The Wendigo and Other Weird Tales

by Algernon Blackwood, Stephen Carver (introduction)

'See!...The woods are alive! Already the Great Ones are there, and the dance will soon begin! The salve is here! Anoint yourself and come!'

One of the greatest writers of the strange and weird, Algernon Blackwood evolved from a teller of ghost stories to a pioneering master of such emergent fictional modes as cosmic horror and nature Gothic. In tales whose settings range from the eerie North Woods of Canada to the mysterious sands of the Egyptian desert, Blackwood blurs the boundaries between human and nonhuman, living and dead, beckoning the reader into strange borderlands where alien forces lurk, waiting for the chance to break through into our world.

This new selection of Blackwood's shorter fiction constitutes the most comprehensive critical edition of his work to date. Included here are such undisputed classics as The Wendigo, The Willows, and Ancient Sorceries, as well as two superbly unsettling novellas, The Man Whom the Trees Loved and A Descent into Egypt, and ten other stories short and long, drawn from collections spanning Blackwood's long writing career. Aaron Worth's introduction and notes situate these tales in the context of Blackwood's own upbringing in an evangelical Victorian household, as well as in relation to such topics as late-imperial British history and the emergence of modern ecological thought.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Weird Fiction, Paranormal

500 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2025

About the author

Algernon Henry Blackwood (1869–1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary critic S. T. Joshi stated, "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".

Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill (today part of south-east London, but then part of northwest Kent) and educated at Wellington College. His father was a Post Office administrator who, according to Peter Penzoldt, "though not devoid of genuine good-heartedness, had appallingly narrow religious ideas." Blackwood had a varied career, farming in Canada, operating a hotel, as a newspaper reporter in New York City, and, throughout his adult life, an occasional essayist for various periodicals. In his late thirties, he moved back to England and started to write stories of the supernatural. He was very successful, writing at least ten original collections of short stories and eventually appearing on both radio and television to tell them. He also wrote fourteen novels, several children's books, and a number of plays, most of which were produced but not published. He was an avid lover of nature and the outdoors, and many of his stories reflect this.

H.P. Lovecraft wrote of Blackwood: "He is the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere." His powerful story "The Willows," which effectively describes another dimension impinging upon our own, was reckoned by Lovecraft to be not only "foremost of all" Blackwood's tales but the best "weird tale" of all time.

Among his thirty-odd books, Blackwood wrote a series of stories and short novels published as John Silence, Physician Extraordinary (1908), which featured a "psychic detective" who combined the skills of a Sherlock Holmes and a psychic medium. Blackwood also wrote light fantasy and juvenile books.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of fifteen stories by one of my favourite horror writers, from one of my favourite publishers, edited by Aaron Worth, one of my favourite editors – I had exceptionally high expectations for this one! I wonder if anyone has ever written a horror story about the curse of high expectations? While the collection contains some of the greatest classic horror stories of all time, sadly it also contains several that I found disappointing. It appears Blackwood sometimes has a tendency to share Lovecraft’s problem – the inability to know when to stop the endless describing and get to some action. His descriptions are wonderful, admittedly, whether they be of nature, or Ancient Egypt, or ghostly houses, or Satanic rites. And often they add to the atmosphere of tension and creeping dread that he is such a master of. But sometimes they become repetitive and dull, killing the very tension they are trying to create.

Aaron Worth has selected stories that show Blackwood’s range, from fairly standard ghostly hauntings through to weird fiction, of which he was one of the earliest creators. Blackwood travelled extensively in Canada and North-Eastern USA as a young man, and uses the folklore of the indigenous people of those regions in more than one story, very successfully. He also developed an early interest in the philosophies of the East, and became a founding member of the esoteric Theosophical Society in Toronto. As if that’s not enough, he was also a member of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society devoted to the study and practice of the occult. All of these interests, along with his love of nature, can be seen as influences in his work.

Some of his greatest and best known stories are here - The Willows, The Wendigo, of course, The Kit-Bag - and some that I didn't know that are also excellent. But the inclusion of several less good stories, including a couple of very long and rather dull ones, brought my overall rating down. 3½ stars for me, so rounded up.

[Kyriakos Sorokkou]

χρόνος ανάγνωσης κριτικής: 1 λεπτό και 14 δευτερόλεπτα

Και με τον εγκέφαλο μουδιασμένο από την ανάγνωση της μελέτης του Τόλκιν πήρα το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο διηγημάτων και νουβέλων με τον πήχη κάπως ψηλά.

