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The Laughing Skull
In the middle of the night, I woke to a loud rattling sound. A rat, perhaps? But no. As soon as I opened the cupboard door, out popped the skull-landing near my feet and bouncing away right across the drawing room. Ghosts and spirits, prets and jinns abound in this collection of stories. From the skull that refused to be given away to the spirits of long dead hill-station residents and from the mysterious man you meet on a dark road to the malevolent presence at the bottom of a pond-these are some of Ruskin Bond's best stories about the supernatural. Dive under the covers, leave the lights on and lose yourself in these scary, funny and adventurous tales.
- GenresHorror
124 pages, Paperback
Published October 18, 2016
116 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
Ruskin Bond
688 books3,595 followersRuskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. He wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof, when he was seventeen which won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have established him as one of the best-loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
February 11, 2024
Not only for kids. Adults loved it too. I mean who doesn't appreciate Ruskin Bonds writting?
October 13, 2020
A collection of funny ghost stories. These stories are the kind that I used to enjoy as a child and that could take one back to childhood. Narrated in a simple language, covering the kind of ghosts from the Himalayan hills and those from the southern parts of India, this collection is truly Indian with some foreign ghosts
July 29, 2018
This was not a horror story collection AT ALL. I'm super disappointed. I've liked Bond before. Not a fan of his work but didn't expect a "horror" book that hardly phased me.
A lot of short stories around the end felt like a comedy with the addition of a supernatural being. *rolls eyes*
Not recommending for people who are looking for something scary but if ANYTHING scares you, then go ahead and read this. Maybe the terrible disappointment would frighten you.
A lot of short stories around the end felt like a comedy with the addition of a supernatural being. *rolls eyes*
Not recommending for people who are looking for something scary but if ANYTHING scares you, then go ahead and read this. Maybe the terrible disappointment would frighten you.
June 21, 2018
THE LAUGHING SKULL by Ruskin Bond appealed to me at first by the vibrant cover( i know, never judge a book by its cover,but i did!) followed by its delightful description at the back.The book was short in length too ,which appealed to me especially since I'm in a huge reading slump LOL.I'll try to provide a spoiler free review for this book.
PROS:
The book does not disappoint in the writing department.As usual my eyes had the pleasure of reading Mr.Bond's soothing and charming writing style, the crispiness and the old-time like vibe that i always seem to experience from his stories.For me the tales he pens in each of his books are like a balm to the soul in the midst of the fast and polluted lifestyle we go through every day.Most of his tales surround the lovely hill station of Mussoorie.The fairies, ghosts , spectral remains of the colonial past and other otherworldly happenings has placed mussoorie the cynosure of the supernatural and the magical. So far i have read two ghost stories collections by Mr.Bond and almost all of the stories feature "The Queen Of The Hills" ie Mussoorie.I also eagerly look forward to the preface, which is as beautifully written as the stories that succeed it.
The stories are short in length ,some extending up to two-three pages and some ending in one-two pages.Bond's wry sense of humor is evident throughout this collection.Not all of the ghost stories are scary though,which is a plus for me and one of the reasons i bought a copy in the first place(in other words I'm a scardy cat) .The funny,ghostly tales co-exist with the short but chilling ones .Not so frightening if you compare them at Stephen King's level but Bond's muted horror is enough to scare me.
CONS:
I have read some of bond's best works and even had one of his stories in my course, so keeping the best of Bond in mind, THE LAUGHING SKULL falls short of expectations in some cases-
>The book is marketed to be a collection of ghost stories consisting of both humorous and horrifying.Yet i find some stories that definitely do not belong to the horror genre.They rather resemble fables told in bond's trademark style. I'm not complaining too much because I enjoyed those stories as well but it would be nice if the description at the back wasn't slightly misleading.
>I have noticed typos in some passages,although I'm not sure if its in anyone else's copy.
>I ran out of cons LMAO.I love Bond too much <3 <3 <3
In conclusion, this is not the best collection i have read but definitely one of my favorites and I'll be surely rereading it. i may change my mind in the future but for now, i have rated this collection 4/5.
OK , now that I'm done with the technicalities of reviews, I'll go back to wondering about Mr.Bond and what he's doing at the moment.Perhaps he is drinking tea or an African sherry ,sitting comfortably in his quaint and comfy home , in the lap of the mountains and inhaling the clean mountain air .He's probably cooking up plot lines and fables and tales, some fantastical, some horrific, some nostalgic or just plain slice-of-life. Who knows what else he has in his vast imagination. I really wonder if he has really encountered the spirits and the fairies that he writes of so lovingly . i wonder also, that If i asked him directly, would his eyes twinkle ,like he knew a big secret?
PROS:
The book does not disappoint in the writing department.As usual my eyes had the pleasure of reading Mr.Bond's soothing and charming writing style, the crispiness and the old-time like vibe that i always seem to experience from his stories.For me the tales he pens in each of his books are like a balm to the soul in the midst of the fast and polluted lifestyle we go through every day.Most of his tales surround the lovely hill station of Mussoorie.The fairies, ghosts , spectral remains of the colonial past and other otherworldly happenings has placed mussoorie the cynosure of the supernatural and the magical. So far i have read two ghost stories collections by Mr.Bond and almost all of the stories feature "The Queen Of The Hills" ie Mussoorie.I also eagerly look forward to the preface, which is as beautifully written as the stories that succeed it.
The stories are short in length ,some extending up to two-three pages and some ending in one-two pages.Bond's wry sense of humor is evident throughout this collection.Not all of the ghost stories are scary though,which is a plus for me and one of the reasons i bought a copy in the first place(in other words I'm a scardy cat) .The funny,ghostly tales co-exist with the short but chilling ones .Not so frightening if you compare them at Stephen King's level but Bond's muted horror is enough to scare me.
CONS:
I have read some of bond's best works and even had one of his stories in my course, so keeping the best of Bond in mind, THE LAUGHING SKULL falls short of expectations in some cases-
>The book is marketed to be a collection of ghost stories consisting of both humorous and horrifying.Yet i find some stories that definitely do not belong to the horror genre.They rather resemble fables told in bond's trademark style. I'm not complaining too much because I enjoyed those stories as well but it would be nice if the description at the back wasn't slightly misleading.
>I have noticed typos in some passages,although I'm not sure if its in anyone else's copy.
>I ran out of cons LMAO.I love Bond too much <3 <3 <3
In conclusion, this is not the best collection i have read but definitely one of my favorites and I'll be surely rereading it. i may change my mind in the future but for now, i have rated this collection 4/5.
OK , now that I'm done with the technicalities of reviews, I'll go back to wondering about Mr.Bond and what he's doing at the moment.Perhaps he is drinking tea or an African sherry ,sitting comfortably in his quaint and comfy home , in the lap of the mountains and inhaling the clean mountain air .He's probably cooking up plot lines and fables and tales, some fantastical, some horrific, some nostalgic or just plain slice-of-life. Who knows what else he has in his vast imagination. I really wonder if he has really encountered the spirits and the fairies that he writes of so lovingly . i wonder also, that If i asked him directly, would his eyes twinkle ,like he knew a big secret?
June 11, 2023
A collection of stories full of ghosts and spirits, jinns and prets and a laughing skull who grows quite an attachment to the writer.
My favourite amongst this is The Laughing Skull (the title story) and Pret in the house!
My favourite amongst this is The Laughing Skull (the title story) and Pret in the house!
August 2, 2023
Great Horror anthology book by ruskin bond.
November 29, 2020
The Laughing Skull is a collection of short stories. Not all of them are scary of ghost related. Infact, some stories did not have any 'ghostly' presence in them, they were just about unhinged humans doing terrible things.
Since I am a newbie to this genre, this book was simply perfect for me. It's soft horror, so if you are planning to pick it up, don't expect any actual hard hitting horror. The stories still leave you with a weird feeling, some of them actually creeped me out, while others had some really cool, fun ghosts. I enjoyed all of them!
This was my first book by Ruskin Bond and I really loved it. It's a quick read and suitable for all age groups. I would highly recommend this.
Since I am a newbie to this genre, this book was simply perfect for me. It's soft horror, so if you are planning to pick it up, don't expect any actual hard hitting horror. The stories still leave you with a weird feeling, some of them actually creeped me out, while others had some really cool, fun ghosts. I enjoyed all of them!
This was my first book by Ruskin Bond and I really loved it. It's a quick read and suitable for all age groups. I would highly recommend this.
February 2, 2021
Story for children and elders.
This is a fun book to read. Not scarey, children will love it. This are the story present in it.
The Laughing Skull
Susanna’s Seven Husbands
The Overcoat
On Fairy Hill Bhoot-Aunty
A Face in the Dark
Eyes of the Cat
From the Primaeval Past
Some Hill Station Ghosts
Pret in the House
A Traveller’s Tale
The Chakrata Cat
A Dreadful Gurgle
The White Pigeon He Who Rides a Tiger
The Wind on Haunted Hill
He Said it with Arsenic
A Job Well Done
A Face Under the Pillow
A Demon for Work
The Happy Herdsman
The Tiger King’s Gift
The Ghost and the Idiot
The Wicked Guru
This is a fun book to read. Not scarey, children will love it. This are the story present in it.
The Laughing Skull
Susanna’s Seven Husbands
The Overcoat
On Fairy Hill Bhoot-Aunty
A Face in the Dark
Eyes of the Cat
From the Primaeval Past
Some Hill Station Ghosts
Pret in the House
A Traveller’s Tale
The Chakrata Cat
A Dreadful Gurgle
The White Pigeon He Who Rides a Tiger
The Wind on Haunted Hill
He Said it with Arsenic
A Job Well Done
A Face Under the Pillow
A Demon for Work
The Happy Herdsman
The Tiger King’s Gift
The Ghost and the Idiot
The Wicked Guru
September 24, 2020
Abandoned at 40%
utterly boring stories
I don't get how some people can find horror/scariness in this.
Disappointed.
utterly boring stories
I don't get how some people can find horror/scariness in this.
Disappointed.
August 25, 2021
The stories are repeated
December 16, 2021
It’s a collection of Spooky stories.. Few may sound real..😁
April 11, 2023
Must read horror short stories, some with great endings.
Ghosts and spirits, prets and jinns abound in this collection of stories. From the skull that refused to be given away to the spirits of long dead hill-station residents and from the mysterious man you meet on a dark road to the malevolent presence at the bottom of a pond—these are some of Ruskin Bond’s best stories about the supernatural. Dive under the covers, leave the lights on and lose yourself in these scary, funny and adventurous tales.
Ghosts and spirits, prets and jinns abound in this collection of stories. From the skull that refused to be given away to the spirits of long dead hill-station residents and from the mysterious man you meet on a dark road to the malevolent presence at the bottom of a pond—these are some of Ruskin Bond’s best stories about the supernatural. Dive under the covers, leave the lights on and lose yourself in these scary, funny and adventurous tales.
October 27, 2020
This was my 2nd Ruskin Bond Story Collection, the Cover and the Title drew my interest to the Book and when i started reading it, i found it to be really interesting... Some of the Stories have Paranormal with Humor, some are creepy and some other are Really Scary...
Pair that Up With Ruskin Bond sir's beautiful way of storytelling and you get a book with horror that you enjoy reading...
Do try it someday... Not all the stories are Horror but definately enjoyable...
Pair that Up With Ruskin Bond sir's beautiful way of storytelling and you get a book with horror that you enjoy reading...
Do try it someday... Not all the stories are Horror but definately enjoyable...
October 9, 2019
As usual Ruskin Bond tales though simple touch you to the core of your heart. These collection of stories will raise hair on the back of your neck. Some can get too creepy at night. They will even warn you against famous haunts in India. And will perhaps chill your stay further on a trip to mussourie.
November 15, 2020
Decent collection of horror stories that seemed real but only in the beginning or slightly over half of the book. Towards the end of the book, I was just reading fast to finish it as the stories didn’t fall into the very essence of the book and were more like the old ‘kind queen’ and moral stories for kids (the boring ones).
February 26, 2020
Superb stories. Both hair raising and hilarious.
As expected, Mr. Ruskin bond is one of the finest short story writer in india. So thero no question of his book being not as wonderful. Great writing skills with an awesome narrative.
As expected, Mr. Ruskin bond is one of the finest short story writer in india. So thero no question of his book being not as wonderful. Great writing skills with an awesome narrative.
August 5, 2021
If you are looking for some really horror stuff then this book should be avoided by all means. This book is a collection of a number of stories which are only mildly horror. Infact some of the stories are not horror at all. It's a good short read but nothing much to recommend about.
October 2, 2021
Tender and discerning collection of short stories. Could not resist but I completed reading in a single session.
The shift from ghost stories written in first person view to folklores in omnipresent form yet the sifting is so delighting!
The shift from ghost stories written in first person view to folklores in omnipresent form yet the sifting is so delighting!
May 24, 2020
Mostly funny stories rather than scary (except a few) .Definitely recommend
July 6, 2021
Beautifully terrifyingly awesome
This is another one of Ruskin Bond's great books. The writing is awesome. It is very realistic and fictional at the same time
This is another one of Ruskin Bond's great books. The writing is awesome. It is very realistic and fictional at the same time
August 2, 2023
This is the kind of book I won't remember about later on.
Goosebumps books are scarier than these stories.
Goosebumps books are scarier than these stories.
August 14, 2023
Amazing 4.5
December 15, 2024
This one made a hilarious impression in such a short time because great! We've a pet skull in here right now😂.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2017
24 Stories of ghosts, haunting places written in interesting way. Who says ghost stories are to be scary only if you want to experience funny ghost/scary stories read this book.
November 16, 2016
Ruskin Bond is a well acclaimed author and most loved children’s writer in India. Most of our childhood days have been filled with the stories of Ruskin Bond. His short stories with little added horror and humor have always been a fascinating experience for any children then and now. One would always wonder how Ruskin Bond manages to write such simple, joyous tales all the time. Each and every story that he has written is refreshing. Stories that are mild horror and filled with fragrant smell of nature makes anyone wants to read again and again.
The Laughing Skull, though it is the title of the book, it is the first story. This is a funny story of a Skull that the author received from his doctor nephew. He put that skull on a mantelpiece at his home. Slowly, he felt that he was being watched by this skull. Feeling little strange, author decided to put that skull in a cupboard. After few moments, the cupboard started shaking violently, and the skull just popped out of cupboard and started bouncing up and down. Feeling little scared, the author wraps this skull in a box and tries to send it back to his nephew and goes to post office to deliver it. Within minutes of dropping this box at the post office, the skull started chasing the author straight out of the box. Author then decides to put that skull inside a football and gave it to a school. Felt relieved for few days, author started to miss this skull. It was an odd feeling. So, he decides to search this skull and get it back to his home. In his quest, he goes to a fortune teller and was surprised to find his skull lying with him. With enough persuasions and monetary compensation, author was able to successfully retrieve his skull from that fortune teller and kept that skull on the same mantelpiece in his home and felt an odd relaxation that he has never felt before.
The book is full of such suspense filled stories. We also get to read few stories like two brothers story that is full of morale. Story about an idiot husband, vicious wife and a helpful ghost. Story about a haunted swimming pool. Story of a paranormal pillow, etc… It is quite fascinating to go back in the days when such simple stories were filled with enough horror, suspense and thrill. I had similar experience even now while reading this collection.
Read the full review here.
Note: This book was given to me by the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.
The Laughing Skull, though it is the title of the book, it is the first story. This is a funny story of a Skull that the author received from his doctor nephew. He put that skull on a mantelpiece at his home. Slowly, he felt that he was being watched by this skull. Feeling little strange, author decided to put that skull in a cupboard. After few moments, the cupboard started shaking violently, and the skull just popped out of cupboard and started bouncing up and down. Feeling little scared, the author wraps this skull in a box and tries to send it back to his nephew and goes to post office to deliver it. Within minutes of dropping this box at the post office, the skull started chasing the author straight out of the box. Author then decides to put that skull inside a football and gave it to a school. Felt relieved for few days, author started to miss this skull. It was an odd feeling. So, he decides to search this skull and get it back to his home. In his quest, he goes to a fortune teller and was surprised to find his skull lying with him. With enough persuasions and monetary compensation, author was able to successfully retrieve his skull from that fortune teller and kept that skull on the same mantelpiece in his home and felt an odd relaxation that he has never felt before.
The book is full of such suspense filled stories. We also get to read few stories like two brothers story that is full of morale. Story about an idiot husband, vicious wife and a helpful ghost. Story about a haunted swimming pool. Story of a paranormal pillow, etc… It is quite fascinating to go back in the days when such simple stories were filled with enough horror, suspense and thrill. I had similar experience even now while reading this collection.
Read the full review here.
Note: This book was given to me by the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.
January 21, 2020
All the stories belong to light horror genre. There are a lot of spooky creatures from ghosts,monsters to shape shifters.
Hah! What to say about this book? Should I say about the delicious writing style or should I say about how creepy yet beautiful the stories where?
One word: A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!
Hah! What to say about this book? Should I say about the delicious writing style or should I say about how creepy yet beautiful the stories where?
One word: A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!
June 14, 2021
Another superb collection of short stories by my favourite author. Hard to put down once started.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews