Holy Ghosts: Classic Tales of the Ecclesiastical Uncanny

by Fiona Snailham (Editor)

A festering evil lurks in the grotesque carvings of a cathedral’s hallowed inner sanctum; sheltering in an Alpine chapel, a young libertine confronts his eerie monastic doppelgänger; locked in a Spanish cathedral, a honeymooning couple bears witness to a fatal procession.

Churches and other sacred sites have inspired writers of the weird and uncanny for centuries as spaces in which death and the afterlife are within touching distance – where ghosts, demons and possessed effigies remain to haunt the living. Through eleven stories published between 1851 and 1935, this new anthology revives a throng of undying spirits from a host of unsung and classic authors including Elizabeth Gaskell, M. R. James, John Wyndham, and Edith Wharton.

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Fiction, Gothic, Ghosts, Ghost Stories, Anthologies

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2023

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

I like the British Library's collections of themed uncanny stories a lot, but this is weaker than most. Man Size in Marble and MR James are pretty classic anyway, the rest could have remained forgotten to my mind. I have a sneaking suspicion they did this one purely because someone thought of the title, and who could blame them.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
“The past seems so close here …”
Another in the British Library Tales of the Weird series. These stories were published between 1851 and 1935. The authors are Sheridan Le Fanu, Mrs Henry Wood, Elizabeth Gaskell (contributing a novella), E. Nesbit, Amelia Edwards, Ada Buisson, Robert Hichens, Edith Wharton, Margeurite Merington, M R James (inevitably) and John Wyndham.
The stories vary in type and quality. There are ghost stories, some that are just plain weird, some that are sinister with evil clerics and one novella. I had read one or two before and the M R James tale is one of his better known ones. In a number of these the Church is not the place of sanctuary it often is, but is a place of danger. There are plenty of twists and scares with the evil sometimes getting their comeuppance, but sometimes not. The stories are variable. The briefest and last by Wyndham is one of the most effective and the M R James is a classic. The one by Merington is much weaker. The novella by Gaskell is rather fragmented, but the open ending helps.
A good selection of Victorian classic ghost/supernatural stories.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another strong collection of spooky stories from the wonderfully expanding British Library Tales of the Weird series.

Out of the collection of eleven stories, I was only familiar with the M. R. James tale.
So it was nice to be introduced to a few knew writers, whilst the collection also includes the like E. Nesbit and John Wyndham.

As the title suggests the stories are all set around holy places, churches make for such a creep setting.

I'm not the biggest short story reader, but a spooky tale over Christmas is just perfect.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was certainly a good time and definitely fun.
Full post is here:
http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2023...

I have a serious addiction to the British Library Tales of the Weird series, so much so that I tend to preorder the books often months ahead of their scheduled release. I actually just got one in yesterday's mail, The Uncanny Gastronomic (ed. Zara-Louise Stubbs), which I will likely set aside to read in October when I do a month of spooky reads. The other book I'm looking forward to landing at my doorstep soon is The Lure of Atlantis (ed. Michael Wheatley) which sounds like good, pulpy fun and which will likely also be saved for October. December brings Circles of Stone: Weird Tales of Pagan Sites and Ancient Rituals (ed.) Kathryn Soar. As long as the British Library continues to publish these books, I will continue to buy them.

The title should offer enough of a clue about what you're about to read, but to clarify, the editor spells it out in her introduction, saying that this book

"presents a collection of stories published between 1851 and 1935. The tales offer accounts of holy places filled with horror and believers tormented by terrifying ghosts."

There are other considerations and various themes to take into account, also discussed in the introduction but I will leave these for prospective readers to discover.

I've had the pleasure to have previously read six of the eleven tales presented in this book. Even before opening this anthology and perusing the contents, I just knew M.R. James would be among the authors and I was correct. The James selection was "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral," a perfect pick for this volume, and a story that never fails to chill me to my bones. "The Poor Clare" by Elizabeth Gaskell and E. Nesbit's "Man-Size in Marble" are also found among the previously-reads. Nesbit's story has been anthologized so often that although I love it, it's just a bit on the disappointing side to see it here yet again, while "The Poor Clare" runs to novella length at 70 pages, sort of interrupting the flow of the book as a whole. Rounding out the remaining three are Le Fanu's "The Sexton's Adventure," an awesome little tale which is one of his Chapelizod stories, "The Face of the Monk," by Robert Hichens [sidebar: I read this story first in [book:The Zinzolin Book of Occult Fiction|60738194] (Snuggly Books, 2022; ed. Brendan Connell) and now I think I really need to read that book again] and "The Duchess at Prayer" by Edith Wharton, which is quite good but sadly, I saw the ending of this one coming.

I love the concept behind this book, as well as the majority of the editor's choices for inclusion. There is something here for everyone in the range of strange tales presented, including the weird, the strange and the ghostly. Do not miss the introduction; I didn't go into it as much in this post as I would have liked to for time reasons, but really, it's best discovered on one's own. The first story definitely whets the appetite for more and sets the tone of what's coming next, and the book as a whole was certainly most difficult to put down. I've sung the praises of this series so often that all I have left to say is that this volume is a no-miss, especially for regular fans of these books published by the British Library and for aficionados of older ghost stories. It's an anthology I can most certainly and without hesitation highly recommend.

[Demeter · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the whole this is a very good selection of tales and a well chosen theme. However, I was a little disappointed to see “Mansize in Marble” yet again. A wonderful tale, but so often anthologised that I wish the space had been used for something rarer. That being said, readers new to the tale will enjoy it.

[Steven Poore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't often venture into the spooky realms, but this dropped into the Book Cellar earlier this year and given it was the week before Halloween it seemed daft not to make room for it. A splendidly presented volume in a long-running series, with an excellent introduction by the editor Fiona Snailham that rather makes you hunger for the stories ahead...

But unless you really, truly enjoy the style of writing that many of the authors collected herein use in their tales (first person epistolary, usually relating something that happened to someone they once met elsewhere), Holy Ghosts is going to be just an interesting diversion rather than an enjoyable one. The usual suspects are here - MR James, Sheridan Le Fanu - alongside names that I have to admit I recognise but have never before read (Edith Wharton, Elizabeth Gaskell) and some I'm sure I would never have otherwise encountered.

Edith Wharton's "The Duchess at Prayer" would have been better if she'd not used so many words where one or two would have sufficed. Gaskell's The Poor Clare dragged on for an age but actually worked really well for me. John Wyndham's short closing tale felt like an odd one out stylistically. "The Face of the Monk" by Robert Hichens was probably my favourite here, and I note with amusement that one of his novels was adapted for the big screen by Alfred Hitchcock (The Paradine Case, a Gregory Peck courtroom potboiler).

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've already read the Le Fanu and James stories and a few others, so I skipped them in reading the present anthology.

I unreservedly recommend:

"The Face of the Monk" by Robert Hichens

"An Evicted Spirit" by Marguerite Merington

"The Duchess at Prayer" by Edith Wharton

"The Cathedral Crypt" by John Wyndham

[Sam Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun collection of church-themed horror, some more tenuous than others. The inevitable MR James inclusion (The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral) has the involvement of the Church down to its bones, as do several of the others, but some include just as much church as any other location.

The longest story, the novella The Poor Clare, closes with around 10 pages involving the church after 60 which don't, and An Evicted Spirit feels very much like the odd one out of the whole collection.

That said when this hits - as it does with Barchester Cathedral, as well as Man Size in Marble, In the Confessional and The Cathedral Crypt, it's an excellent read.

[Alex Rankine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 mixed bag as is usually the case with these kinds of anthologies. towards the start v prescriptive but the latter ones have campfire ghost story vibes which i liked more

[Isobel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of weird short stories (and one novella) unified around the loose theme of organised religion. Very loosely, in some cases.

The Sexton's Adventure, by Sheridan Le Fanu. A man repents of his life of sin and debauchery after he drives a companion to the grave, but will the devil let him go? Quite plainly written, for the period - I was surprised to look back and see it was from 1851. 3/5.

The Parson's Oath, by Mrs Henry Wood. As in 'The Sexton's Adventure', an oath is sworn lightly and supernaturally enforced. The villain is disconcertingly realistic, and wouldn't be far out of place in a modern work. The surrounding story, though, is bogged down in minutiae of village politics and deaths of side characters and whatnot, and the end can't be truly satisfying. 2/5.

A Story Told in a Church, by Ada Buisson. Continuing the last story's theme of jackass men, a small group of women are locked in a church on Christmas night for a funny joke. The experience recalls to one of the women the most horrifying experience of her life, in another church on a winter's night, when a man came to a party with his fiance and her cousin and paid more attention to the cousin. (Also, someone dies, it's not just second-hand embarrassment.) 2/5.

In the Confessional, by Amelia B. Edwards. A traveller visiting a church encounters first an interesting memorial, and then a sinister priest. There was a nice dramatic backstory to the haunting, but after that it was fairly obvious where the frame story was going - and yet, it still continued for another two pages past the punchline. 2/5.

The Face of the Monk, by Robert Hichens. A man is haunted by a spectral doppleganger who, to the consternation of his friends, draws him steadily into a life of... virtue. And/or madness, yes, but I like the switch-up there. The prose was fairly dull, but it's a great premise. If I hadn't picked up an anthology of ecclesiastical ghost stories, though, I would probably find it too preachy. 3/5.

The Poor Clare, by Elizabeth Gaskell. A novella. Another story featuring a spectral doppleganger, but this time tormenting your bog-standard beautiful and virtuous Victorian maiden. This is due to a terrible curse imposed by the sole interesting character, an apparently unintentional witch. I would say it suffered from being too much about the peripheral characters and their romance, and from relying too heavily on coincidence. 3/5.

An Evicted Spirit, by Marguerite Merington. The story most loosely connected to the theme of the anthology. There's a funeral scene, but it's very much not the point, or the real emotional crux of the story. Heartwrenching. 4/5.

Man-Size in Marble, by E. Nesbit. This was my first encounter with this story, though apparently it's much-anthologised, and due to be the next BBC ghost story filmed for Christmas. I was struck, reading another Nesbit story - 'From the Dead', in the other BL anthology Queens of the Abyss - by how cinematic that seemed, but I didn't get the same impression from this one. In fact, I wasn't convinced at all. The husband dun it, and he framed the statues. 2/5.

The Duchess at Prayer, by Edith Wharton. A young, fun-loving duchess is relegated to her aged husband's castle with only his good-looking cousin to keep her company. The duke grows suspicious of the cousin and sends him away; the duchess retreats into the castle chapel, and prays there alone for hours, until her husband prepares a special gift to celebrate her piety. I liked this one for the trust put in the audience - Wharton implies the disaster, quite heavily, but doesn't feel the need to spell it out. 5/5.

The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, by M. R. James. In contrast, this story spells out everything, even the things you've worked out for yourself already, which is why I didn't like it. I know it's blasphemy to say that about M. R. James, but still. 1/5.

The Cathedral Crypt, by John Wyndham. This is the shortest story in the anthology, and features a couple accidentally locked in a cathedral overnight who witness a horrifying scene. It didn't go the way I expected, and had a very effective ending. 3/5.

[Alex Sarll]

Perhaps I should blame MR James, but I really expected more diabolism here, more sinister clergymen reading books they oughtn't - a horror trope from which I always get the appropriate pleasing chill. I assume that's partly because it reminds me of Ghost Stories For Christmas, partly because in practical terms it's so much less evil than the sort of thing priests generally get up to in the real world. But no; Monty himself is represented, by the great Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral. Otherwise, though, the closest the collection comes to that is John Wyndham's The Cathedral Crypt, and even there it's more a case of reprising motifs from the most lurid (ie best) strain of Gothic novel, albeit mercifully omitting the hundreds of pages of prefatory faff.

In place of corrupted divines, then, it's a collection which tends to the pious - and yes, I know I really should have guessed as much, what with the title being right there. More than a quarter of the book is taken up with the first Elizabeth Gaskell I've read, and you can see why it would have been at home in a magazine run by Dickens; The Poor Clare is a novella that should have been a short story, replete with paragraphs that could have been sentences, the occasional glimmers of uncanny power drowned in waffle and sentimentality. For much of its punishing length it's not even that closely tied to the theme, though the worst offender on that count is Marguerite Merington's An Evicted Spirit, which yes, does contain a Christian funeral, but come on, surely a ghost story needs more than that to qualify here? It would have been much more at home in Mortal Echoes. Still, while plenty of the stories qualify on the most basic level - an uneasy spirit able to rest once its bones are properly buried, or the baseline spookiness of churches and churchyards - there's an interesting tension simply from butting those ideas against each other; logically speaking, if one fully believed in the official position, shouldn't consecrated tombs and gravestones be the places least likely to harbour revenants, the absolute opposite of spooky? That gap between theology and intuition speaks volumes, and it's exactly in that sort of logical lacuna that the ghost story always thrives, same as they work best when the ghost is considered neither everyday nor entirely impossible. Aside from the two stories I already knew (the James, and Edith Nesbit's terrifying Man-Size In Marble), I think my favourite here was Amelia B Edwards' In The Confessional, which is not a million miles from her more famous The Phantom Coach, but has the benefit of a) not having been extensively riffed on for more than a century and b) not having a title which gives the whole game away.

[Sem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm almost inclined to knock off a star because two of these stories have been anthologised to death (and are not the best) and too many were familiar to me. Perhaps that would be unfair though because for someone new to the genre this would be an almost exemplary collection. Not quite, because Mrs Henry Woods' 'The Parson's Oath' was more melodramatic than uncanny and the Wyndham story was predictable. However, a solid collection of well-known and less well-known tales. It's always nice to have a taste of Hichens at his most '90s'.

[p. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5☆

A pretty consistent and strong entry in the "British Library Tales of the Weird" series. The short stories flowed easily and kept me going at a pace that let me finish this in one go.

Favourite stories: "The Parson's Oath" by Mrs Henry Wood, "The Poor Clare" by Elizabeth Gaskell, "A Story Told in a Church" by Asa Buisson, "The Face of the Monk" by Marguerite Merington and "The Dutchess at Prayer" by Edith Warton

[Kick Stals · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of spooky stories. I liked how before every story there is a small introduction included about the writer and the story. For a lover of horror and history this book I would recommend this book to others as well.

[Aaron Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short ghost stories, some in particular are very chilling.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

À bit of a mixed bag of short stories.

[Pieter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very excellent collection of short stories.

[Ralph Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not spectacular but these books remain solid, readable pint-sized horror confections.

[Sidni Hendren · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorites were “The Face of the Monk” and “An Evicted Spirit”. Wonderful work, Fiona! I hope to edit a book like this someday :)

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another in the British Library "Tales of the Weird' series.....focusing on ecclesiastical spirits....and I don't mean wine.....

Stories by James, Nesbit, and Wyndham.....several of the stories are oft-anthologized (Man Sized in Marble, Stalls of Barchester Cathedral), and arranged in chronilogical order, from 1851 to 1935.

An interesting collection.....

Jeff Mac

[Catheryne Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent collection of short stories, all of which follow a general theme of religion and the spectral world. Some were bland, others were intriguing and one was unusually long. A fun read for my autumn 2025 TBR.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

just fine, but the last four stories i really loved: an evicted spirit by marguerite merington, the duchess at prayer by edith wharton, the stalls of barchester cathedral by m. r. james, and the cathedral crypt by john wyndham. an evicted spirit in particular i thought was especially charming, about a woman who dies and then lovingly and wittily narrates the immediate aftermath from her spiritual body.

[Florence Marley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very good stories. my favourite was in the confessional. For having ghosts in the title there was surprisingly little ghosts in the stories. Modern society has made these stories tame in comparison to what we can get now but they have an old timer eeriness to them that I love. Strongly recommend this book