The House Among the Laurels

by William Hope Hodgson

William Hope Hodgson spent his early life as a cabin boy, before becoming a prolific author. Although best-known nowadays for two novels - The House on the Borderland (1908) and The Night Land (1912) - his short fiction was also extremely popular in its day. Many of the earliest ghost stories and tales of hauntings, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Genres: Horror, Audiobook, Mystery, Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Supernatural

38 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved some renown as a bodybuilder. Hodgson served with the British Army durng World War One. He died, at age 40, at Ypres, killed by German artillery fire.

Reviews

[Sandysbookaday (on indefinite hiatus)]

This is one of the least atmospheric ghost stories I have come across. It was not helped by the narrators voice. But even putting that aside, the story failed to interest me. Had it been any longer I perhaps would not have finished it.

In Ireland, Gannington Manor has remained empty for years, and rumor has it the mansion is haunted. What appears to be blood drips from the ceiling, and two men have been found dead within—both in the great entrance hall, neither displaying any signs of violence. Perhaps it is a prank, or perhaps it is something more sinister.

Psychic detective Thomas Carnacki, the ghost finder, recruits a group of strong men from the village—and their dogs—to accompany him during his investigation of the purported haunting. Their mission: to spend the night within the mansion and see what occurs.

[Sandysbookaday (on indefinite hiatus)]

This is one of the least atmospheric ghost stories I have ever read. Psychic detective Thomas Carnacki investigates Gannington Manor in Ireland. The mansion has been empty for years and is rumoured to be haunted. Blood is said to drip from the ceiling and the bodies of two men have been found within, neither with any visible cause of death. Perhaps they were frightened to death?
I did not enjoy the narrator - I found his voice monotonous which did not enhance the story in any way.

[Steph]

This novel is literally just under 50 minutes long, on audiobook. The narration is done by David Ian Davies.
What a strange, and short little novel! I wish it were longer.

3 stars

[Deviki]

I wanted to listen to an audiobook while working today, and I thought my second book of the day should be something longer than 30 minutes and a bit haunting. Sadly, I chose the wrong audiobook because I found myself very distracted by the narrator's grunty voice and thick, heavy accent. LOL.

The narrator sounded like a drunk, grunting Irish pirate telling a ghost story to an equally drunk audience. I kept expecting him to suddenly go, "Arrr!" LOL.

I don't mean that in a bad way. I think this narrator would have excelled in pirate stories because he definitely has the voice for it. He did a good job with tone shifts and pitch changes as the story progressed, but I personally didn't think his voice projected the spooky atmosphere the story was aiming for.

As for the story itself, it wasn't thrilling or scary at all. I found myself scrambling to figure out where it was supposed to be frightening. I was also disappointed with the ending, which felt like a bit of a letdown. They just died naturally in the house... really? LOL.

[Terrible Book Club]

It's another episode of Terrible Antique Book Freaks! D & Ken from Antiques Freaks join us once again to read another Carnacki tale. We use Eye of Argon rules to read the entirety of The House of the Laurels. Have your Carnacki bingo cards at the ready!

[Etain]

That was almost really good. I quite enjoyed the middle part of it but the ending was so flaccid and the haunting part was so similar to the first story that it felt a bit pointless. I wish we got more information on the haunters.

[Benevbooks]

0.5☆

Considering its very short length, I had to speed the audiobook up because I wasn't interested!! Quite a few animal deaths in this, please bear in mind!

[Vani]

I started this book hoping for a creepy October read. Got the audiobook from the library via Overdrive and it takes 50 mins to complete. I took some time to get used to the narrator's voice due to the thick accent and grating voice. It's a classic haunted mansion tale. While the beginning is promising and manages to convey a gothic, eerie sense of horror, I thought that the ending was anticlimactic.

Rating: 2.5 stars

[Billy Martel]

Irritated at how many animals are killed in these stories. This one had a particularly gruesome death of a dog.

I do really enjoy that Carnacki’s investigations occasionally come up negative, I just don’t understand why he tells those stories to his dinner party guests.

Also the fact that Carnacki’s feelings were hurt by the crooks making fun of his pentacle is hilarious.

[Alec]

I picked this audiobook because it was less than an hour and I wanted something to listen to as I cleaned my kitchen. It was perfectly acceptable, but the lack of atmosphere and characterization made this a useless listen. I never heard of Hodgson before this story so maybe his other works are better--I'll have to check out his longer works to see whether he takes more time to build his worlds.

[Red Claire]

A rather sad disappointment compared to the other Carnack the Ghost Hunter short stories preceding and following it - the atmosphere is just disappointingly undercut by the ending.

CW unpleasantly graphic animal death, which I really wish the author would stop using to raise the tension.

[Mai]

Most certainly not on the level of The House On The Borderland. It's not terrible, but lacks the atmosphere, ambition, and articulateness that made THOTB great.

Also, the dog doesn't even get a name before it dies.

[wineomatic]

Conceptually I like this story. It wasn’t bad but it was basically telling, and not showing. I wish the author had fleshed it out into a real thriller and not what seemed like a campfire ghost story.

[Cindy]

A story originally told in 1910.

[Lauren]

(NOTE TO SELF: too many animals to continue listening)

[Shteblanc]

I was pleasantly surprised by fact the very second Carnacki story is about a hoax

[Ayla]

All of the dog deaths are a NO from me.

[Vanna Book-Mage]

That was ridiculously strange. It felt both atmospheric and not at the same time due to the narrator. I dunno, but it was funny at least.

[Brittany Blair]

I would enjoy these Carnacki stories more without the abundance of gruesome animal deaths.

[Tony Ciak]

Great Carnacki the Ghost Finder story; sometimes a ghost is just a story, behind other activities.

[Dani]

My first by WHH but I enjoyed for the most part.

[Victoria]

This author was definitely not a big fan of dogs, just a heads up on that.

[Katie Kenig]

This is a short little gothic mystery set in a creepy, creepy haunted castle where people vanish. An old school private eye is hired to suss out the truth behind the vanishings and killings and randomly dripping blood that appears after dark.

And because it is such a short little piece of fiction, I can't say any more without totally spoilering the heck out of the story.

I listened to this on audiobook, grabbed from the library website without noticing how short it was. The narrator had an accent that, while true to the setting of the book, was a bit distracting. There were a couple of places where I skipped backwards to re-listen to a sentence or two because it sounded a bit jumbled to my north american ears.

It's a good read for a dark and stormy night, curled up with your cat on your lap. Just realize you'll finish it before your tea gets cold.

[Liz]

This story is available in 'HorrorBabble's Ultimate Weird Tales Collection, Volume 2'; Audible edition narrated by Ian Gordon. The narration is top notch. THATL is the 2nd story in the series about the occult investigator, Thomas Carnacki. The format seems to be that he is comfortably sitting in his drawing room regaling his friends after the incidents have concluded. He has investigated some strange occurrences at a manor house in Ireland using his occult knowledge and a kind of scientific methodology combined. There are doors closing on their own and what appears to be dripping blood. Carnaki uses his camera to get to the bottom of the mystery. This story is ok, but it seems like this character could use a longer format. It first appeared in the February, 1910, issue of The Idler.

[Chrissie]

There's a skeptic in some of us that likes to explain away our fears. Perhaps the howling really was "just the wind," or there really is a "logical reason" for (fill in the blank.) Then again, there also is a tendency to leap to the supernatural in order to explain something that seems extraordinary. Human nature likes to stick to its superstitions and to our hopes that our religious beliefs will protect us from the "unseen evil" that exists in the world. This little ghost story exploits all of that. Nothing is what it seems. It was interesting and refreshingly different (although published in 1910). I liked it.

[Latasha]

this story was great til the end. I didn't like the ending but it was just my personal taste, not because it was wrote bad or anything. I don't know what year this was wrote but it's crazy how modern it is. it could have been wrote last week! history repeating itself? seems so! I give mr. hodgson 5 stars on building suspense! bravo! this story is definitely worth reading, I just wished it had ended differently.

[Connie]

I did this book as an audio book, the reader was very good.

[Jane Smith]

Very short book, almost a short story. A fun listen if you like ghost stories.