Your Own Dark Shadow: A Selection of Lost Irish Horror Stories

by Jack Fennell (editor)

An old house turns out not to be as empty as its new owners supposed. A nobleman barters his soul for arcane knowledge. A stranger with a terrible curse looks for an unsuspecting victim to take her place.
Monsters, killers and unquiet spirits stalk these stories, drawn from the places where folklore, the Gothic and modern fiction intertwine – Irish literature's dark and ever-present shadow.

Genres: Horror, Irish Literature, Fiction, Short Stories, Ireland

280 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2025

Reviews

[Juliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The plots of ghost stories twist and turn just as much as those of any other genre, but they travel in straight lines emotionally, taking the shortest route and hitting their targets in half the time it takes a rational explanation to come trundling around the mountain. Hence, the close correspondence between reporting and fiction when it comes to ghosts.” So writes Jack Fennell in the delightfully sharp introduction to Your Own Dark Shadow: A Selection of Lost Irish Horror Stories, an anthology which Fennell has also edited. I knew none of these stories or their writers, but was enchanter by each one, by the many creepy houses, malevolent presences, and terrified narrators. I really enjoyed Anna Maria Hall’s ‘The Dark Lady’, Mildred Darby’s ‘The House of Horror’, and J.H.K.’s ‘Dhirro Dheerlha’, from which the collection’s title originates: “See you your own dark shadow in the waters — mine you cannot see.” My personal favourite though was ‘A Vanished Hand’ by Clotilde Graves, in which a man makes the foolish mistake of over-indulging in mourning for his dead love, who then has no choice but to haunt him. Eventually his ghost-lover berates him: “‘Only the dead are faithful to Love — because they are dead,’ she said. ‘The living live on, and forget! They may remember sometimes to regret us — beat their breasts and call upon our names — but they shudder if we answer back across the distance”. There is much “answering back across the distance” in these stories, and much shuddering too, some of it mine.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's nothing I like more, especially in the run-up to Hallowe'en, than to settle down with a really good horror story. Your Own Dark Shadow has been on my TBR ever since I saw that another author had recommended it on social media. Could there be any better time to read it than now? 🎃
This isn't just a good collection of short horror fiction, this is a really great collection. All of the stories were penned by Irish authors, stories that were first published before the advent of social media, before slasher movies featuring killers in hockey masks, or with a glove full of razor blades. These stories feature ghosts and wraiths, demons and curses.They don't need a knife wielding maniac to make them scary, the atmospheric settings of the stories does that. 🎃
Two of my favourite stories in this collection are The House of Horror by Mildred Darby (1908), set in Ireland's most haunted location, Leap Castle, and Angus Ó Cruadhlaoich by Micheál Mac Liammóir (1923), the characters name being a nod to Aleister Crowley. 🎃
These two are the standouts for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole collection. They made my spine tingle in a way Michael Myers and Freddie Kruger never could. 🎃

[Olivia Fitzsimmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of a more challenging read, but nonetheless I enjoyed it! I seemed to enjoy the stories the deeper I got in, my two favorite beings The House of Horror and My Friend Trenchard. Each story had its own uniqueness which I found really cool.

[Eva-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5/5 stars

"The House of Horror" was my favourite short story in this collection.

[Seosamh O'Cuirc · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not get myself interested in these. It's a shame as I was really looking forward to reading this book but I just couldn't finish it.