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Out of the Past: Tales of Haunting History
A tale of callous murder and deranged revenge rings out from fifteenth-century Italy. A witch-finder’s great triumph is also the herald of his own doom in Civil War Britain. A prisoner’s fate at the hands of the Inquisition in sixteenth-century Mexico leads to an encounter with the bestial and bizarre beneath the waves.
Summoning eleven stories chosen for their uncanny portrayals of weird history, this collection presents a dark timeline of grim visions harking from plague-racked England to revolutionary France and culminating in the last gasps of the nineteenth century.
Including stories by the greatest writers of history-turned-horrifying such as Marjorie Bowen, Frederick Cowles, Vernon Lee and the lost genius Vincent O’Sullivan, this volume is capped by two of Aaron Worth’s own tales of Victorian macabre alongside a chiller evoking M. R. James by Sheila Hodgson, the adapter of his stories for radio.
Summoning eleven stories chosen for their uncanny portrayals of weird history, this collection presents a dark timeline of grim visions harking from plague-racked England to revolutionary France and culminating in the last gasps of the nineteenth century.
Including stories by the greatest writers of history-turned-horrifying such as Marjorie Bowen, Frederick Cowles, Vernon Lee and the lost genius Vincent O’Sullivan, this volume is capped by two of Aaron Worth’s own tales of Victorian macabre alongside a chiller evoking M. R. James by Sheila Hodgson, the adapter of his stories for radio.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 21, 2024
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August 29, 20252.5 stars
Another in the Tales of the Weird series from the British Library, number 47 to be precise. This volume is about historical tales and there are stories from Marjorie Bowen (two), Vernon Lee, M P Shiel, Vincent O’Sullivan, Bernard Capes, Frederick Cowles, Sheila Hodgson and the editor Aaron Worth also adds a couple of his own stories. The stories settings range from the fifteenth century Italy to nineteenth century France via Civil War era Britain.
This is not the strongest of the collections in this series. There’s plenty of murder and revenge and weirdish stuff. There is a novella included: Verschoyle’s House by Vincent O’Sullivan. Set during the Civil war and as far as I could ascertain, somewhat incomprehensible. Most of these are run of the mill but Sheila Hodgson’s is better than the rest. M R James wrote an essay called “Stories I have tried to write” containing various scenarios for stories. Hodgson wrote radio plays and used some of the scenarios to produce radio plays and eventually short stories. The story in this collection (Come, Follow!) is the best of this rather mundane collection.
Another in the Tales of the Weird series from the British Library, number 47 to be precise. This volume is about historical tales and there are stories from Marjorie Bowen (two), Vernon Lee, M P Shiel, Vincent O’Sullivan, Bernard Capes, Frederick Cowles, Sheila Hodgson and the editor Aaron Worth also adds a couple of his own stories. The stories settings range from the fifteenth century Italy to nineteenth century France via Civil War era Britain.
This is not the strongest of the collections in this series. There’s plenty of murder and revenge and weirdish stuff. There is a novella included: Verschoyle’s House by Vincent O’Sullivan. Set during the Civil war and as far as I could ascertain, somewhat incomprehensible. Most of these are run of the mill but Sheila Hodgson’s is better than the rest. M R James wrote an essay called “Stories I have tried to write” containing various scenarios for stories. Hodgson wrote radio plays and used some of the scenarios to produce radio plays and eventually short stories. The story in this collection (Come, Follow!) is the best of this rather mundane collection.
May 11, 2024
It's okay as collections go. I didn't love a few of these. Some were okay. Only two good ones I found. I think my issue was I expected a bit more
March 4, 2025
I’m sorry to say that I found this instalment of the Tales of the Weird to be the least enjoyable of all that I’ve read. The only story that really grabbed me was ‘The Black Reaper’, with the others being either borderline unreadable (Verscholye’s Manor) or just underwhelming. Also two of the stories in the book are by the editor himself, which seems odd and a bit self-promoting.
June 12, 2024
Normally I give books from the British Library of the Weird 5 stars. For Out of the Past, I'm only giving 4 stars. The reason being that there were a couple of stories, namely Verchoyle's House and Dark Lot of One Saul, that I simply did not understand. All the other stories were excellent especially, The Black Reaper, The Witch Finder and Come Follow. However, this has not put me off buying the next book from the very wonderful British Library of the Weird.
July 11, 2025
𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭: 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 (𝐄𝐝.)
Reggie Oliver aside, historical horror fiction is 𝘵𝘩𝘦 lost art.
𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘖𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵 is a meager anthology, inflated by two skilful novellas by the editor himself. The other stories are often beautifully done. But the book lacks the amplitude of earlier novel-length works like 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘍𝘰𝘹, 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘵'𝘴, and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘵.
Historical diction, historical tone of voice, demand great skill. Several Gerald Kersh novellas would have strengthened this collection.
Pride – MARJORIE BOWEN ***
A Wedding Chest – VERNON LEE *****
Dark Lot of One Saul – M . P . SHIEL *
Verschoyle’s House – VINCENT O ’ SULLIVAN *
The Black Reaper – BERNARD CAPES ****
The Witch-Finder – FREDERICK COWLES **
The Confession of Beau Sekforde – MARJORIE BOWEN **
The Pink Columbine – FREDERICK COWLES **
The Translation of Aqbar – AARON WORTH *****
Come, Follow! – SHEILA HODGSON ****
[….]Consciously he knew that he sat alone in a country church; yet he felt most powerfully that behind him opened a vast nave; a huge assembly of people were seated just out of sight behind his back. The very air opened up, he must be in the centre of a great cathedral…
The Theatre of Ovid – AARON WORTH****
[….]The chief symptom of her condition was an extreme form of graphomania, i.e. an unnatural compulsion to write. The poor girl was found by a friend of the family, sitting, all alone, in the now deserted library of the house she had shared with her father. She was seated at his desk, bent over a very old and valuable edition of Sallust, in the margins of which she was scribbling. No, “scribbling” is unfair, as she was writing with great care, in a tiny yet precise hand. But the matter was the most utter nonsense. At first these rambling marginalia appeared to constitute an attempt at a scholarly essay, upon certain of the more obscure poetic genres practised in antiquity. But they proved upon closer inspection to be a hopeless farrago of the most bizarre phantasies, in which were mixed some few fragments of accepted history, rather like raisins in a Christmas pudding.
𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 (𝐄𝐝.)
Reggie Oliver aside, historical horror fiction is 𝘵𝘩𝘦 lost art.
𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘖𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵 is a meager anthology, inflated by two skilful novellas by the editor himself. The other stories are often beautifully done. But the book lacks the amplitude of earlier novel-length works like 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘍𝘰𝘹, 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘵'𝘴, and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘵.
Historical diction, historical tone of voice, demand great skill. Several Gerald Kersh novellas would have strengthened this collection.
Pride – MARJORIE BOWEN ***
A Wedding Chest – VERNON LEE *****
Dark Lot of One Saul – M . P . SHIEL *
Verschoyle’s House – VINCENT O ’ SULLIVAN *
The Black Reaper – BERNARD CAPES ****
The Witch-Finder – FREDERICK COWLES **
The Confession of Beau Sekforde – MARJORIE BOWEN **
The Pink Columbine – FREDERICK COWLES **
The Translation of Aqbar – AARON WORTH *****
Come, Follow! – SHEILA HODGSON ****
[….]Consciously he knew that he sat alone in a country church; yet he felt most powerfully that behind him opened a vast nave; a huge assembly of people were seated just out of sight behind his back. The very air opened up, he must be in the centre of a great cathedral…
The Theatre of Ovid – AARON WORTH****
[….]The chief symptom of her condition was an extreme form of graphomania, i.e. an unnatural compulsion to write. The poor girl was found by a friend of the family, sitting, all alone, in the now deserted library of the house she had shared with her father. She was seated at his desk, bent over a very old and valuable edition of Sallust, in the margins of which she was scribbling. No, “scribbling” is unfair, as she was writing with great care, in a tiny yet precise hand. But the matter was the most utter nonsense. At first these rambling marginalia appeared to constitute an attempt at a scholarly essay, upon certain of the more obscure poetic genres practised in antiquity. But they proved upon closer inspection to be a hopeless farrago of the most bizarre phantasies, in which were mixed some few fragments of accepted history, rather like raisins in a Christmas pudding.
September 16, 2024
Empecé este libro con mucha emoción, pues una de los primeros cuentos es de Vernon Lee, una de mis escritoras favoritas en el universo, sin embargo, inmediatamente después de su relato seguían dos historias larguísimas que me aburrieron un poco e hicieron que avanzara más lento de lo que me habría gustado. Si bien una de estas historias (una novella Vincent O'Sullivan, Verschoyle's House) sí me gustó mucho y me dio miedo al final, creo que habría sido mucho mejor leerla sola y no como parte de una antología /:
En fin, creo que el problema de este florilegio está en que el tema central ("haunting history") no está bien delimitado y eso provoca que los relatos aquí contenidos fluctúen muchísimo en cuanto a contenido. Por ejemplo, el segundo (el único que de plano no me gustó), Dark Lot of One Saul de M.P. Shiel, parece más bien un precursor de terror cósmico, pero aun así se lee más como ciencia ficción que como terror y, definitivamente, no sentí que tuviera nada de haunted.
Todo esto para decir que, si bien me gustaron varias historias, ha sido a antología de Tales of the Weird de la British Library que menos me ha agradado /:
Mis historias preferidas fueron: A Wedding Chest de Vernon Lee y Come, Follow! de Sheila Hodgson; mención especial a The Theatre of Ovid del propio editor, Aaron Worth, que mezcla el terror con la academia clasicista y la Antigüedad latina... aunque sentí que le faltó un poco al final.
En fin, creo que el problema de este florilegio está en que el tema central ("haunting history") no está bien delimitado y eso provoca que los relatos aquí contenidos fluctúen muchísimo en cuanto a contenido. Por ejemplo, el segundo (el único que de plano no me gustó), Dark Lot of One Saul de M.P. Shiel, parece más bien un precursor de terror cósmico, pero aun así se lee más como ciencia ficción que como terror y, definitivamente, no sentí que tuviera nada de haunted.
Todo esto para decir que, si bien me gustaron varias historias, ha sido a antología de Tales of the Weird de la British Library que menos me ha agradado /:
Mis historias preferidas fueron: A Wedding Chest de Vernon Lee y Come, Follow! de Sheila Hodgson; mención especial a The Theatre of Ovid del propio editor, Aaron Worth, que mezcla el terror con la academia clasicista y la Antigüedad latina... aunque sentí que le faltó un poco al final.
December 27, 2025
This 2024 British Library selection of historical horror tales, each with a brief preface by Aaron Worth includes forgotten Victorian and Edwardian authors, as well more recognisable 20th writers of the. speculative and macabre, and dating from 1899 to 2018. The authors selected range from MP Shiel and Vincent O’Sullivan to Marjorie Bowen and Sheila Hodgson.
While the stories have their share of a grim horror, even terror, like ‘Vershoyle’s House,’ their styles of writing vary greatly. Writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries tend to reproduce a style of writing peculiar to the period in which they have set their stories: affectations of the Tudor period, of Cromwellian seventeenth century England and so on. Post world war writers, on the other, present the terrors of the past in modern, easier language, which renders their bland tales even more horrific.
A marvellous collection of rare gems from the British Library Series.
While the stories have their share of a grim horror, even terror, like ‘Vershoyle’s House,’ their styles of writing vary greatly. Writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries tend to reproduce a style of writing peculiar to the period in which they have set their stories: affectations of the Tudor period, of Cromwellian seventeenth century England and so on. Post world war writers, on the other, present the terrors of the past in modern, easier language, which renders their bland tales even more horrific.
A marvellous collection of rare gems from the British Library Series.
May 25, 2025
Let’s get the good stories out of the way first. I liked The Witchfinder, The Confession of Beau Sekforde, and The Pink Columbine. Come, Follow! Was also good.
The rest of these stories were mildly entertaining at best and abhorrent at worst. I feel like multiple stories didn’t even fit the theme and don’t get me started on the entries by the editor himself. Him adding two of his own stories just felt like a vanity project and they weren’t even that good. Both stories really tried to be all mysterious but just ended up not making sense at all (and I feel like the first story didn’t even fit the theme that well. A lot of horror stories take place in the Victorian era. Doesn’t automatically make it fitting for a history themed anthology).
I did enjoy Holy Ghosts from this series, but this was a bit of a letdown.
The rest of these stories were mildly entertaining at best and abhorrent at worst. I feel like multiple stories didn’t even fit the theme and don’t get me started on the entries by the editor himself. Him adding two of his own stories just felt like a vanity project and they weren’t even that good. Both stories really tried to be all mysterious but just ended up not making sense at all (and I feel like the first story didn’t even fit the theme that well. A lot of horror stories take place in the Victorian era. Doesn’t automatically make it fitting for a history themed anthology).
I did enjoy Holy Ghosts from this series, but this was a bit of a letdown.
July 20, 2024
This could have well been due to the topic at hand but this was such a difficult and slow read, I really cannot say I enjoyed it. There is no way to say that the stories should have been edited better - they are collected and not specifically written for the volume - but the quality of something like "Verschoyle's House" by Vincent O'Sullivan really suffers by the format and prose (it is an otherwise excellent concept).
Favourite entries: "The Witch-Finder" by Frederick Cowles, "The Translation of Aqbar" by the editor himself, Aaron Worth, "Come, Follow!" by Sheila Hodgson. Just short of excellent for me were also "The Pink Columbine" by Frederick Cowles, "The Confession of Beau Sekferde" by Marjorie Bowen and "The Theatre of Ovid" by Aaron Worth
Favourite entries: "The Witch-Finder" by Frederick Cowles, "The Translation of Aqbar" by the editor himself, Aaron Worth, "Come, Follow!" by Sheila Hodgson. Just short of excellent for me were also "The Pink Columbine" by Frederick Cowles, "The Confession of Beau Sekferde" by Marjorie Bowen and "The Theatre of Ovid" by Aaron Worth
January 25, 2026
As with any anthology, the stories ranged from excellent to okay. On the whole, I enjoyed the selection, especially the folk horror of The Black Reaper, The Witch-finder and Vershoyle’s House (more of a novella).
The most challenging was the Shiel which proved quite hard to follow but had strong Lovecraftian undertones.
It’s bold to include two of your own stories in an anthology that you edit but fair play to Aaron Worth they were pretty good reads.
The most challenging was the Shiel which proved quite hard to follow but had strong Lovecraftian undertones.
It’s bold to include two of your own stories in an anthology that you edit but fair play to Aaron Worth they were pretty good reads.
December 14, 2024
Not the best collection of stories, the first three are dull to the point of being unreadable. However, it redeems itself with Come Follow by Sheila Hodgson, which is almost worth the price of the book on its own.
September 23, 2024
Some of it was really cool but I got so bored
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