Chilling Ghost Short Stories

by Dale Townshend (Foreword), Kurt Bachard, Jonathan Balog

A deluxe edition with a chilling selection of original and classic short stories. The new tales, many of them published here for the first time, are written by today's top authors, and they bring a modern twist to the outstanding mix of intrigue that lurks in the furtive imagination of E.F. Benson, Henry James, Wilkie Collins, Washington Irving, Edith Wharton, Oscar Wilde, and so many more within this outstanding collection.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Fantasy, Ghost Stories, Ghosts

480 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 2015

About the author

Dale Townshend is Senior Lecturer in Gothic and Romantic Literature at the University of Stirling, Scotland. His most recent publications include The Gothic World (with Glennis Byron; Routledge, 2014) and Ann Radcliffe, Romanticism and the Gothic (with Angela Wright; Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Reviews

[Karl]

Contents:

008 - Forward by Dr. Dale Townshend
009 - Publishers Note
012 - "Stay Away from the Accordion Girl" by Jonathan Balog
923 - "The Man Who Went Too Far" by E. F. Benson
037 - "Audio Tour" by Trevor Boelter
044 - "The Messenger" by Robert W. Chambers
067 - "Ghost Farm" by Zach Chapman
072 - "Mrs Zant and the Ghost" by Wilkie Collins
095 - "The Return of Gunnar Kettilson" by Vonnie Winslow Crist
100 - "Flaming Fuses" by Donna Cuttress
108 - "The House, The Garden, and its Occupants" by Amanda C. Davis
115 - "The Signal-Man" by Charles Dickens
124 - "Victorians" by James Dorr
131 - "The New Catacomb" by Arthur Conan Doyle
140 - "Mourners" by Kurt Bachard
144 - "The Figure on the Sidewalk" by -Tim Foley
151 - "The Shadows On the Wall" by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
169 - "The Wind in the Rose Bush" by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
171 - "The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogal
189 - "The Waiting Room" by Phillip Brian Hall
196 - "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
214 - "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
221 - "The Alter of the Dead" by Henry James
242 - "Count Magnus" by M. R. James
250 - "Lost Hearts" by M. R. James
257 - "The Five Jars" by M. R. James
292 - "The Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
391 - "The Spirit's Whisper" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
310 - "An Englishman in St. Louis" by Raymond Little
316 - "Death and Champagne" by Luke Murphy
322 - "The Mystery of the Semi-Detached" by Edith Nesbit
325 - "Lost Souls" by Jeff Parsons
333 - "The Skeleton Crew" by Michael Penkas
338 - "Ligeia" by Edgar Allen Poe
348 - "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe
354 - "Songs for the Lost" by Brian Rappatta
363 - "A Unique Slumber" by Rhiannon Rasmussen
371 - "Almost" by M. Regan
376 - "A Bulge in the Wall" by AnnetteSiketa
382 - "The Psychic Fair" by Cathy Smith
389 - "Unclaimed" by -Lesa Pascavis Smith
395 - "The Bottle Imp" by Robert Louis Stevenson
413 - "Bewitched" by Edith Wharton
427 - "The Bolted Door" by Edith Wharton
452 - "The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde
470 - Biographies & Sources

[Olivia Ambrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly not super scary. Good mix of classics and new works. Some are better than others, but that's what happens in compilations. I wasn't super thrilled by any of this book and found myself skimming quite a bit. But gothic ghost stories isn't usually my genre, so take that how you will.

[Wendy Sice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous looking book with a plethora of stories written in very small print, so expect it to take you awhile to read!

I was definitely in the mood for some ghost stories and enjoyed reading most of them. I wasn’t a fan of Poe’s Ligeia, or James’ The Altar of the Dead, mainly because they were overwritten in the verbose 19th century style. I was pleasantly surprised by the delightful ideas in The Five Jars and wanted to read more about the Right People. I managed a few shivers while reading Victorians, The Skeleton Crew, An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House, The Figure on the Sidewalk and The Wind in the Rose-bush, all of which were suitably creepy or cleverly twisted. So apart from a couple of long-winded stories I thought this was a brilliant collection and I’m sure I will delve into it again and again.

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm at the last few pages of this book, but feel I've read enough of it to give an accurate review.

The book itself is beautiful, with an embossed cover, and silver endpapers.

As for the contents...another matter entirely. Several of the authors are personally unknown to me..not to sat that's BAD - just that I don't know their work. However, I'd venture to guess that perhaps one third of the stories therein have nothing to do with ghosts. As an example, Conan Doyle's short "The New Catacomb" has more in common with Poe's "Cask of Amontillado" than ghost stories.

Of course, the usual are here - Wharton, M.R. James, Henry James, Jacobs, et. al. But how many times do I need to read ""The Canterville Ghost".

Not a bad book for $10, but not a great one either.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is one I had picked up as being apropos for my bedtime reading, and despite the subject matter, I very much enjoyed most of the stories in this book.

The stories come from famous and not-so-famous authors, and are set anywhere from ancient times and places to the 21st century. The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde is more comic than scary, and The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson is excellent. (I did not care for Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe, or for The Altar of the Dead by Henry James, both of which I thought too wordy by far.) The Waiting Room by Philip Brian Hall was very good, as was Victorians by James Dorr. Of the three stories by M. R. James, Count Magus, Lost Hearts, and The Five Jars, I would recommend skipping The Fire Jars (and I say this as a confirmed lover of M. R. Jame's stories). Audio Tour by Trevor Boelier is good (and 21st century), as is The Psychic Fair by Cathy Smith (very good) The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol is of an earlier date, and good. An Englishman in St. Louis by Raymond Little is modern, and quite excellent. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, alas, is written in the florid, wordy style of his generation. And, yes, The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs is that story. Finally, I must say that one of the best stories is The House, The Garden, and Occupants, by Amanda C. Davis, with ghosts and cell phones coexisting together.

I very much enjoyed reading this book (although I can think of stories that should have been included, but were not), and highly recommend it.

[Michelle Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

With a title like Chilling Ghost Short Stories, you'd think the collected stories would be spooky, right? If you said, "Yes," you would be wrong. The editor actually says in the preface that this collection is more of a study in the varied manner of ghosts, and the supernatural at large. But most people don't read that until the book is in their possession (at least I didn't), unlike the title! Can you say "misleading?"


Look, most of these stories are good, strictly speaking. Maybe not stellar, exactly, but not awful, either. They simply do not scare, and if that's what you read ghost stories for (like me), then you will be disappointed (like me). The Man Who Went Too Far, and perhaps two or three others, were both new to me and were intriguing; the other worthwhile stories are already classics and are widely available elsewhere (The Monkey's Paw and The Canterville Ghost, for example).

If you scare easily or hate gore, but have a fondness for the fantastical, disregard the title and give this one a go. Everyone else, give it a pass, unless you like collecting pretty books for your personal library (because, hey, no denying the book design does look pretty cool in physical form).

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good ghost story. They can be creepy, scary, unsettling, depressing, and heartwarming.
Of the 43 stories in this anthology, the only one worth reading was 'The Skeleton Crew' by Michael Penkas.
I bumped the rating up by two stars for that story. It shocked me, it disturbed me, and it warmed my heart. And it was the only one to make me sob. So good job, Michael Penkas, you made me feel something.
Other notable mentions: 'The New Catacomb' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was predictable but still savage as fuck, A+. 'Mrs. Zant and the Ghost' by Wilkie Collins was delightful. 'Stay Away From the Accordion Girl' by Jonathan Balog was promising but let me down at the end. 'The Signal Man' by Charles Dickens was fun to read and convinced to read more of his work. 'The Canterville Ghost' by Oscar Wilde was beautiful, as expected. 'Ghost Farm' by Zach Chapman was wild and I loved it. And finally, 'Ligeia' and 'The Black Cat' by Edgar Allen Poe were a delight to read.
Everything else in here was mediocre at best, and frustratingly boring at worst.

[Ajti · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are several highly enjoyable stories in this collection. I marked 11 out of 45 as especially likable for me to the point that I’d like to read more by the authors. However, in between those 11 were quite a few stories of exceeding mediocrity, and some that simply could not be suffered. The 3 stars I give this are primarily for introducing me to some new authors via those 11 stories which I liked, always the benefit of short story collections and always appreciated.

Overall, I would say the flow of this book was alright, regarding the order of the stories as the editor laid them out. Though putting newer and much less talented writers right up against others like Oscar Wilde or Robert Chambers made the lesser stories feel especially cringe and really begged the question of how they got included. There were also some stories in here that I didn’t understand what the basis was for their inclusion, such as one story that lacked ghostly activity or any allusion to such and seemed only to be included because the author had written a different ghost story that is also included in this collection.

However, the book isn’t terribly expensive for the quantity of material, and the diversity of the stories makes it likely that you’ll find something that you like in it if you’re willing to wade through it all. I also appreciate that there’s a section in the back of author bios if you find an author you like and don’t want to Google them just yet. I’d probably get another book in this collection if the subject was highly interesting to me, at least once to see if the quality was maintained or improved or lessened, and go from there as to future purchases. But this company does have some cool ideas about what to organize short story collections around, so there’s stuff worth checking out it seems.

[Darth Jader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a pretty good collection of ghost stories. However, most of them are not very chilling or super scary like the title claims to be. That's my major complaint about this book is that most of the stories weren't super scary or thrilling. I did like that the editor compiled many stories across many time periods in this anthology. It was really cool to see the contrast from Victorian style writers like Poe and Dickins to modernist stories penned in this book. It made me marvel at the loss of some of the descriptions and sayings of the Victorian era and wonder why this loss of eloquence occurred as writing progressed to modern times? Other than that, my only major complaint is that one of the sorties was cut off halfway through and replaced with the end of another story due to a major editing error. Also, some of the stories at the end of the book aren't in the table of contents. This book would have gotten three stars from me if it weren't for those issues. I also did not complete the last couple of stories in the book as I was kind of sick of reading ghost stories constantly for two-three weeks. This has nothing to do with the book; I would recommend that one reads a story or two a day to not overload oneself with ghost stories. I will read this book again at some point and will probably stick to just one story a day.

[blue.iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a good mixture of more modern and older stories. In addition, the types of stories contained were also very diverse (some psychological, some ghost stories, etc.). “The Five Jars” was REALLY good! It didn't really seem "ghosty" to me, but it was supernatural. “Bewitched” was really good as well! It has a pretty crazy ending, which I think involves murder, though it’s somewhat open-ended.

[Susan Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this one short story at a time over the past few years. It is packed with 43 stories, and, like most anthologies, it had some good stories and some not so good. There are several by well-known authors - Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edith Wharton, Oscar Wilde - and some unknowns. Overall, a good volume to have on hand for when the time is right for a short story or two.

[Ivette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sin duda, un libro que recopila buenas historias que me han hecho entrar al mundo de paranormal. Las historia que se han escogido dentro de este tomo, no dan miedo como al leer a Stephen King, sin embargo, como inicio en este género, es una buena lectura

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good collection; there were very few stories I didn't take too. There was a good blend of well-known writers & newer ones, and I enjoyed a lot of the new discoveries as much as my favourites of the better known authors.

[Jewels · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like gothic horror short stories then this is the book for you. Lots of slow burn. Lots of eldritch horror. All of them were great. My personal favorite short story was the one titled "Nature." Guy wants to become one with Nature. Nature isn't so into it.

[Quin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book with plenty of stories in it. Most of them aren't really scary at all, but they all fit the theme of gothic horror nonetheless. As with all anthologies some stories were amazing, most were alright, and a few I disliked. I'd give it a read if you like the genre of gothic horror.

[RJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked some stories. Some not so much. I didn't read them all, but I read most.

[Devin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of traditional gothic short stories from renowned authors, as well as some new, more modern stuff.

[Angela Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpectedly quite excellent anthology of contemporary and classic ghost/horror stories. Perfect for a stormy night with some wine and a cat to keep watch over you!

[Ariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for an older crowd who loves horror or fear. It never gets boring due to it having multiple horror stories that intrigue the reader just with the first sentence. If you want a book to read at night to give you chills an the creeps this is the book for you.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories draaaaaagggggged and others were really great, gave me a chance to finally read some authors that I'd wanted to read.

[Kimberly Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories are great! But others dragged on and on. I'm glad I read it, but it took me quite a while to get through it.

[Goe · Rating 3 out of 5]

In general, I enjoyed the stories.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories ranging from ok to very good. Sadly there were several that were just ok for me.

The stories I liked the best were: Ghost Farm, The Return of Gunnar Kettilson, The House the Garden and Occupants, Death and Champagne, The mystery of the semi detached.

Others that were good but not my favorites included: The Victorians, The Shadows on the Wall, Lost Hearts and The Waiting Room

The man who went too far was among those I just didn't like. The Overcoat I really didn't like at all (I know it's deeper meaning etc but I just didn't like the way it was written).

There also are classics including The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

I recommend this collection as this is such a range of stories, people might enjoy those that I didn't.

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My foray with Flame Tree is finished (um... yeah, psyche! They've got an American Gothic anthology on the way, and that's right up my alley. Just taking my money, Flame Tree) and what a finale! Ghost stories themselves can exhaust their possibilities and get so stale you feel like you're reading a story on repeat. But this had it all, from parents punished by the sins of their past, scheming spouses, even a creepy creature or two. My rating stems from the stories I enjoyed, forgive the amount, (it's not fair to assume you'll get a book full of baubles) and here they are:

*"Stay Away from the Accordion Girl"-Jonathan Balog
*"Audio Tour"-Trevor Boelter
*"Ghost Farm"-Zach Chapman
*"The Return of Gunnar Kettilson"-Vonnie Winslow Crist
*"Flaming Fuses"-Donna Cuttress
*"The House, The Garden, and its Occupants"-Amanda C. Davis
*"Victorians"-James Dorr
*"Mourners"-Kurt Bachard
*"The Figure on the Sidewalk"-Tim Foley
*"The Wind in the Rose Bush"-Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
*"The Waiting Room"-Phillip Brian Hall
*"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"-Washington Irving
*"Lost Hearts"-M.R. James
*"The Spirit's Whisper"-Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
*"An Englishman in St. Louis"-Raymond Little
*"The Skeleton Crew"-Michael Penkas
*"Ligeia"-Edgar Allan Poe
*"A Unique Slumber"-Rhiannon Rasmussen
*"Unclaimed"-Lesa Pascavis Smith

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fantastic addition to the gothic fantasy collection, this anthology is full of short stories blended perfectly with old classic writers and new modern writes as they tell their dark, gothic, macabre, gloomy, haunted, creepy, tragically heartbreakingly sad, thrilling, spine chilling, spooky, stories of terrifying ghosts and their victims. This book was fantastic to read I absolutely adored reading this book, this book is perfect for curling up on a cold rainy winters night by the fire. The book cover captivated me in the story immediately and after a glancing at the book knew immediately I had to read it. I love the variety of stories and authors throughout the book giving you an experience with contemporary writers and classic stories. This gothic fantasy collection is ideal for any lovers of horror and gothic hauntings. Some of my favourite stories in this book are….

[Bobby H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 Like many anthologies this suffers from a couple of good stories mixed with poorly written or boring ones. Enjoyed "The Monkey Paw" and "Black Cat." "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is overrated.

[Vonnie Crist · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like ghost stories, you'll love this book. It features favorites from established authors and brand new tales from today's authors. And many of the stories are truly "chilling."