Πάντα ήθελα να δοκιμάσω τον συγγραφέα που επηρέασε τον τον Λάβκραφτ και συγκεκριμένα την νουβέλα Οι Ιτιές.
Όταν είδα ότι οι εκδόσεις Oxford World's Classics έβγαζαν καινούρια και φρέσκια έκδοση ιστοριών του Μπλάκγουντ με το Γουέντικο στον τίτλο, ον από την παράδοση των αυτόχθονων Αμερικάνων, είπα αυτό πρέπει να το πάρω. Και το πήρα. Και απογοητεύτηκα οικτρά.

Οι πρώτες 3 ιστορίες ήταν καλές, στοιχειωμένα σπίτι και πλοτ τουίστς. Και να που ήρθε η ώρα των Ιτιών, 4η στη σειρά. Τι απογοητευσάρα κι αυτή. Το απόλυτο τίποτα. Μπίρι-μπίρι, περιγραφές χωρίς να περιγράφει και τελειώνοντάς την λέω. Καλά, αυτό ήταν όλο;
Η ανατριχιαστικά σκοτεινή 5η ιστορία εξιλέωσε κάπως τον συγγραφέα στα μάτια μου διότι μου άρεσε αρκετά. Ακολούθησαν άλλες 4 ιστορίες, καλούτσικες στην πλειοψηφία τους και μετά ήρθε η σειρά της 10ης ιστορίας και 2ης νουβέλας (Το Γουέντικο). Κι αυτή απογοητευτική, αλλά όχι όσο οι Ιτιές. Πάλι περιγραφές χωρίς να περιγράφει, σε αφήνει στο σκοτάδι και πιο μπερδεμένο από όταν ξεκίνησες την ιστορία.

Η επόμενες 2 ιστορίες ήταν ότι χειρότερο διάβασα σε αυτό το βιβλίο. Η μία είναι μια ατέλειωτη κρεβατομουρμούρα μεταξύ δυο γέρων, με τη γυναίκα να ζηλεύει τον άντρα της που αγαπά τα δέντρα περισσότερο από αυτή. Εγώ που αγαπώ τα δέντρα αυτή η ιστορία με έκανε να εύχομαι την εμφάνιση Ούρουκ-Χάι να τα κόψουν και να τα κάψουν.
Η επόμενη Κάθοδος στην Αίγυπτο μου έδωσε ελπίδες. Αίγυπτος λέω λίγα τα δέντρα εκεί, θα είναι διαφορετικά τα πράγματα.
Αλλά ήταν μια κάθοδος σε μια αναγνωστική κόλαση! Μου πήρε 3 μέρες να διαβάσω 80 σελίδες και δε θυμάμαι πόσες φορές μου έπεσε το βιβλίο απ' τα χέρια διότι από τη βαρεμάρα αποκοιμιόμουν.

Και έτσι με κακή διάθεση, δεν μπόρεσα να απολαύσω τις 3εις επόμενες και τελευταίες ιστορίες. Τις διάβασα για να τελειώνω μια και καλή με τον Μπλακγουντ ο οποίος μπήκε κι αυτός στην Μπλακ-λιστ μου συγγραφέων που δεν θα ξαναγγίξω, όπως Ντοστογιέφσκι, Ναμπόκοφ, Κόνραντ, και Ισιγκούρο.

[Michael Setford · Rating 3 out of 5]

A haunted island - 5 ⭐️
The empty house - 3 ⭐️
The listener - 4 ⭐️
The willows - 5 ⭐️
Secret worship - 4.5 ⭐️
Ancient sorceries - 3 ⭐️
The kit-bag - 5⭐️
The man who found out - 3.5 ⭐️
The face of the earth - 2.5 ⭐️
The wendingo -5 ⭐️
The man whom the trees loved - 2 ⭐️
A descent into Egypt - 2 ⭐️
Onanonanon - 3 ⭐️
The land of green ginger -2⭐️
The doll - 3.5 ⭐️

This is a frustrating compilation because it has some of the best horror writing I’ve ever read and then a bunch of rambling nonsense I struggled to persevere through. The first story is by far the best. The suspense building is top-notch.

[Zina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous, wonderfully styled atmospheric horror stories. My favorite here are probably the Willows and the titular Wendigo. Both combine impressive, glorious natural forces, wilderness in its full and horrifying splendor. This spirit of the natural as an active and horrific force happens in other stories as well, especially The Man Whom the Forest Loved. You would think, being loved by the forest is a nice thing. But this is no Disney cartoon. It's going to be the opposite of cute.
Absolutely loved this brilliant book. Highly recommend to all who appreciate good style, intelligent stories, psychological horror.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

nature horror (racism towards native americans tho…)

[Cooper Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not every story is classic, but this is a superb collection of “weird” stories, rarely a traditional ghost story and not the grisly horror of the later 20th century: supernatural, elegantly written, suggestion more than explicitness.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

British writer Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) is today recognised as a foundational—and one of the greatest—writers of the strange and weird. He’s certainly a master at building suspense and a sense of dread. This is a collection of 15 of his short stories and novellas, published by OUP in 2003.

‘Wendigo’ (1910) and ‘The Willows’ (1907) are the standouts here, and they really are great. Both are set in vast, isolated natural spaces, the former in the wintry, snowbound Canadian forests; the latter in the wide, empty European marshlands of the Danube.

It was for ‘The Wendigo’ that I came here. I’ve been fascinated by the North American legendary creature for a while, and this story has a very high reputation.
It is singularly terrifying because it turns the wilderness itself into a kind of predator. The story taps into the primal fear of being truly alone in nature, where the silence is overwhelming and your own mind becomes your biggest enemy. The Wendigo isn’t just a creature from legend—it’s also the personification of isolation, vastness, and the slow unraveling of human reason. What makes the tale so effective is the way unease builds by degrees, dread creeping gradually into the narrative. At first, it’s only the unsettling vastness of the Canadian forest, described as indifferent and inhuman. Then come the strange sounds, the smells, the sense of something watching. The dread escalates gradually, with plenty of foreshadowing before anything overt happens. By the time the Wendigo enters the scene, the reader is already primed to feel its terror. It’s a horror story where the ‘monster’ is as much psychological as it is folkloric: half legendary beast, half the tricks of a frightened imagination. That tension—the uncertainty of whether the danger is real or conjured by the mind—makes the story a great one.

‘The Willows’ is also very good, and again genuinely scary. I thought it quite similar to Blair Witch Project (1998). Hostile nature is again the setting. The wide, trackless marshes are alive, watchful, and threatening. The suggestion of an unseen malevolent entity lurks there, just beyond perception. The two protagonists, travelling down the river for fun in a canoe, discover that their canoe has been mysteriously damaged, their oar and food gone missing. They grow increasingly unnerved, questioning their senses and sanity. The forces at work are so vast and alien that human beings are like tiny intruders in their realm. They hear the uncanny presences moving near their tent, pressing in around them. They feel as though these mysterious and hostile forces want to claim them.

Darkness tends to fall more gradually at higher (northern or southern) latitudes compared to near the equator. Blackwood gets this wrong in the oldest story in the collection, ‘A Haunted Island’ (1899), saying the opposite. This is surprising—he had spent many months at these latitudes prior to writing the story. Otherwise, this story is a masterclass in building suspense—the third best in the collection.

‘The Empty House’, going by its publication date (1906), is probably a foundational example of the ‘spending the night in a haunted house’ trope, and therefore influential—but it reads as very conventional today.

‘The Listener’ (1907) is another tale effective in the art of creating a cumulative sense of dread. It’s either about psychological breakdown or supernatural intrusion—and is purposely ambiguous as to which it is.

The collection also includes a couple of ‘John Silence’ stories—Blackwood’s mysterious occult detective, who rescues people in occult trouble s d collects their stories—a kind of mystical Sherlock Holmes. These stories are mildly diverting but nothing special.

The Man Whom Trees Loved’ (1911) is one of a series of stories arguing for the existence of “a definite connection between Human Beings and nature.” A man has a connection to trees that verges on the sexual, arousing his wife to jealousy. “Her husband loved her, and he loved the trees as well; but the trees came first, claimed parts of him she did not know.” Again, and despite the fact that I too like trees much more than people, the story didn’t really stand out for me, and was overlong. It’s full of a dread so “vague and incoherent” (as it remarks even to itself) that there’s really not much dread at all in this one.

Other stories in the collection were not particularly distinctive or memorable. I became very bored with them and skipped the last three—a lifetime has a limited span and there are so many wonderful things out there to read. That said, it’s extremely unusual for me to give up on a book.

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this collection in conjunction with Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood.

Inevitable overlap aside, it is actually worth reading both collections, since the stories are not all the same.

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The Wendigo and Other Stories - Oxford Word Classics edition

Algernon Blackwood was a seminal writer in the field of weird fiction and ghost stories, and he distinguished himself from the gothic fiction crowd by not limiting his ghost stories (and other haunting tales) to big old houses or misty moors (much like his contemporary M.R. James, who is known as the "father of the modern ghost story"). Blackwood's style sets him apart, though. He was fond of writing slow-burning, haunting stories that built up dread piecemeal. He also wrote quite beautifully. Blackwood was an influence on H.P. Lovecraft and it is said that The Willows was Lovecraft's favourite short story.

Blackwood's hauntings are often quite subtle, and it isn't always something as straightforward as a ghost or evil spirit doing the honours. If you enjoy lyrical writing and a general sense of unease, you should pick up this collection. It also happens to be classic fiction, so you can lord it over your modern-horror reading friends.

[Christopher Stanley]

Looking at the other reviews, it would seem I'm reading a different edition to others, with a different (and longer) table of contents. The cover is the one in the description, though, and what a marvellous piece of artwork it is.

A Haunted Island (1905)
An isolated island in the Canadian wilderness. Indians circling the island in a canoe. A protagonist who just wants to be left alone to read. This was a decent start to the collection, with the tension increasing both inside and outside the cabin as the menace draws closer. 4/5

A Case of Eavesdropping (1900)
A scandalous conversation in the next room. A mysterious bulge in the wall. This ghost story felt like a step down from the previous story, although the atmosphere and delivery were fine and the setup felt original. 3.5/5

The Wendigo (1910)
The title story is another dark and weird tale set in the Canadian wilderness, benefiting from solid pacing, and Blackwood's undeniable gift for creeping, unexpected dread. A party of four hunting elusive moose get so much more than they were looking for. A riveting novella. 5/5

More to follow

[coco's reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read "The Wendigo" over the summer and really enjoyed it: the sense of dread, how we never get to see the Wendigo in its entirety, the vastness of the Canadian north and how insignificant humans are amid such wilderness. It's definitely outdated, and that proved true for the majority of Blackwood's stories collected here: the introduction discusses the racism present in his writings but doesn't, in my opinion, do a good job unpacking it, nor does it touch on the ableism present in certain pieces. Some stories were a slog, and yet others that I thought would drag were surprisingly enjoyable. Standouts include "The Wendigo" (obviously), "The Man Whom the Trees Loved," and "The Listener" for having the one line that made me physically want to crawl out of my skin.

[David Hollywood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blackwood's language is simply captivating, and amongst the most attractive and descriptive I have have ever enjoyed. His expression and eloquence denies very few comparisons and consequently I indulged most of my enjoyment in his power of communication. However, and as for his stories I found then unconvincing, and to a large extent not particularly disturbing, as I had previously expected. Much of the emphasis was upon atmosphere, possibility and likelihood, rather than my being overturned by forces I expected to overwhelm. Creepy rather than terrifying. But the language is wonderful.

[Ray Higgs · Rating 3 out of 5]

i’d say this is stronger than the other blackwood collection that i read, some of these stories really stood out with my favourite being the man whom the trees loved

i enjoy it a lot more when blackwood spends some time building on everything - his longer stories stand out a lot more

at a certain point some of the stories feel a little samey but there’s some enjoyable and interesting horror in here too

[Chris Jim Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The majority of these short stories were pretty good, and I would recommend tthis book. The only story that became almost a chore to plough through was 'A descent into Egypt', and even then, I think Blackwood has a beautiful descriptive phraseology, even if they do start to become quite long winded.

[Asher Leggett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought this book for cheap at university book store... took me forever to read because it was pretty boring.

[Moa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spännande! Har imellanåt varit väldigt seg läsning då vissa noveller var långsammare än andra,,, men over all en positiv läsning

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Myth, legend, and horror expertly mixed. More haunting than terrifying.

[Laurence]

Stopped at 2:38 (after The Olive), will come back sometime.

[Mariko1988 · Rating 3 out of 5]

- il sacco di tela
- cinque racconti insoliti
- tentativo di furto
- una casa vuota [letto]
- l'ascoltatore [letto]
- i salici [letto]
- il wendigo
- lupo che corre
- il travaso