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The Eerie Book
A haunting anthology of supernatural stories and the macabre by well-known authors of gothic novels, folklore and fairy tales, each featuring a chillingly striking black-and-white illustration.
This chilling anthology, first published in 1898, features classic gothic authors Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Thomas de Quincey and Hans Christian Andersen alongside well-known and influential fairy tales and folklore. All of the macabre stories and extracts from longer works have hints of the supernatural and many include malevolent spirits and grotesque murders. But this varied selection also features melancholy hauntings and poignant memoir in a fascinating mix of gothic horror and disturbing legend. Each story is illustrated with a striking engraving by art nouveau artist William Macdougall.
Beautifully produced, carefully curated and timeless, this book is the perfect gift for anyone who likes to be haunted by ghost stories. Read it if you dare.
KIRSTY LOGAN’S latest novel is Now She is Witch (2023) and her previous books include Things We Say In The Dark, The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales.
MARGARET ARMOUR (1860–1943) was a Scottish translator, editor and poet.
WILLIAM MACDOUGALL (1868–1936) was an illustrator influenced by Aubrey Beardsley, William Morris and art nouveau. He was a member of the New English Art Club and contributed to The Yellow Book.
This chilling anthology, first published in 1898, features classic gothic authors Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Thomas de Quincey and Hans Christian Andersen alongside well-known and influential fairy tales and folklore. All of the macabre stories and extracts from longer works have hints of the supernatural and many include malevolent spirits and grotesque murders. But this varied selection also features melancholy hauntings and poignant memoir in a fascinating mix of gothic horror and disturbing legend. Each story is illustrated with a striking engraving by art nouveau artist William Macdougall.
Beautifully produced, carefully curated and timeless, this book is the perfect gift for anyone who likes to be haunted by ghost stories. Read it if you dare.
KIRSTY LOGAN’S latest novel is Now She is Witch (2023) and her previous books include Things We Say In The Dark, The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales.
MARGARET ARMOUR (1860–1943) was a Scottish translator, editor and poet.
WILLIAM MACDOUGALL (1868–1936) was an illustrator influenced by Aubrey Beardsley, William Morris and art nouveau. He was a member of the New English Art Club and contributed to The Yellow Book.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1898
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 11, 2025
4 stars
Such a cute collection, definitely did not expect such a long excerpt from Frankenstein to feature but I'm not upset about that at all!
Such a cute collection, definitely did not expect such a long excerpt from Frankenstein to feature but I'm not upset about that at all!
September 17, 2025
DNF: fuck this thing. It’s pretty to display but that’s all, it sucks!
Currently Reading
April 7, 2026Introduction
- "The Eerie Book is a collection of supernatural stories ranging from gory folk and fairy tales to Gothic short stories, to excerpts of classic novels.” (viii)
- “The interest in this particular book, for me, is the curation: the way that the stories are put in conversation with one another. I’ve read ghost stories and I’ve read fairy tales, but there’s something interesting about making them stand beside one another, in making them look one another in the eye and try to find a common language.” (x)
- “William Brown (credited as W.B.) Macdougall’s style has strong echoes of Aubrey Beardsley; the images are symbolic and somber.” (xii)
- “We loved tales of blood and death a century ago when this book was first published; we loved them for centuries before that. I expect we will love them for centuries still to come. We may think we’re different now. We have different beliefs; we tell different stories. We are haunted by different fears.” (xiii)
- “But one thing that never seems to change about humans is that desire to slip out of the light and into the shadows; to lift up the rock; to stare at the ambulance lights. In another hundred years we will crave stories of new horrors— or perhaps these same old classic ones. As a final story in this book says: 'the secret passages still survive.'” (xiii)
- “Let’s descend the darker stairs together. Let’s follow the witch into the woods. Let’s see what we find in those old hidden passages.” (xiii)
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe - 3.5 stars
Prince Prospero constructs an bizzare building of 7 rooms designed to house himself, his favorite nobles, and all the supplies they need (both for the body and soul) to outlast the plague. The last room is all black with a scarlet window and everyone is scared of it. Will they survive? - I was drawn in by the description and also felt it was a timely read given what I experienced over COVID.
- "The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grief or to think." (2)
- Is there is significance to the number 7 that provides a hint at what is to come?
