Classic Tales of Horror

by Ernest Hilbert (Editor), Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce

Spine-tingling tales that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

This chilling collection of scary stories will keep you awake for hours! Psychological horrors, disturbing dramas, and gruesome ghosts compose this compendium of confessions made in the dead of night. From vampires and a monkey paw to an unstoppable heart and haunting apparitions, anecdotes of supernatural terror will have you turning pages long past the witching hour. Allow famous authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Henry James, Washington Irving, and more to prey upon your emotions and peace of mind at slumber parties and camping trips, or anytime you want to end the night with a delightful fright!

Contents:
The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
Dracula’s Guest, Bram Stoker (1914)
The Devil and Tom Walker, Washington Irving (1824)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bierce (1891)
Kerfol, Edith Wharton (1916)
The Elixir of Life, Honoré de Balzac (1830)
The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe (1839)
The Case of Lady Sannox, Arthur Conan Doyle (1893)
Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1835)
The Turn of the Screw, Henry James (1898)
The Willows, Algernon Blackwood (1907)
The Shunned House, H. P. Lovecraft (1924)
The Pit and the Pendulum, Edgar Allan Poe (1842)
The Vampyre, John William Polidori (1819)
One Summer Night, Ambrose Bierce (1893)
For the Blood Is the Life, F. Marion Crawford (1905)
Count Magnus, M. R. James (1904)
The Body-Snatcher, Robert Louis Stevenson (1881)
Sredni Vashtar, Saki (1911)
The Horla, Guy de Maupassant (1887)
The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe (1845)
The Man Who Found Out, Algernon Blackwood (1912)
La Grande Bretèche, Honoré de Balzac (1831)
The Terror of Blue John Gap, Arthur Conan Doyle (1910)
The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)
The Masque of the Red Death, Edgar Allan Poe (1845)
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka (1915)
The Outsider, H. P. Lovecraft (1926)
The Monkey’s Paw, W. W. Jacobs (1902)
Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book, M. R. James (1894)
Present at a Hanging, Ambrose Bierce (1888)
The Room in the Tower, E. F. Benson (1912)
The Trial for Murder, Charles Dickens (1865)
William Wilson, Edgar Allan Poe (1839)
Afterward, Edith Wharton (1910)
The Succubus, Honoré de Balzac (1833)
The Damned Thing, Ambrose Bierce (1894)
The Tree, H. P. Lovecraft (1921)
The Empty House, Algernon Blackwood (1906)
The Bottle Imp, Robert Louis Stevenson (1891)
The Screaming Skull, F. Marion Crawford (1908)
The Judge’s House, Bram Stoker (1891)
The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
The Open Window, Saki (1914)
Rappaccini’s Daughter, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)
Sir Edmund Orme, Henry James (1891)
A Ghost, Guy de Maupassant (1883)
In the Penal Colony, Franz Kafka (1919)
The Signal-Man, Charles Dickens (1866)
Lost Hearts, M. R. James (1904)
An Inhabitant of Carcosa, Ambrose Bierce (1887)
The Damned, Algernon Blackwood (1914)
The Japanned Box, Arthur Conan Doyle (1899)
The Tomb, H. P. Lovecraft (1922)
The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe (1846)

Genres: Horror, Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Gothic, Fantasy, Collections

896 pages, Leather Bound

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[james]

me: no buying books for the rest of the year 😠

also me: i got an A+ in my master thesis so i get to have spoopy book 🥰

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this one off and on for the past couple of months and I finally finished it!

Classic Tales of Horror from Canterbury Classics is a collection of horror short stories from some of the best classic authors. Whether it's a haunted place, a ghostly encounter, keeping company with the dead, or the evil inside of us, this book has a story to keep you entertained all spooky season long!

Some of my favorites in this one:
-𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑒𝑙𝑙-𝑇𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑎𝑟 𝐴𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛 𝑃𝑜𝑒
-𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤 𝑏𝑦 𝐻𝑒𝑛𝑟𝑦 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠
-𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑌𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑝𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑦 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝐺𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑛
-𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑦 𝐻𝑃 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡
-𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑧 𝐾𝑎𝑓𝑘𝑎
-𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑦 𝐸.𝐹. 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑛

Aside from the authors mentioned above, the book also includes multiple stories from Edith Wharton, Honoré De Balzac, Algernon Blackwood, MR James, Bram Stoker, Washington Irving, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Authur Conan Doyle, and many more!

[jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite its cheesy exterior, this collection of horror stories is a good example of why one should never judge a book by its cover. These classic tales range from the mid-1800s to the 1920s, with the most recent story published in 1924 by Lovecraft.

Generally speaking, I find anthologies difficult to rate properly due to the variety of writing styles. Thankfully, that is not the case here, as every story is outstanding. Of course, I wouldn’t expect anything less from the likes of Poe, Lovecraft, Kafka, and many others. This is a collection I will return to again and again.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The edition I purchased actually has 864 pages, not 700. Not sure why there's the discrepancy since I searched Goodreads for it by ISBN, but hey! An extra 164 pages of horror stories is a bonus in my books.

These are mainly public domain stories from authors who have been dead for a while, but speaking as someone who isn't super-familiar with the genre, I thought there was an excellent mix of well known classics (Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft, and Bram Stoker) with stories I'd never heard of from authors whom I wasn't aware wrote horror, like Edith Wharton and Charles Dickens. There's also a broad span of levels of creepiness, some gruesome stories mixed in with milder thrillers for people whose tolerance level is a little lower. Nothing that's seriously gory here.

Also be aware that since these stories hail from the 18 - 1900s, there's some racism and sexism. Again, there's lots of different authors so there's a range of good examples and bad, and if one story is rubbing you the wrong way the next one will almost certainly be better.

[Christopher Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It probably doesn't make sense to start another book while reading so many others, but hey - it's the dark half of the year and I'm in the mood. Stories with an asterisk are ones I've read before.

The handsome tome is leather bound with gilt-edged pages. The introduction does what it should: it gives us an insight into the world of horror while whetting our appetite for what lies ahead.

Edgar Allen Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843)
How can I be mad when I perform such monstrous deeds so carefully? I love an unreliable narrator and this story is a great example of why. Tautly written and brilliantly realised, this is the standard to beat. 5/5

Bram Stoker, "Dracula's Guest" (1914)
Fast forward 70 years to what is widely believed to be the deleted first chapter of Stoker's most famous novel. An unnamed English man (let's call him 'Jonathan') insists on strolling alone to an abandoned village outside Munich on Walpurgis Night. What follows involves a snow storm, a cemetery, a wolf, and a pretty neat twist. It only really works if you have a passing knowledge of Dracula - but who doesn't? 4/5

Washington Irving, "The Devil and Tom Walker" (1824)
I enjoyed elements of this story: the almost comedic relationship between Tom and his wife; the casual meeting with 'Old Scratch' in the swamp; and the unspoken price that must be paid in return for hidden treasure. But I just didn't feel it. 3/5

Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890)*
Yes, I've read this one before, and yes, it was just as powerful the second time around. It's hard not to feel the jolt of the tightening noose, even when you know it's coming. Fantastic. 5/5

Edith Wharton, "Kerfol" (1916)
Wharton obviously wanted to do something different (think canine) with this Gothic horror story and, to an extent, succeeded. The setup was intriguing, but as the story progressed, I found myself wanting for something weirder. Nevertheless, Wharton's depiction of the inequality between sexes and classes is quietly horrific, and watch out for the seemingly random reference to Blaise Pascal in the final sentence. 3/5

Honoré de Balzac, "The Elixir of Life" (1830) - translated from French
This philosophical study from Balzac's La Comédie Humaine isn't always the easiest read, although this may be due, in part, to the translation. It tells the story of Don Juan Belvider's life, with particular attention paid to his father's death and his own subsequent passing. The characters are well realised, and the moments involving the titular 'Elixir' are particularly gruesome, but the ending is cartoonish in a way that reminded me of an 80s B-movie. 3/5

Edgar Allen Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839)
In the second Poe tale, published four years earlier, the prose is noticeably denser. The paragraphs are lengthy and leaden with adjectives. Having said this, the story of a crumbling mansion and the dying remnants of the family inside is well crafted, and the denouement is at once surprising, satisfying, and suitably chilling. 4/5

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Case of Lady Sannox" (1893)
Published elsewhere as 'The Kiss of Blood', this is a relatively straightforward tale with no supernatural elements. An arrogant surgeon, a rendezvous with a married woman, and a razor-sharp revenge plot hidden behind the thinnest of veils. The ending is grim but predictable, and probably not as shocking as it might have been over a century ago - or maybe I've read too much horror. 3/5

Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown" (1835)
Set in New England at the time of the Salem Witch Trials, this fantastically weird tale follows young Goodman Brown as he abandons his wife of three months to venture into a forest (literal and figurative) on an errand. During the course of a single night, everything he knows and everything he believes will be challenged. ‘Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness.’ Horrifyingly good. 5/5

Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw" (1898)*
My biggest issue with James's gothic ghost-or-no-ghost novella is that we're supposed to believe it was read aloud during the course of a single evening. The tale itself is an endurance test of sprawling paragraphs and sentences jam-packed with clauses (‘The day was gray enough, but the afternoon light still lingered, and it enabled me, on crossing the threshold, not only to recognise, on a chair near the wide window, then closed, the articles I wanted, but to become aware of a person on the other side of the window and looking straight in.’) On the plus side, the characters are well developed, and the ghosts are as they should be: scary without trying too hard. And with every passing chapter, the screw turns a little tighter until it's almost impossible to breathe. Hard work, but it's a classic among classics. 5/5

Algernon Blackwood, "The Willows" (1907)*
What if the willows keep rustling even after the wind has settled? Blackwood's masterpiece, an atmospheric novella of two men canoeing on the Danube and the camp they make on a disappearing island of stunted willow trees, is relentlessly creepy. ‘But at the moment I wholly missed the point of his words about the necessity of there being a victim, and that we ourselves were destined to satisfy that want.’ H.P. Lovecraft said The Willows was written ‘without a single strained passage or a single false note.’ More than a century later, it still holds up. I'd score it a six if I could. 5.5/5

H. P. Lovecraft, "The Shunned House" (1924)
Oh, Lovecraft. Written in 1924 and initially rejected by Weird Tales for being too slow, this novella was eventually published by Weird Tales in 1937. It's the tale of a house in Providence, Rhode Island, that causes sickness (mental and physical) and death for all who live in it, and the investigation of the house by the narrator and his uncle, Dr Whipple. The story relies heavily on exposition to conceal a negligible plot and thinly-drawn characters, while the writing labours in an effort to create an atmosphere of menace (‘...I can still recall my youthful terror not only at the morbid strangeness of this sinister vegetation, but at the eldritch atmosphere and odor of the dilapidated house...’) and ultimately fails. What does shine through is Lovecraft's formidable imagination; his playful use of cameos, and the surprising - if not entirely convincing - reveal towards the end. An odd choice. 2/5

Edgar Allen Poe, "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1842)
An unnamed man condemned to death by the Spanish Inquisition. As assortment of torments, which are slowly revealed to us through a range of senses. And the rats. Oh god the rats. After the first couple of pages, and with no supernatural elements, this tale ramps up the tension until it's impossible to look away. How much worse can it get? It's best not to ask. Light on story but chillingly effective nonetheless. 4/5

John William Polidori, "The Vampyre" (1819)
Notable for being the oldest tale in this collection, and for having been inspired by the same contest that produced Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and for being credited (erroneously) to Lord Byron on first publication, and for making a substantial and lasting contribution to vampire mythology. It's also a fantastic tale of a wealthy, unsuspecting orphan and his acquaintance with the nefarious Lord Ruthven. The plot twists and turns from England to Greece and back again, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake. A satisfying read despite the dated style. 4/5

Ambrose Bierce, "One Summer Night" (1893)
A tiny, tongue-in-cheek tale about the perils of being a medical student at a time when it was necessary to dig up graves to obtain subject matter. The ending is a punchline as much as a twist, and it wasn't at all what I was expecting. 3/5

F. Marion Crawford, "For the Blood is the Life" (1905)
I've previously read Crawford's The Screaming Skull (also included here) and The Upper Berth, and enjoyed both. This tale makes it three from three. In the fantastic opening passage, the narrator's artist friend spots a mysterious moonlit body on a mound. What follows is presented as a tale within a tale, featuring a sham jewellery merchant, stolen treasure, murder, and the Thing that came back. Riveting, and perfectly paced. 4/5

M. R. James, "Count Magnus" (1904)*
Originally published in Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, this tale adheres pretty closely to the tried and trusted Jamesian formula. The narrator tells the story of a traveller who visits a remote town in Sweden and stumbles across the dreadful Count Magnus during his research. The story is suitably sinister, with disturbing scenes carved on the Count's sarcophagus, reference to a Black Pilgrimage, an horrific murder in a forest, and two mysterious cloaked figures who pursue the traveller back to England. Best read by candlelight on Christmas Eve. 3/5

Robert Louis Stevenson, "The Body Snatcher" (1884)
Following in the muddy footsteps of Bierce's One Summer Night, this is another grisly tale of the lengths anatomists will go to acquire fresh bodies, loosely based on the real-life surgeon Robert Knox and the infamous Burke and Hare murders. Longer and less humorous than its predecessor, it benefits from decent character development and an equally surprising twist. 4/5

Saki, "Sredni Vashtar" (1911)*
Ah, the secret love of a sickly child for his polecat-ferret, on which he bestows god-like status. Curiously, this slight tale has been adapted into a chamber opera three times. I don't know what else to say. 3/5

And that's the end of the first page of contents. Two pages to go.

Guy de Maupassant, "The Horla" (1887) - translated from French
Is it a ghost? An invisible man? A vampire? A cosmic invasion? Or the next step in mankind's evolution? Or is it just the ramblings of a man losing touch with reality? This tale, written in the form of a journal (a nice touch), grapples with these questions and more, as the author is haunted by some mysterious force that seeks dominion over him. Notable for having inspired Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu. Nicely done. 4/5

Edgar Allen Poe, "The Raven" (1845)
The narrative poem that made Poe popular, if not rich. I guess there's a joke somewhere about 'putting the Poe into poem', although it's probably not a good one. Like the previous tale, this deals with a haunting of sorts, only this time it takes the form of a tapping, followed by the appearance of a raven, followed by the memory of a lost lover and the repetition of the word, 'Nevermore.' Short, but effective. 4/5

Algernon Blackwood, "The Man Who Found Out" (1912)
Although not on a par with The Willows, this tale about the Tablets of God and the perils of knowing too much confirms what I suspected: I need to read more Blackwood. An enjoyable read with well-realised characters, even if the ending seemed like a bit of a cop out. Ignorance is bliss. 4/5

Honoré de Balzac, "La Grande Bretèche" (1831) - translated from French
The story of a man telling a story about people telling stories about the dishevelled titular abode and a woman known variably as Comtesse de Merret, Madam de Merret, Madam la Comtesse de Merret, Madam la Cometesse, the countess, and M. I found it was best just to let this tale from Balzac's La Comédie Humaine unfold without trying too hard to follow it, although the story itself is fairly straightforward - the countess has an affair and her husband enacts a grisly revenge - with no supernatural elements that I can recall. 3/5

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Terror of Blue John Gap" (1910)
'Blue John' refers to a semi-precious mineral, and the 'gap' refers to a Roman mine in Derbyshire, which was created to extract said mineral. The 'terror' is the thing that’s been stealing local sheep and leaving nothing but tufts of bloody wool behind. The scene where the sceptical protagonist first encounters the 'terror' is fantastically creepy, and the story itself, which echoes themes from Doyle's The Lost World, is equally effective. 4/5

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892)*
A masterpiece of layered themes and creeping madness. Every time I've read this tale I've been awestruck by its brilliance. ‘There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will.’ Gilman suffered from post-natal depression following the birth of her first daughter, and this tale was written, in part, as a criticism of her prescribed 'rest-cure' treatment, which she ultimately abandoned. 5/5

Edgar Allen Poe, "The Masque of the Red Death" (1845)
The Prince hosts a masquerade ball for a 1,000 noble guests while a vicious plague known as the Red Death kills everyone it encounters. The ball is held in the Prince's gothic abbey, where the doors have been welded shut to protect the guests from the plague. Inside the abbey, there are seven coloured chambers, including a sinister black room lit by a scarlet light, and a clock that chimes so loudly the orchestra stops playing. But everyone knows you can't cheat death. 4/5

Franz Kafka, "The Metamorphosis" (1915) - translated from German
The horror of waking up to find you've transformed into a 'horrible vermin' (I pictured a giant woodlouse but that's probably not right). The horror of remembering you were formerly an overworked, underappreciated travelling salesman, trapped in a house you share with your parents and sister, all of whom were dependent on your income. The horror of being unable to communicate. The horror of witnessing how your transformation begins to effect, and change, those closest to you. This was a marvellous novella and a compelling read. 5/5

H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider" (1926)
Although written before The Shunned House, this reads like a more mature work. The narrator craves human contact and longs to break free from the decaying castle in which he's been raised - but is he ready for the outside world? And is the outside world ready for him? Filled with touches of weird brilliance, it's no surprise this is one of Lovecraft's most celebrated short stories. 5/5

W. W. Jacobs, "The Monkey's Paw" (1902)*
Your wishes will come true, but at what cost? This tale of a shrivelled monkey's paw and the spell a fakir put on it, explores the darker side of the three wishes trope. Notable for having inspired Stephen King's Pet Semetary, this is the first tale in the collection where I was disappointed to reach the end. 5/5

M. R. James, "Canon Alberic's Scrap-book" (1894)*
James's earliest known horror story, and the first to be read aloud in Cambridge as part of the 'Chitchat Society', is notable for not being a ghost story. A Cambridge man visits a cathedral in southern France and comes away with a scrapbook featuring many treasures and a disturbing image of King Solomon. Why was the sacristan so eager to part with the scrapbook? 4/5

Ambrose Bierce, "Present at a Hanging" (1888)
Another tiny tale from Bierce, told in a single paragraph. I suppose this ghostly tale's inclusion is justified on the basis that it's an early example of flash horror, although the story is too slight to be fully satisfying. 2/5

E. F. Benson, "The Room in the Tower" (1912)
Is it unusual for dreams to come true? What about recurring dreams that feature an sinister, ageing woman and a room in the tower? It's the plethora of horrific details - the approaching storm, the bloody hands, the strange behaviour of the pets - that set this tale apart from others of its type. 4/5

Charles Dickens, "The Trial for Murder" (1865)
The ghost of a murdered man haunts the foreman of the jury at the trial, determined to see that justice is done. Not a particularly scary tale. Notable for having influenced M. R. James and J. Sheridan Le Fanu. 3/5

Edgar Allen Poe, "William Wilson" (1842)
More than doppelgängers, the characters in this tale share a name, a birthday, and several other characteristics. Poe's tale is one of clever ambiguity, where the line between what's real and what's imagined is never truly revealed. It's also a tale of lengthy sentences, dated language, and an enormous amount of exposition. A fantastic idea that's explored more entertainingly in stories such as Palahniuk's Fight Club and King's The Outsider. 2/5

Edith Wharton, "Afterward" (1910)
An American couple purchase a remote, rundown house known as 'Lyng', in Dorsetshire. They're told it's haunted, but that inhabitants only realise there's a ghost afterward. This is such an interesting idea, and I spent the whole tale trying to guess who the ghost might be, or at least spot the twist. The characters are well realised, Lyng is suitably imposing, and the twist is sufficiently ironic. 4/5

Honoré de Balzac, "The Succubus" (1833) - translated from French
Originally featured in the humorous collection, Les Cent Contes Drolatiques (One Hundred Facetious Tales) Balzac’s short story (novella?) describes the 1271 trial of a Saracen woman accused of using her beauty to seduce Christian men before entangling them with her supernaturally warm hair and consuming their souls. The tale features multiple, often conflicting accounts, making it impossible to determine who is guilty. ‘...my poor child stuck himself fast into the gluepot of love, and afterwards lived only between the columns of Venus, and there did not live long...’ This was by far the most satisfying of Belzac's three tales. 4/5

Ambrose Bierce, "The Damned Thing" (1893)
What killed the man on the table? What presence haunted him until his death? These are the questions posed to the dead man's acquaintance before he is rudely dismissed. A sci-fi horror, elevated by occasional moments of humour. ‘One Does Not Always Eat What Is on the Table.’ Indeed. 4/5

H. P. Lovecraft, "The Tree" (1921)*
A repellent olive tree that whispers in the wind. Two sculptors competing to create a statue of the Goddess Tyché. A mysterious illness, and the possibility of revenge from beyond the grave. This is one of Lovecraft's earlier tales, which he later dismissed. Notable for not being a cosmic horror. 3/5

And I've run out of characters. To be continued in the comments.

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of stories is perfect for spooky month! I read one a day up to the day before Halloween. Thinking about reading that WHOLE book can be intimidating, but if you break it down by story (each one two to twenty pages) like I did, it becomes much easier to handle. I can’t say all the stories gripped me or were easy to understand (or even classified as horror in my opinion), but I still enjoyed it. As much as I love collections of one author like Edgar Allen Poe or H.P. Lovecraft, having such a variety of styles and stories was so awesome. Again, some stories I liked more than others. I did find some new stories that I loved and got to read some of my favorites like ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. Overall, I enjoyed this collection.

Warnings: suicide, murder, death, mental illness, and language (slurs)

[Rissa (rissasreading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of short stories! They were all short with the longest being The Turn Of The Screw, as well as, The Damned. I think these were interesting to read as it shows where horror began, and you can definitely see where many of our favorite authors got inspiration from! It's also interesting to see what horror stories consisted of back in the day. I noticed a lot of it had the narrator either telling a story that happened to someone else, or it being from pieces of paper or journal entries found by someone years after the events unfolded. There were lots of haunted houses, and ghosts which I thoroughly enjoyed considering I read this throughout October. Highly recommend for anyone interested in classic literature, especially horror.

[Shyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing anthology. It's beautiful, and well worth owning, even if you've already read many of the stories as was the case with me. The introduction was perfect, going through the history and development of key tropes within the horror genre. It was well written and reminds you what you love about all of these classics.

[Mark Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been an absolutely incredible experience from start to finish, serving as a perfect foundational exploration of spooky, atmospheric classic authors.

It’s an ideal curation of short stories/novellas where some are those stories you’ve heard of but never read (Tell-Tale Heart, The Monkey Paw, Metamorphosis) and an introduction to people who, unless you’re already a horror connoisseur, you likely won’t have heard of.

I’ve discovered a potential new favourite horror author in Algernon Blackwood thanks to this book. “The Willows” and “The Departed” were masterclasses in slow, claustrophobic storytelling that had such fascinating themes that I’m definitely going to want to return to.

I did skip the Balzac short stories in this collection because my brain literally couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. The way he wrote did not make sense.

I will be using this as a springboard to explore new stories from these writers because this is the kind of horror that I like.

Hot take: that Edgar Allen Poe is one spooky man people should pay more attention to him.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology contains stories that are guaranteed to leave readers thinking about them for a while.

Classic Tales Of Horror is a collection of 50 different tales, all of which deal with some kind of horror, ranging from vampires, to talismans with dire consequences, to ghosts, and more.

One of the most interesting things in this novel is the vocab. There are a lot of interesting word choices, so even those with a broad vocabulary might learn a new word or two (like “termagant” or “porphyrogene”).

All of the stories share one main thing: mood and imagery. A good atmosphere is the cornerstone of any good horror story, and mood and imagery are used to shape this. It varies with each story, but overall most of them create feelings of terror, or dread, or repulsion, to construct a horrific atmosphere that adds to the stories.

Anyone who likes the horror genre will find something to enjoy in these stories. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys classics or a good spooky story.

[Chelsea Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 Stars: ‘Classic Tales of Horror’ by Ernest Hilbert.
→ Age Range: Adult.
→ Genre: Classic, Gothic Horror.
→ Book Type: Anthology.

Favourite Quote: ‘I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time.’

In-depth Rating:
→ Plot: N/A.
→ Character Development: N/A.
→ Setting: N/A.
→ Entertainment Level: N/A.
→ Writing: N/A.
→ Art (If Applicable): N/A.

General Comments: This is an Anthology. Reviewing an Anthology is complicated; reviewing each story - individually - does not reflect overall enjoyment. As such, the star-rating should be utilised as a guideline only. If anything, you should pick up ‘Tales of Horror’. Allow famous Authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Henry James and more to prey upon your emotions and peace of mind; as disturbing dramas, gruesome ghosts compose this compendium of confessions made in the dead of night.

Time Read: Eleven Months.
→ Audiobook: No.
→ Audiobook Narrator: -

Trigger Warnings: Trigger Warnings not Available with an Anthology. Read with Discretion.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because it has such a pretty cover.
I would have given it 5 stars because I love these classic stories. However, I think that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow should have been included and some of the stories I wouldn't classify as horror. But other than that, these are great stories to get you into the Halloween mood!

[Lanie Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood was my favorite in this macabre collection. So creepy, unusual, and well written. “Dracula’s Guest” by Bram Stoker was *maybe* the runner up, if only owing to the line, “The dead travel fast.” It was hard, though, to choose favorites. The classics are always so good.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sheer size of this volume, as well as the choice of very long stories (novella-size) contained in it made it a rather challenging read.
While I did enjoy many of the stories in it and the book has indeed a handsome cover, the font is so, so tiny and the spacing so narrow, it was not enjoyable to read for long periods of time.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for any fan of spooky tales.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the 55 horror stories included in this collection, there were some good, some bad, and some average. You usually can't bat 1,000 with something like this. The only one I couldn't really get through was "The Succubus" by Honoré de Balzac. I knew I was in trouble with that one when I read this first sentence: "a number of persons of the noble country of Touraine, considerably edified by the warm search which the author is making into the antiquities, adventures, good jokes, and pretty tales of that blessed land, and believing for certain that he should know everything, have asked him (after drinking with him of course understood), if he had discovered the etymological reason, concerning which all of the ladies of the town are so curious, and from which a certain street in Tours is called the Rue Chaude." I had trouble with just that first sentence, let alone the remaining 37 pages of that story.

Standouts here include "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce, "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James, "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood, "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs, and "The Mask of Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe

[Don LeClair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty fun book to read for fans of horror fiction. It has 55 different short stories with some dating back to the 1820's. The Introduction does a remarkably good job of introducing the stories and authors, and I recommend reading it.

The range of stories is pretty wide. "The Open Window" by Saki was unusual in that it had the most humor of the stories. "The Japanned Box" by Arthur Conan Doyle had one of the most surprising and poignant endings.

As the editor noted in the introduction, some of the stories are remarkably indirect (and unclear), but not too many. Kafka's "the Metamorphosis" is about the strangest story I have run across.

My personal taste runs towards novels, but this book provided a nice variety of stories many of which were by authors I have not read before.

[Maryse · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars because Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" isn't included. As well as Amelia Edward's "The Phantom Coach"

But other than that, it contains pretty much THE classics-classics:
Tell-Tale Heart, Pit and the Pendulum, Black Cat, The Raven (Edgar Allan Poe)
Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge (Ambrose Bierce)
The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)
The Willows (Algernon Blackwood)
The Shunned House (HP Lovecraft)
The Monkey's Paw (WW Jacobs)
The Room in the Tower (EF Benson)
Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book (MR James)

among others. Most of these are already public domain, but it's really nice to have them all in one lovely hardbound.

I'm really happy that Stoker's "The Judge's House", which generally doesn't make most anthologies, is included. Finally, a hardbound edition of my favorite. Yay

[Karoliina · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We understand in others only what we have in ourselves" ~ Algernon Blackwood in `The Damned'

This book has some entertaining classic ghost/horror stories like The Devil and Tom Walker, The Yellow Wallpaper, The Room in the Tower, The Judge's House, and The Signal Man.

The most enticing stories I hadn't read before were Kafka's Metamorphosis and In the Penal Colony.

I would give this book 5/5 stars if Honore de Balzac's 'The Succubus' were not such a tedious, stupidly written, and mind-numbing example of French prose. The general public should be protected from events like this and only a very few pieces of French prose should be allowed to be translated into other languages because it is not fair to subject any larger than necessary public to the trainwreck which is French literature.

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5* (as an average for all the short stories)

While I did write individual reviews for each of the short stories contained in this collection, I suspect that they won't fall within Goodread's character limit so I'll refrain from typing them all up. But 3.5* is the average of all the stories contained herein.

I had a really great time with this collection, reading one short story every morning for about a month and a half (this anthology contains just over 50 stories). Would absolutely recommend to anyone who likes classic short-form horror.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this collection so much. I've been getting into gothic a lot more lately, and this was such a fun read. Obviously I enjoyed some of the stories more than others; some of my favorites were The Willows, The Shunned House, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Signal Man, The Yellow Wallpaper, and The Screaming Skull. There were others, but those are just some of my top favorites. Others were not as good, and admittedly the language was hard at times. I liked the challenge, but it definitely wouldn't be for everyone.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to 19th/early 20th century horror authors with some classic stories from Poe, Irving,Wharton, Balzac and many more. While I did skip over some of the tales that I have already read through there were still a lot that I had not come across. Really worth getting if you are interested in some of the best writing from this period.

Plus, the book itself is lovely to look at and the overall quality for the price is well worth it.

[MARIOS · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent anthology that brings together some of the most timeless masterpieces of supernatural and psychological horror. From Poe and Lovecraft to Blackwood and Balzac, each story exudes dark atmosphere and narrative brilliance. A true gem for every fan of classic horror — it captivates you and lingers long after you’ve turned the last page.

[Lawrence Salani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book if you enjoy reading classic horror stories. Brings me back to my schooldays. I've read most of the stories before, but enjoyed re-reading them again. The look and feel of the book makes it a pleasure to read.

[Miguel Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this at Marshalls for less than 10. There are over 50 stories. Some were lengthy some were short. If you find this get it. Edgar Alan Poe, HP Lovecraft, Charles dickens, Algernon Blackwood,Arthur Conan Doyle, Franz Kafka, Henry James, Bram Stoker, John William Polidori,

[Tasmin Bradshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories in this were fantastic and gripping. Others where meh. That's the only reason this isn't five stars. I found some favourites stories in this book.

[Bri ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of the stories are pretty good! Love them! Brought me back to my childhood with the Edgar Allen Poe stories!!

[I Can’t Think Of A Cool Nickname · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great selection of short stories

[Thomas Zubrzycki · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine, I suppose. Some stories are great and enthralling, others are awful and take all the wind out of your sails.

[rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know why The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is considered horror but okay. Besides that it’s a nice collection of horror short stories.