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One Dark Night: 13 Masterpieces of the Macabre
An artist can't shake the eerie, cold embrace from the ghost of his jilted love. An enormous rat with baleful, glaring eyes, possesses the spirit of a notorious hanging judge. A hauntingly beautiful woman appears to a student in his dreams--and then in flesh and blood. . . .
From old-fashioned ghost stories by H. G. Wells and Guy de Maupassant to chilling tales that defy description by literary masters Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Washington Irving, One Dark Night is an extraordinary collection full of gothic mood and ghastly haunts. Rich in atmosphere and creepy detail, these terrifying tales illuminate the darkest corners of the mind and make real our most innate fears. One Dark Night will sate even the most intrepid reader's hunger for the macabre. Beware of reading them past midnight!
Stories included:
"The Face," Lennox Robinson
"The Dead Smile," F. Marion Crawford
"A Ghost Story," Mark Twain
"The Judge's House," Bram Stoker
"The Tell-Tale Heart," Edgar Allan Poe
"The Cold Embrace," Mary Elizabeth Braddon
"The Cedar Closet," Lafcadio Hearn
"The Adventure of the German Student," Washington Irving
"The Lost Room," Fitz-James O'Brien
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (excerpt) Ambrose Bierce
"The Dead Girl," Guy de Maupassant
"The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost," H.G. Wells
"The Return," R. Murray Gilchrist
From old-fashioned ghost stories by H. G. Wells and Guy de Maupassant to chilling tales that defy description by literary masters Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Washington Irving, One Dark Night is an extraordinary collection full of gothic mood and ghastly haunts. Rich in atmosphere and creepy detail, these terrifying tales illuminate the darkest corners of the mind and make real our most innate fears. One Dark Night will sate even the most intrepid reader's hunger for the macabre. Beware of reading them past midnight!
Stories included:
"The Face," Lennox Robinson
"The Dead Smile," F. Marion Crawford
"A Ghost Story," Mark Twain
"The Judge's House," Bram Stoker
"The Tell-Tale Heart," Edgar Allan Poe
"The Cold Embrace," Mary Elizabeth Braddon
"The Cedar Closet," Lafcadio Hearn
"The Adventure of the German Student," Washington Irving
"The Lost Room," Fitz-James O'Brien
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (excerpt) Ambrose Bierce
"The Dead Girl," Guy de Maupassant
"The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost," H.G. Wells
"The Return," R. Murray Gilchrist
- GenresShort Stories
206 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2000
3 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 12, 2019
What an excellent collection of little ghost stories.
I have to hand it to the ‘curator’ of these tales, Kathleen Blease — while I liked some more than other, I definitely enjoyed reading all these little ghost stories. More importantly, with the exception of The Telltale Heart, I hadn’t heard of most of them. As someone who reads a lot of Victorian horror (particularly ghost) anthologies, I find that I stumble upon familiar stories all too often. Not in this case: Blease has a fine eye for picking (at least slightly) less-well-known tales to whet your gothic appetite.
I also found that her little blurbs about the author before each story were concise and enlightening; I particularly appreciated her notes about Guy de Maupassant’s syphilis and mental health decline. I have read Maupassant’s stories before, but I never knew his struggles with health and sanity — it definitely provided a new context for his work for me.
I am a big lover of the Victorian Gothic, particularly how the writers emphasize setting to create a slow build of dread in characters and readers. I also love the romantic, melancholy attachment to ghosts and longings that appear in so many of these tales ... There’s almost always a long-lost love or an ill-fated engagement or a family with a deep, dark secret — I found these well-beloved tropes in almost every story.
Some of my favorites:
The Face — The first story in the anthology. It was quick, short, and chilling. Very psychological.
The Dead Smile — This story is so ludicrously gothic. We have random banshees floating outside windows whose presence are never explicitly explained and a so-obvious family secret that the family blunders around obliviously. I laughed at it as much as I loved it.
The Judge’s House — Apparently this short story was part of an early manuscript for Dracula, which I also love. I don’t see how a malevolent ghost ties into vampires, but I loved the atmosphere & the very chilling end here. In some ways, I feel this story was the ‘scariest’ of the bunch, and I appreciated how Stoker develops sharp personalities for his characters.
The Dead Girl — I just love the imagery of skeletons coming out of their graves and scratching their sins on their tombs. Very evocative.
Overall, gothic, compelling, and picturesque. I wish I could find more collections as satisfying!
I have to hand it to the ‘curator’ of these tales, Kathleen Blease — while I liked some more than other, I definitely enjoyed reading all these little ghost stories. More importantly, with the exception of The Telltale Heart, I hadn’t heard of most of them. As someone who reads a lot of Victorian horror (particularly ghost) anthologies, I find that I stumble upon familiar stories all too often. Not in this case: Blease has a fine eye for picking (at least slightly) less-well-known tales to whet your gothic appetite.
I also found that her little blurbs about the author before each story were concise and enlightening; I particularly appreciated her notes about Guy de Maupassant’s syphilis and mental health decline. I have read Maupassant’s stories before, but I never knew his struggles with health and sanity — it definitely provided a new context for his work for me.
I am a big lover of the Victorian Gothic, particularly how the writers emphasize setting to create a slow build of dread in characters and readers. I also love the romantic, melancholy attachment to ghosts and longings that appear in so many of these tales ... There’s almost always a long-lost love or an ill-fated engagement or a family with a deep, dark secret — I found these well-beloved tropes in almost every story.
Some of my favorites:
The Face — The first story in the anthology. It was quick, short, and chilling. Very psychological.
The Dead Smile — This story is so ludicrously gothic. We have random banshees floating outside windows whose presence are never explicitly explained and a so-obvious family secret that the family blunders around obliviously. I laughed at it as much as I loved it.
The Judge’s House — Apparently this short story was part of an early manuscript for Dracula, which I also love. I don’t see how a malevolent ghost ties into vampires, but I loved the atmosphere & the very chilling end here. In some ways, I feel this story was the ‘scariest’ of the bunch, and I appreciated how Stoker develops sharp personalities for his characters.
The Dead Girl — I just love the imagery of skeletons coming out of their graves and scratching their sins on their tombs. Very evocative.
Overall, gothic, compelling, and picturesque. I wish I could find more collections as satisfying!
April 6, 2009
Looking for authors from and stories about Victorian years, I found this one. All the stories are by authors from the late 1800s. My favorite so far 'The Dead Girl' by Guy de Maupassant. Such a strange story...very nicely written.
Read
November 20, 2008There is one story in here about rats that creeped me out a bit. Then I woke up and there was a bat in my apartment. No joke.
October 13, 2011
Favorites:
Twain, A Ghost Story..
The Cardiff Giant ghost of Wales needs a helping hand to find what is rightfully his.
Bram Stoker, The Judges House..
May have been in the original Dracula manuscript
Washington Irving, The Adventure of the German Student..
aka Knickerbocker, the 1st great American writer (1783-1859)
Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (excerpt, 11 pages)
(1842-1914?)
execution..."In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference." (eg, St Patrick's parade)
de Maupassant, (1850-1893)The Dead Girl
syphilis in 20's
Wells, The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost
Twain, A Ghost Story..
The Cardiff Giant ghost of Wales needs a helping hand to find what is rightfully his.
Bram Stoker, The Judges House..
May have been in the original Dracula manuscript
Washington Irving, The Adventure of the German Student..
aka Knickerbocker, the 1st great American writer (1783-1859)
Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (excerpt, 11 pages)
(1842-1914?)
execution..."In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference." (eg, St Patrick's parade)
de Maupassant, (1850-1893)The Dead Girl
syphilis in 20's
Wells, The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost
January 8, 2016
Decent collection of stories. Some of them memorable, but quite a few not.
August 13, 2016
It was interesting reading these old ghost stories, as it gives a glimpse of what life was like long ago and what people found scary. There were a few suspenseful moments as well.
June 15, 2014
De suspenso, una historia que atrapa desde el principio hasta el final...
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews