W.W. Jacobs--3
Afterward / Edith Wharton--3
Consequences / Willa Cather--2
The follower / Cynthia Asquith--3
The corner shop / Cynthia Asquith--3
The terrible old man / H.P. Lovecraft--2
The murderer's violin / Erckmann-Chatrian--2
The open window / Saki--3
Laura / Saki--4
What was it? / Fitz-James O'Brien--3
Full fathom five / Alexander Woollcott--2
*He cometh and he passeth by / H.R. Wakefield--
Thurnley Abbey / Perceval Landon --2
The female of the species
The woman's ghost story / Algernon Blackwood --2
The angel of the Marne / Victor Rousseau--
The shell of sense / Olivia Howard Dunbar--3
The avenging of Ann Leete / Marjorie Bowen --3
Beaten to a pulp
The dead-wagon / Greye LaSpina--
A soul with two bodies / Urann Thayer--
The ghosts of Steamboat Coulee / Arthur J. Burks--
*The considerate hosts / Thorp McClusky--
The fifth candle / Cyril Mand --
The return of Andrew Bentley / August Derleth and Mark Schorer --
The floor above / M.L. Humphreys--
School for the unspeakable / Manly Wade Wellman--1
Mordecai's pipe / A.V. Milyer--
He walked by day / Julius Long--
Behind the screen / Dale Clark --
Modern masters
Journey into the kingdom / M. Rickert--
Mr. Saul / H.R.F. Keating--
Coventry carol / Chet Williamson--
November 6, 2012
I read one ghost story every evening in October. With 80 stories, it should last a few Octobers more. My favorite stories this time around were "The Shadowy Third" by Ellen Glasgow, "A Ghost's Story" by Mark Twain, "Pacific 421" by August Derleth, and "Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert.
October 15, 2023
Discounted | Impossible to review more than 1,600 pages of ghost stories, especially as a person who rarely reads ghost stories. I'll just say it was a pretty good selection but the modern stories do not fit, and despite the introduction saying that the criteria for inclusion is that a story absolutely must have a ghost, not all the stories did.
Want to read
November 22, 2022PLACEHOLDER REVIEW:
Read "The Dead Wagon" by Greye La Spina, in which the carved door of a noble family warns of a curse that pursues the descendants of said family, and now seem to be roping in the young groom, his bride, and their newborn child. There are bits of E.F. Benson's "The Bus-Conductor" glimmering through the nighttime visits of the plague-dead carrying titular vehicle, and the story is overly wordy in getting to its final point (but that's par for the course for pulps) - but I like that it's an atypical story of a curse "thwarted" than inevitably successful.
In "The Floor Above" by M.L. Humphreys has a man suddenly contacted by a long-missing old friend and invited to visit, only to find the friend now a bed-bound invalid. While staying with him, he begins to experience vivid dreams and visions of his friend visiting him, even though the man remains in his room. This was an interesting story - less for the actual "story" than for the focus on a pervasive mood of static torpor and depression. I also appreciated that, while the climax itself may be expected, the story never wastes any time in setting it up or explaining it.
"A Soul With Two Bodies," by Urann Thayer, has a soldier, lost in the Austrian mountains in WWI, finding his way to a darkened and presumably abandoned chateau inhabited by a hideous Count with hypnotic powers. He escapes, but finds himself haunted by messages from the evil, undead Mesmerist, relayed at a seance and a mind-reading act, and against his best intentions, he decides to return to the chateau... A gothicy yarn with some pretty effective description of exploring a dark and empty house, a chase up a mountain pass, and the seance scene - while familiar - is well-done. There's body-swapping/transference as well. Melodramatic but not offensive
Read "The Dead Wagon" by Greye La Spina, in which the carved door of a noble family warns of a curse that pursues the descendants of said family, and now seem to be roping in the young groom, his bride, and their newborn child. There are bits of E.F. Benson's "The Bus-Conductor" glimmering through the nighttime visits of the plague-dead carrying titular vehicle, and the story is overly wordy in getting to its final point (but that's par for the course for pulps) - but I like that it's an atypical story of a curse "thwarted" than inevitably successful.
In "The Floor Above" by M.L. Humphreys has a man suddenly contacted by a long-missing old friend and invited to visit, only to find the friend now a bed-bound invalid. While staying with him, he begins to experience vivid dreams and visions of his friend visiting him, even though the man remains in his room. This was an interesting story - less for the actual "story" than for the focus on a pervasive mood of static torpor and depression. I also appreciated that, while the climax itself may be expected, the story never wastes any time in setting it up or explaining it.
"A Soul With Two Bodies," by Urann Thayer, has a soldier, lost in the Austrian mountains in WWI, finding his way to a darkened and presumably abandoned chateau inhabited by a hideous Count with hypnotic powers. He escapes, but finds himself haunted by messages from the evil, undead Mesmerist, relayed at a seance and a mind-reading act, and against his best intentions, he decides to return to the chateau... A gothicy yarn with some pretty effective description of exploring a dark and empty house, a chase up a mountain pass, and the seance scene - while familiar - is well-done. There's body-swapping/transference as well. Melodramatic but not offensive
October 15, 2012
A wonderful mix of classic and new terrifying stories...perfect for a cold fall night!
January 17, 2025
Massive anthology of ghost stories. spanning the years 1926-2011.....many from the pulps.
Recommended.
Jeff Mcntosh
Recommended.
Jeff Mcntosh
August 4, 2022
Lost ghosts, vengeful ghosts
ones that just want to be loved
dead, and dumb as hell.
ones that just want to be loved
dead, and dumb as hell.
December 7, 2023
I had never heard of Otto Penzler before.
I found this to be quite enjoyable.
It's not often that I take notes reading fiction. This was one.
I took notes during many of the stories themselves, just to listen to a particular passage again or to look something up that was said or described.
I also took many notes from the introductions of each story/author.
Really interesting and wide variety of authors and backgrounds.
The historical context that Penzler provides is really interesting to me.
I'd read this again. And I look forward to reading more compilations from Penzler.
I found this to be quite enjoyable.
It's not often that I take notes reading fiction. This was one.
I took notes during many of the stories themselves, just to listen to a particular passage again or to look something up that was said or described.
I also took many notes from the introductions of each story/author.
Really interesting and wide variety of authors and backgrounds.
The historical context that Penzler provides is really interesting to me.
I'd read this again. And I look forward to reading more compilations from Penzler.
September 23, 2022
This is an expansive collection with every style of ghost story you could think of.
April 5, 2024
54 hours of (mostly) awesome audio ghost stories 🙌
February 21, 2017
This one was a joy to read. It might have been better 10-15 stories less; but overall the richness of the styles and ideas take precedence in my rating. It is like looking at priceless gems coming out of years of mining and going through lots of coal before finding diamonds.
I have discovered a lot of writers and some ingenious and some downright bizarre ways of writing about ghosts. They were too many so it is all like a blur but when I think about the whole book Donald Westlake's story stands out; it gave me the strongest feeling of eternity since the Mars/Dr. Manhattan issue of Watchmen. I will definitely read Penzler's other anthologies (Luckily my wife has nearly all of them).
I have discovered a lot of writers and some ingenious and some downright bizarre ways of writing about ghosts. They were too many so it is all like a blur but when I think about the whole book Donald Westlake's story stands out; it gave me the strongest feeling of eternity since the Mars/Dr. Manhattan issue of Watchmen. I will definitely read Penzler's other anthologies (Luckily my wife has nearly all of them).
May 23, 2020
"Mr. Arcularis," by Conrad Aiken (1931): 7
- so the problem with thematic genre anthologies is clear: you know the turn, largely, or at least in its main thrust. And this seems especially problematic with ghost stories, so that "success" becomes how well did you pull off the inevitable or how well did you tweak the formula? Not the best way to read a short story, but pleasurable in its own way. And this was basically at work in this story, a tidy-enough version of the 'didn't know he's dead' genre, although this was basically the gist of the twist altogether, which meant that there weren't really any other nuggets or games along the way.
"August Heat," by William Fryer Harvey (1910): 8.25
- straightforward story, straightforwardly told -- of a man prefiguring not only his own death, but also the trial and conviction of his own murderer, and who, on account of this premonition, actually brings it about. It's in and it's out. Yet, what pushed it ahead of some other works is the actual menace at the end of story, as we realize--through seemingly benign references to the mason sharpening his tools and staring a bit absently at the completely unwitting artist.
