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One Who Saw
Originally published on Christmas in 1931 and widely regarded as A.M. Burrage's masterpiece, "One Who Saw" tells the story of a wrtier enchanted by a spectre of a weeping woman. His obsession builds until her ghostly hand falls from her face and he, in horror, becomes "one who sees."
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1931
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177 people want to read
About the author
A.M. Burrage
135 books31 followersAlfred McLelland Burrage (1889-1956) was a British writer. He was noted in his time as an author of fiction for boys which he published under the pseudonym Frank Lelland, including a popular series called "Tufty". Burrage is now remembered mainly for his horror fiction.
Source: Wikipedia
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
December 7, 2020
this holiday season, i am going to read through 'seth's christmas ghost stories' line on biblioasis, and i encourage you to do the same. the books are so cute and tiny, you can stuff someone's stocking or dreidel with 'em! the cover art and interior illustrations are by seth, and they are seasonally spoooooky, blending the spirit of halloween with christmas cheer the way nature, and jack skellington, intended.
this one is not a christmas ghost story, per se, but a ghost story for christmas, if that distinction makes sense. telling ghost stories on christmas eve is a bygone tradition this series hopes to bring back into vogue, but this is not A Christmas Carol or even Scrooged. it is an utterly secular ghost story whose moral seems to be "curiosity killed the cat." or rather, curiosity did something much worse and much more subtle than that.
i usually get bored with olde-timey ghost stories because they take their time and the payoff is usually more... implicit than i like, but this one had a nicely haunting atmosphere. i think someone with a talent for oral storytelling could make this even spookier and i invite them to my house on christmas for spooky merriment and cookies and eggnog.
10 more to go!
come to my blog!
this one is not a christmas ghost story, per se, but a ghost story for christmas, if that distinction makes sense. telling ghost stories on christmas eve is a bygone tradition this series hopes to bring back into vogue, but this is not A Christmas Carol or even Scrooged. it is an utterly secular ghost story whose moral seems to be "curiosity killed the cat." or rather, curiosity did something much worse and much more subtle than that.
i usually get bored with olde-timey ghost stories because they take their time and the payoff is usually more... implicit than i like, but this one had a nicely haunting atmosphere. i think someone with a talent for oral storytelling could make this even spookier and i invite them to my house on christmas for spooky merriment and cookies and eggnog.
10 more to go!
come to my blog!
September 28, 2024
Beautiful Seth design, I especially like his drawings of the hotel here.
A writer staying at an non-touristy hotel sees a spectre of a woman and gets obsessed meanwhile a hotel staff member is giving him some stern warnings and wants him to flee.
A writer staying at an non-touristy hotel sees a spectre of a woman and gets obsessed meanwhile a hotel staff member is giving him some stern warnings and wants him to flee.
December 27, 2024
A story of a man told by another man to another man, so the reader doesn’t really get to “see,” but it is impossible to describe the indescribable.
January 25, 2024
SO another of the Seth's Christmas Ghost stories - a short story (less than 70 pages) from a classic of the genre with generous stylised illustrations.
The story is pretty straight forward (for what it is) but I think the real impact comes from the imagery which with its simplified pallet makes them all the more striking. The story is fun but after a while you know exactly where it is going - but you know what you do not care.
For me like all genre (if it is such a thing) of Christmas Ghost Stories is the imagery both implied and in the case of these books shown -it really does bring out the atmosphere. A fun read and a beautiful book.
The story is pretty straight forward (for what it is) but I think the real impact comes from the imagery which with its simplified pallet makes them all the more striking. The story is fun but after a while you know exactly where it is going - but you know what you do not care.
For me like all genre (if it is such a thing) of Christmas Ghost Stories is the imagery both implied and in the case of these books shown -it really does bring out the atmosphere. A fun read and a beautiful book.
January 16, 2025
During his lifetime, A.M. Burrage was known for his Tufty series for middle grade boys. But after his death in 1956, his supernatural ghost stories became more popular, including this one. This title is part of the Ghost Story For Christmas series which takes scary short stories from the past and makes them more easily available for modern readers. This most likely means an e-read, but that’s fine, as the layout is set up for e-readers. And so to the tale!
There are certain people, often well enough liked, genial souls whom one is always glad to meet, who yet have the faculty of disappearing without being missed.
As is usual for many of the British ghost stories, the narration is between two friends who are discussing another friend. It seems this missing friend is secluded elsewhere, recovering from a shock which turned his hair white overnight. A writer, he had traveled to Rouen in France for a chance to get some work done while enjoying the local sights. He makes the mistake of choosing a boutique-esh lodging, where the meals are outstanding (It was a hotel where many ate but few slept). Choosing to make the little inn his choice of abode while abroad, he takes a room overlooking the courtyard garden, where a massive plane tree blocks the sunlight from shining on the facing rooms.
One night, while looking out his window, he espies a female figure sitting on the garden bench. Although he tries to get her attention, she ignores him, which makes him only more determined to learn who she may be. Despite the desperate pleas from the hotel staff to leave well enough alone, our writer friend just can’t help himself. Pandora didn’t open the box by herself, you know.
This is my first story by the author, but I think my expectations were quite high based on sources stating it was his scariest work. Not sure about that, it paled next to M.R. James, but perhaps there are other short stories by Burrage which will make me seek shelter for the night, when the chill is in the air.
Book Season = Winter (listen to the employees)
There are certain people, often well enough liked, genial souls whom one is always glad to meet, who yet have the faculty of disappearing without being missed.
As is usual for many of the British ghost stories, the narration is between two friends who are discussing another friend. It seems this missing friend is secluded elsewhere, recovering from a shock which turned his hair white overnight. A writer, he had traveled to Rouen in France for a chance to get some work done while enjoying the local sights. He makes the mistake of choosing a boutique-esh lodging, where the meals are outstanding (It was a hotel where many ate but few slept). Choosing to make the little inn his choice of abode while abroad, he takes a room overlooking the courtyard garden, where a massive plane tree blocks the sunlight from shining on the facing rooms.
One night, while looking out his window, he espies a female figure sitting on the garden bench. Although he tries to get her attention, she ignores him, which makes him only more determined to learn who she may be. Despite the desperate pleas from the hotel staff to leave well enough alone, our writer friend just can’t help himself. Pandora didn’t open the box by herself, you know.
This is my first story by the author, but I think my expectations were quite high based on sources stating it was his scariest work. Not sure about that, it paled next to M.R. James, but perhaps there are other short stories by Burrage which will make me seek shelter for the night, when the chill is in the air.
Book Season = Winter (listen to the employees)
September 8, 2021
The story starts with a group of acquaintances talking about a comun friend that has not been seen in polite society for a while now. We found out that something did happen to the gentleman, a crisis of nerves perhaps.
This is the story of what happened in a French hotel, on an internal patio. What has he seen?
Quick read, atmospheric but that would be improved with a bit more detail and a little bit more ghostly shenanigans.
This is the story of what happened in a French hotel, on an internal patio. What has he seen?
Quick read, atmospheric but that would be improved with a bit more detail and a little bit more ghostly shenanigans.
December 4, 2018
This little thing has that classic ghost story charm but doesn't really hold up. The whole "he saw something so horrible it drove him mad" schtick that may have worked 100 years ago feels pretty weak today when we love to indulge in the grossest and most bizarre things we can think of. But I still love stories like this. I wish there were more to it.
In its accidental favor, I was brought back to one of my favorite one-shot Doctor Who characters. Miss Evangelista, anyone?
In its accidental favor, I was brought back to one of my favorite one-shot Doctor Who characters. Miss Evangelista, anyone?
May 21, 2025
4.25⭐
While staying in Rouen, France to research Joan of Arc, a man spies a woman sitting on bench in the garden while looking out his hotel window. He can’t make out her face but feels intensely drawn to her, nonetheless. When he sees her again, he tries to go down for a better look but is forcefully restrained by the waiter who tells him of her dire history and of what has happened to other men who have fallen similarly under her spell.
While staying in Rouen, France to research Joan of Arc, a man spies a woman sitting on bench in the garden while looking out his hotel window. He can’t make out her face but feels intensely drawn to her, nonetheless. When he sees her again, he tries to go down for a better look but is forcefully restrained by the waiter who tells him of her dire history and of what has happened to other men who have fallen similarly under her spell.
December 26, 2023
Final of three Christmas ghost stories I was trying to get through on Christmas.🫣 Very creepy build-up, kind of a letdown of an ending (you can only cliffhang so hard! Describe that god damn ghost lady!) but c’est la vie, it’s still short ‘n’ sweet and I had fun.
December 5, 2020
A creepy short story of Simon Crutchley and what he saw in the courtyard of a hotel in France...
Well written and atmospheric. A great quick read on a cold winters night...
Well written and atmospheric. A great quick read on a cold winters night...
December 10, 2020
Secondhand stories aren’t always correct, but in this case they just might be!
I was expecting Simon Crutchley to tell his tale to the audience directly. The fact that we learned about it through a group of his neighbours gossiping at a dinner party beginning with the opening scene came as a surprise to me, but it somehow made his experiences even more harrowing than they might have already been.
Humans are good at filling in the gaps when they have some information but not necessarily all of it. Simon’s reaction to his paranormal experience was so life-changing that it made sense his neighbours would speculate about it. While I would have loved to read this from his perspective, it did make sense that he wasn’t up for that given what his neighbours described happening to him.
Gardens aren’t supposed to be scary places, so I was intrigued by how much effort the author put into showing how a lack of sunlight can make what should be a cheerful place to sit and write into a spot that anyone looking for some peace and quiet would best avoid.
By far my favourite part of this story had to do with what happened to people who attempted to see the face of the ghost who was sitting in the sunless garden. This wasn’t something that hauntings typically include, and it added a twist to the plot that I appreciated.
One Who Saw was deliciously chilling. I’d recommend it to everyone who loves ghost stories.
I was expecting Simon Crutchley to tell his tale to the audience directly. The fact that we learned about it through a group of his neighbours gossiping at a dinner party beginning with the opening scene came as a surprise to me, but it somehow made his experiences even more harrowing than they might have already been.
Humans are good at filling in the gaps when they have some information but not necessarily all of it. Simon’s reaction to his paranormal experience was so life-changing that it made sense his neighbours would speculate about it. While I would have loved to read this from his perspective, it did make sense that he wasn’t up for that given what his neighbours described happening to him.
Gardens aren’t supposed to be scary places, so I was intrigued by how much effort the author put into showing how a lack of sunlight can make what should be a cheerful place to sit and write into a spot that anyone looking for some peace and quiet would best avoid.
By far my favourite part of this story had to do with what happened to people who attempted to see the face of the ghost who was sitting in the sunless garden. This wasn’t something that hauntings typically include, and it added a twist to the plot that I appreciated.
One Who Saw was deliciously chilling. I’d recommend it to everyone who loves ghost stories.
December 24, 2024
"One Who Saw" by A.M. Burrage, was published on Christmas, 1931, in his collection, Someone in the Room, under the pseudonym Ex-private X. Burrage was a prolific and wellknown British writer, best known for his horror stories, and this story is widely considered his masterpiece. This is one of Seth's illustrated Ghost Stories for Christmas collection, and I intend to collect them all.
Simon Crutchley, a writer of historical portraits, has been missing for a couple years, and someone mentions this in the pub. Our narrator is curious, and sees that one man, Price, probably knows something about it. The narrator goes to Price's room and Price tells him what he knows of Crutchley, a story within a story.
Crutchley travels to Rouen, France, to write of Joan of Arc; he stays in an out of the way hotel that proves to be unsettling. He sees a woman wearing a hooded cloak with his back turned to him sitting in the enclosed patio and asks about her the next day. She makes the sign of the cross, and a waiter attempts to get him to move from his chosen room. Why? The waiter says that Crutchley is "one who sees," or one with some psychic capacity to see dead people, and the object of his sight he says is a woman who no longer lives, a ghost, who beckons him to his doom.
Crutchley is known as a reasonable chap, not "susceptible" to the supernatural, yet he becomes obsessed with seeing this woman's face. A second meaning of the "one who sees!" The rest of the story I will not relate. I refuse, dear reader, because to tell the tale. . . mais non, it may be too terrible for you! You must read it yourself to become the one who sees!
I had no knowledge of Burrage, but this is a really great story. I ma yhave been a wee bit disappointed by the very end, to me a let down, but I can' complain too much!
Just by the by, I like some of the language in it: Our narrator is said to be deep "in a brown study," and "playing with breadcrumbs" as he wonders about Crutchley, who everyone attests is a "good scout." Later he says of Price, "Our ways lay in the same direction." Just little language things.
Simon Crutchley, a writer of historical portraits, has been missing for a couple years, and someone mentions this in the pub. Our narrator is curious, and sees that one man, Price, probably knows something about it. The narrator goes to Price's room and Price tells him what he knows of Crutchley, a story within a story.
Crutchley travels to Rouen, France, to write of Joan of Arc; he stays in an out of the way hotel that proves to be unsettling. He sees a woman wearing a hooded cloak with his back turned to him sitting in the enclosed patio and asks about her the next day. She makes the sign of the cross, and a waiter attempts to get him to move from his chosen room. Why? The waiter says that Crutchley is "one who sees," or one with some psychic capacity to see dead people, and the object of his sight he says is a woman who no longer lives, a ghost, who beckons him to his doom.
Crutchley is known as a reasonable chap, not "susceptible" to the supernatural, yet he becomes obsessed with seeing this woman's face. A second meaning of the "one who sees!" The rest of the story I will not relate. I refuse, dear reader, because to tell the tale. . . mais non, it may be too terrible for you! You must read it yourself to become the one who sees!
I had no knowledge of Burrage, but this is a really great story. I ma yhave been a wee bit disappointed by the very end, to me a let down, but I can' complain too much!
Just by the by, I like some of the language in it: Our narrator is said to be deep "in a brown study," and "playing with breadcrumbs" as he wonders about Crutchley, who everyone attests is a "good scout." Later he says of Price, "Our ways lay in the same direction." Just little language things.
December 30, 2018
Nice little ghost story for Christmas. Not scary, but creepy and well-written.
I may pick up the others in this series if I can find them at a discount. Seven bucks for a single short story, especially if they’re available elsewhere for much less, is steep regardless of the cute packaging. I do think it’s a great idea to revive interest in the Christmas ghost story tradition, though. As an American, it’s definitely my favorite British institution.
Four stars for the story and four stars for the artwork. I’ll re-read this, for sure.
I may pick up the others in this series if I can find them at a discount. Seven bucks for a single short story, especially if they’re available elsewhere for much less, is steep regardless of the cute packaging. I do think it’s a great idea to revive interest in the Christmas ghost story tradition, though. As an American, it’s definitely my favorite British institution.
Four stars for the story and four stars for the artwork. I’ll re-read this, for sure.
February 8, 2021
This is a short, tight, old fashioned ghost story that would be (and probably is) at home in an anthology of just such stories.
It clocks in at about 40 minutes or so in the audio edition, which is how I read it. I follow a lady who does a lot of audio recordings and this was this first time I recall seeing this author so gave it a listen.
I can't give away too much since it is rather short. It is worth the listen or read if you happen to find it somewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq6qg...
Is the audio version.
It clocks in at about 40 minutes or so in the audio edition, which is how I read it. I follow a lady who does a lot of audio recordings and this was this first time I recall seeing this author so gave it a listen.
I can't give away too much since it is rather short. It is worth the listen or read if you happen to find it somewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq6qg...
Is the audio version.
December 2, 2017
A short story booklet of a story to be told on Christmas! A group gathers for Christmas and wonders where one of the regulars has gone. Well, the story is the ghost story (doesn’t have to do with Xmas) but it’s a fun ghost story.
I guess this was a “thing” to do at Christmas but has since faded. So, if you need to increase the shivers during the season, time to pick up this story and others in the series- A Ghost Story for Christmas : Biblioasis
I guess this was a “thing” to do at Christmas but has since faded. So, if you need to increase the shivers during the season, time to pick up this story and others in the series- A Ghost Story for Christmas : Biblioasis
January 14, 2025
This one deals with a truly evil creature of the supernatural. I appreciated the ghost story but it was sad to have such an evil character manifest itself in a place that I consider sacred due to its being the place where Jeanne d'Arc was tried and put to death (Rouen). I enjoyed the references to Jeanne in the story!
December 28, 2016
It was a cute litle scary story, but compared to some Clive Baker, it wasnt truly chilling... I did like the concept behind it though! Reading a scary story on a Christmas night is such a new and unexpected tradition!
January 7, 2020
Good short fun read with great moments of building tension. The scary bits give you just enough festival to let you fill in the rest of the scariest details.
As others have said, the final line/s of the story are a little bit of off step but not enough to ruin the tale.
As others have said, the final line/s of the story are a little bit of off step but not enough to ruin the tale.
October 23, 2020
A wonderful little ghost story, told, as a lot of older ghost stories seem to be, as a story within a story. The description is beautiful and the mystery of the woman in the garden very intriguing.
It had a great creepy atmosphere and is easy to read. A lovely short story.
It had a great creepy atmosphere and is easy to read. A lovely short story.
June 8, 2022
Appropriately spooky story about a man visiting France for research who stays in an out-of-the-way hotel and sees something he probably shouldn't have. Text covers 43 small pages, the remainder being taken up with Seth's drawings and publisher information.
October 30, 2017
I liked this one. Unfortunately the ending was a bit of a let-down. Felt like a lazy way out.
January 12, 2019
For such a short story (had a few pages of just illustrations and the pages were pocket-sized), it took me a long time to finish. The story does not hold up over time and could’ve been cut in half.
December 27, 2019
Another good horror tale!
January 8, 2021
I thought this was a fairly creepy story, it built quite nicely, and had a good payoff. Well-done.
August 25, 2021
It’s a very classical horror story that doesn’t have any surprising scenes. But I like this good old spooky atmosphere.
November 5, 2021
I enjoyed the story and a lot of character was built in such a short number of pages however the denouement left me wanting.
April 25, 2022
Fun little ghost story. Listened to this on YouTube EnCrypted Classics Horror
June 19, 2022
Good book in a fun, well curated collection of ghost stories
December 24, 2022
Such a cruel fate described in the final line.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews