Ghost Gleams: Tales of the Uncanny

by W.J. Wintle, Richard Dalby (Introduction)

First published in 1921, Ghost Gleams is one of the most elusive titles in the genre of the classic supernatural tale; and the author of the collection's fifteen tales has long been a mysterious—even ghostly—figure, despite having been a prolific Victorian and Edwardian writer who was able to turn his hand to almost any subject required of him.

Born in 1861, William James Wintle established a name for himself as a prolific and versatile author, equally adept at writing a best-selling account of the Armenian massacre and a cookbook of Continental recipes. He was considered an expert on the British royal family, was a noted writer on the subject of natural history, and in 1899 became the major regular in-house contributor to the highly popular Harmsworth Magazine.

Towards the end of the Great War, Wintle became an Oblate in the Abbey of Caldey Island; and it was there, on Sunday evenings, that he told a series of ghost stories to the eight boys who attended the Abbey's school. The stories—which feature a range of other-worldly visitants, from haunted beds and vengeful ancestors to spectral cats and prehistoric animals—were later collected together and published as Ghost Gleams, with the author noting that 'the gruesome ones met with the best reception'. This first-ever reprint of Ghost Gleams includes a lengthy introduction by Richard Dalby, who presents the most complete biography of Wintle ever assembled, as well as a 1903 article about real ghosts, and an account of life on Caldey Island at the time Wintle was there, written by one of the 'eight dear boys' to whom Ghost Gleams is dedicated.

Contents: Introduction by Richard Dalby; 'The Red Rosary'; 'When Twilight Fell'; 'The House on the Cliff'; 'The Ghost at The Blue Dragon'; 'The Spectre Spiders'; 'The Footsteps on the Stairs'; 'The Chamber of Doom'; 'When Time Stood Still'; 'The Black Cat'; 'Father Thornton's Visitor'; 'The Horror of Horton House'; 'The Haunted House on the Hill'; 'The Voice in the Night'; 'The Light in the Dormitory'; 'The Watcher in the Mill'; 'Can You Explain It? True Stories of the Ghost World'; Afterword by Peter J. Wire.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

171 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

William James Wintle

Reviews

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of supernatural tales that was published more than a century ago.

Most of the tales in it are both exciting and scary to read.

My favorite story in this book is the Chamber of Doom which tells the story of a young man called Earl, who inherits a family castle that is rumored to have a secret chamber hidden behind the wall.

This book will be a good choice if you love to read supernatural tales.

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[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

So... if we accept that there is a tradition of a certain type/subgenre of story - in this case, "the British ghost story" - and thus a continuum that arises out of larger areas (Gothics/Supernatural) and through early writers (say, Dickens/Collins and the Victorians, for the moment) and on into general acceptance (Benson) and then into experimental areas that in essence are seeding their OWN sub-genre mutations (Aickman/Campbell) AND if we accept that there, almost by default, have to be masters of said tradition (M.R. James, natch) THEN we also have to accept that for something to be a tradition and have masters, there has to have been a point when a a whole lot of writers were churning material out, right? Portions of some careers of early anthologists (Peter Haining, Hugh Lamb) and then, later, whole presses (Ash Tree, Violet Books) have been founded on a position for those who sift through this vast body of material and discover the forgotten gems amongst the dross. But, given how industrious these folks have been, and the sheer volume of material, diminishing returns must begin at some point... correct? Because not all of those people putting pen to paper were masters, or even competent, right?

Here you have the collected "ghost stories" of W.J. Wintle from 1921. You may be intrigued (I had only run across one story by him in an anthology - "The Spectre Spiders" - before this) and so, perhaps, you may have coughed up for the expensive Ash-Tree press re-release of this public domain rarity. Well, you can save your money. This is available on line - not the Ash-Tree edition and it's introduction and extra tidbit, but the basic texts - to be fairly easily found. And one read will convince you you are not missing anything too notable. That's the short version...

... which is not to say that these stories are terrible or dross, but they aren't very good, either, seen as works of fiction (and please know that I'm saying this as a well-read fan of the ghost story in many forms, dating back much further than these specific tales). Or, put another way, we see an individual trying and barely succeeding at getting down a ghostly narrative. Or, perhaps, we see something else half the time - an attempt to write in the style of, say, Elliott O'Donnell who did not (mostly) write "ghost stories", exactly, as much as he wrote attempts to record supposed "real-life" instances of ghostly happenings... even if he embellished or flat-out made stuff up occasionally (see also Hans Holzer). I have no proof that this was what Wintle was doing but a good half of these stories feel like exactly that - dry, prosaic recitations or records of run-of-the-mill "ghostly happenings" of the usual kind: figures seen where they should not be, lights on when they shouldn't be, spots of cold or dread, voices from nowhere, odd dreams, housekeepers fleeing in droves...and the usual, folkloric "and so it was discovered that there was money hidden in the wall" or "and so it was said that someone had once died in the house", etc, and so forth. And yet, they're not up-front presented as such and a few borrow some ideas from M.R. James. And when not telling dry sketches of true-sounding prosaic ghosts, Wintle does seem to be attempting to scare, and so stretches his writing chops a little. But they aren't very strong chops.

Okay, down to it. "The Red Rosarie/Rosary" is such a familiar tale it's barely worth commenting on - stolen Buddhist snake rosary will strangle you - blimey! "When Twilight Fell", the second story here, was such a familiar catalog of "ghostly happenings" that I began to get wary. "When Time Stood Still" is a formulaic "time slip" story - a man hanging out by a cave sees a wooly mammoth, then a cave bear, then a family of cavemen (don't call them ghosts, dear reader!). "The Haunted House On The Hill"... is haunted (gasp) by disappearing figures keeping the lights on in the attic room and digging in the garden. Dig the garden up and you solve the mystery. "The Light In The Dormitory" is shed by a ghostly monk holding a gold cross and always disappearing when he reaches the wall. Open that wall!

Now, that may sound kind of dismissive so let's stop for a moment and mention that in the midst of his spare, deadeningly journalistic style, Wintle does show an aptitude for three things. The first begins to appear almost immediately and can occasionally be found in even these previously mentioned, eminently forgettable tales. It is setting - Wintle does a good job giving us effectively sketched settings (which he then uses to no great effect), whether it be the rambling hallways and light and dark rooms of "When Twilight Fell"'s Mostyn Grange or the newly reopened old monastery wing housing a dormitory of young boys in "The Light In The Dormitory. I will discuss his other skills anon.

Wintle has a few things he likes - lights being seen in rooms that should not have inhabitants, figures that are mistaken for people but then disappear, a recurring joke about a female servant who wishes to be called by one name and so is called by another (?!?) and, seemingly, he also enjoys there to often be no logical or discernible reason for the events happening (on the occasion when it isn't thunderingly obvious, of course).

Of note of the "ghostly happening" stories are: "The Watcher In The Mill" in which a newly inherited home comes complete with a ruined mill on the grounds, a mill whose door can't be locked shut and a room of which (that contains nothing but a disused cupboard) evidences a light at night when there shouldn't be one (see...), as well as a ghostly figure that comes too and fro (see...). It's more of the same, mostly, but Wintle almost succeeds in generating some frission when our main character sees something indistinct and malignant in the open cupboard and KNOWS that it's going to come out and that he really doesn't want it to. "Almost", I said... you take your thrills where you can. Also notable is "Father Thornton's Visitor" which features a new parish priest slowly becoming aware of a shadowy figure in his garden that disappears before he can engage it (see...) - it even comes to his confessional! It's a solid build-up for a familiar variant of the "death omen" story.

Also notable details from: the haunting/quasi-doppelganger story "The Ghost At The 'Blue Dragon'" which evidences the potential for a good story (a man can't figure out who is sleeping in the other bed in his hotel room, until he realizes it's a spectral figure that looks just like him and can be seen by others) but then squanders it. And, yes, that is a lift from James' "O, Whistle And I'll Come To You, My Lad" in the story kernel of a hotel room with two beds and one occupant that ends up showing mutual occupation. Traditional, but not really "ghostly happening" stories include the predictable "The Black Cat" (takes some balls to reuse that title) which has an ailurophobic man beset by a ghostly cat until he is found dead with.... duh duh duh... claw marks on his throat (best moment: he sees the beast leap from furniture and disappear before touching the floor) and "The Voice In The Night" (another reused title, although certainly less known) which is your traditional folkloric story of animal predation, sheep worrying and attacks by a large dog/wolf on small children out in the countryside before a gypsy witch, buried in the forest, is identified as the culprit (notable for being a story where, true to folklore and preceding the Universal Picture and Monster-Manual style codification of evil creatures, the werewolf is a dead witch and acts more like a vampire half the time).

That "slowly becoming aware" comment to the "Father Thornton" story will allow us to note something else that Wintle slowly becomes better at - pacing out small events in the story. He starts haphazardly, and never really gets to the point where they build to much of anything, but it is notable in some of the preceding stories and more to follow.

Another section of stories could be segregated from the preceding - in a sense, they're just as familiar as the "ghostly happening" tales but you can feel Wintle stretching for something more. Usually failing, but often creating bizarrely lurid or strange details in his familiar narratives. Thus "The House On The Cliff" has a great setting and set-up (writer borrows friend's lonely, cliff-side cottage in the hinterlands to work on his novel) and then has the main character beset by a strange, malevolent bird creature... or something (see that preceding comment about odd, ambiguous endings - "Cliff" is told by scraps of records, so there's no witness to the climax). "The Chamber Of Doom" and "The Horror Of Horton House" are very similar, featuring a secret passageway/chamber in an old house and an inscribed familial curse. Both feature cool details (when the secret chamber of "Doom" is opened, something seems to have been waiting there at a table next to a coffin, having written a note on which the ink is still fresh, while "Horton House"'s mysterious passageway seems occupied by a burning, six-fingered specter) but, if those descriptions get you interested, be sure that the story itself does almost nothing with them.

The only two stories left, "The Spectre Spiders" and "The Footsteps On The Stairs", are really the only two stories worth reading, and even they aren't superb or anything. "Footsteps" does a nice job of featuring Wintle's third skill - he has a flair (sadly, never really expanded into many stories) for humorous, dryly ironic writing and this story about a criminal fence has some nice little chuckles in it. But it also suffers from failing to in any way gesture towards why the criminal main character becomes haunted in the first place, unless ghosts are very interested in making sure justice is done in the cases of theft and burglary just as well as in those of murder.

"The Spectre Spiders" is a passable story that lifts "plump, furry" imagery from James' "The Ash Tree" for the story of a man plagued by phantom arachnids (here, you can see Wintle trying out that "pacing of events" I mentioned before). And while it has much to commend in its creepy and gruesome (the "too light" corpses) imagery, mention must be made that Wintle still succeeds in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory when presenting the symbolic motivation for why our main character is so beset - it's because he's a genteel, money-grubbing, usuorious Jew, you see, whose greatest claim to personal pride is that he never anglicized his name to fit in.

And there we will leave William James Wintle, an also-ran.

[Ends of the Word · Rating 3 out of 5]

We all know who the great writers of the "classic ghost story" are, don't we? Authors such as M.R. James, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Oliver Onions and - across the pond - Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce, are deservedly well-known purveyors of the spooky tale. But the ghost story was so popular as a genre that there are countless minor authors who wrote decent stories and who would have stood out better in a less crowded market.

One of these is William James Wintle (1861~1934), a devout Catholic writer, editor and natural historian who eventually became an oblate (lay brother) at a Benedictine abbey. Indeed, as he himself suggests in the introduction to his only published collection of ghost stories, he originally made up the tales to entertain the boys of the Abbey's school. The author's Catholic background can be felt in a couple of stories featuring priests or novices and restless ghosts who return to complete some unfinished business.

Generally speaking though, the author who Wintle most reminds me of is M.R. James. First of all, the terrors which lurk between the covers of this book are surprisingly physical in nature. I tend to consider the "classic ghost story" as subtle and psychological in contrast with the "body horror" beloved of so many contemporary writers - however, authors such as M.R. James were not averse to dealing with very palpable horrors. Similarly, in Wintle's collection we find killer monster cats, blood-sucking spiders, vampiric werewolves and demons with fiery fingers. Another Jamesian element lies in the malevolence of the spectres involved. Forget bonding with departed relatives or vaguely Romantic white ladies - most of Wintle's apparitions mean serious harm, and dispense violent deaths to their mostly sceptical male victims to the accompaniment of "evil sneers" and "malevolent chuckles".

There is plenty of promising material here. At the same time, reading this collection, one soon realises why Wintle is not one of the greats. His style is strongly laced with humour and, whilst this works in places, the constant attempt at irony and wit drains the darker stories of their atmosphere. He also does tend to repeat himself, to the extent that some of the stories come across as reworkings of each other.

Still, this remains a byway worth exploring.

Ghost Gleams is available as an ebook here: https://gothictexts.wordpress.com/201...

And there's a brilliant review (much more detailed than mine) on G.R. Collia's Haunted Library blog: http://hauntedlibraryblog.blogspot.co...

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

William James Wintle (1861~1934) was a staunch Catholic and prominent Christian writer. His first published book was Armenia and its Troubles, whch appeared in August 1896. By the close of the nineteenth century, Wintle was a regular contributor to The Harmsworth Magazine (which was later renamed The Harmsworth London Magazine and then The London Magazine), a monthly pictorial that was as popular as The Strand. He wrote a number of articles on the royal family, about which he was considered an expert, on other leading figures of the day, and on zoological subjects. In April 1903 an article by him appeared in The Harmsworth London Magazine entitled 'Can You Explain It? True Stories of the Ghost World'

Towards the end of the First World War, Wintle became an Oblate in the Benedictine Abbey on Caldey Island, off Tenby, on the South Pembrokeshire coast. It was there that he turned his creative talents to telling ghost tales on Sunday evenings to the boys of the Abbey's school. He also produced a small booklet entitled The Coasts of Caldey, intended as a guide for use by visitors.

Ghost Gleams: Tales of the Uncanny, Wintle's only collection of supernatural tales, was published by Heath Cranton in August 1921 and appears to have been one of the writer's last published works. It is dedicated 'to eight dear boys', for whom the tales were first written. In his foreword, he describes the tales as 'straightforward ghost stories', which were written in response to the boys' insistent demand 'Tell us a story!'

Ghost Gleams consists of fifteen tales: The Red Rosary, When Twilight Fell, The House on the Cliff, The Ghost of the Blue Dragon, The Spectre Spiders, The Footsteps on the Stairs, The Chamber of Doom, When Time Stood Still, The Black Cat, Father Thornton's Visit, The Horror of Horton House, The Haunted House on the Hill, The Voice in the Night, The Light in the Dormitory, The Watcher in the Mill.

For the most part, the persons involved are bachelors, and all are of sound mind and little imagination, not prone to entertaining foolish ideas about spooks and the such like. The sinister ones are my favourites, so I have something in common with the boys for whom they were written, amongst whom 'the gruesome ones met with the best reception'. But I'm also very fond of one of the more comical ones, 'The Ghost at The Blue Dragon', in which Professor Latham, chair of Assyrian history at Cambridge, is staying at The Blue Dragon, a popular hotel in Saltminster, to spend a quiet holiday and revise the manuscript for his new book. He discovers on his arrival that there is a spare bed in his room, upon which he throws his belongings, only to find that they are moved every time he leaves his room. He experiences a very amusing dream - well, it's not funny for him, but it is funny for the reader - in which he engages in fisticuffs with himself.

Click here to read the rest of the review...

[Canavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

✭✭½

“The Red Rosary” ✭✭✭
“When Twilight Fell” ✭✭½
“The House on the Cliff” ✭✭½
“The Ghost of the Blue Dragon” ✭✭✭
“The Spectre Spiders” ✭✭✭½
“The Footsteps on the Stairs” ✭✭½
“The Chamber of Doom” ✭✭
“When Time Stood Still” ✭½
“The Black Cat” ✭✭½
“Father Thorton’s Visit” ✭✭✭
“The Horror of Horton’s House” ✭✭½
“The Haunted House on the Hill” ✭✭½
“The Voice in the Night” ✭✭½
“The Light in the Dormitory” ✭½
“The Watcher in the Mill” ✭½

All stories published 1921.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of pleasing terrors initially written as fireside tales for boys by their teacher. Filled with hidden passages, beckoning hands, flaming eyes, and scorched woodwork. Is it always a harbinger of story-spun nightmares that we take a collection for granted and let our readerly guard down? Ghost Gleams gave me a tough night of dreams when at the halfway point.

[Matt Cowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghost Gleams: Tales Of The Uncanny is a collection of short stories by William J. Wintle which was published by Heath Cranton in 1921. Born in 1861, Wintle distinguished himself as a versatile writer before becoming an Oblate for the Abbey of Caldey Island near Whales. It was there that he wrote these tales, specifically for the enjoyment of eight boys who attended there. In the forward of this collection, Wintle notes that the stories were originally told on Sunday nights while "crouching over a wood fire on a wind-swept island off the Western shore."

Wintle stories here are filled with secret passageways, cursed objects, disembodied voices and supernatural mysteries of all sorts. Some of them have a similarity to them but there are some stand outs too, such as "Red Rosary", "The Chamber of Doom", "The Black Cat", "The Horror of Horton House", and my personal favorite, "The Ghost of the Blue Dragon".

The Stories:

- "Red Rosary" - A man, who collects artifacts used in religious practices of uncivilized cultures, obtains a rare one called the Red Rosary. It's like a Catholic rosary but made out of rough jewels, one of which is shaped like a snake's head. It has a history of bringing bad fortune to anyone who possesses it and seems to move on its own.

- "When the Twilight Fell" - A man staying at a friend's Grange witnesses several spectral encounters, including candle flames that turn blue, an old book which moves on its own, and even the ghostly face of Henry VIII looking in through a window.

- "House on the Cliff" - A man asks to use a friend's remote cabin atop a cliff overlooking the water. The friend agrees but warns him that the house is haunted and that he plans to pull it down. During his stay the friend catches glimpses of a shadowy presence that stays just out of view and hears muted laughter. He also notices what appears to be the footprints of an enormous bird.

- "The Ghost at the Blue Dragon" - A man realizes he's acquired a malicious doppleganger after staying at The Blue Dragon. This evil double of his begins by damaging his reputation, but later its attacks become more deadly. This is one of the few great stories featuring this type of creature. Highly recommended!

- "The Spectre Spiders" - An unscrupulous money lender begins to see shadowy spiders darting around inside his house but can never get a clear view of them. As time goes on, they grow in size, number and solidity.

- "When Time Stood Still" - After finding a remote area by a hidden cave entrance, a man begins going there daily to read. The place fills him with an odd sense of antiquity as he begins to see Prehistoric beasts traveling through the nearby forest.

- "The Chamber of Doom" - A young Earl takes charge of the family castle, deciding to ignore the belief that the secret chamber hidden behind a wall in the gallery brings doom upon those who open it. Opening the wall releases something evil. This story (similar to Joseph Payne Brennan's "The Horror at Chilton Castle") seems to borrow heavily from the ancient legends attached to real life Glamis Castle.

- "The Black Cat" - A man with an innate fear of cats begins to see one everywhere, as a heap of earth and a moving shadow. It appears to be stalking him during the Christmas season.

- "Father Thornton's Visitor" - A priest sees a strange shadow in the garden of his parsonage when looking out his window at night by the moonlight. Eventually, the shadow forms into a man who walks through solid doors and fades away when encountered.

- "The Footsteps on the Stairs" - An unscrupulous merchant begins to notice a mysterious figure lurking around his place of business. He also hears its footsteps only to find no one there. He worries about the attention these distractions might bring from the authorities.

- "The Horror of Horton House" - A lord of Horton House is curious about a grim poem etched above a mantle in a dining room that contains a mysterious secret passageway that leads nowhere. He sees red eyes staring at him from inside the passage, and a fiery, six-fingered hand reaches out from it to grab him.

- "The Haunted House on the Hill" - A man moves into a house on a hill occupied by a friend and his servants. They all experience unexplainable things, such as an old woman wearing outdated clothes who vanishes at will, disembodied voices and footsteps, etc. They eventually piece together the reason why the place's spectral occupants still walk its halls.

- "The Voice in the Night" - Children and livestock are stalked by a mysterious wolf in a small town, but a girl who survives its attack swears it was an old woman who tried to bite her instead of a wolf.

- "The Light in the Dormitory" - When an old building in a monastery is put to use as a dormitory following years of disuse, the ghostly figure of a monk is seen walking it with a light shaped like a cross floating above it.

- "The Watcher in the Mill" - After inheriting a house, a no-nonsense man keeps seeing signs someone's been staying in a room in the abandoned mill on his property. He tries to find out who it is, and failing that, works to secure it against entry. The malicious entity inhabiting the mill seems to enjoy toying with the mill's new owner.

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strictly 2 star quality but I'll give him a bonus star for amiability.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a decent collection of ghost tales, especially considering it's almost entirely unknown. Wintle's writing can be too familiar at times, stories of half glimpsed horrors. He's at his best when he's trying to emulate M. R. James, or writing non-traditional horror stories. He's at his worst when he's just re-writing mild stories of ghosts which we've heard before.

There's a few that actually stand out, the rest are imminently skippable for all but the most enthusiastic Victorian ghost story fan.

THE BEST

"The Spectre Spiders" is the best one by far, it has some particularly impressive touches and some details that really made my skin crawl. "The Red Rosary" is a pretty good story about a stolen idol that seems to have a life of it's own. "The Chamber of Doom" is another Jamesian tale about a man who releases something from a long-sealed room. Wintle essentially re-writes this story in "The Horror of Horton House" which is also good, but the previous one is superior.

THE REST

"The House on the Cliff" has an original concept frankly, but needed more development I thought. It's a nice break for not being a ghost story. "When Time Stood Still" isn't a ghost story either, it's predictable, anti-climactic and seems to be a variation of the former tale. "The Voice in the Night" is your average werewolf story. "The Black Cat" he's pretty much re-written "The Spectre Spiders" and made the horror cats instead of spiders; to far less effect.

Then we have the much too standard ghost stories. "The Haunted House on the Hill" is a real yawner, very standard ghost story fare, all the usual tropes occur, then cease when the ghost is satisfied. Feels too by-the-book to. The same goes for "The Light in the Dormitory" about a haunted monastery, this one is overly repetitive too. The same goes for "Father Thornton's Visitor" about a new priest's haunted garden. "When Twilight Fell" recounts a man encountering royal ghosts in the manor house of a friend and was perhaps the worst story.

"The Ghost at the Blue Dragon" is a rather standard doppelganger story, it definitely recalls M. R. James' story "Oh Whistle My Lad..." in that it has the theme of a man waking to find "something" sleeping in the second bed of his room. "The Watcher in the Mill" is a little better than the average here, partially because the ghost turns menacing. "The Footsteps on the Stairs" has it's moments, but is repetitive and only interesting because it simply avoids explanation.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Read in the transcription at mysteryandimagination.wordpress.com) Some very traditional stories of ghosts and mild horror. The ghosts aren't that frightening, and most are intent on righting some wrong. The grisly parts of the horror stories usually take place offscreen. The result is a collection of tales of the weird rather than the terrifying, which seems to disappoint some readers.

Regarding specific stories, I could have done without the air of anti-semitism in "Spectral Spiders" (also, the spiders, but that's a personal preference). "Voice in the Night" has some nice touches, from the description of a wolf's howl to the identity of the werewolf. The old houses in the stories are intriguing.

Life advice from the stories: if a ghost is focused on a particular spot, pay attention; if words hinting at the demise of you or your family have been carved anywhere in the house, just make your will, because it's all over. Old cupboards are really dangerous. Renovating the old house is a really bad idea. And horrible things are likely to jump out at you from just about anywhere. So watch out.

2020: How on earth did I unknowingly manage to finish a second reading exactly two years after finishing the first?!? Haven't changed my mind about the book, either.

[Dane · Rating 1 out of 5]

The style and format of the stories is repetitive and rapidly becomes boring.