"The Shadowy Third," by Ellen Glasgow (1916): 8.25
- The story is what it is: a ghost story. And in classic fin-de-siecle ghost story fashion, all is telegraphed early and the tension comes in the psychological denouement and skill at which all of this is doled out through the prose and narrativization. This does those things moderately skillfully, albeit with the pacing canyons common to the genre and period. More interesting, from an historical curio pov, is the nicely ‘modern’, ie unsentimental look at nursing as a profession, and especially women’s place within it.
“The Past,” by Ellen Glasgow (1922): 6.75
- A shame that a story told so fluidly, with such command of that early C20th fantastic-tale careening between action and psychological effect, and with such easy craft — and, if memory serves, so much more assuredly than the other Glasgow I’d read — must nonetheless be attached to such a play-it-again-Sam set of ghostly tropes (wan wives and distant men) and set pieces (apparition fun amidst the urban manorial sprawl; Chekhov’s fireplace [ie something flammable’ll end up there]). STORY: governess intercedes in rich ghost tale, that is a dead ex-wife is haunting the second marriage, until shown that she was unfaithful and her power thereover defanged!
- so the problem with thematic genre anthologies is clear: you know the turn, largely, or at least in its main thrust. And this seems especially problematic with ghost stories, so that "success" becomes how well did you pull off the inevitable or how well did you tweak the formula? Not the best way to read a short story, but pleasurable in its own way. And this was basically at work in this story, a tidy-enough version of the 'didn't know he's dead' genre, although this was basically the gist of the twist altogether, which meant that there weren't really any other nuggets or games along the way.
"August Heat," by William Fryer Harvey (1910): 8.25
- straightforward story, straightforwardly told -- of a man prefiguring not only his own death, but also the trial and conviction of his own murderer, and who, on account of this premonition, actually brings it about. It's in and it's out. Yet, what pushed it ahead of some other works is the actual menace at the end of story, as we realize--through seemingly benign references to the mason sharpening his tools and staring a bit absently at the completely unwitting artist.
"The Shadowy Third," by Ellen Glasgow (1916): 8.25
- The story is what it is: a ghost story. And in classic fin-de-siecle ghost story fashion, all is telegraphed early and the tension comes in the psychological denouement and skill at which all of this is doled out through the prose and narrativization. This does those things moderately skillfully, albeit with the pacing canyons common to the genre and period. More interesting, from an historical curio pov, is the nicely ‘modern’, ie unsentimental look at nursing as a profession, and especially women’s place within it.
“The Past,” by Ellen Glasgow (1922): 6.75
- A shame that a story told so fluidly, with such command of that early C20th fantastic-tale careening between action and psychological effect, and with such easy craft — and, if memory serves, so much more assuredly than the other Glasgow I’d read — must nonetheless be attached to such a play-it-again-Sam set of ghostly tropes (wan wives and distant men) and set pieces (apparition fun amidst the urban manorial sprawl; Chekhov’s fireplace [ie something flammable’ll end up there]). STORY: governess intercedes in rich ghost tale, that is a dead ex-wife is haunting the second marriage, until shown that she was unfaithful and her power thereover defanged!
Read
August 12, 2015THE BIG BOOK OF GHOST STORIES is a spirited Black Lizard anthology with over a thousand pages of haunted�and haunting�tales. The ghost story is perhaps the oldest of all the supernatural literary genres and has captured the imagination of almost every writer to put pen to the page. Here, Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler has followed his keen sense of the supernatural to collect the most chilling and uncanny tales in the canon. These spectral stories span more than a hundred years, from modern-day horrors by Joyce Carol Oates, Chet Williamson and Andrew Klavan, to pulp yarns from August Derleth, Greye La Spina, and M. L. Humphreys, to the atmospheric Victorian tales of Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, and H. P. Lovecraft, not to mention modern works by the likes of Donald E. Westlake and Isaac Asimov that are already classics. Some of these stories have haunted the canon for a century, while others are making their first ghoulish appearance in book form. Whether you prefer possessive poltergeists, awful apparitions, or friendly phantoms, these stories are guaranteed to thrill you, tingle the spine, or tickle the funny bone, and keep you turning the pages with fearful delight.Including such classics as �The Monkey�s Paw� and �The Open Window� and eerie vintage illustrations, and also featuring haunted mansions, midnight frights, lovers from beyond the grave, rapping, tapping, wailing shades, and ghosts, ghouls, and specters galore! AlsoFeaturing haunted mansions, midnight frights, lovers from beyond the grave, rapping, tapping, wailing shades, and ghosts, ghouls, and specters galore!
