Strayers from Sheol

by H.R. Wakefield, H. Russell Wakefield (AKA)

Strayers of Sheol is a collection of ten haunting tales penned by the masterful H.R. Wakefield. Each story delves into the realm of the supernatural, where the boundaries between the living and the dead blur in chilling ways. Within these pages, you will encounter the infamous The Triumph of Death, where a sadistic old woman's torment knows no bounds, utilizing a house haunted by malevolent ancestors as her instrument of cruelty. From eerie encounters with doppelgangers to spine-tingling radio explorations of Ghost Hunters, Wakefield's narratives weave intricate webs of suspense and terror.

In 'Farewell to all Those', the introduction to his 1961 collection STRAYERS FROM SHEOL, H. R. Wakefield stated 'I've written my last ghost story', continuing with the bleak sentence 'I believe ghost story writing to be a dying art.' However, he concluded his introduction on a more cheerful note, urging readers not to be too sure that 'none of the old magic endures'; and the fourteen stories collected in the original edition of the book show Wakefield to have been still very much at the top of his form. Indeed, STRAYERS FROM SHEOL opens with one of the author's finest and most frightening tales, the classic The Triumph of Death.

It was originally released in 1961 and was the second collection of the author's stories to be published by Arkham House. It was published in an edition of 2,070 copies. Following Wakefield's death in 1964, a further four of his stories were published in various Arkham House anthologies edited by August Derleth, who had long been a champion of Wakefield's writing.

Genres: Horror

186 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Herbert Russell Wakefield was an English short story writer, novelist, publisher, and civil servant. Wakefield is best known for his ghost stories, but he produced work outside the field. He was greatly interested in the criminal mind and wrote two non-fiction criminology studies

Used These Alternate Names: H.R. Wakefield, H. Russell Wakefield, Рассел Уэйкфилд?, Herbert Russell Wakefield, Herbert R. Wakefield, Henry Russell Wakefield, Henry R. Wakefield, Sir H. Russell Wakefield, Horace Russell Wakefield

Reviews

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of these tales but was absolutely shocked by the content of the last one, Monstrous Regiment. It was about the grooming and seduction of a young boy by his governess. How that story was ever deemed suitable for inclusion is a mystery.
I have given 3 stars to reflect the overall quality of the ghost stories. I did not finish the final one . It was too sickening for my taste.

[Shawn]

While I noted my reaction (in the negative) in my previous review of The Clock Strikes 12's reputation for having too many of Wakefield's "Revenge Of The Dead" stories, I note - in the positive - that it is *true of this volume.

Wakefield, it strikes me, deserves to have a cherry-picked volume of only his best work assembled, as opposed to these chronological collections that give a snapshot of him toiling in the fields of repeatability for the common sale during a certain span of time. Two specific things occurred to me as I finished this volume (with hopes that Inter-Library Loan will be able to track down the volumes with stories I don't have). One is that (as I mention in the story entry below for "Four Eyes") - Wakefield's approach to the "Revenge Of The Murdered Dead" trope is really only one step removed from the 1950s crime fiction trope of the "just desserts/ironic exposure of a murderer" story plot we saw quite often in ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS , numerous crime fiction mags of the period and TALES FROM THE CRYPT. The second, more interestingly, is that Wakefield catches flack for being considered an heir to M.R. James (who he revered and admired) yet his own stories are considered too gruesome or "beyond the pale" in their description of horrors - and thus "Un-Jamesian," and also the Wakefield relies too heavily on formula. And yet James was an amateur writing for a small circle of admirers, whose tales grew to wider acceptance through their ability to strike a nerve with a certain sensibility (that enjoyed the indulgence in stable fantasies of antiquarianism/history and supernatural creeps in equal measure), while as a writer Wakefield was a yeoman, scratching out over a hundred stories in his chosen genre field of success (and so, pretty much comparable to his cross-ocean compatriots working for the pulps at the time). They can't ALL be winners, and for Wakefield success was measured by a sale, rather than a slowly growing reputation like James. So, while he is lauded as a successor to James, the circumstances (and, more importantly, the demands and considerations of the market) were vastly different. Worth considering.

In his introduction, "Farewell To All Those", Wakefield announces that after writing over a hundred short stories, he feels he's done with ghost tales, due to the fact that he feels inspiration flagging and that science seems to have "explained away" (for the majority of the population) spectral phenomena (whether satisfyingly or not). He again restates his belief in psychic phenomena/clairvoyance (although, interestingly, he considers them atavistic abilities, something we are evolving out of and best left to history) and that "ghosts/hauntings" are inherently negative in quality ("possess negative survival value" - there is no reason to talk to the dead and nothing to be gained by it), something retrograde and "wrong" (and not be encouraged). Regardless, his introduction does serve as a nice "marker buoy" in the field, what with Aickman just around the corner... The author himself would be dead within three years, as it turned out

As for those formulaic weak stories, I mentioned: "The Third Shadow" - in which a famous mountain climber tells of his involvement in the death of another climber who (while recovering from the suspiciously "accidental" death of his wife), seemed to suffer a disastrous nervous breakdown mid-climb. Eh - "Revenge of the Dead" ghost story transposed into a modern scenario (the intensely immediate and dangerous world of mountain climbing) - but it's not particularly strong. "Woe Water" has a man who has recently endured a hearing over the suspicious drowning death of his wife (which he repeatedly - and unconvincingly - assures us was an accident) retreats to a remote house with only his butler, but finds that the lands of the estate encompass a small lake of some local ill-repute, and his butler is beginning to have second thoughts about their "arrangement." Yet another "revenge of the dead" stories - kind of - in this case a study of a man wracked by guilt for something he swears he didn't do, this is a bit too over-complicated for its own good (what with a local legend and all). In "Messrs. Turkes & Talbot" a young man begins his promising career in publishing at the titular organization (the named personage of the latter half of which has been missing for nearly a year, reportedly having abandoned his wife while having an affair) but soon finds, staying late at the office, that the personal upstairs chambers of Mr. Turkes sound occupied, even when their resident is away on business. While this tale has a few aspects of interest (solid character sketches of Turkes and our young protagonist are quite good, the contemporary view of publishing and those involved in it are interesting) but in the end it's yet another "Revenge of The Murdered Dead" and, notably, the haunting itself is not particularly impressive or creepy. Bella, whose first husband died under mysterious circumstances of illness, finds a pair of eyeglasses in a drawer, in "'Four-Eyes'", and gives them to her second husband, who discovers that he can see see visions of the earlier man's death. Well, yet again, another "ROTMD" story (honestly, they'd probably work better of you didn't read them one after another in a compilation) and (despite Wakefield's reputation for misogyny in his works), the first to feature a murderous wife that I've run across. It's all too familiar, with a rather gory, abrupt ending, although it also made me realize that Wakefield had somewhat perfected the supernatural version of the ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS crime piece a few decades before that show existed.

Still weak as well: In "The Middle Drawer" a man suspected of poisoning his wife undergoes various interviews and discussions, during which his visitors notice a growing stench of death, glimpses of a ghostly figure at the window, and repeated jarring shocks that continually cause his desk drawer to pop open. Well, I'll be honest, this reads more like an idea for a crime/suspense story with the supernatural aspect grafted on - building towards a finale both inescapable (once the idea has been introduced) and oddly funny (given the reasoning for the evidence). Not great, lots of unneeded "philandering husband" details, but not terrible. Meanwhile, a mathematician accidentally (note - no quotes this time) causes the death of the current holder of a prestigious teaching position he covets, then finds himself repeatedly plagued by a flock of bird that seem to be led by a distinctive albino blackbird in "'Immortal Bird'". In a way, this is an oddity - the usual "Revenge of the Murdered Dead" plot, except our main character honestly doesn't feel (and arguably is correct in this) that he intended harm and that the event was accidental. That detail makes the subsequent "haunting" (strange flockings and attacks by birds, reports of a ghostly figure) seem crueler than usual - as if the "moral mechanism" of the universe is out of whack (of course, we could just also just assume the protagonist is prevaricating - though he honestly doesn't appear to be, as he may be an admitted snob and filled with loathing for his "better" but even he admits, pre-accident, that the man has certain admirable qualities. Perhaps, instead, this is intended as an illustration of how we can convince ourselves of anything and our memory and thought processes then fill in the gaps?). There is a rather nice moment, early on, where our arch rationalist protagonist details some events from his childhood that indicated he might be psychically "sensitive" (specifically, a creepy graveyard encounter with the ghost of a child) but still - the story feels both overwritten and "more of the same."

Then there is the "almost got it" quality of stories, like "The Triumph Of Death", where Old lady Pendelham, while innocent in outward appearance, takes sadistic delight in keeping her current attendant Amelia (previous attendants have fled, or died of fright) constantly frightened and stressed - she achieves this effect through various means (making her read ghost stories and historical accounts of torture aloud) but most specifically by acting as if the house they occupy is not haunted (when it most certainly is) and ignoring the hideous sights and sounds around them, while Amelia begins to think she is going mad. But such a fiendish plot can, and does, backfire... Not bad - a mixing of the conte cruel (Pendelham's sadism) and the supernatural. Nasty, no doubt, but a little *striving* for its effect - feels more like an interesting invention than a full-fledged story. Still, I bumped it up a notch on the re-read.

Of the solidly good, there's: "The Gorge of the Churels," an enjoyable little find about a pompous British missionary who insists that his family picnic in the titular spot, but his once-Hindu-now-Christian assistant warns against local folklore of a malignant, La Llorona-type, child-stealing spirit. What's well-done about this story is the examination of the power dynamics between the missionary and the assistant, making us privy to the assistant's simmering anger over the condescension of his "better", and the moral quandary he faces in his choice at the climax. In "Mr. Ash's Studio", a writer, needing quiet to finish his book, rents a small shack in a suburban mews and (while he gets his work done surprisingly well) finds a certain invasive and repetitive oppressiveness about the place. This is another quite nice example of Wakefield shifting the parameters slightly - here, the idea is again how a "haunted" place may infiltrate the consciousness, but set against a creative individual (whose work does not suffer - and he writes "ghost stories" on the side!) and the place is not one that a person dwells in (and so, by implication, the "haunting" is a bit more malignant and accelerated, including some very threatening moths). An effective little piece. A brilliant mathematician in "A Kink In Space-Time", recovers from a nervous breakdown following overwork related to war efforts and takes a rest cure in a remote village, only to find himself relapsing into phantom sounds and voices, following an obsession with a figure he meets repeatedly on the footpath near the river. In a way, this is a good example of why reading stories in a compilation can be problem: this is a good story, and I'm sure I would have thought more highly of it if I had read it mixed among work by other authors. Read here, you can't help but apply the knowledge that Wakefield seems to be working through a number of inventive variants of ways to rethink the classic "ghost story" (to state, in this case, how specifically or the conceit would ruin it) and, while this one (again) is good it also feels slightly gimmicky when viewed in that light. Still, solid and not too long.

Similarly Good, "The Caretaker" finds a man out for a walk in the countryside while waiting for a train initially believing he is alone, until a strangely evasive soldier appears and states his malicious intents to visit an unfaithful lover. Interesting, because this is a short short piece, Wakefield setting up what reads something like a "real life" ghost encounter and then chopping it off at just the right point. Not amazing or anything, but a quick, creepy little read. Finally, in "The Sepulchre of Jasper Sarasen" a man, out for a walk in London, comes across a small graveyard which has recently been disturbed by the Axis bombings - specifically, a standing mausoleum which has been cracked open and the coffins disrupted. Some of the odd details of said tomb catch his interest and he eventually discovers (thanks to a chatty watchman) that it contains the bodies of an infamous family annihilator and his victims. And then, the tomb does more than "catch his interest..." I liked this - Wakefield may be at his best when he's just writing malevolent, unmotivated hauntings that seem to arise from almost nowhere (wrong place, wrong time) and he works in a little bit of graveyard folklore involving "blue flames" of the deceased, as well. The "touch of modernity" here - the recent bombings - is also well-chosen.

The best thing here is "Ghost Hunt", in which a live radio broadcast of the investigation of a haunted house goes disastrously wrong. This is another Wakefield gem, IMHO, which I first encountered in its (almost inevitable) audio adaptations (a 1949 dramatized episode of OTR show SUSPENSE, and a reading from early 1960s radio show DREADFUL JOHN AT MIDNIGHT). The story merges two very sharp idea: presenting the effects of a "haunting" as slow, subtle & steady - then accelerating - an invasion/dominance of the individual's psyche & mental state by the place itself; and presenting this in the form and modern context of a radio broadcast monologue. That makes "Ghost Hunt" a fictional/textual precursor of the "found footage" horror film (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, et. al.) and it's a powerful piece by an assured writer.
DOWN TO THE FIRST COMMENT FOR ONE LAST STORY THAT I SET ASIDE...:

[Cristi Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

These ghosts are damn well-mannered.

Strayers from Sheol collects a series of H. R. Wakefield’s ghost stories, most of which follow a familiar pattern: a perfectly respectable Englishman, grand estates, and the slow intrusion of something uncanny into the ordinary rhythm of life. There are haunted houses, plenty of vengeful spirits, doppelgängers, and generally the dead refusing to stay buried.

In these stories, Wakefield leans far more on atmosphere than innovation. The tales are usually simple, and once you’ve read a handful, the mechanics become predictable — stories start to feel interchangeable, and it’s difficult to remember anything distinct after finishing the collection.

My edition contained 14 stories:

The Triumph of Death (3/5) – An evil, wealthy old woman delights in tormenting her servants, sometimes even killing them, using her haunted house as her weapon.

Ghost Hunt (4/5) – One of the more modern stories, it’s told entirely through dialogue: a man hosts a precursor to a radio podcast while investigating a haunted house. The escalating supernatural events and the grim fate of those involved are rendered entirely through conversation, creating an intimate but chilling tension.

The Third Shadow (4/5) – A man attempts to help a friend overcome grief after his wife dies in a mysterious mountain-climbing accident, by taking him to climb the same mountain where his wife died. Instead of bonding and happy times, strange things begin to happen — the rope binding them behaves strangely, and although just the two of them, sometime the snow reflects three shadows.

The Gorge of the Churels (3/5) – Drawing on Indian folklore, an English family travels with their child to a remote area in colonial India where spirits of women who died in childbirth are said to haunt the gorge, preying on children.

Mr. Ash’s Studio (3/5) – A writer retreats to a quiet studio to work on his new book, only to find it haunted by a dark specter, with a moon-pale skull cloaked in a shifting veil of red moths.

Woe Water (4/5) – After being investigated for his wife’s death, a man moves to a remote estate, only to find himself entangled in local legends about a lake that periodically claims lives, only to return the bodies a week later.

A Kink in Space-Time (3/5) – A neurotic man keeps seeing a dark figure running ahead of him, leaving damp traces. When the figure plunges into a river, reality seems to warp, creating unforeseen consequences.

Messrs. Turkes & Talbot (3/5) – A young man from an aristocratic family begins an internship at a publishing agency and, early in his apprenticeship, encounters ghostly presences on the spiral staircase and hears phantom footsteps in a locked room upstairs.

Immortal Bird (2/5) – Birds behaving unnaturally, attacking people, and sowing chaos.

The Caretaker (2/5) – The shortest story in the collection. A man at a remote train station encounters the ghost of a soldier searching for his former family. Simple, eerie, but minimal in impact.

Four Eyes (3/5) – A man forgets his glasses at work, but his wife finds a spare pair that belonged to her ex-husband, who died mysteriously. Once he wears them, he begins seeing strange visions of unfinished business.

The Sepulchre of Jasper Sarasen (4/5) – A man becomes obsessed with a crypt reopened after wartime bombing. Inside lie two adult coffins and four small ones; a mother and children who died together decades ago and an unmarked coffin. His investigation uncovers something far more disturbing than anticipated.

The Middle Drawer (4/5) – A man’s wife’s tomb is reopened for investigation. Servants flee the supposedly haunted house, and his mistress witnesses ghostly apparitions at the windows. Even the detective assigned to the case witnesses the haunting. And all this time, a drawer randomly opens as pulled by some ghostly hands.

Monstrous Regiment (3/5) – More disturbing in concept than in execution, this one is so different from the rest. I was like "what the hell am I reading?!" the whole time. Basically, it's about a governess who sexually abuses a boy for 8 years, starting when he was only 7. Over time, she also becomes the boy's stepmother, but that doesn't stop her from having passionate sex with him when he turns 15. The story has an interesting overall theme, even if it is a difficult one—the psychological effects of early abuse on the adult.

Overall, Strayers from Sheol is a solid example of early 20th-century ghost fiction. Wakefield writes with elegance and restraint, but his caution and repetition mean the collection rarely surprises, and most of the stories fade from memory quickly. ★★★☆☆

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strayers from Sheol (1961) by H. Russell Wakefield, in the 1999 Ash-Tree press edition, contains fourteen short stories and novellas spanning three decades. They are of uniformly high quality both as works of fiction and works of horror. Some feature traditional ghosts (in the  pre- and post-Jamesian senses), others provide more disturbing spectral disturbances for the protagonists.

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some excellent stories, a few stinkers, and the rest middling. Wakefield will have to go into the category of 'read more but tread cautiously'. He had a penchant for pulp which is a shame because when he's good he's very good indeed.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great set of classic horror tales!

[Jameson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wish I had kept track of all my favorites from this Wakefield and the others so I could make my own super collection of his best stuff to re-read in the future. The good stuff is wicked good, but there are quite a few duds too. As usual, I skipped the introduction.

[Meg Bats and Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whilst I do read a lot of modern supernatural horror, recently I have been binging loads of vintage horror stories narrated on YouTube. In my search for a writer of M. R. James’s calibre, I came across the stories by H. R. Wakefield (1888 – 1964) and was instantly drawn into his creepy, unsettling world.

Wakefield doesn’t offer jump scares. Instead, he takes safe places (tea rooms, quiet villages, urban studios) and infuses them with creeping menace. Unlike James, who focuses on the antiquarian and the academic, Wakefield leans more towards the psychological, even in his folk horror stories 🦉. He weaves a certain oppressive enchantment, that makes the reader helplessly follow the characters who are inevitably heading toward their doom. It is all done in a very insidious, quiet manner, with evil almost unnoticeably seeping in – until it’s too late 😱.

What I also greatly appreciated is that even though Strayers from Sheol is a collection of short stories by one author, it never felt samey. The narrative voices differ from one story to another, and the plots are very inventive and feel unique. One of my favourites was “Woe Water,” with a fantastically written unreliable narrator, who after a mysterious drowning death of his wife arrives into a secluded country side mansion to calm his nerves ⛵. Another strong fave was “Lucky’s Grove,” that starts with an estate manager selecting a Christmas tree for the manor, and ends with a reckoning of cosmic proportions, somewhat surprisingly rooted in Norse mythology 🐺. There are many other great ones and I’d like to state that it is very rare for me to rate a short story collection 5 stars!

I am superbly happy to have found a new favourite author and will be delving into his other short story collections.

And yes, it is a very crap cover and he deserves better 🙄.

[Canavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

✭✭✭

“The Triumph of Death” (1949) ✭✭✭
“Ghost Hunt” (1948) ✭✭✭½
“The Third Shadow” (1950) ✭✭✭½
“The Gorge of the Churels” (1951) ✭✭✭
“Mr. Ash’s Studio” (1932) ✭✭✭½
“Woe Water” (1950) ✭✭✭
“A Kink in Space-Time” (1948) ✭✭
“Messrs. Turkes and Talbot” (1932) ✭✭✭
“‘Immortal Bird’” (1961) ✭✭✭½
“The Caretaker” (1961) ✭½
“‘Four-Eyes’” (1961) ✭✭✭
“The Sepulchre of Jasper Sarasen” (1953) ✭✭✭✭
“The Middle Drawer” (1961) ✭½
“Monstrous Regiment” (1961) ✭½
“The Animals in the Case” (1962) ✭✭✭
“The Last Meeting of Two Old Friends” (1964) ✭✭✭½
“Death of a Bumble-Bee” (1967) ✭✭½
“Appointment with Fire” (1971) ✭✭½

[Michael John Paul McManus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories in this volume hit the mark, some of them didn't. But all in all a satisfying read.