Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Fear and Trembling

by Henry S. Whitehead

Anthology. Contains the following:

Forward
The Forms of Fear - Alfred Hitchcock

Cassius - Henry S Whitehead
The Tarn - Hugh Walpole
Little Memento - John Collier
Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come To You, My Lad - M R James
One Summer Night - Ambrose Bierce
Telling - Elizabeth Bowen
The Jar - Ray Bradbury
The Bad Lands - John Metcalfe
Ghost Hunt - H R Wakefield
Skule Skerry - John Buchan
The Red Room - H G Wells
The Sack of Emeralds - Lord Dunsany
The Night Reveals - William Irish

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Anthologies, Ebooks

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Henry Whitehead was an American Episcopal minister and author of horror and fantasy fiction.
Henry S. Whitehead was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on March 5, 1882, and graduated from Harvard University in 1904 (in the same class as Franklin D. Roosevelt). As a young man he led an active and worldly life in the first decade of the 20th century, playing football at Harvard University, editing a Reform democratic newspaper in Port Chester, New York, and serving as commissioner of athletics for the AAU.

He later attended Berkeley Divinity School in Middletown, Connecticut, and in 1912 he was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church. During 1912-1913 he worked as a clergyman in Torrington, Connecticut. From 1913 to 1917 he served as rector in Christ's Church, Middletown, Connecticut. From 1918 to 1919 he was Pastor of the Children, Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City.

He served as Archdeacon of the Virgin Islands from 1921 to 1929. While there, living on the island of St. Croix, Whitehead gathered the material he was to use in his tales of the supernatural. A correspondent and friend of H. P. Lovecraft, Whitehead published stories from 1924 onward in Adventure, Black Mask, Strange Tales, and especially Weird Tales. In his introduction to the collection Jumbee, R. H. Barlow would later describe Whitehead as a member of "the serious Weird Tales school".Many of Whitehead's stories are set on the Virgin Islands and draw on the history and folklore of the region. Several of these stories are narrated by Gerald Canevin, a New Englander living on the islands and a fictional stand-in for Whitehead. Whitehead's supernatural fiction was partially modelled on the work of Edward Lucas White and William Hope Hodgson. Whitehead's "The Great Circle" (1932) is a lost-race tale with sword and sorcery elements.

In later life, Whitehead lived in Dunedin, Florida, as rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd and a leader of a boys' group there. H. P. Lovecraft was a particular friend as well as a correspondent of Whitehead's, visiting him at his Dunedin home for several weeks in 1931. Lovecraft recorded in his letters that he entertained the boys with readings of his stories such as "The Cats of Ulthar". Lovecraft said of Whitehead: "He has nothing of the musty cleric about him; but dresses in sports clothes, swears like a he-man on occasion, and is an utter stranger to bigotry or priggishness of any sort."

Whitehead suffered from a long-term gastric problem, but an account of his death by his assistant suggests he died from a fall or a stroke or both. He died late in 1932, but few of his readers learned about this until an announcement and brief profile, by H. P. Lovecraft, appeared in the March 1933 Weird Tales, issued in Feb 1933. Whitehead was greatly mourned and missed by lovers of weird fiction at his death.

R. H. Barlow collected many of Whitehead's letters, planning to publish a volume of them; but this never appeared, although Barlow did contribute the introduction to Whitehead's Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales (1944).

Reviews

[[on hiatus, probably forever] The rockabilly werewolf from Mars · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a 1948 edition, making it the oldest book in my collection. With the exception of the first story, which has aged very badly, this is a good collection of horror fiction. Four of my favourite stories of the classic era of horror are represented (The Tarn, The Red Room, Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You My Lad, and The Jar), and I also discovered two other (switch it off) stories that I (switch it off you fool) thoroughly enjoyed; namely The Bad Lands (switch it off now) and Ghost Hunt, which has one(SWITCH IT OFF) of the most unnerving endings I have yet encountered. It is worth noting that another story (SWITCH IT OFF YOU FOOL), namely Skule Skerry, has an effective atmosphere through most of it, but has an ending (switch it off) that is anticlimactic and outright ridiculous. Worth (switch it off) reading if you find it for cheap, but I wouldn't bother (SWITCH IT OFF YOU FOOL) with the first story.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

an anthology that collects stories from some fantastic writers, it would make a wonderful introduction to genre fiction. the ambrose bierce story will make you wish for more of his words, and features stories by other favourites like m.r. james and william irish (aka cornell woolrich). i would say that "telling" by elizabeth bowen is the creepiest story in the collection, and that it was a mistake to lead off with cassius (which has a great concept, and was probably better served by the x-files episode called humbug (yeah, the one that featured jim rose and the enigma and saw scully eat a bug. :)

[Shawn]

PLACEHOLDER REVIEW

"Skule Skerry" by John Buchan - A birding enthusiast figures out that yearly migrants must alight on a particular island off the Scottish coast, and so plans to camp there, despite warnings of the locals. The island proves remote, abandoned and soon after arriving the weather turns for the worse... This is a rather cool story - essentially a cross between Jack London, Bradbury's "The Lighthouse" (but without the sentiment) and a general "Natural - near Cosmic - Horror". The natural descriptions are excellent (loved that line about the "milky" light of the North) and the payoff - which finds our protagonist doubting whether he can ever believe in science again, until the question is resolved accidentally - is great, being both satisfying but not absolute and hitting a particular cultural moment in time as well. Great stuff.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of scary tales, some with a supernatural slant, some with an implied supernatural slant and some simply an examination of the worst of human nature.

Stand-outs include the super-creepy "The Jar" by Ray Bradbury; Henry Whitfield's bizarre variation of the Evil Twin theme titled "Cassius"; and two short but very effective tales-- "The Sack of Emeralds" by Lord Dunsany & "One Summer Night" by Ambrose Bierce.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories are good old-fashioned scary, thankfully lacking the overt attempts of modern "horror". Others . . . not so much. And Alfred Hitchcock's introduction calling Ray Bradbury promising made me smile.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection. The Woolrich tale is devastating.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed this one! So many brilliant stories and The Night Reveals had me gripping the chair all the way to the end

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

K, since these are all by different authors, I kept a note page open on my phone when I was reading bc I have no memory. Like, literally do not remember what some of these notes mean, like, 2 weeks post writing them

Cassius - Wow white people are racist as shit
The Tarn - Yo these two dudes just needed to bone
Little Memento - That hoarder played that dude
Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad - Ya had me til "crumpled linen." people thought weird shit was scary pre-internet
One Summer Night- jesus christ
Telling- uhhhhhhhh........
The Jar- Ray Bradbury had to have been one super weird dude
The Bad Lands- I thought this one would NEVER END
Ghost Hunt- What is this, GhostFacers? Amateur hour up in here
Skule Skerry- What is the German word for "I don't want to be reading this story anymore?"
The Red Room- If I thought my shit was haunted every time I ran into stuff in the dark I would be in TROUBLE
The Sack of Emeralds- Ok it's not scary if you set up a bad joke intended to be scary but then just never explain anything. I don't have enough information to be afraid a of horse and jewels
The Night Reveals- Solid choice to end on this one. Def liked the pace the best, disregarding the fact that this wasn't actually scary but just kinda MESSED

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any anthology, some short stories were more compelling than others. My personal favorites include “Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” by MR James (this sent shivers down my spine when the distressed boy described what he had seen) and “The Red Room” by HG Wells (a skeptic spends the night in a reportedly haunted room and makes a profound discovery). Other short stories were less so about the supernatural and more about the horror that is the dark side of the human condition, such as “The Tarn” by Hugh Walpole. Others explore other facets of the horror genre, such as extreme isolation from others, unreliable narrators, and parallel universes. This collection has been a gateway for me to explore more authors less familiar to me but who have made their contributions to the horror genre.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of 13 short stories, as gathered by Alfred Hitchcock, runs the gamut of scary stories. My enjoyment for almost any anthology varies considerably depending on the story I happen to be reading at the time and this group includes 1 star to 5 star stories. Because it was published back in 1948, I had not heard of most of the authors represented here. Two notable exceptions (and with 5 star stories in here) are HG Wells with "The Red Room" and Ray Bradbury with the best story in the collection, "The Jar".

[Katrina Atienza · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great read for commuting. Uneven quality though --- some stories make you go "Wha?! That's it? That's the big twist?" While others, like HP Lovecraft's "The Red Room" and William Irish's "The Night Reveals" are masterclasses in short story writing: palpably tense, fabulous atmosphere and killer endings.

[Sonia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't able to finish the book. I'm not a native english speaker and although I usually read stuff written in English, most of the vocabulary was unknown for me and it was hard to get it from the context. It was quite frustrating.

[BC Batcheshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I got past the archaic racial terms of the first story, I fell pleasantly into the following tales. Loved it, and I'm looking for more of Hitchcock's anthologies.

[Stefu Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite story in the collection is The Jar by Ray Bradbury (R.I.P.)