Three Ghost Stories

by Charles Dickens

Three short ghost stories (in the vein of A Christmas Carol) that originally appeared as Christmas tales. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 5.5-by-8.5-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

Genres: Classics, Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Literature, Ebooks, Paranormal

78 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.

Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.

On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Parmida R. A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh...
Good and spooky enough for Victorian era, but not very scary for our era. :)

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another disappointing book. One can definitely tell, even in this short collection, that Dickens was paid by the word. Damn, so much erroneous text that it feels like it takes ages to read a single page! I read one of these stories (The Signal-Man) last night. *yawn* Better than Ambien.

The other two stories (The Haunted House and The Trial for Murder) I read this morning. Fantastic way to start the day. Boring. I wanted to go right back to sleep.

I'm sure that back when these were written, they would have been something to cluck over as being scandalously awful (in a good, daring way, as opposed to being just awful now), but the times have changed and stories like these are, well... just not all that interesting now. But, it's a classic, so I guess I'm glad I read it for that reason, if no other.

[Bandit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes it’s good to read some classics. Sometimes it just serves to remind the reader of changing times and tastes. This selection was inspired by a modern pastiche of a Victorian scary story from a book I’ve recently read. That one was lovely, actually. And these stories not so much. Maybe it’s something to do with how a modern reader processes written word, after all we don’t dress, speak, eat, behave or communicate in the same way we did in the 19th century, so would be somewhat preposterous to expect to read the same. Which isn’t to say all classical literature is difficult to enjoy, some resonate perfectly well with any audience, some remain timeless, but this small collection…not so much. Yes, you can appreciate the use of language and turns of phrase, but in general it was much too dense and chewy to be easily digestible. A classic case of the forest being obscured by the trees, wherein the effort of wading through all the serpentine protracted sentences obscures the plot itself. Maybe it’s my plebeian pedestrian tastes talking or maybe, just maybe these stories just didn’t age the way of wine and cheese, but either way they didn’t work for me. It was a slog to get through, not to mention it took twice the amount of time 60 pages normally require. It might work for you, depending on how you like your ghosts. At least this was free. Chalking it up to an experiment then.

[Faye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read: March 2018
Overall rating: 2.5/5 stars

The Signalman - 3/5 stars
The Haunted House - 1/5 stars
The Trial for Murder - 3/5 stars

[Angus Mcfarlane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought a set of Victorian ghost stories might be a more interesting read than Dickens' longer novels, but I was disappointed to find they weren't. While each paragraph and sentence is well constructed and evocative, they are not strung together to make stories that hold any substance (and no, I don't think this is the writers attempt at irony). With a whole 'other' realm to use for either commentary on the one we know, or intrigue as to what else might be out there, the opportunity is wasted. A pity...

[Christine Kayser · Rating 4 out of 5]

The middle story was my favorite. The last story gave me chills. I thought I knew where it was going and I absolutely did not.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. I like Dicken’s writing style so much (Don’t believe anyone who tells you he got paid by the word, it’s simply not true, and he really isn’t that wordy or hard to understand, give him a shot). However, I didn’t feel these stories were quite creepy enough for me to really enjoy them, though parts were interesting. The first story, the Haunted House, took a strange turn and definitely rambled on too long (again, though, NOT because he was paid by the word.) the other two were short and sweet but needed a bit more punch.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first story, "The Haunted House", disappointing. It had a promising start of possible ghostly haunting but then veers off into a detailed recounting of a dream(?) of children pretending to be a seraglio. The next two stories were much more satisfying -"Trial for Murder" and "The Signal-Man" both were more straightforward albeit supernatural.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

So often we get caught up reading "The Great Dickens." It's easy to miss these smaller gems that endeared him to so many readers of his day.

Although a bit dated, Dickens' writing is to the eye, what satin is to the hand.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all three - for their vivid evocation of worldly and other-worldy atmospheres, for their penetration into normal and abnormal human psychology, and for their literary charm. Best read in the wee small hours.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has three ghost stories by the great Charles Dickens…

The Signal-man. Great story about a premonition.

The Haunted House. This is two chapters of a story (serial magazine originally I believe) in which Dickens and several other authors wrote ghost stories related to a haunted house they are all staying at….this needs a re-read cause I found the second chapter very confusing.

The Murder Trial. Loved this one. A ghost story which the ghost helps convict his murderer.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4 Stars.

The Haunted House in Two Chapters - 3.25 Stars
Chapter 1 The Mortals in the House
Chapter 2 The Ghost in Master B's Room

The Trial For Murder - 3.25 Stars

The Signal-Man - 4 Stars

[Stacie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Signal man was pretty good. The other two, no bueno.

[Gill James · Rating 4 out of 5]

As ever Dickens's characters are strong and well-drawn. He tells a good story.

[Lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 ⭐️

[Leniwa Wenus · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I loved the last story, I found myself getting through the first two with some effort… Dickens is undoubtedly an amazing writer, but ghost stories are probably not his forte. (Not taking into consideration the Christmas Carol, obviously:))

[Bonnye Reed]

The Open Road publisher

[Glasdow Teacosy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The posted rating is an average of the following three reviews:

The Haunted House ★★☆☆☆
The story behind these two short stories is far more interesting than the actual short stories. Dickens put together a shared world project with other contemporary authors. Each story would take place in a particular room in the haunted house.

Dickens contributed three stories to this collection. First was the opening story which established the setting. The second was his ghost story with the main character. The third story was the conclusion to all the stories, and the original publisher from ages ago didn’t include it.

The opening chapter was initially written delightfully. What a wonderful observer of personalities is Dickens! I absolutely adored the first several pages. After a while, however, I begin to wonder if there was any point to all of these character studies. Where was the story leading? Eventually we arrived at the town of the haunted house. There was so much conversation, and so much observational meandering, that my initial delight had soured.

The descriptions became tedious to read through, especially since the entire cast was changed and replaced with the new cast by the end of the chapter. All that back history and time spent on characters who had no impact or relevance to the plot. I was frankly stunned.

My theory is that Dickens had already written the story and re-purposed it for this shared world project. So he took his opening setting, got rid of his initial cast, and replaced it with a new one. Whether that is true or not, I think this chapter would’ve worked much better if he had never introduced anyone but the intended characters that would show up in their individual stories.

The next chapter was Dickens’ contribution to the shared world project. I didn’t realize this at the time that I was first reading it, so it felt like I was coming into the middle of the story. At first, the appearance of the ghost was wonderfully creepy, but then the story quickly changed to be a reminiscence of a childhood event where the author was pitted against his own remorse, which was, of course, resolved by the end of the chapter. The MC had encountered The Ghost of Childhood Past, I suppose, and found inner peace.

And that was the end of story.

If you’re looking for a good ghost tale, pass hard on this one. If you’re looking for delightful character studies, you can’t go wrong by delving deeply into the first initial pages of this story.


The Trial for Murder ★★★☆☆
A man sees two ghostly apparition‘s then is later called for jury duty. Then he discovers that one of the apparitions is on trial for the murder of the other apparition. Throughout the trial, the entire court is haunted by the murder victim. Then the defendant is found guilty. The end.

It was a dull tale with a very interesting premise. I feel that narratively speaking, it would have been more interesting if the story had been shown instead of told. Or perhaps the fault is in the main character who was an uninteresting fellow who relayed the story with as much excitement as somebody might read the news about an insurance scandal. Since I was looking for a ghost story, this felt more like a ghost sighting. As far as writing quality is concerned, it wasn’t the best example of Dickens’ work, nor was it the worst. Your opinion on the story may differ than mine, but I was disappointed.


The Signal-Man ★★★★☆
This was the type of story I was hoping to read when I read the other two stories. I enjoyed the story so much that I forgot to take notes. I’ll probably reread it, especially next Halloween.

This is a good tale with a creepy delivery. I don’t want to spoil the twist ending, but I can say that the writing quality was as good as Dickens gets. There were rich, lush descriptive passages and wonderful portrayals of human quirks and nuances. These characters felt real.

Dickens allowed us to vicariously think and react to the story through the observations of the main character, who was skeptical of what he was hearing as we would be. This was done artfully so that when it came time for the twist, I felt for the main character’s shock.

My only complaint was that the story occurred so long ago that despite Dickens’ copious descriptive details, I had a hard time envisioning the setting here and there since the setting and technology was of a different time. It was no fault of the book. I felt a bit sad and left out while reading. Otherwise, I enjoyed the story. I was impressed how Dickens quickly brought me into another world, introduced me to a creepy setting, and then gave me a chilling ending. It’s everything I was looking for in a ghost story. I highly recommend this book just for this one story.

Overall rating: ★★★½☆ (an extra ½ star for all those glorious descriptions)

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading these three short ghost stories by Dickens, although they were not quite what I was expecting.

Without giving any synopsis or giving anything away, the stories in themselves were more unusual than the 'standard' Victorian ghost story, which is what I thought I would be getting. Dickens certainly has a rich and varied imagination!

The only one I didn't really get into was "The Haunted House". It started off very promisingly but I was completely lost in the middle as it seemed to go off on a completely random and bizarre tangent, and I felt it was very long and there wasn't much of an interesting plot to follow. It was more of a rambling recollection of a strange dream which didn't really have anything to do with the ghost story itself.

On the whole I did enjoy this short collection, and despite reading a lot of negative reviews about Dickens and not having read any of his books previously, I enjoyed his amusing and quite eloquent writing style, and am encouraged to read one of his more popular and lengthier novels in the future. Perhaps one of his Christmas tales as it is the right time of year!

[Safa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love ghosts stories. Although there comes those few instances when supernatural powers occur in the book and I'm home alone, not sure if I should be looking at mirrors in order not to see someone else's reflection instead of my own. While actually it is like that, we only see the physical appearance descended upon through genes we carried from our parents, whether we see ourselves or our ancestors in the mirror is not so difficult to comprehend.

Each of the ghosts mention held a sign or a warning as to the unknowns that only the dead knew about. So they take the role of heroes after being the victims.

I only read this book because it's Charles Dickens's book and because it was free on iBooks! Reading it reminded me that I need to keep improving my English! Unlike Great Expectations (the book I love so much), my mind kept drifting away while reading this one, it was harder to follow and understand.

[Alannah Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember studying The Signalman at GCSE level but for the life of me, I could not remember who wrote it. I loved reading it again all these years later, I did think it was the best story out of these three stories. Overall I really enjoyed reading all three stories and it really didn't take me that long to read it. It's the perfect collection to read for Halloween.

[Vaishnavi Ramesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

First story " The Signal Man" was quite scary I felt pity for him when he died .

Second story " The Ghost in the Master.B's bedroom " was good at the beginning but at the end it was complicated.

Third story " The Trail for Murder" was quite predictable but the end was like OMG!!!!

I liked 1 & 3 than 2

[James Everington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never really taken to Dickens's novels much, do thought I'd try this. Two of the three stories were good if not great. One just seemed a mass of digressions padding out a pretty weak plot.

[Haniye safarpour]

واسم خيلي جالب نبود نصفه ولش كردم:))

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three ghost stories, the longest of which, "The Haunted House," was my least favorite. "The Signal Man" was the creepiest, and "The Trial for Murder" was entertaining and neat from a historical perspective.

"The Haunted House" 3 stars
This was an unexpected read, because instead of just Dickens, there were other authors who contributed to this book, each adding a story for a character who is visiting the haunted house, including Hesba Stretton, George Augustus Sala, Adelaide Anne Procter, ​Wilkie Collins, and Elizabeth Gaskell. (Is it bad that I've only ever heard of Elizabeth Gaskell in this list?)

"The Haunted House" has Dickens' hero, John, renting a country house for his health. He moves in with his spinster sister Patty and a group of servants, who promptly buy in to the haunted house syndrome and leave. After several groups of new servants are hired and released due to being spooked by the house, Patty suggests they invite a group of their friends for an extended stay through Christmas, so that they can play house and look for ghosts in their respective rooms.

Patty had a snazzy great idea, the inspiration for many a future haunted house movie, I'm sure.

Each of the contributing authors took a visiting friend and wrote a story to match. Unfortunately, most of the stories were not ghostly at all, but revolved around personal challenges and whatnot. Even Dickens' story had to do with a dream fantasy of the perils of his childhood. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the introductory section of the book, but the individual stories were a pass for me.

"The Trial for Murder" 4 stars
This short story, which features the ghost of a murder victim attending his own trial, was especially interesting to me for its depiction of English court system during Victorian times. Dickens also has a more detailed portrayal of a treason trial in his classic A Tale of Two Cities.

"The Signal Man" 4 stars
A classic ghost story by the master of Victorian literature, Charles Dickens, "The Signalman" is apparently the last complete work that he wrote before his death. The story is almost too brief to discuss without giving the entire plot away, but suffice to say that this is creepy good and deserves to be read.

[Tonk82 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles dickens es uno de los mas grandes escritores de todos los tiempos, autor de algunas de las mas brillantes novelas de su tiempo. Uno de sus aspectos mas curiosos (probablemente debido a que era un tema muy de moda en la época) es su fascinación por las historias de fantasmas y los hechos inexplicados, con "Cuento de navidad" como representante mas popular.

He añadido este recopilatorio como representación de lo que he leido, pero como leí un relato mas aparte, lo incluyo también:

*** (No incluido en el volúmen) To Be Read At Dusk: No puedo evitarlo. Sigo leyendo historias sobre personas contandose narraciones de fantasmas por la noche, y las disfruto aunque no sean especialmente brillantes. Aqui hay cierto sentido del humor rodeando las historias (incluye dos distintas). Me hace bastante gracia que los narradores se niegan a decir que crean en fantasmas, mientras aseveran que las historias eran verídicas y muy raras.

* The haunted house (La casa encantada, 1857): Es una de las publicaciones navideñas que acostumbraba a hacer. Tengo entendido que aqui solo vienen las partes que escribió él, pero que el texto completo incluía segmentos/historias de otros autores, incluyendo a Wilkie Collins. Así presentado, la verdad es que es lo mas flojo de todo... bastante genérica y el final es decepcionante.

*** Trial for Murder (Juicio por asesinato): Esta historia es bastante curiosa, la verdad. Son las visiones de un hombre que tiene que formas parte del jurado de un juicio por asesinato, y parece que la victima está muy interesada en mostrarse para que el acusado sea condenado.

***** The signalman (El guardavía, 1866): Por descontado... la razón por la que leí todo esto. Recuerdo leerla de pasada cuando era bastante joven. Es probablemente la mejor considerada de cuantas Dickens hizo (no contando Cuento de Navidad), y hay buenas razones para ello. La atmósfera, la forma de hablar y actuar del guardavias, los sucesos y revelaciones... sin reinventar la rueda, es efectivo, memorable y francamente redondo. Todo lo que uno espera en una historia de fantasmas clásica.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

The year was dying early, the leaves were falling fast, it was a raw cold day when we took possession, and the gloom of the house was most depressing.

These are the first Dickens texts I've read now after reading the infamous classic Christmas Carol last year, which I enjoyed decently enough. I felt like giving other spooky works of his a shot as well to see what else this classic author has to offer besides one of his big titles.

Unfortunately, this little collection of short stories didn't really click with me and I only really enjoyed one of the three stories.
The first story of the haunted house confused me a bit because I didn't know that Dicken' text was only a small part of a bigger project that had authors add their own stories to this collective haunted house concept.
The second story about the murder trial had a decent idea but didn't really come across very well for me.
But the final story of the Signal-Man managed to build up a decent atmosphere and I found the titular character actually fairly intriguing. The ending is of course rather predictable, which also stems from its age, but I still found it to be a rather comfortable read.

Even throughout the stories I didn't care much for, there were individual paragraphs that I really enjoyed, like the opening quote I chose. Dickens has a great way with words sometimes. But he also likes to go on tangents and generally I felt like the writing style of the first two stories in particular didn't quite age as well as it did with Christmas Carol. 

[Φερειπείν · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, Three Ghost Stories captures Dickens's work at a fascinating intersection between moral seriousness and the uncanny. These are not merely ghost tales in the gothic tradition; rather, they feel like dramas of conscience, in which the supernatural becomes a language for doubt, guilt, and uneasy remembrance. I find "The Signalman" the most compelling of the trio; its bleak railway cutting and oppressive stillness evoke a dread that seems to arise as much from modernity itself as from any spectral presence. The story’s tension between rational order and inexplicable fate lingers long after reading.
By contrast, "The Haunted House" and "The Haunted Man" strike me as more overtly allegorical, yet I’m moved by the way their hauntings expose the risks of suppressing pain and the fragile necessity of human sympathy. Even where the didactic impulse shows through, there is a sincerity that I find difficult to resist. Altogether, these stories feel less like exercises in terror than meditations on memory and moral responsibility, haunting not because of their ghosts, but because of the quietly troubled lives they illuminate.






Για μένα, οι Τρεις Ιστορίες φαντασμάτων του Ντίκενς αποτυπώνουν το έργο ενός συγγραφέα που κινείται σε ένα γόνιμο μεταίχμιο ανάμεσα στο ηθικό βάθος και το ανοίκειο. Δεν πρόκειται απλώς για ιστορίες τρόμου· μοιάζουν περισσότερο με δραματοποιήσεις της μνήμης και της συνείδησης, όπου το φάντασμα λειτουργεί ως γλώσσα της ενοχής, της αμφιβολίας και της ανομολόγητης εσωτερικής αγωνίας. Ιδιαίτερα το «Ο Σηματωρός» μου προκαλεί μια επίμονη εντύπωση, το άγονο τοπίο του σιδηροδρόμου και η ασφυκτική του σιωπή γεννούν ένα είδος μεταφυσικού ρίγους, σαν η ίδια η νεωτερικότητα να στέκει υπό τη σκιά ενός αδιευκρίνιστου πεπρωμένου.
Αντιθέτως, «Το Στοιχειωμένο Σπίτι» και «Ο Στοιχειωμένος Άνθρωπος» μου φαίνονται πιο εμφανώς αλληγορικά· ωστόσο με συγκινεί ο τρόπος με τον οποίο οι μορφές του φαντασματικού αποκαλύπτουν τον κίνδυνο της λήθης του πόνου και την εύθραυστη αναγκαιότητα της ανθρώπινης συμπόνιας. Ακόμη κι όταν η διδακτική διάσταση προβάλλει καθαρά, διακρίνω μια ειλικρίνεια που δύσκολα απορρίπτεται. Συνολικά, οι ιστορίες αυτές δεν με στοιχειώνουν για τα φαντάσματά τους, αλλά για τον τρόπο που φωτίζουν, λυρικά και σιωπηρά, την ευθύνη, τη μνήμη και τους αόρατους δεσμούς της ανθρώπινης εμπειρίας.

[Michael Nutt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must confess that Dickens is an author I have avoided reading since an abortive attempt at studying his 'Hard Times' at school. I found his writing style heavy-going, with tortuous sentences and long, descriptive passages that seemed to take the story nowhere. Or, at least, that is how I remember it. And then there is the sheer length of most of his novels ...

All of which is a good reason for reading some of his short stories as a way to get into Dickens. This Kindle edition compiling three of his many ghost stories has certainly made me rethink my view of Dickens and the accessibility of his writing.

The opening story - 'The Signal Man' (1866) - is justly celebrated and is one with which I should have been familiar, having read it as a youth in a compendium of ghost tales. However, I could recall little of the story after so many years. It uses the lonely location of a railway signal box set in a deep cutting and thereby removed from the general bustle of daily life, and the story blends the uncanny with the everyday. The chill of the tale lies in the premonitions that the ghost or spectre brings to the signalman, and exactly what event it foretells. Dickens' style here is a clear, descriptive reporting of the story's sequence of events, as though taken from a writer's journal.

Dickens' inspiration may have been drawn from a actual rail disaster, as some elements of the story bear similarities to the Clayton Tunnel crash that occurred in 1861, five years before he wrote this. The author was also directly involved in another serious rail accident just the year before he wrote 'The Signal Man', when on 9 June 1865 the boat train from Folkestone to London derailed while crossing a viaduct at Staplehurst in Kent. Ten passengers died and forty suffered injuries. Dickens was travelling with a female companion and her mother, and the famous writer tended to some of the victims, including those with fatal injuries. The shock caused him to lose his voice for two weeks, and his son said he never fully recovered. He died five years to the day after the accident.

'The Signal Man' is more a tale of the uncanny than a horror story, with the supernatural elements underplayed and their import very much left to the reader to work out. It is all the better for this, and the story stays with you for some time after reading.

The second, and longest story is 'The Haunted House' (1859). What is presented here is, in fact, just two parts of an eight-part portmanteau story written by Dickens and five other authors (including Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell). Dickens wrote the opening episode,'The Mortals in the House', which sets the scene for the seven individual accounts that follow, each one telling of an occupant's experience of their stay in a haunted house over the Christmas holiday. Here we find much more evidence of the 'difficult' writing style that I associate with Dickens, with sentences so long on occasions that he has to use several colons, semi-colons, and dashes to punctuate them.

Dickens also wrote the sixth episode - 'The Ghost in Master B's Room' - as well as the closing one ('The Ghost in the Corner Room') that is omitted here. In a 2002 review in The Guardian of the complete portmanteau collection, Nicholas Lezard wrote of Dickens' episode 'The Ghost in Master B's Room' that it "is quite unlike anything you may have ever read by him; it seems to have been the product of an extended hallucination, and I can hardly make head nor tail of it, except towards the end."

Reading just two parts of a much longer work, I found the story rather disjointed and it feels unfinished, incomplete (which, of course, it is). The narrative wanders and takes us into a nocturnal dream world that is the writer's childhood, and just when you think he has lost the plot you find that he has taken you to what is actually haunting, yet real.

It is, however, a much lighter tale of ghosts and hauntings and there is more of a jocular, jovial feel to the supernatural aspects of the story. This is, after all, one of a series of Christmas tales that Dickens wrote - it was published in the 1859 Extra Christmas Number of a weekly periodical, 'All the Year Round' - and you feel the cheer of the season rather than the chill of horror.

The final story is 'The Trial for Murder' (1865). The ghost in this short story is that of a murdered man who appears to the Foreman of the Jury at the trial of his assassin. What is uncanny is that the Foreman had previously seen the apparition twice before being summoned for jury service: the first time pursuing his killer down the street outside the Foreman's house, the second time beckoning within his house on the eve of the jury summons. Like 'The Signal Man', it is told in economic style and is relatively quick and easy to read. Dickens does not over-egg the horror and his narrator describes events as objectively as he can, without interpretation or judgement - which are left to the reader. 'The Trial for Murder' and 'The Signal Man' are similar in this respect, and eschew the wit, humour and moral reasoning that characterises much of Dickens' work. However, like 'The Haunted House', they too were written for the Christmas extra issues of 'All the Year Round', in 1865 and 1866. Both lack the direct references to Christmastime that are found in 'The Haunted House' and of course, 'A Christmas Carol', Dickens' most celebrated ghost story.

The real disappointment of this volume is the truncated version of 'The Haunted House', which merely provides a taster of what the full portmanteau version might be, and for that reason I award just three stars. The other two short stories, however, deserve more, and I am now seriously considering tackling one of Dickens' great novels.

**********
Dickens died in 1870, age 58 years. Between 1836 and his death 34 years later, he wrote and had published 15 novels (including 1 unfinished), a series of Christmas Stories, and numerous short stories; as well as plays, poetry, and non-fiction writing.

[Sarah Castro · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I read the free eBook from Project Gutenberg (I prefer real books, but it’s handy when you have 5/10 minutes to kill and don’t have one with you!)

The first story was The Signal-Man, my favorite one. I found it to be the creepiest (it wasn’t very creepy though), and also the saddest.

Next up, The Haunted House. It was split into two parts. I enjoyed the first part, with the vivid descriptions of the house, people, and the lead-up to what I *thought* was going to be a good, scary story. Enter second part. It was disappointing, to say the least. Maybe I should read it again, but I ended up so lost and confused, I was just trying to finish it. I believe the ghost was the main character’s past, come back to haunt him? As I said, confused. It went from a 5 star story to a 1 star story, VERY quickly.

Last up, The Trial for Murder. I had read this story before in an anthology, and definitely enjoyed it more the first time. I think it’s a well written, interesting read. Nothing too exciting, but worth the 20-30 minutes it takes.