March 28, 2013
I REALLY liked this book! It's 800+ pages of ghost and horror stories, old and contemporary. All of them are short; some are by well-known authors (Mark Twain, M. R. James, Wilkie Collins,Rudyard Kipling), but most of them are by authors I'd never heard of before. Although some are presented as "one of the best" of the century, whatever, I never had a shiver. Of course, unfortunately, I tend to be a "show me the money" person. If I ever met a ghost, I'd believe in them. Literary merit varied but most were very well written.
My favorite - and the one that ALMOST gave me shivers - was one by Donald Westlake. I am only familiar with Westlake from his Dortmunder series and never knew that he wrote "horror" stories. This one is about a man who commits suicide, who, like many others (probably), decides at the last minute that he really doesn't want to do it. That's not the gist of the story. But it is told from the suicide's point of view and the ending is fantastic.
Another great thing about the book - besides the incredible amount of wonderful ghost stories - is that the editor has a small blurb about the author preceeding each story. I discovered about 15 other books I want to read now because of the blurbs. Sigh.
The quality of the stories is uniformly high; the editor has gone through a lot of trouble and effort to choose superb ones.
I had to buy a copy of this because I want to mark the ones I like best and read them over and over.
My favorite - and the one that ALMOST gave me shivers - was one by Donald Westlake. I am only familiar with Westlake from his Dortmunder series and never knew that he wrote "horror" stories. This one is about a man who commits suicide, who, like many others (probably), decides at the last minute that he really doesn't want to do it. That's not the gist of the story. But it is told from the suicide's point of view and the ending is fantastic.
Another great thing about the book - besides the incredible amount of wonderful ghost stories - is that the editor has a small blurb about the author preceeding each story. I discovered about 15 other books I want to read now because of the blurbs. Sigh.
The quality of the stories is uniformly high; the editor has gone through a lot of trouble and effort to choose superb ones.
I had to buy a copy of this because I want to mark the ones I like best and read them over and over.
December 25, 2013
Three things to like about this book: one, it has a great cover and two, it is well presented, like an enormous magazine. The third is the number of authors and stories I hadn't encountered. I have about half a dozen ghost anthologies with Fritz Leiber's "Smoke Ghost", and everyone, it seems, must include M. R James. Both are here but there is a lot more as well. Like a lot of Americans, he misses a few British writers - Robert Aickman, R Chetwynd Hayes - that should have been included in "the most complete collection of uncanny, spooky, creepy tales ever published" but the compensation is the number of Americans I hadn't heard of. There are too many authors to give a thorough breakdown.
The cover, as I said, is fantastic. It reminds us that ghost stories are meant to be entertaining.
The cover, as I said, is fantastic. It reminds us that ghost stories are meant to be entertaining.
December 13, 2012
Holey Moley Batman! Approximately 80 ghost stories compiled in one book (over 800 pages written in small text, so you know there is a lot to read in there!). Not one gory alien or zombie story to be found, these are all your basic supernatural "ghost goes BOO in the night" stories. While it contains many classic stories by H. P. Lovecraft, O. Henry, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Saki, there are also several by authors I had either never heard of, or did not know that they wrote ghost stories (Mark Twain, Joyce Carol Oates). Hours of reading pleasure, the perfect book to keep in your library (if you like ghost stories)for browsing the random story here and there.
August 27, 2018
The biggest box of Halloween treats, a reader's delight. Congratulations to Otto Penzler for such fine editorship. My favorites: "The Night Wire" (H. F. Arnold), "Mr. Arcularis" (Conrad Aiken), "Consequences" (Willa Cather), "In at the Death" (Donald E. Westlake) and about a few dozens more. This book proves the versatility of one of the oldest forms of fiction: the ghost story.
June 1, 2013
I enjoyed the variety in this collection and also the organization of the stories. I could just pick up the volume and go to the "haunted houses" section, or whatever, and find something that piqued my interest.
October 26, 2022
This was a pretty fabulous and comprehensive anthology. There was enough in this volume to keep me busy during my October horrorfest. Most of the great writers of the genre have been included. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
January 3, 2018
Penzler has put together an EXCELLENT collection of ghost stories! Definitely a must read!!
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