- "But in spite of these things it was a gay and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colours and effects. He disregarded the deocra of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear, and see, and touch him to be sure that he was not." (5)
- "There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust." (5-6)
- "The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat." (8)
The Iron Coffin from Faust: A Romance of the Secret Tribunals by George W. M. Reynolds
The Mother and The Dead Child from Hans Christian Andersen
Tregeagle from Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England
The Dutch Officer's Story from Ghosts and Family Legends by Catherine Crowe
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe
Earl Beardie's Game at Cards
Frankenstein extracts from Mary Shelley's novel
The Garde Chasse from Ghosts and Family Legends by Catherine Crowe
A Dream of Death from the Danish
The Mysterious Horseman from Apparitions: A Narrative of Facts by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Savile
The Blind Beggar of Odesa from Ghosts and Family Legends by Catherine Crowe
The Story of Major Weir from Apparitions: A Narrative of Facts by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Savile
Marshal Blucher from Apparitions: A Narrative of Facts by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Savile
Sir Huldbrand's Wife an extract from Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque
The Masque an extract from Thomas De Quincey's Klosterheim; or The Masque
- "The Eerie Book is a collection of supernatural stories ranging from gory folk and fairy tales to Gothic short stories, to excerpts of classic novels.” (viii)
- “The interest in this particular book, for me, is the curation: the way that the stories are put in conversation with one another. I’ve read ghost stories and I’ve read fairy tales, but there’s something interesting about making them stand beside one another, in making them look one another in the eye and try to find a common language.” (x)
- “William Brown (credited as W.B.) Macdougall’s style has strong echoes of Aubrey Beardsley; the images are symbolic and somber.” (xii)
- “We loved tales of blood and death a century ago when this book was first published; we loved them for centuries before that. I expect we will love them for centuries still to come. We may think we’re different now. We have different beliefs; we tell different stories. We are haunted by different fears.” (xiii)
- “But one thing that never seems to change about humans is that desire to slip out of the light and into the shadows; to lift up the rock; to stare at the ambulance lights. In another hundred years we will crave stories of new horrors— or perhaps these same old classic ones. As a final story in this book says: 'the secret passages still survive.'” (xiii)
- “Let’s descend the darker stairs together. Let’s follow the witch into the woods. Let’s see what we find in those old hidden passages.” (xiii)
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe - 3.5 stars
Prince Prospero constructs an bizzare building of 7 rooms designed to house himself, his favorite nobles, and all the supplies they need (both for the body and soul) to outlast the plague. The last room is all black with a scarlet window and everyone is scared of it. Will they survive? - I was drawn in by the description and also felt it was a timely read given what I experienced over COVID.
- "The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grief or to think." (2)
- Is there is significance to the number 7 that provides a hint at what is to come?
- "But in spite of these things it was a gay and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colours and effects. He disregarded the deocra of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear, and see, and touch him to be sure that he was not." (5)
- "There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust." (5-6)
- "The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat." (8)
The Iron Coffin from Faust: A Romance of the Secret Tribunals by George W. M. Reynolds
The Mother and The Dead Child from Hans Christian Andersen
Tregeagle from Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England
The Dutch Officer's Story from Ghosts and Family Legends by Catherine Crowe
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe
Earl Beardie's Game at Cards
Frankenstein extracts from Mary Shelley's novel
The Garde Chasse from Ghosts and Family Legends by Catherine Crowe
A Dream of Death from the Danish
The Mysterious Horseman from Apparitions: A Narrative of Facts by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Savile
The Blind Beggar of Odesa from Ghosts and Family Legends by Catherine Crowe
The Story of Major Weir from Apparitions: A Narrative of Facts by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Savile
Marshal Blucher from Apparitions: A Narrative of Facts by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Savile
Sir Huldbrand's Wife an extract from Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque
The Masque an extract from Thomas De Quincey's Klosterheim; or The Masque
March 11, 2025
there are a few stories in here which are very compelling, i enjoyed the overall prose and themes. the only thing that made me sigh was the repetitiveness of the stories. similar characters and descriptions, but the tales and plots themselves saved this collection.
November 4, 2025
A very well-chosen selection of spooky fiction dating from the time it was compiled - 1898 - and before. I skipped the two better-known Poe stories and the several excerpts from Frankenstein and other novels and concentrated on the lesser-known writers. The tales are eerie indeed and spookily atmospheric - but without the splatter and gore that characterises contemporary horror fiction. That's a strength in my view. My favourite would be the one about the spirit that is cursed to forever haunt the southern English coast. But they were all worth reading.
June 23, 2025
Maybe a 50/50 ratio on the quality of these stories; some have ages out of their power, and perhaps harken back to a time where people weren’t so used to horror media, whereas some feel even scarier as a result. It also strangely includes long excerpts from novels like Frankenstein, which I don’t think I’ve ever encountered in a short story collection like this before.
Personal fave was The Woman and The Dead Child. That one was fantastic.
Personal fave was The Woman and The Dead Child. That one was fantastic.
March 21, 2026
Boring.
I liked the story of Tredeagle and that’s why it’s got one star.
The first three were tolerable but other than that, boring.
Wait I’ve just added another star because I forgot about the The Dead Child story, that was brilliant.
I liked the story of Tredeagle and that’s why it’s got one star.
The first three were tolerable but other than that, boring.
Wait I’ve just added another star because I forgot about the The Dead Child story, that was brilliant.
November 4, 2024
Its fine, most of the short stories are good but half the book is just an abridged version of Frankenstein
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews