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Lighthouse Horrors: Tales of Adventure, Suspense and the Supernatural
Storm-swept, remote light stations and the isolated souls who man the beacons are the perfect inspirations for tales of suspense and horror. Lighthouse Horrors collects 17 of the best from such writers as Rudyard Kipling, Robert Bloch, Jack Vance, and Ray Bradbury. This is a book to save for a fogbound or rain-dark night. Once you've read these pages, you'll never look at a lighthouse in quite the same way again.
CONTENTS
The Disturber of Traffic by Rudyard Kipling
The Lighthouse Keeper's Secret by Anonymous
The End of the Reef by T. Jenkins Hains
Ghost Island Light by John Fleming Wilson
Messengers at the Window by Henry van Dyke
The Woman at Seven Brothers by Wilbur Daniel Steele
On the Isle of Blue Men by Robert W. Sneddon
Madhouse Light by Charles Francis Coe
Three Skeleton Key by George G. Toudouze
The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury
The Lighthouse by Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Bloch
When the Five Moons Rise by Jack Vance
All the Way Home by Dan J. Marlowe
The Door Below by Hugh B. Cave
By the Hair of the Head by Joe R. Lansdale
Land's End by Delia Sherman
The Driven Snow by Edward Wellen
CONTENTS
The Disturber of Traffic by Rudyard Kipling
The Lighthouse Keeper's Secret by Anonymous
The End of the Reef by T. Jenkins Hains
Ghost Island Light by John Fleming Wilson
Messengers at the Window by Henry van Dyke
The Woman at Seven Brothers by Wilbur Daniel Steele
On the Isle of Blue Men by Robert W. Sneddon
Madhouse Light by Charles Francis Coe
Three Skeleton Key by George G. Toudouze
The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury
The Lighthouse by Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Bloch
When the Five Moons Rise by Jack Vance
All the Way Home by Dan J. Marlowe
The Door Below by Hugh B. Cave
By the Hair of the Head by Joe R. Lansdale
Land's End by Delia Sherman
The Driven Snow by Edward Wellen
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
10 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Charles G. Waugh
223 books11 followersCharles Gordon Waugh was born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1943.
He has published over 261 books, most of which are SF, fantasy, or horror anthologies and he has taught at Syracuse University, Ithaca College, Kent State University, and the University of Maine at Augusta.
Waugh is known primarily as a co-editor (with Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg) of the “Mammoth Book” series of genre anthologies.
He has published over 261 books, most of which are SF, fantasy, or horror anthologies and he has taught at Syracuse University, Ithaca College, Kent State University, and the University of Maine at Augusta.
Waugh is known primarily as a co-editor (with Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg) of the “Mammoth Book” series of genre anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 6, 2019
Lighthouses are now, at least in the "developed" countries, completely automated and impersonal, and don't have the same mystique that they once did. But the older, humanly-operated lighthouses held an innate interest as outposts of human presence in lonely and dangerous places, beacons of light surrounded by fog and darkness, conjuring both a positive symbolism and an awareness of the very real danger that requires a lighthouse in the first place. It's not surprising that they've often inspired stories of dark, horrific or macabre events, which may or may not end happily. Veteran anthology editors Waugh and Greenberg, here with the collaboration of the less well-known Azarian, have assembled 17 of these stories, written from the 19th century on. Arrangement is chronological by publication date (the last one appearing for the first time in this volume). Editor Waugh contributes a serviceable short introduction, which includes a four-type classification of the tales based on how they achieve their horrific effect: to the familiar three-part schema of "material stories," descriptive fiction where the horror arises from natural causes, "weird stories" in which the cause is depicted as supernatural, and science fiction in which the cause of horror is part of the natural universe but not one that current real-life science actually knows about, he adds a fourth category, "Janus stories" (named for the Roman god with two faces, looking in opposite directions), meaning stories where the reader's question of whether the events are natural or supernatural is deliberately left unanswered, or given an ambiguous answer. (All four types are present here!)
For each of the 17 known authors (the author of "The Lighthouse Keeper's Secret" was anonymous, but "The Light-House" has two authors, being completed by Robert Bloch from an unfinished Poe fragment), the editors provide short introductions at the beginning of each selection. Contributors range from very big names (besides those already mentioned, Kipling and Bradbury are represented) to some writers I'd never previously heard of. Most are American; Kipling of course was British, and George(s) G. Toudouze was French (his 1937 story "Three Skeleton Key" is the only one of his works to originally appear in English). Delia Sherman ("Land's End") is the only female writer in the group. The lighthouses that serve as settings may be operational or abandoned, and they pretty much cover the globe geographically (the one in Jack Vance's "When the Five Moons Rise" is actually on another planet, in a far-future, human-colonized galaxy), though most are in the U.S. In the naturalistic stories, loneliness-induced madness is quite a common theme (and was doubtless a real-life problem, especially in stations where a single keeper went for long periods with little or no human contact).
On the whole, the overall quality of the stories is good; none stand out as particular masterpieces (and "The Disturber of Traffic" is not in the first rank of Kipling's works), but neither are there any real clunkers in the collection, which isn't bad for one with this many selections! Though I'm not generally a fan of dark or tragic tales, and some stories here would fit that description, I thought all of them met Hardy's test of being "worth telling," and there weren't any I actually disliked. Some of course, succeed better, or less well, than others. Personally, I'm not scandalized by "posthumous collaboration," and I thought the Poe-Bloch pairing (suggested to the latter by Poe scholar T. O. Mabbott) went particularly well; we're told where Poe's fragment ended, and I felt that Bloch did an excellent job of imitating Poe's prose style, and developing the story in a manner consistent with the earlier writer's typical approach. One of my favorite stories here was Henry Van Dyke's "Messengers at the Window," set in eastern Canada (which has a substantial ethnic French population), which draws effectively on Breton folklore. Joe R. Lansdale's "By the Hair of the Head" was my first introduction to his work; I knew him by reputation, and was a bit apprehensive, but his contribution here turned out to be very much in the classic tradition of supernatural horror.
Among stories that succeed less well, the Toudouze selection, depending for its horror on menacing sea-going rats, has a bit of a "suspension of disbelief" problem; it's not intended to be science-fiction, but the over-the-top ferocity and physical prowess the author attributes to his rats might as well be SF, since to my knowledge it's not consistent with any actual known facts about ship's rats. As it's written here, Robert W. Sneddon's obviously Lovecraft-influenced "On the Isle of Blue Men" (1927) is powerful, and genuinely scary. The problem is that this isn't the version that was published; the ending here was re-written by the editors, to approximate what they subjectively guessed to be Sneddon's original intention, and conjectured was only changed at the supposed behest of his editor. (My personal preference would be for reading the published version, not the speculations of an editor!) And while Hugh B. Cave's "The Door Below" is a page-turner and has a Christian symbolism I appreciate, it also has a major unexplained hole in the plot that's glossed over by ignoring it, and a couple of actions by characters that serve the plot, but don't seen like things they'd really be very apt to do. Despite these quibbles, though, I really liked the book as a whole!
For each of the 17 known authors (the author of "The Lighthouse Keeper's Secret" was anonymous, but "The Light-House" has two authors, being completed by Robert Bloch from an unfinished Poe fragment), the editors provide short introductions at the beginning of each selection. Contributors range from very big names (besides those already mentioned, Kipling and Bradbury are represented) to some writers I'd never previously heard of. Most are American; Kipling of course was British, and George(s) G. Toudouze was French (his 1937 story "Three Skeleton Key" is the only one of his works to originally appear in English). Delia Sherman ("Land's End") is the only female writer in the group. The lighthouses that serve as settings may be operational or abandoned, and they pretty much cover the globe geographically (the one in Jack Vance's "When the Five Moons Rise" is actually on another planet, in a far-future, human-colonized galaxy), though most are in the U.S. In the naturalistic stories, loneliness-induced madness is quite a common theme (and was doubtless a real-life problem, especially in stations where a single keeper went for long periods with little or no human contact).
On the whole, the overall quality of the stories is good; none stand out as particular masterpieces (and "The Disturber of Traffic" is not in the first rank of Kipling's works), but neither are there any real clunkers in the collection, which isn't bad for one with this many selections! Though I'm not generally a fan of dark or tragic tales, and some stories here would fit that description, I thought all of them met Hardy's test of being "worth telling," and there weren't any I actually disliked. Some of course, succeed better, or less well, than others. Personally, I'm not scandalized by "posthumous collaboration," and I thought the Poe-Bloch pairing (suggested to the latter by Poe scholar T. O. Mabbott) went particularly well; we're told where Poe's fragment ended, and I felt that Bloch did an excellent job of imitating Poe's prose style, and developing the story in a manner consistent with the earlier writer's typical approach. One of my favorite stories here was Henry Van Dyke's "Messengers at the Window," set in eastern Canada (which has a substantial ethnic French population), which draws effectively on Breton folklore. Joe R. Lansdale's "By the Hair of the Head" was my first introduction to his work; I knew him by reputation, and was a bit apprehensive, but his contribution here turned out to be very much in the classic tradition of supernatural horror.
Among stories that succeed less well, the Toudouze selection, depending for its horror on menacing sea-going rats, has a bit of a "suspension of disbelief" problem; it's not intended to be science-fiction, but the over-the-top ferocity and physical prowess the author attributes to his rats might as well be SF, since to my knowledge it's not consistent with any actual known facts about ship's rats. As it's written here, Robert W. Sneddon's obviously Lovecraft-influenced "On the Isle of Blue Men" (1927) is powerful, and genuinely scary. The problem is that this isn't the version that was published; the ending here was re-written by the editors, to approximate what they subjectively guessed to be Sneddon's original intention, and conjectured was only changed at the supposed behest of his editor. (My personal preference would be for reading the published version, not the speculations of an editor!) And while Hugh B. Cave's "The Door Below" is a page-turner and has a Christian symbolism I appreciate, it also has a major unexplained hole in the plot that's glossed over by ignoring it, and a couple of actions by characters that serve the plot, but don't seen like things they'd really be very apt to do. Despite these quibbles, though, I really liked the book as a whole!
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October 3, 2023PLACEHOLDER REVIEW:
"On The Isle Of Blue Men" by Robert William Sneddon (in a reprint from the 1920s pulp GHOST STORIES magazine) tells of an isolated set of islands in the Hebrides, called "The Seven Hunters," and the lonely men who man the lighthouse there. But when a couple visit while on an excursion, and get stuck there, they find one of the keepers prone to superstition about the locals waters, and the fish-men like "sluagh" that they conceal. This is an interesting piece, not so much for the actual story, which is overloaded with dialogue and has little atmosphere, but for the "sluagh" themselves, who essentially sound like Lovecraft's Deep Ones but with tentacle arms, and their desire to mate with a human female (which the authors of the anthology claim was obviously the intention of the piece, but that Sneddon's intentions must have been scuttled by the original editors, so they have somehow created an "uncut, true ending" for the piece). Still, odd & interesting.
Charles Francis Coe's "Madhouse Light" (originally from Munsey’s Magazine, July 1929) has an impulsive young man, Will Kelsey, break with his fiancee over a trifling squabble and take a position as fellow lighthouse keeper with Old Pedersen, after the talkative man's previous companion went mad and had to be committed. But after becoming acclimated, Will begins to wonder if it is truly Pedersen who is mad... Well, when I read outside my chosen genres I generally end up reading the 'best' examples of these new genres, but here what you've basically got is a mediocre suspense piece. It's not bad - I like lighthouse settings, the isolation and mounting tension are (just somewhat adequately) portrayed - it's just that the writing is limited enough that not enough is made of the fear of Pedersen's mental state, let alone the jump to the assumption, which kind of gives the game away. Eh.
"On The Isle Of Blue Men" by Robert William Sneddon (in a reprint from the 1920s pulp GHOST STORIES magazine) tells of an isolated set of islands in the Hebrides, called "The Seven Hunters," and the lonely men who man the lighthouse there. But when a couple visit while on an excursion, and get stuck there, they find one of the keepers prone to superstition about the locals waters, and the fish-men like "sluagh" that they conceal. This is an interesting piece, not so much for the actual story, which is overloaded with dialogue and has little atmosphere, but for the "sluagh" themselves, who essentially sound like Lovecraft's Deep Ones but with tentacle arms, and their desire to mate with a human female (which the authors of the anthology claim was obviously the intention of the piece, but that Sneddon's intentions must have been scuttled by the original editors, so they have somehow created an "uncut, true ending" for the piece). Still, odd & interesting.
Charles Francis Coe's "Madhouse Light" (originally from Munsey’s Magazine, July 1929) has an impulsive young man, Will Kelsey, break with his fiancee over a trifling squabble and take a position as fellow lighthouse keeper with Old Pedersen, after the talkative man's previous companion went mad and had to be committed. But after becoming acclimated, Will begins to wonder if it is truly Pedersen who is mad... Well, when I read outside my chosen genres I generally end up reading the 'best' examples of these new genres, but here what you've basically got is a mediocre suspense piece. It's not bad - I like lighthouse settings, the isolation and mounting tension are (just somewhat adequately) portrayed - it's just that the writing is limited enough that not enough is made of the fear of Pedersen's mental state, let alone the jump to the assumption, which kind of gives the game away. Eh.
January 31, 2018
After editing an anthology about lighthouses (Lighthouses: An Anthology of Dark Tales / Black Beacon Books), I was surprised to discover that my idea wasn't as original as I had thought. Lighthouse Horrors starts off slowly and improves as the voyage progresses. I've given the anthology three stars over all, but of the seventeen stories, six stood out for me: On the Isle of the Blue Men, Three Skeleton Key, The Fog Horn, All the Way Home, By the Hair of the Head, and The Driven Snow. If you enjoyed Lighthouses: An Anthology of Dark Tales, your bound to enjoy some of these tales.
October 23, 2019
Horror/ghost stories aren’t really my usual genre, but I guess it’s the season. I found myself really enjoying the vast majority of the short stories in this book and I recommend it for anyone that’s a fan of lighthouses or of good old fashioned scary stories.
February 6, 2025
I've only read the Poe-Bloch story which I found to have some slight themes similar to the Eggers 2019 film. The dangers of too much isolation are a classic lighthouse theme which I also wondered when I read Beacon 23. Must all lighthouse keepers go mad?
I would like to read the whole book if I can find a copy.
I would like to read the whole book if I can find a copy.
November 13, 2023
Excellent stories with the exception of the very first one by Rudyard Kipling.
February 1, 2014
I have not finished this book.So far, most of the stories are underdeveloped and fail to demonstrate a reason to be written.
November 1, 2017
About 17 short stories by a lot of different authors. I'll never look at lighthouses the same again.
August 24, 2025
Fun collection of horror stories set in and around lighthouses. A lot of them skew older, because a century or so ago lighthouses weren't automated and so there was a lot more scope for various things - a lot related, in practice or in metaphor, to isolation - to wreak terrifying havoc. Nowadays, of course, most lighthouses don't have anyone living there; they're just appealing structures standing off on their own but because they're so abandoned it's harder to set a story there.
It's almost a shame. There's something very appealing about the job of a lighthouse keeper - although I say that as someone who enjoys isolation more than most. I suspect that I'm romanticising it, though, and that I wouldn't enjoy it nearly so much if I was stuck in one now. Not without internet, anyway!
The best story here, for me at least, is "The Fog Horn" by Ray Bradbury. It's just so sad... poor old sea monster.
It's almost a shame. There's something very appealing about the job of a lighthouse keeper - although I say that as someone who enjoys isolation more than most. I suspect that I'm romanticising it, though, and that I wouldn't enjoy it nearly so much if I was stuck in one now. Not without internet, anyway!
The best story here, for me at least, is "The Fog Horn" by Ray Bradbury. It's just so sad... poor old sea monster.
December 29, 2019
Collection of stories, most written in the 19th and 20th centuries, with a lighthouse as a setting. Mostly old fashioned and haven’t aged well, and not all horrific as advertised. Ok for a snowy read in Maine, not worth a reread.
September 17, 2024
Nothing that great here. Was a bit disappointed. Would be decent if you enjoy short stories.
Currently reading
October 21, 2024Three Skeleton key is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror
June 3, 2025
Great collection of lighthouse tales, ranging from old to new authors.
September 20, 2015
An excellent antho with a lot of authors I had never heard of.
On the Isle of Blue Men by Robert W. Sneddon; the psychological horrors of The Woman at Seven Brothers by Wilbur Daniel Steele, Three Skeleton Key by George G. Toudouze, and The Disturber of Traffic by Rudyard Kipling; and The Door Below by Hugh B. Cave and The Light-House by Poe and Robert Bloch were among my favorites. There is also Bradbury's The Fog Horn.
Two stories were familiar to shorts of my own: By the Hair of the Head and Land's End--which is always a bummer when you have such similar ideas, but great minds think alike they say.
On the Isle of Blue Men by Robert W. Sneddon; the psychological horrors of The Woman at Seven Brothers by Wilbur Daniel Steele, Three Skeleton Key by George G. Toudouze, and The Disturber of Traffic by Rudyard Kipling; and The Door Below by Hugh B. Cave and The Light-House by Poe and Robert Bloch were among my favorites. There is also Bradbury's The Fog Horn.
Two stories were familiar to shorts of my own: By the Hair of the Head and Land's End--which is always a bummer when you have such similar ideas, but great minds think alike they say.
September 21, 2011
I loved the stories I read in this book. See how fast I read it? Only six days! (I'm a slow reader.) Many of the stories I still think about to this day ... and I've love to see some of them made into movies!
May 6, 2009
Great book. Numerous short stories by different authors.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews