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Tales
Ghostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories of the Victorian Age
A vengeful phantom lurks in a country graveyard. A whaling crew becomes trapped on a haunted ship. A human skull is kept locked in a cupboard, but sometimes at night, it screams. . . .
This collection of tales transports the reader to a time when staircases creaked in old manor houses, and a candle could be blown out by a gust of wind, or by a passing ghost. Penned by some of the greatest Victorian novelists and masters of the ghost story genre, each story is illustrated with exquisitely eerie artwork in this special ebook.
This collection of tales transports the reader to a time when staircases creaked in old manor houses, and a candle could be blown out by a gust of wind, or by a passing ghost. Penned by some of the greatest Victorian novelists and masters of the ghost story genre, each story is illustrated with exquisitely eerie artwork in this special ebook.
194 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2017
389 people are currently reading
3547 people want to read
About the author
M.R. James
1,520 books909 followersMontague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted English mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
June 29, 2020
First Read: July 2017, Rating: 5/5 stars
Second Read: April 2020, Rating: 5/5 stars
This is a book to be adored! The physical beauty of the cover alone was enough to make me give this book 5/5 stars, but discovering the infamous authors whose work lines its interior made my heart palpitate with joy.
Seven chilling tales grace its pages and each are of a unique variety, although they are all linked by their unsettling nature. Asides from being treated to snippets from some of the most masterful Victorian storytellers, each tale is also adorned with a beautiful full-page illustration that adds to the book’s physical appeal and wonderfully portrays the chilling nature of each story.
Of all seven tales, there is not one I didn’t enjoy. Each was delivered in the author’s own unique style of penmanship and yet they seemed to flow seamlessly from each other, until they combined into delivering a permeation of disquiet that enfolded the reader into its chilling caress.
These are stories to be absorbed slowly; to ponder at their ending and mull over the symbology in the text. They are also equally enjoyable when marathoned in one twenty-four sitting due to the unputdownable nature of their contents, just as I did!
Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad by M. R. James – 4/5 stars
Aside from hearing the clunky and in my opinion unappealing-sounding title, I had never previously read any M. R. James so I had no idea what to expect from this. What I did discover was that it begun with such a unique voice that I was immediately intrigued. Almost at the story’s very beginning did the narrative voice intrude into the tale to give a focused direction to the reader:
“It was, as you might suppose, a person of antiquarian pursuits that said this, but, since he merely appears in this prologue, there is no need to give his entitlements.”
This strong stylistic approach had me convinced in the teller of the tale if, not yet, the tale itself. Soon, however, the both combined to make unputdownable reading.
The story concerns Parkins and his prolonged stay at a seaside hotel to enjoy some uninterrupted writing and day-time golfing. During one such golfing excursions he discovers a curious whistle inside some ruins and what follows is a tale of growing suspense with an eerie close.
Little actual horror occurs in this tale, until the final pages, but this allows the slow creep of terror to slowly bind its chill hands over the reader’s heart until the concluding final squeeze. There is also little structure given to the unnamed horror that haunts the protagonist, which allows the reader’s imagination to run rife with its own conjured terrors and thus it became a far more chilling tale than it initially appeared. The eerie quality of this tale progresses slowly but closes fairly happily, which my macabre sensibilities would have preferred otherwise.
The Old Nurse’s Story by Elizabeth Gaskell – 5/5 stars
Before beginning this I was already well acquainted with and a huge fan of Gaskell’s writing so this was, perhaps, the tale I was most eager to read. It began with a direct narration to the reader, much as the last one did. The reader is placed in the position of the nurse’s young charges, as she relates the tale of their mother in her youth.
The young Rosamund, after her parent’s early demise, was sent to live in grand Furnivall Manor. Her nurse and one remaining friend, who tells this tale, was obliged to travel with her. Asides from two elderly spinsters and a handful of servants, the manor lies devoid of life. But, perhaps, not devoid of the afterlife…
The beginning was typical of a Gothic tale, where many of the protagonists are divorced from their protectors and most of the settings are in isolated yet grand locations. The many undiscovered corners to their new abode made for an eerie and exciting backdrop, full of much apprehension of what the shadows could contain.
If the last tale was stark with description this was much the opposite. The elderly inhabitants of the Manor and “the wildness of the house” were depicted for the reader in much detail, and this focused imagery proved to heighten the horrors described.
The nurse’s young charge provided an endearing aspect to the tale and these feelings of love soon conflicted with the growing horror that followed. I found this conflict to be powerful in relaying the terrors of the tale to the reader. The sense of dread was palpable and I turned the pages in double-quick time, anxious to see these beloved characters come to no harm. This was the most terrifying and, thus, my favourite read in this anthology.
The Signalman by Charles Dickens – 5/5 stars
Another renowned Victorian author graces the pages of this book but sadly one I have not had the pleasure of reading before.
This short story begins with no preamble and I was initially a little confused as to the placement of the piece. I soon grasped the simple concept of this, involving a man conversing with a signalman for the railway service over the particulars of his job. It also becomes quickly apparent that the nameless signalman’s livelihood and mental well-being is dogged by a distant spectre, warning him of a future danger. Both the figure and the possible danger haunts both characters until the story’s shocking close.
As in the narrator’s own words, I was initially “resisting the touch of a slow frozen fingers tracing out my spine.” This didn’t seem to hold as many early connotations of eeriness as the previous pieces but, perhaps due to this, had the most shocking and powerful of endings. I stared, open-mouthed, long after the story’s culmination at how cleverly Dickens had played his reader!
The Body-Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson – 4/5 stars
This is the only story in the collection that I had previously read before, although I remembered little about it. This involved the remembrances from a drunken Fettes, about his antics whilst at medical school. A bright student, he quickly rose to the top of his class and was engaged as the lab’s assistant. This involved procuring the good behaviour of the other students, overlooking the cleanliness and upkeep of the lab, and obtaining the bodies for daytime dissection from sinister midnight visitors. This last job was the most distasteful, but even more so upon his discovery of how exactly the bodies were provided for his fellow future doctors.
This was, for me, the least ghostly of all the tales, but that is not to say that it was not grisly. I found this thrilling rather than haunting, as Fettes past was dually recounted to the reader and the protagonist’s companions. I felt no creeping feelings of dread, however, but this may have been due to my reading this story before.
The ending I had guessed at but that didn’t take away from its skilful brilliance. The open-ended nature of the reasoning behind the conclusion allows the reader to feel dread after reading the story rather than during it. Left to our own interpretations, it is for the reader’s own imagination to decide whether the occurrence are merely coincidental, fate, or the supernatural at play.
The Captain of the Pole-Star by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – 4/5 stars
This story was formulated in journal style entries by another man of medicine, but this time one on board the ship, the Pole-Star. John M’Alister Ray lies on board a vessel stranded far out at sea within hills of ice. The crew are all struck by some unknowable fear, of which their captain seems the most distraught. John relays his disbelief to the reader and has concerns over the others’ soundness of mind. His fears for the captain’s sanity, especially, progress until the story’s final, awful close.
This was, again, another enjoyable narrative due to the prowess of the renowned storyteller who penned it. I expected nothing less, after having read numerous Sherlock Holmes stories, but it was still interesting to read Conan Doyle’s writing outside of the crime speciality and see how adept he was at other genres.
This story also provided a nice change of pace, in this anthology, as it was more of a slower-paced tale. It was still a wonderful story but was more of a mystery than a horror tale. The open-ended nature of the ending meant that the reader could defer their own conclusions to this fact.
The Phantom Coach by Amelia B. Edwards – 5/5 stars
Is there a more chilling premise than that of the midnight wanderer, making his lonely journey home through the blankets of snow that mask the surroundings into obscurity?
It was a given that I was going to fall in love with this story as its beginning bore such a stark resemblance to my favourite book, ‘Wuthering Heights’. This quickly altered into a dissection of belief vs. proof and was a fitting story to add towards the close of this anthology. All that had gone before, along with its modern-day readership, seemed discussed in a few well-penned phrases:
“The world, he said, “grows more and more sceptical of all that lies beyond its own narrow radius; and our men of science foster the fatal tendency. The condemn as fable all that resists experiment. They reject as false all that cannot be brought to the test of the laboratory or the dissecting-room. Against what superstition have they waged so long and obstinate a war, as against the belief in apparition? And yet what superstition has maintained its hold upon the minds of men so long and so firmly?”
The Screaming Skull by F. Mario Crawford – 5/5 stars
This begun with no preamble and chilling imagery that continued to haunt both the protagonist and myself. The skull from the story’s title did indeed scream for the entire duration of the piece and I found the premise of this almost too chilling to finish reading at 3am whilst home alone!
Repetition is used throughout the piece, which put the reader in place of the protagonist who feels the chill creep of impending doom looming ever closer, as the story goes on. Pages were turned, seconds ticked by, and the shadows around me took on sinister forms as the horrors of the page turned to terrors of my own mind’s making.
Second Read: April 2020, Rating: 5/5 stars
This is a book to be adored! The physical beauty of the cover alone was enough to make me give this book 5/5 stars, but discovering the infamous authors whose work lines its interior made my heart palpitate with joy.
Seven chilling tales grace its pages and each are of a unique variety, although they are all linked by their unsettling nature. Asides from being treated to snippets from some of the most masterful Victorian storytellers, each tale is also adorned with a beautiful full-page illustration that adds to the book’s physical appeal and wonderfully portrays the chilling nature of each story.
Of all seven tales, there is not one I didn’t enjoy. Each was delivered in the author’s own unique style of penmanship and yet they seemed to flow seamlessly from each other, until they combined into delivering a permeation of disquiet that enfolded the reader into its chilling caress.
These are stories to be absorbed slowly; to ponder at their ending and mull over the symbology in the text. They are also equally enjoyable when marathoned in one twenty-four sitting due to the unputdownable nature of their contents, just as I did!
Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad by M. R. James – 4/5 stars
Aside from hearing the clunky and in my opinion unappealing-sounding title, I had never previously read any M. R. James so I had no idea what to expect from this. What I did discover was that it begun with such a unique voice that I was immediately intrigued. Almost at the story’s very beginning did the narrative voice intrude into the tale to give a focused direction to the reader:
“It was, as you might suppose, a person of antiquarian pursuits that said this, but, since he merely appears in this prologue, there is no need to give his entitlements.”
This strong stylistic approach had me convinced in the teller of the tale if, not yet, the tale itself. Soon, however, the both combined to make unputdownable reading.
The story concerns Parkins and his prolonged stay at a seaside hotel to enjoy some uninterrupted writing and day-time golfing. During one such golfing excursions he discovers a curious whistle inside some ruins and what follows is a tale of growing suspense with an eerie close.
Little actual horror occurs in this tale, until the final pages, but this allows the slow creep of terror to slowly bind its chill hands over the reader’s heart until the concluding final squeeze. There is also little structure given to the unnamed horror that haunts the protagonist, which allows the reader’s imagination to run rife with its own conjured terrors and thus it became a far more chilling tale than it initially appeared. The eerie quality of this tale progresses slowly but closes fairly happily, which my macabre sensibilities would have preferred otherwise.
The Old Nurse’s Story by Elizabeth Gaskell – 5/5 stars
Before beginning this I was already well acquainted with and a huge fan of Gaskell’s writing so this was, perhaps, the tale I was most eager to read. It began with a direct narration to the reader, much as the last one did. The reader is placed in the position of the nurse’s young charges, as she relates the tale of their mother in her youth.
The young Rosamund, after her parent’s early demise, was sent to live in grand Furnivall Manor. Her nurse and one remaining friend, who tells this tale, was obliged to travel with her. Asides from two elderly spinsters and a handful of servants, the manor lies devoid of life. But, perhaps, not devoid of the afterlife…
The beginning was typical of a Gothic tale, where many of the protagonists are divorced from their protectors and most of the settings are in isolated yet grand locations. The many undiscovered corners to their new abode made for an eerie and exciting backdrop, full of much apprehension of what the shadows could contain.
If the last tale was stark with description this was much the opposite. The elderly inhabitants of the Manor and “the wildness of the house” were depicted for the reader in much detail, and this focused imagery proved to heighten the horrors described.
The nurse’s young charge provided an endearing aspect to the tale and these feelings of love soon conflicted with the growing horror that followed. I found this conflict to be powerful in relaying the terrors of the tale to the reader. The sense of dread was palpable and I turned the pages in double-quick time, anxious to see these beloved characters come to no harm. This was the most terrifying and, thus, my favourite read in this anthology.
The Signalman by Charles Dickens – 5/5 stars
Another renowned Victorian author graces the pages of this book but sadly one I have not had the pleasure of reading before.
This short story begins with no preamble and I was initially a little confused as to the placement of the piece. I soon grasped the simple concept of this, involving a man conversing with a signalman for the railway service over the particulars of his job. It also becomes quickly apparent that the nameless signalman’s livelihood and mental well-being is dogged by a distant spectre, warning him of a future danger. Both the figure and the possible danger haunts both characters until the story’s shocking close.
As in the narrator’s own words, I was initially “resisting the touch of a slow frozen fingers tracing out my spine.” This didn’t seem to hold as many early connotations of eeriness as the previous pieces but, perhaps due to this, had the most shocking and powerful of endings. I stared, open-mouthed, long after the story’s culmination at how cleverly Dickens had played his reader!
The Body-Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson – 4/5 stars
This is the only story in the collection that I had previously read before, although I remembered little about it. This involved the remembrances from a drunken Fettes, about his antics whilst at medical school. A bright student, he quickly rose to the top of his class and was engaged as the lab’s assistant. This involved procuring the good behaviour of the other students, overlooking the cleanliness and upkeep of the lab, and obtaining the bodies for daytime dissection from sinister midnight visitors. This last job was the most distasteful, but even more so upon his discovery of how exactly the bodies were provided for his fellow future doctors.
This was, for me, the least ghostly of all the tales, but that is not to say that it was not grisly. I found this thrilling rather than haunting, as Fettes past was dually recounted to the reader and the protagonist’s companions. I felt no creeping feelings of dread, however, but this may have been due to my reading this story before.
The ending I had guessed at but that didn’t take away from its skilful brilliance. The open-ended nature of the reasoning behind the conclusion allows the reader to feel dread after reading the story rather than during it. Left to our own interpretations, it is for the reader’s own imagination to decide whether the occurrence are merely coincidental, fate, or the supernatural at play.
The Captain of the Pole-Star by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – 4/5 stars
This story was formulated in journal style entries by another man of medicine, but this time one on board the ship, the Pole-Star. John M’Alister Ray lies on board a vessel stranded far out at sea within hills of ice. The crew are all struck by some unknowable fear, of which their captain seems the most distraught. John relays his disbelief to the reader and has concerns over the others’ soundness of mind. His fears for the captain’s sanity, especially, progress until the story’s final, awful close.
This was, again, another enjoyable narrative due to the prowess of the renowned storyteller who penned it. I expected nothing less, after having read numerous Sherlock Holmes stories, but it was still interesting to read Conan Doyle’s writing outside of the crime speciality and see how adept he was at other genres.
This story also provided a nice change of pace, in this anthology, as it was more of a slower-paced tale. It was still a wonderful story but was more of a mystery than a horror tale. The open-ended nature of the ending meant that the reader could defer their own conclusions to this fact.
The Phantom Coach by Amelia B. Edwards – 5/5 stars
Is there a more chilling premise than that of the midnight wanderer, making his lonely journey home through the blankets of snow that mask the surroundings into obscurity?
It was a given that I was going to fall in love with this story as its beginning bore such a stark resemblance to my favourite book, ‘Wuthering Heights’. This quickly altered into a dissection of belief vs. proof and was a fitting story to add towards the close of this anthology. All that had gone before, along with its modern-day readership, seemed discussed in a few well-penned phrases:
“The world, he said, “grows more and more sceptical of all that lies beyond its own narrow radius; and our men of science foster the fatal tendency. The condemn as fable all that resists experiment. They reject as false all that cannot be brought to the test of the laboratory or the dissecting-room. Against what superstition have they waged so long and obstinate a war, as against the belief in apparition? And yet what superstition has maintained its hold upon the minds of men so long and so firmly?”
The Screaming Skull by F. Mario Crawford – 5/5 stars
This begun with no preamble and chilling imagery that continued to haunt both the protagonist and myself. The skull from the story’s title did indeed scream for the entire duration of the piece and I found the premise of this almost too chilling to finish reading at 3am whilst home alone!
Repetition is used throughout the piece, which put the reader in place of the protagonist who feels the chill creep of impending doom looming ever closer, as the story goes on. Pages were turned, seconds ticked by, and the shadows around me took on sinister forms as the horrors of the page turned to terrors of my own mind’s making.
October 15, 2021
This atmospheric collection features the following 7 Victorian spooky stories:
1) Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad - M.R. James
2) The Old Nurse's Story - Elizabeth Gaskell
3) The Signalman - Charles Dickens
4) The Body-Snatcher - Robert Louis Stevenson
5) The Captain of the Pole-Star - Arthur Conan Doyle
6) The Phantom Coach - Amelia B. Edwards
7) The Screaming Skull - Francis Marion Crawford
Some I knew about (though I had never read them in full so I didn't know the details), others were entirely new to me. All of them were nicely atmospheric for the foggy season, crisp nights spent wrapped in a blanket, and reading by candle night.
Moreover, each story features a nice illustration at the beginning. Here are a few examples:
A very nice way to spend a few hours or even several days if you wanna make it last - the nice way this edition was made certainly invites you to do that.
1) Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad - M.R. James
2) The Old Nurse's Story - Elizabeth Gaskell
3) The Signalman - Charles Dickens
4) The Body-Snatcher - Robert Louis Stevenson
5) The Captain of the Pole-Star - Arthur Conan Doyle
6) The Phantom Coach - Amelia B. Edwards
7) The Screaming Skull - Francis Marion Crawford
Some I knew about (though I had never read them in full so I didn't know the details), others were entirely new to me. All of them were nicely atmospheric for the foggy season, crisp nights spent wrapped in a blanket, and reading by candle night.
Moreover, each story features a nice illustration at the beginning. Here are a few examples:
A very nice way to spend a few hours or even several days if you wanna make it last - the nice way this edition was made certainly invites you to do that.
October 13, 2023
Overall Rating: ✨ 4.5 stars ✨
The Victorians had quite the obsession with death and the supernatural, so the existence of these stories excites me to no avail! These are the tales you read wrapped up in a blanket in the middle of the night by candlelight.
🕯️Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cozy Victorian ghost tale. A disbeliever in the supernatural, Parkins the professor, finds a strange whistle with a puzzling inscription. After innocently blowing the whistle, bizarre happenings occur.
“Extraordinary wind, that, we had last night,” he said. “In my old home we should have said someone had been whistling for it.”
🕯️The Old Nurse’s Story - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Another amazing Victorian ghost tale. A nurse tells us the story of her experience caring for a child in a house full of unresolved traumatic history. Wow, this one was so good. Beautifully written. Full of lessons. Don’t ever follow someone silently beckoning for you to follow them!!!??
“Alas! Alas! What is done in youth can never be undone in age! What is done in youth can never be undone in age!”
🕯️The Signalman - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
What would you do if you were getting messages from the beyond? How would you make others believe you especially if it was life saving? The signalman story explores this possibility.
🕯️The Body Snatcher - ⭐⭐⭐
A sinister tale in the days of grave robberies that examines the ethics of medicine and science advancement and the profiting from evil acts.
🕯️ The Captain of the Pole-Star - ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
This was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the famous Sherlock Holmes. This is the first piece of work I’ve read by him. So what happens when superstition outbreaks on a ship of tired and lonely men? Is it really a cursed ship? Or is it imagination?
“He has told me several times that the thought of death was a pleasant one to him, which is a sad thing for a young man to say..”
🕯️The Phantom Coach - ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Oh, this was another great one! The moors on a snowy night. A ghostly coach. Perfect! Just perfect!
🕯️The Screaming Skull - ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
“Things always look differently by daylight, don’t they?”
Another skeptic, nonbeliever facing a haunting! The haunting of a screaming skull! The captain here directly speaks to his readers making this one even more eerie. It’s like you are present in the actual story!
The Victorians had quite the obsession with death and the supernatural, so the existence of these stories excites me to no avail! These are the tales you read wrapped up in a blanket in the middle of the night by candlelight.
🕯️Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cozy Victorian ghost tale. A disbeliever in the supernatural, Parkins the professor, finds a strange whistle with a puzzling inscription. After innocently blowing the whistle, bizarre happenings occur.
“Extraordinary wind, that, we had last night,” he said. “In my old home we should have said someone had been whistling for it.”
🕯️The Old Nurse’s Story - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Another amazing Victorian ghost tale. A nurse tells us the story of her experience caring for a child in a house full of unresolved traumatic history. Wow, this one was so good. Beautifully written. Full of lessons. Don’t ever follow someone silently beckoning for you to follow them!!!??
“Alas! Alas! What is done in youth can never be undone in age! What is done in youth can never be undone in age!”
🕯️The Signalman - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
What would you do if you were getting messages from the beyond? How would you make others believe you especially if it was life saving? The signalman story explores this possibility.
🕯️The Body Snatcher - ⭐⭐⭐
A sinister tale in the days of grave robberies that examines the ethics of medicine and science advancement and the profiting from evil acts.
🕯️ The Captain of the Pole-Star - ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
This was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the famous Sherlock Holmes. This is the first piece of work I’ve read by him. So what happens when superstition outbreaks on a ship of tired and lonely men? Is it really a cursed ship? Or is it imagination?
“He has told me several times that the thought of death was a pleasant one to him, which is a sad thing for a young man to say..”
🕯️The Phantom Coach - ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Oh, this was another great one! The moors on a snowy night. A ghostly coach. Perfect! Just perfect!
🕯️The Screaming Skull - ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
“Things always look differently by daylight, don’t they?”
Another skeptic, nonbeliever facing a haunting! The haunting of a screaming skull! The captain here directly speaks to his readers making this one even more eerie. It’s like you are present in the actual story!
October 31, 2017
An enjoyable and interesting read, with some great Victorian ghost stories. I especially enjoyed 'The Caption of the Pole Star'.
July 18, 2017
Despite enjoying writing from the Victorian era, only one of the stories in this book was one I have read before, the Robert Louis Stevenson one. I really liked his works as a youth, so read just about everything of his I could get my hands on. However, that was so long ago, despite The Body-Snatcher being a re-read, it was as if I was reading it for the first time. I wasn't that into horror/terror, which might be why the other stories were new to me.
Averaging out my ratings for each of these stories is about 3.14, so I had to go with 3 stars, to be honest, though this is a very good collection, typical of that time period. I just love the writing style, the tone, the verbiage, the characterization and setting of that time frame. People just don't write like that anymore. It's good to grow, but never forget the past!
Good, solid collection that I recommend to those who have an interest in the era and in horror. Though more suspenseful horror, as it's not the blood/guts/gore we are used to today. More psychological I would say. More atmospheric. Not a bad grouping, but there are only seven stories in this collection and two lower starred stories brought the rest of it down to 3 stars for me.
My thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.
Averaging out my ratings for each of these stories is about 3.14, so I had to go with 3 stars, to be honest, though this is a very good collection, typical of that time period. I just love the writing style, the tone, the verbiage, the characterization and setting of that time frame. People just don't write like that anymore. It's good to grow, but never forget the past!
Good, solid collection that I recommend to those who have an interest in the era and in horror. Though more suspenseful horror, as it's not the blood/guts/gore we are used to today. More psychological I would say. More atmospheric. Not a bad grouping, but there are only seven stories in this collection and two lower starred stories brought the rest of it down to 3 stars for me.
My thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.
October 15, 2017
Very good selection of stories.
October 10, 2025
7 Victorian ghost stories by various authors. I thought the narrator was alright, but that i really shouldn't read older English via audiobook; i found my mind wandering more than once.
Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad, by M.R. James: the most famous of James' stories, and the first time i've got my hands on it. A very down-to-earth academic takes a holiday on the coast to work on his golf game. One night he finds a small metal whistle among some ancient ruins overlooking the shore and strange things begin happening...unmade beds, faces at windows, figures in the distance. Quis est iste qui uenit? 4.5 stars.
The Old Nurse's Story, by Elizabeth Gaskell: after the death of her parents, young Rosamund and her nursemaid Hester move into Furnivall Manor, a large drafty house with eerie happenings. A musicianless organ plays away on stormy nights, and a small wounded child appears at the windows...a tragic tale soon unfolds about the history of the house and its occupants. 3 stars.
The Signalman, by Charles Dickens: a classic. a railway signalman posted to an isolated stretch of track tells of strange apparitions and the tragedies that follow them. a re-read. 4 stars.
The Body-Snatcher, by Robert Louis Stevenson: skipped in this edition as I've already read it twice.
The Captain of the Pole-Star, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: a whaling vessel caught up in the ice flows of the North is visited by disturbing sounds and sights. Narrated through the writings of a young medical man accompanying the voyage. Captain Craigie, an eccentric man old beyond his years, seems to find special meaning in these supernatural signs...3.5 stars.
The Phantom Coach, by Amelia B. Edwards: a man out hunting finds himself far from home as dark falls and snow begins. Desperate for shelter, he stumbles upon a strange household miles from any village. A reclusive scholar gives him dinner and tells him of a mail coach whose route crosses nearby; the hunter also learns of a tragic accident that occurred several years past in which several lives aboard the coach were lost. a very creepy ending. 3.5 stars.
The Screaming Skull, by F. Marion Crawford: first-person narration. The narrator, an old sailor, lives in a house tormented by the screaming skull of the woman who was murdered there. The narrator tries in vain to explain away the phenomenon, putting it down to wind and servants and coincidence, but ultimately must face the truth about the death, skull, and his own part in it. 4 stars.
A very good collection of stories better read physically (in my opinion). 3.5 stars.
Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad, by M.R. James: the most famous of James' stories, and the first time i've got my hands on it. A very down-to-earth academic takes a holiday on the coast to work on his golf game. One night he finds a small metal whistle among some ancient ruins overlooking the shore and strange things begin happening...unmade beds, faces at windows, figures in the distance. Quis est iste qui uenit? 4.5 stars.
The Old Nurse's Story, by Elizabeth Gaskell: after the death of her parents, young Rosamund and her nursemaid Hester move into Furnivall Manor, a large drafty house with eerie happenings. A musicianless organ plays away on stormy nights, and a small wounded child appears at the windows...a tragic tale soon unfolds about the history of the house and its occupants. 3 stars.
The Signalman, by Charles Dickens: a classic. a railway signalman posted to an isolated stretch of track tells of strange apparitions and the tragedies that follow them. a re-read. 4 stars.
The Body-Snatcher, by Robert Louis Stevenson: skipped in this edition as I've already read it twice.
The Captain of the Pole-Star, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: a whaling vessel caught up in the ice flows of the North is visited by disturbing sounds and sights. Narrated through the writings of a young medical man accompanying the voyage. Captain Craigie, an eccentric man old beyond his years, seems to find special meaning in these supernatural signs...3.5 stars.
The Phantom Coach, by Amelia B. Edwards: a man out hunting finds himself far from home as dark falls and snow begins. Desperate for shelter, he stumbles upon a strange household miles from any village. A reclusive scholar gives him dinner and tells him of a mail coach whose route crosses nearby; the hunter also learns of a tragic accident that occurred several years past in which several lives aboard the coach were lost. a very creepy ending. 3.5 stars.
The Screaming Skull, by F. Marion Crawford: first-person narration. The narrator, an old sailor, lives in a house tormented by the screaming skull of the woman who was murdered there. The narrator tries in vain to explain away the phenomenon, putting it down to wind and servants and coincidence, but ultimately must face the truth about the death, skull, and his own part in it. 4 stars.
A very good collection of stories better read physically (in my opinion). 3.5 stars.
September 13, 2021
3.5⭐. Baisi nelikās, bet novērtēju autoru fantāziju un valodu.
November 26, 2024
Now, while I read and rate these, I will remember, that these are all 19th-century horror and ghost stories. I will try my best to put on my Victorian hat and immerse myself in what our historical reader counterparts would have deemed well-written and/or scary.
1. Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad - M.R. James
4 stars
In M.R. James's story, we follow a young Professor who goes on vacation to a moor with the purpose of chilling and bettering his golfing techniques.
He tells his university colleagues before leaving and is met with two responses.
1. A friend offers to come stay with him.
When he declines the offer, the friend implies that ghosts are roaming this moor and he shouldn't be alone.
2. Another friend asks him to go check out a local digging ground because that's where he is heading in the summer and would like to know what awaits him...
Our Prof. is very against all the ucky-spoky spiritual stories and brushes the first friend off, thinking he is saying that out of spite.
However, later, once he arrives at the guesthouse, he discovers that there might be something in those warnings after all.
While he reviews the digging site, he finds a whistle and as the story's title suggests, something will come to you if you blow the damn thing. (may that be a ghost, a demon, or some bedsheets.. something will come)
His luck is with the colonel who resides at the same guest house as he and who is more wise when it comes to the otherworld.
James's approach is very tongue-in-cheek and will crack you up from time to time.
Sadly, it's not so heavy-handed in the horror department - but what do I know - this story would have probably scared a child or two in the 18 hundreds.
All in all, it's a 4.
It's an atmospheric late November tale that takes place near the seaside and it's fun to read.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. The Old Nurse's Story - Elizabeth Gaskell
3.5 stars
This is a tale of a nursery maid, who loses her employers and is left with only the girls she looks after. Because she is currently narrating this story to the children of this girl, you expect nothing to happen to her.. so the stakes in this story are super low.
The young girl is taken in by a relative of the family and is shipped off to a secluded manor, where the current lady of the house lost her father and sister the same year and ever since is sombre and sad, just like the weather that is mostly upon the moors around her manor.
While there, the little girl sees another little girl, who tricks her into going outside in the cold and almost freezing to death. And while the nursery maid has a strong suspicion that this might be an Apparition, on top of that, the organ in the foyer plays on its own every night. The colder it gets outside, the louder the organ plays.
Of course, there is some hidden family drama which stirs past up the ghosts of the family - literally in this case - and it's up to the nursery maid to make sure the little mistress doesn't die.
The atmosphere is splendidly gothic and dark - this is the perfect late Autumn tale.
Sadly, however, it is lacking in the horror category. And while the ghosts appear in this story in comparison to the first one I've read, it's still not enough for even the tiniest of frights...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. The Signalman - Charles Dickens
3.5 stars
OK - have you ever watched X Factor?
This felt very much like one of their episodes.
Because it's super short and very hard to explain without spoiling it, SPOILER warning is in full effect for this review.
We follow a guy who works for the railway company, who needs to do general checks of the Singlaman posts to make sure everything is OK with them.
The post he visits is down from a hill next to the tunnel in the mountain. He yells down when he sees the signalman allocated to this post to warn him that he is descending.
Once he arrives, he can see that the worker is in distress and tries to find out what happened.
He finds out that the signalman saw a ghost two times. Each time the ghost appears on the top of the hill and shouts down to him to look out and covers his face. Once the ghost disappears something bad happens. He had seen this ghost two times already, followed by some disaster shortly after. He is now worried because the ghost appeared that day, but nothing bad happened so far, so he is on edge waiting for something to go wrong.
The protagonist visits the signalman two more times - the third time he finds him dead, hit by a train. It looks like someone was standing on the hill when this happened and yelled to warn him, and because the signalman did not react, the other chap covered his face to avoid seeing the signalman being hit by a train.
In conclusion, the signalman did not see a ghost, he kept seeing the last image before he died as a sort of premonition... like I said, very X Files this one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. The Body-Snatcher - Robert Louis Stevenson
4 stars
This does give you the hibby-jibbies, even if nothing super scary happens.
Our narrator, with his two friends, a landlord and a doctor, sits in the pub on a specific night of the week as a tradition. The doctor friend is a brandy lover, he usually has 5 glasses and returns home.
On this occasion, however, he hears that another doctor is leaving the house above the pub, recognises the name, jumps from his seat and has a confrontation with the chap. His friends wonder what that was about and our narrator later finds out everything and tells us, the reader.
The two men used to work as body snatchers for a university back in their study years and did a few bad things together. Sometimes, they went for the bodies to the cemetery, other times the bodies were brought to them - and while the second was a simpler exchange, they both suspected that the people they received for their anatomy course, were actually murdered to be supplied.
As I said, this whole story gives one the hibby-jibbies.
His friend at some point ends up killing someone and the morality of what to do tortures our doctor, until he emerges himself into this life of liar and cheater to live as his friend does, ignoring good morale.
However, life soon pays him a lesson, as he and his friend keep seeing the murdered man in places he should not be...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. The Captain of the Pole-Star - Arthur Conan Doyle
4.5 stars
Arthur Conan Doyle delivers.
You can tell by the approach he took with his story, that he thinks even the shortest ones through.
We follow a young doctor's diary entries as he works on the Pole Star.
The captain, who lost his fiance a few years ago, has a weird temper. Seemingly, he searches for any deadly situation that could kill him.
While out at sea, the crew starts hearing and seeing weird things, and are convinced the ship is haunted.
The young doctor documents these events and his own experience in his diary.
Then one day, the captain disappears...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. The Phantom Coach - Amelia B. Edwards
4 stars
A short and sweet story about a man who goes hunting and loses himself in the midst of the English Moors. He meets an eccentric man who lives in the middle of nowhere and gets told about a horrible accident that happened not long ago around the place where he lives. When leaving for home, he gets on the wrong coach ...
The title kind of gives it away, but the story itself is still a good time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. The Screaming Skull - Francis Marion Crawford
DNF
While there is nothing wrong with this book, I have discovered that I find it harder and harder to pick a new story. Once started, a measly 10-page long story takes me almost a week and they aren't fun. Or at least I ran out of patience and I will quit reading the last story.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do recognise and appreciate the writing styles of those who came before us - and it was fun to see what was considered scary back in the day.
Generally speaking, you will like this if you like a gothic atmosphere and a tiny hint of spooky peppered into your reading.
1. Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad - M.R. James
4 stars
In M.R. James's story, we follow a young Professor who goes on vacation to a moor with the purpose of chilling and bettering his golfing techniques.
He tells his university colleagues before leaving and is met with two responses.
1. A friend offers to come stay with him.
When he declines the offer, the friend implies that ghosts are roaming this moor and he shouldn't be alone.
2. Another friend asks him to go check out a local digging ground because that's where he is heading in the summer and would like to know what awaits him...
Our Prof. is very against all the ucky-spoky spiritual stories and brushes the first friend off, thinking he is saying that out of spite.
However, later, once he arrives at the guesthouse, he discovers that there might be something in those warnings after all.
While he reviews the digging site, he finds a whistle and as the story's title suggests, something will come to you if you blow the damn thing. (may that be a ghost, a demon, or some bedsheets.. something will come)
His luck is with the colonel who resides at the same guest house as he and who is more wise when it comes to the otherworld.
James's approach is very tongue-in-cheek and will crack you up from time to time.
Sadly, it's not so heavy-handed in the horror department - but what do I know - this story would have probably scared a child or two in the 18 hundreds.
All in all, it's a 4.
It's an atmospheric late November tale that takes place near the seaside and it's fun to read.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. The Old Nurse's Story - Elizabeth Gaskell
3.5 stars
This is a tale of a nursery maid, who loses her employers and is left with only the girls she looks after. Because she is currently narrating this story to the children of this girl, you expect nothing to happen to her.. so the stakes in this story are super low.
The young girl is taken in by a relative of the family and is shipped off to a secluded manor, where the current lady of the house lost her father and sister the same year and ever since is sombre and sad, just like the weather that is mostly upon the moors around her manor.
While there, the little girl sees another little girl, who tricks her into going outside in the cold and almost freezing to death. And while the nursery maid has a strong suspicion that this might be an Apparition, on top of that, the organ in the foyer plays on its own every night. The colder it gets outside, the louder the organ plays.
Of course, there is some hidden family drama which stirs past up the ghosts of the family - literally in this case - and it's up to the nursery maid to make sure the little mistress doesn't die.
The atmosphere is splendidly gothic and dark - this is the perfect late Autumn tale.
Sadly, however, it is lacking in the horror category. And while the ghosts appear in this story in comparison to the first one I've read, it's still not enough for even the tiniest of frights...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. The Signalman - Charles Dickens
3.5 stars
OK - have you ever watched X Factor?
This felt very much like one of their episodes.
Because it's super short and very hard to explain without spoiling it, SPOILER warning is in full effect for this review.
We follow a guy who works for the railway company, who needs to do general checks of the Singlaman posts to make sure everything is OK with them.
The post he visits is down from a hill next to the tunnel in the mountain. He yells down when he sees the signalman allocated to this post to warn him that he is descending.
Once he arrives, he can see that the worker is in distress and tries to find out what happened.
He finds out that the signalman saw a ghost two times. Each time the ghost appears on the top of the hill and shouts down to him to look out and covers his face. Once the ghost disappears something bad happens. He had seen this ghost two times already, followed by some disaster shortly after. He is now worried because the ghost appeared that day, but nothing bad happened so far, so he is on edge waiting for something to go wrong.
The protagonist visits the signalman two more times - the third time he finds him dead, hit by a train. It looks like someone was standing on the hill when this happened and yelled to warn him, and because the signalman did not react, the other chap covered his face to avoid seeing the signalman being hit by a train.
In conclusion, the signalman did not see a ghost, he kept seeing the last image before he died as a sort of premonition... like I said, very X Files this one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. The Body-Snatcher - Robert Louis Stevenson
4 stars
This does give you the hibby-jibbies, even if nothing super scary happens.
Our narrator, with his two friends, a landlord and a doctor, sits in the pub on a specific night of the week as a tradition. The doctor friend is a brandy lover, he usually has 5 glasses and returns home.
On this occasion, however, he hears that another doctor is leaving the house above the pub, recognises the name, jumps from his seat and has a confrontation with the chap. His friends wonder what that was about and our narrator later finds out everything and tells us, the reader.
The two men used to work as body snatchers for a university back in their study years and did a few bad things together. Sometimes, they went for the bodies to the cemetery, other times the bodies were brought to them - and while the second was a simpler exchange, they both suspected that the people they received for their anatomy course, were actually murdered to be supplied.
As I said, this whole story gives one the hibby-jibbies.
His friend at some point ends up killing someone and the morality of what to do tortures our doctor, until he emerges himself into this life of liar and cheater to live as his friend does, ignoring good morale.
However, life soon pays him a lesson, as he and his friend keep seeing the murdered man in places he should not be...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. The Captain of the Pole-Star - Arthur Conan Doyle
4.5 stars
Arthur Conan Doyle delivers.
You can tell by the approach he took with his story, that he thinks even the shortest ones through.
We follow a young doctor's diary entries as he works on the Pole Star.
The captain, who lost his fiance a few years ago, has a weird temper. Seemingly, he searches for any deadly situation that could kill him.
While out at sea, the crew starts hearing and seeing weird things, and are convinced the ship is haunted.
The young doctor documents these events and his own experience in his diary.
Then one day, the captain disappears...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. The Phantom Coach - Amelia B. Edwards
4 stars
A short and sweet story about a man who goes hunting and loses himself in the midst of the English Moors. He meets an eccentric man who lives in the middle of nowhere and gets told about a horrible accident that happened not long ago around the place where he lives. When leaving for home, he gets on the wrong coach ...
The title kind of gives it away, but the story itself is still a good time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. The Screaming Skull - Francis Marion Crawford
DNF
While there is nothing wrong with this book, I have discovered that I find it harder and harder to pick a new story. Once started, a measly 10-page long story takes me almost a week and they aren't fun. Or at least I ran out of patience and I will quit reading the last story.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do recognise and appreciate the writing styles of those who came before us - and it was fun to see what was considered scary back in the day.
Generally speaking, you will like this if you like a gothic atmosphere and a tiny hint of spooky peppered into your reading.
February 24, 2019
Full of beautiful pictures and solid classics of the genre. My favourite being the new to me, F Marion Crawford ‘The Screaming Skull’ which was lively and amusing as it scared. A good place to start or a nice collectors piece
August 31, 2020
For a collection of stories written so long ago - long ago from my point of view, at least - the writing style and tones of most of them seemed modern. The ways in which the authors created suspense reminded me of any good scary story I’d read today, except these stories were more subdued than the contemporary works I might find. The horror was subtle, and they could only barely be described as definite ghost stories. If the endings of each were taken away, some would sound like coincidences that really could happen under unnerving circumstances. They were nice reads, although that doesn’t surprise me considering the authors that were included.
December 6, 2025
3.5 stars. The standout was The Screaming Skull by American author F..Marion Crawford. The rest, including stories by Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell, were just fine. Lovers of Victorian literature will appreciate them.
July 25, 2017
I received a copy of this short story collection from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Ghostly Tales is a collection of classic, and often analogized, stories. While it is true that occasionally one runs across a classic that, for whatever reason, escaped your attention, most fans of classic horror have read or at least heard of these stories. That doesn’t make them any less great, just familiar.
Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come for You, My Lad
M.R. James is one of the pillars of the modern tale of the supernatural. Most of our plot mechanics and story lines come from him. As influential, albeit perhaps not as literary, as Poe, the included story is one of his best and for my money one of the top 5 ghost stories ever. And it is actually still scary after all these years.
The Old Nurse’s Story
Creepy story about a malevolent spirit of a murdered child. Very good form of a tale that is still being retold today in modern stories and movies.
The Signalman
Dickens, like most Victorians, loved his stories of phantoms, ghosts, and communications from the other side of death. Classic and atmospheric if not particularly scary. I don’t know if he created the concept of the story of the dead warning the living, but this is certainly one of the true classics of its type.
The Body Snatcher
Stevenson’s story is dripping in atmosphere of fog and damp and one can’t help but think of the glorious Hammer Films that sprang from this story and others like them. More fun and gruesome than scary.
The Captain of the Pole-Star
I guess I will just say it---Doyle’s best work was the Sherlock Holmes canon. Everything else is interesting, especially for the time, but the concepts were done better by other writers. This story is no exception. A play on The Ryme of the Ancient Mariner this story was well written by not particularly riveting.
The Phantom Coach
I had not read this one but was very glad that I did. Absolutely fantastic with a chilling ending. This story was so well done and so chilling I could place myself in that coach with our narrator. One of my favorite classic horror stories.
The Screaming Skull
One of several famous stories about severed body parts that attack the living, this one has the added fun of a mad narrator. I found it a bit overdone, but still entertaining.
I do have one complaint about this book and it was a reason that I was quite disappointed in the book. The illustrations are wonderful. However, there is just one per story. If you are selling this as an illustrated book I would expect at least 2 or 3 illustrations per story.
4 stars. Needs more illustrations.
Ghostly Tales is a collection of classic, and often analogized, stories. While it is true that occasionally one runs across a classic that, for whatever reason, escaped your attention, most fans of classic horror have read or at least heard of these stories. That doesn’t make them any less great, just familiar.
Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come for You, My Lad
M.R. James is one of the pillars of the modern tale of the supernatural. Most of our plot mechanics and story lines come from him. As influential, albeit perhaps not as literary, as Poe, the included story is one of his best and for my money one of the top 5 ghost stories ever. And it is actually still scary after all these years.
The Old Nurse’s Story
Creepy story about a malevolent spirit of a murdered child. Very good form of a tale that is still being retold today in modern stories and movies.
The Signalman
Dickens, like most Victorians, loved his stories of phantoms, ghosts, and communications from the other side of death. Classic and atmospheric if not particularly scary. I don’t know if he created the concept of the story of the dead warning the living, but this is certainly one of the true classics of its type.
The Body Snatcher
Stevenson’s story is dripping in atmosphere of fog and damp and one can’t help but think of the glorious Hammer Films that sprang from this story and others like them. More fun and gruesome than scary.
The Captain of the Pole-Star
I guess I will just say it---Doyle’s best work was the Sherlock Holmes canon. Everything else is interesting, especially for the time, but the concepts were done better by other writers. This story is no exception. A play on The Ryme of the Ancient Mariner this story was well written by not particularly riveting.
The Phantom Coach
I had not read this one but was very glad that I did. Absolutely fantastic with a chilling ending. This story was so well done and so chilling I could place myself in that coach with our narrator. One of my favorite classic horror stories.
The Screaming Skull
One of several famous stories about severed body parts that attack the living, this one has the added fun of a mad narrator. I found it a bit overdone, but still entertaining.
I do have one complaint about this book and it was a reason that I was quite disappointed in the book. The illustrations are wonderful. However, there is just one per story. If you are selling this as an illustrated book I would expect at least 2 or 3 illustrations per story.
4 stars. Needs more illustrations.
October 8, 2018
The cover of Ghostly Tales looks absolutely fantastic, and definitely screams Victorian horror to me! For those of you who don’t know, I like both horror and the Victorian era, so this book was basically made for me. The beauty of this book’s design also continues into the interior of the anthology, with the end paper being designed to look like a Victorian wallpaper with parts of human skeletons snuck in. When I dove deeper into Ghostly Tales, I found that each short story begins with its own unique full colour illustration related to what it contains.
This book also comes with an attached black silk bookmark, and I just love how it’s designed, inside and out. As for the stories themselves, I had read works by Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, and Arthur Conan Doyle before, and loved their writing in this book. I was also happy to be introduced to some Victorian writers who I either had not read before now, or had not even heard of! All in all, this book is just beautiful (especially if you’re into the Victorian + horror like me), and is just an amazing reading choice for this time of the year!
This book also comes with an attached black silk bookmark, and I just love how it’s designed, inside and out. As for the stories themselves, I had read works by Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, and Arthur Conan Doyle before, and loved their writing in this book. I was also happy to be introduced to some Victorian writers who I either had not read before now, or had not even heard of! All in all, this book is just beautiful (especially if you’re into the Victorian + horror like me), and is just an amazing reading choice for this time of the year!
February 9, 2018
I especially enjoyed the last story.
August 5, 2021
- 2 stars for not delivering on the spine chilling promise
December 14, 2020
'Ghostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories of the Victorian Age' by Chronicle books is a collection of stories to read on dark nights.
The seven stories here are from known and lesser known writers. They all have to do with people who find themselves having supernatural encounters. A man finds an old whistle that doesn't seem to be making any noise, but something can hear it. An ice-locked ship has a captain that sees the ghost of his wife. A skull found in a box insists on staying in a certain spot or it starts screaming.
I really had a good time reading these creepy stories. These are ghost stories that hold up well in prose and quality.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Chronicle Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review ebook.
The seven stories here are from known and lesser known writers. They all have to do with people who find themselves having supernatural encounters. A man finds an old whistle that doesn't seem to be making any noise, but something can hear it. An ice-locked ship has a captain that sees the ghost of his wife. A skull found in a box insists on staying in a certain spot or it starts screaming.
I really had a good time reading these creepy stories. These are ghost stories that hold up well in prose and quality.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Chronicle Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review ebook.
September 14, 2020
This collection of Victorian era ghostly tales was written by some very notable names including Dickens, Stevenson and Conan Doyle. The writing style was very indicative of the Victorian novel, from how the characters spoke, to how descriptions were written.
My problem was, overall, the stories were not very spooky, at least to me. There were occasional atmospheric moments, but, in my view, very little about this book really showed it was a book of ghost stories. For the most part the spooky element did not even arrive until the very end of the story.
It was authentically Victorian in terms of writing style, but disappointing in terms of ghostly atmosphere.
My problem was, overall, the stories were not very spooky, at least to me. There were occasional atmospheric moments, but, in my view, very little about this book really showed it was a book of ghost stories. For the most part the spooky element did not even arrive until the very end of the story.
It was authentically Victorian in terms of writing style, but disappointing in terms of ghostly atmosphere.
November 3, 2022
Όπως κάθε χρόνο, μιας και είμαι κορίτσι του σκότους (γελάω), διαβάζω πάντα τον μήνα Οκτώβρη και ειδικά κοντά στα γενέθλιά μου σκοτεινές ιστορίες, όλων των ειδών, είτε gore, είτε spooky είτε απλά weird, τις απολαμβάνω δεόντως. 🎃
Φέτος, μιας και είχα καιρό να διαβάσω κάτι από κλασική λογοτεχνία, διάλεξα αυτή την υπέροχη συλλογή ghostly tales που αποτελείται από ιστορίες της Βικτωριανής εποχής, από τοπ κλασικούς συγγραφείς, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Amelia B. Edwards, F. Marion Crawford. Ξεχωρίζω την ιστορία του Ντίκενς που τον έχω στην καρδιά μου πάντα όπως και του Stevenson.
Φέτος, μιας και είχα καιρό να διαβάσω κάτι από κλασική λογοτεχνία, διάλεξα αυτή την υπέροχη συλλογή ghostly tales που αποτελείται από ιστορίες της Βικτωριανής εποχής, από τοπ κλασικούς συγγραφείς, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Amelia B. Edwards, F. Marion Crawford. Ξεχωρίζω την ιστορία του Ντίκενς που τον έχω στην καρδιά μου πάντα όπως και του Stevenson.
July 16, 2017
Ghostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories of the Victorian Age by Chronicle Books The stories in this book are reprints of original Victorian era stories. They are pretty much written with the old english and can be a little hard to follow at times. I caught myself rereading a few lines to make sense of it to my brain. Don't get me wrong the stories are great, spooky, and eerie, you just have to pay a bit more attention while reading. The stories are short, there are 7 stories in the book. The stories are written by people like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and more. I personally think they left the best for last I liked The screaming Skull by F. Marion Crawford the most out of the 7 stories. They were all great though.
I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.
I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.
November 13, 2020
3.5
Nonostante il mio inglese faccia piuttosto schifo, non riesco a resistere a edizioni del genere. Non solo la copertina e la grafica di questa raccolta sono fenomenali, ma anche le storie raccolte in essa rappresentano bene il genere. Purtroppo ho goduto a metà della lettura, dato che spesso e volentieri cercavo il significato dei termini meno comuni online, ma le atmosfere tetre e grottesche sono riuscite a colpirmi comunque.
Se ve la cavate bene in lingua ve lo consiglio.
Nonostante il mio inglese faccia piuttosto schifo, non riesco a resistere a edizioni del genere. Non solo la copertina e la grafica di questa raccolta sono fenomenali, ma anche le storie raccolte in essa rappresentano bene il genere. Purtroppo ho goduto a metà della lettura, dato che spesso e volentieri cercavo il significato dei termini meno comuni online, ma le atmosfere tetre e grottesche sono riuscite a colpirmi comunque.
Se ve la cavate bene in lingua ve lo consiglio.
October 31, 2024
Great ghost tales told from some past great writers.
The illustrations were amazing and well done. Some stories were better than others. Overall, good collection with many hidden elements and creepy moments. Happy I picked this up. Also, the writing was amazing to read.
My favorite notable stories:
The Body- Snatcher By Robert Louis Stevenson
The Screaming Skull By F. Marion Crawford
The Signalman By Charles Dickens
Read this if you dare…
The illustrations were amazing and well done. Some stories were better than others. Overall, good collection with many hidden elements and creepy moments. Happy I picked this up. Also, the writing was amazing to read.
My favorite notable stories:
The Body- Snatcher By Robert Louis Stevenson
The Screaming Skull By F. Marion Crawford
The Signalman By Charles Dickens
Read this if you dare…
August 25, 2025
This book is a collection of old Victorian ghost tales. Each story is written in an old Victorian language, which was difficult to understand in parts. There were some interesting stories however the others were't interesting or inticing. The saving grace of this book was how beautiful it was, there is so much detail on the cover. There are also some wonderful pictures inside at the beginning of each story. Unfortunately it wasn't my kind of book to read.
November 1, 2020
These are great short stories to relish through the Halloween season! From the Victorian age, they are meant to be thrilling rather than scary. Many authors are recognized names whose work is always top notch. Sometimes a book of short stories is just perfect to fit into busy schedules. Highly recommended.
February 2, 2023
They don't write stories like this anymore. I love the old-style phrasing and storytelling. It has magic and hidden meaning in the language and customs that I'm missing in the newer writings. The new style of writing is simplified a lot and the speech is lacking color. The book contains independent stories by different known authors, all beautifully written and they do give you the chills but not in the nasty way that I read in other books where there is a lot of violence (I like the way it is implied in this book), blood, hate, and zombies. It was a pleasure to read it, even just for the witty phrases and the old-time style of speech. With a little bit of imagination, you will get the thrill you seek with horror books.
October 7, 2022
2,5⭐ - promising but no
I knew the stories wouldn't be chilling or scary, classics never are imo. But still it managed to disappoint me 🙈
I liked couple of them, that's it.
The book gets points from the beautiful illustrations once again, and from the idea.
My own enjoyment was the problem.
I knew the stories wouldn't be chilling or scary, classics never are imo. But still it managed to disappoint me 🙈
I liked couple of them, that's it.
The book gets points from the beautiful illustrations once again, and from the idea.
My own enjoyment was the problem.
December 14, 2022
Although I had read three of these before (Dickens, Gaskell, and Conan Doyle), this is still a very good collection of ghost stories, with the added bonus that I feel like a more polished MST3K fan for having read "The Screaming Skull."
December 23, 2025
Seven 19th century ghost stories, some by famous authors, such as Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. The stories are not exactly scary, so I would call them rather “mystery tales” than “ghost stories”. The best ones are at the end of the book. Nice illustrations as well!
October 12, 2017
I wanted it to be longer!
September 26, 2021
Several short old fashioned ghost stories, each with a ghostly twist at the end.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading each story, with the final two by female authors as my favorites.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading each story, with the final two by female authors as my favorites.
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