Tales from the Dead of Night: Thirteen Classic Ghost Stories

by Cecily Gayford (Editor)

From a beautiful antique that gives its owner a show he'd rather forget, to 'ghost detective' whose exorcism goes horribly wrong and a sinister masked ball which seems to have one too many guests, these ghost stories of supernatural terror are guaranteed to make you shiver, thrill and look under the bed tonight.

From rural England to colonial India, in murky haunted mansions and under modern electric lighting, these master storytellers - some of the best writers in the English language - unfold spinetinglers which pull back the veil of everyday life to reveal the nightmares which lurk just out of sight. They are lessons in ingenuity and surprise, sometimes building slowly to a chilling climax, sometimes springing horror on you from the utterly banal. And as you'd expect from these writers, the stories are more than simply frightening - they're also disquieting exposures of mortality, loneliness and the human capacity for both evil and remorse.

We wish you pleasant dreams.

Contains ghost stories by: Ruth Rendell, M. R. James, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, E. F. Benson, E. Nesbit, Saki, W. W. Jacobs, W. F. Harvey, Hugh Walpole, Chico Kidd and LP Hartley.

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

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2013

Reviews

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This delightfully chilling collection compiles thirteen “classic” (Victorian) ghost stories ranging from subtly discomforting to nail-bitingly horrific. The anthology is a quick-read and very atmospheric, with plenty of haunting and mystery for any rainy night! “The Cotillion” by L.P. Hartley and “The Crown Derby Plate” by Marjorie Bowen were both outstandingly good. Overall, this compilation is a solid ghostly addition to any library! 👻

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb collection of traditional ghost stories that rely on Victorian gothic subtlies to make the reader's hair stand on end and skin goosebump. These are the kind of ghost stories I love as they don't scare you out right but get to you gradually and when you least expect it, letting your imagination do the scaring more than the author's words. Each tale is brilliantly written and each has its own character and style and yet they all worth superbly well together. A worthy addition to any library and a perfect collection for bedtime scares.

[Sanne ☀️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the concept of the book. But the stories weren’t as thrilling or scary as I would have hoped for. To be honest I found them pretty boring.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little collection of ghostly tales for people like me who like their horror in the form of chills and suspense rather than blood and gore.
In any collection I am relieved to see an M.R.James included. As my favourite of all ghost storytellers, I know I am guaranteed at least one excellent tale. In this collection it is not one of his better tales. The Haunted Dolls House featured in this collection, is inferior to his similar tale Mezzotint, but still highly enjoyable.

My favourites among the stories are then:
The Haunted Dolls House - Ghostly tragedy re-enacted every night
The Clock - Reminded me of being a child and flushing the loo in the bathroom upstairs and needing to wash my hands and be downstairs by the time the cistern stopped refilling or a monster would get me!
The Toll House - Group of friends banter goes wrong
The Black Veil - The scariest story in the book!
The Tarn - Dark and creeping horror

You should give this a go and tell everyone your favourites.

[Pieter · Rating 3 out of 5]

E. Nesbit: The Shadow ~ ★★★★
W.F. Harvey: The Clock ~ ★★★★
E.F. Benson: Pirates ~ ★★★★
Marjorie Bowen: The Crown Derby Plate ~ ★★★
Hugh Walpole: The Tarn ~ ★★★
Ruth Rendell: The Haunting of Shawley Rectory ~ ★★★
L.P. Hartley: The Cotillon ~ ★★★
M.R. James: The Haunted Doll’s House ~ ★★★
Edith Wharton: Pomegranate Seed ~ ★★★★
Rudyard Kipling: The Phantom ‘Rickshaw ~ ★★★
W.W. Jacobs: The Toll House ~ ★★★
A.F. Kidd: The Black Veil ~ ★★★
Saki: The Hedgehog ~ ★★

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine. Old British tales of haunted houses and ghosts, so nothing really impressive. Some stories were nice. Good old fashion ghost stories. Others were a bit more boring due to the language, very fancy and a bit tiresome.
But for Halloween, to get into the spirits of the holiday, is actually rather nice.

[Saturday's Child · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fun short stories for my 'Spooky October' reads. My favourites among this collection are: The Crown Derby Plate (Marjorie Bowen), The Haunting of Shawley Rectory (Ruth Rendell) and The Cotillon (L.P. Hartley).

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed:

The shadow - E nesbit


The Tarn - Hugh Walpole

The haunting of Shawley Rectory - Ruth Rendell

Overall some very big names, maybe it was due to everything being a ghost or apparition etc. These ones stood out. The others just weren't for me.

[Siri Olsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have conflicting feelings about this book. As much as I love the concept, the aesthetic and the artwork on the cover, I have to admit that I found the book itself thoroughly average. The stories are definitely more on the spooky side than actual horror, which is a definite plus for me, but none of them really stayed with me longer than a few days, and I found most of them to be indistinguishable even while reading the book. As an example, I would mention the ones I found to be the best of the bunch, but honestly, it's been a while since I put the book down and I don't recall. That said, perhaps I am not the best audience for a book of this type. I do prefer reading "real" ghost stories to fictional ones and it takes a certain kind of aesthetic to keep my interest in fictional ghost stories, which I found this book to be somewhat lacking in. I really appreciate that the book is a collection of short stories about ghosts made by thirteen different authors, giving a small sample of each author's work and a look at how flexible the concept of a ghost story can be, but perhaps my inability to distinguish one story from any other is all the more glaring because no two stories are written by the same author and ought to have a very different feel because of that alone. In short, there is nothing unlikeable about the book, it just didn't manage to get me invested or stick with me after I put it down.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fictional ghost stories and spooky settings or anyone interested in the diversity of the ghost story as a literary genre.

[Lynsey Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice wee collection here, started off strong but the quality of stories trailed off a bit towards the end, however still worth a read. What I saw another reviewer call 'comfy-horror', this is the perfect description.

Breakdown of my views on the collection below, as it's not fair to review anything like this as one book I've decided to copy other reviewers and do it this way.

The Shadow - Had actually read this one before, but a very nice, genuinely creepy little story. Lot's of Gothic atmosphere and a very nice little twisted ending. One of my fave's in the book. 🖤🖤🖤🖤

The Clock - Another good one, I could actually imagine the fear of being stuck in a room with something coming up the stairs with no way out. Subtly terrifying and another fave in the book. 🖤🖤🖤🖤

Pirates - As I was reading this and shortly after finishing it I felt hard done by, as if it wasn't an actual ghost story as such. But afterwards I did change my mind slightly and appreciated it for the different type of ghost story it was. Just wish it hadn't been such a build up for only a few lines of climax at the ending. 🖤🖤

The Crown Derby Plate - Ah!! This one was fun! And such a clever idea, I came to the conclusion of what had happened at the same time as the main character and like her went 'oh no, fuck that'.
The kind of ghost story where at the time it all seems fine, but then you look back and shudder. Loved. 🖤🖤🖤🖤

The Tarn - Pretty sure I had read this one before but this didn't detract from the overall chilling effect of the story, could practically feel the cold seeping into my bones. Nicely done. 🖤🖤🖤🖤

The Haunting of Shawley Rectory - The one thing I did enjoy about this compendium of stories was how they were all so different and I have never read anything like this story before. Oh yes very clever and could have easily been made into a much longer novel. 🖤🖤🖤🖤

The Cotillon - This is where the book started to trail off in quality for me. I didn't like this story at all. It might be that I have no idea what a Cotillon is (I assume some kind of dance, could have Googled it, decided I didn't care that much) and I didn't think it was a ghost story at all. And the ending was far to predictable. Only thing that would have saved it was him taking off his mask and there be grisly details as to what lay behind. 🖤🖤

The Pomegranate Seed - I'm sorry I don't think this was really a ghost story either. Just a melodrama that happened to maybe involve a dead wife, maybe. I would have liked to have known what happened to the husband, and what was in the letters but alas we shall never know. 🖤🖤

The Phantom Rickshaw - Sorry to be a literary philistine but I can't stand Rudyard Kipling, his writing style it to me, like running your nails down a blackboard, this story was no different. 🖤

The Toll House - Cute, typical guys stay in a haunted house story. Harmless. Not that great. 🖤🖤

The Black Veil - My fave of the whole lot I think, the description of the journalist at the end was giving me total Lovecraft vibes and I was here for them. Another story I would like to have been expanded on and turned into a book of it's own. Dark, creepy, occulty. Very nice. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

The Hedgehog - What. The. Fuck? 🖤

[Russio · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shadow - E Nesbit knows that it is not what you see but what you don’t see that causes terror.
The Clock - It ticks mysteriously.
Pirates - Fantastic story by E F Benson which rather inverts the old haunted house tale, as a buyer heads back “home” to see if he can once again meet the playmates of his youth.
The Crown Derby Plate - Completing one’s collection may not be in your best interests.
The Tarn - A fantastic story of embittered jealousy by a writer I had often heard of but never before read. The lure of the unknowably deep tarn proves too much for the prtagonist.
The Haunting of Shawley Rectory - very enjoyable story of the titular rectory, brooding in wait for the ideal tenants. Rendell does rather over explain in the final page, though.
The Cotillon - This story, or rather its writer, is the reason I borrowed this collection, having loved his The Go-Between. As it happens, it is not the stand-out story I had hoped for, involving a mysterious dance partner at a masked ball. You can probably guess the rest.
The Haunted Doll’s House - MR James is beloved of many of my friends but this seemed a rather slight work to me.
Pomegranate Seed - This longish short story by Edith Wharton is the stand-out of the collection and uses the appearance of strange grey letters to arouse jealousy and suspicion in the mind of a newly-married wife. It unfolds beautifully and hooks you right in. Despite it being the longest in the collection, it doesn’t feel so. I will seek out more Edith.
The Phantom Rickshaw - This seemed rather obvious and failed to justify its length. It does what it promises in the title; little else.
The Toll-House - WW Jacobs writes increasing tension so well. This is a haunted house story that exacts a toll from every group of visitors. It relishes the scepticism its readers will bring and provides a riposte to it.
The Black Veil - A wonderfully malevolent story of a strange lady who appears at the window of an upper room. A kind of sequel of a previous story, written recently.
The Hedgehog - ah Saki! C’est tous.

[Delphine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A splendid collection of gothic (and 20th century) ghost stories. The thirteen stories thrive on atmosphere and suggestion. Some highlights:

'Pirates by E.F. Benson, in which a man buys back his childhood house near Truro. Devastated by grief after the loss of his wife and four siblings, the house seems to feed him glimpses and echoes of his childhood. He dies while playing a final childhood game with his dead siblings.

'The Crown Derby Plate' by Marjorie Bowen, in which three elderly women visit a haunted house in order to retrieve a missing piece of china. The antiquary buried in the garden of the house opens the door to them.

'The tarn' by Hugh Walpole, in which a man contemplates the murder of his literary competitor Foster. He kills his rival in a tarn (a small lake), only to be followed by the tarn and to drown in his own bedroom at night.

'The haunting of Shawley Rectory' by Ruth Rendell, in which the drawing room of the rectory plays a disturbing scene of a mother killing her daughter over and over again. Surprisingly, the scene is a preview of what is yet to come, with the house selecting which residents get to see shadows and whispers of the future drama.

'The cotillon' by L.P.Hartley, in which a girl dances with an uncommunicative, cold stranger at a masked ball. It turns out to be her spurned lover Harry who has just committed suicide.

'The haunted dolls' house' by M.R. James, with the dolls enacting a creepy show of their own at night.

'The phantom rickshaw' by Rudyard Kipling, in which a man is haunted by his former lover, her carriage and her coolies, after killing her by his neglect and cruelty.

[Swapna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would have been better if the date of publishing the resp. tale was also mentioned alongside the title. This is because it is difficult to imagine the time period in which the incidents mentioned take place. I had to check the author’s lifespan and then choose some decade / time period in the midst of his life and then accordingly visualise the story.

The editor could have excluded stories that are already in the public domain and also those from the late 19th and early 20th century as these stories are hardly scary by today’s standards. They can be considered as having mild horror elements, if at all.

Of the collection, the stories which I liked are: The Clock, The Crown Derby Plate, Pirates, The Haunting of Shawley Rectory and The Toll House.
The Cotillon, Pomegranate Seed and The Phantom Rickshaw are predictable. Why has the editor included The Hedgehog in this collection? It is nowhere even close to horror. The rest of the stories are just laughable attempts at horror.

[Minerva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because of its pretty cover and I'm very glad I did. It's a good collection, showing the range of the classic horror genre, with more strong female characters than I would have expected in stories from the late 19th and early 20th century. In the first story it was even very hard not to read the main character as queer, which made me happy. I also loved the little author biographies, which seemed to say a little more than the 'standard' facts we know about famous writers from the old days.

One of my favourite stories was "Pirates", where it became clear that it doesn't always have to be a monster or a ghost that creeps over us, but that good memories can haunt us as much as fears or bad thoughts. I like it when horror shows that kind of insights about humanity.
Towards the end of the book, the stories offered me fewer surprises, but all in all I'm very glad I read it, because I definitely learned something about the genre.

[Johan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Look, I really wanted to like this book. I really did! I read a lot of horror in my youth and thought it would be neat to revisit the gothic horror tradition. And NOT just go back to reading Edgar Allan Poe or Bram Stoker, but pick up other short stories by other authors!

Sadly, none of these stories stuck by me. I didn't find them creepy, they were over too quickly and I felt that most of them lacked atmosphere. Perhaps that is my own fault, I usually read novels and not short stories.
Still, I will defend this collection a little: It does what it says on the tin: Thirteen classic ghost stories!

[Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A horror story collection is always a good idea in October and with names like Rudyard Kipling and Ruth Rendell in the mix I just couldn’t resist this one! I won’t say which stories I enjoyed and which ones I didn’t but what I will say is that of the thirteen tales in this book I would say that four are very good, another four were good but less engaging and sadly the other five tales were just uneventful and left me scratching my head. I wasn’t scared at any point but I definitely have discovered some interesting alternatives to traditional haunting tales that I will remember for quite some time.

[James Tidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cecily Gayford has put together some thirteen ghost stories, ranging from greats such as E. F. Benson, L. P. Hartley and M. R. James to a lesser known ghost story author, Ruth Rendell, and others.

The stories are:

The Shadow by E. Nesbit
The Clock by W. F. Harvey
Pirates by E. F. Benson
The Crown Derby Plate by Marjorie Bowen
The Tarn by Hugh Walpole
The Haunting of Shawley Rectory by Ruth Rendell
The Cotillon by L. P. Hartley
The Haunted Dolls' House by M. R. James
Pomegranate Seed by Edith Wharton
The Phantom 'Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling
The Toll-House by W. W. Jacobs
The Black Veil by A. F. Kidd
The Hedgehog by Saki

[Joanne Tinkler (Mamajomakes) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of ghostly, supernatural and eerie stories from thirteen different authors including Ruth Rendell, M.R.James, Edith Wharton and some that I’d not read before like Saki, Hugh Walpole and L.P.Hartley.
The subjects of the stories range from a haunted rickshaw to a former childhood home to a Crown Derby plate, each being just as good as the previous offering. It’s a while since I’ve read a collection where I’ve enjoyed every story and I think that I’ll look out for some of the writers other works.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing about scary stories, in my opinion, is the impact they have on you. For it to be worthwhile, it must tease, shock, and shatter, in a matter of moments.

There are some fantastic short stories in here that are worth mentioning, for the reasons I gave above. They are short and precise, going straight to the heart of the matter, leaving you a little nervous to turn off the light.

The Shadow by E. Nesbit:

You must have noticed that all the real ghost stories you have ever come close to, are like this in all these respects - no explanation, no logical coherence. Here is the story.

The Tarn by Hugh Walpole:

As Foster moved unconsciously across the room, bent towards the bookcase and stood leaning forward a little, choosing now one book, now another with his eye, his host, seeing the muscles of the back of his thin, scraggy neck stand out above his low flannel collar, thought of the ease with which he could squeeze that throat, and the pleasure, the triumphant, lustful pleasure, that such an action would give him.

And there are other stories that do not fit the bill. They are meandering, and slow to scare.

All in all, it's a mixed bag, but that's what you'd expect from a collection of stories.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair selection of stories (I like the fact that it was Thirteen) and interesting short biographies before each story. But, an appallingly badly produced book which I have had to chuck in the re-cycling. It started to fall apart at the seams as soon as I opened it and ended up as 250 loose leaf pages

[Biswajit Patnaik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really picked up the book as I was looking forward for some Victoria time horror stories but I was left disappointed as the stories even were written by some of the legends as they did not leave that impact. The stories were spooky but it never left that effect at the end.
I found the stories not very terrifying but on an average note.

[Shabbeer Hassan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A hodge-podge collection of short Victorian-era horror stories, with wide-varying themes in it which felt very badly edited. The only redeeming quality I can see is the inclusion of an MR James written story.

My advice - stay away, and pick up Collected ghost stories of MR James.

My Rating - 2/5

[WF · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure if there's a genre called "cosy horror", but this is essentially it. The scariest are "The Shadow" by E. Nesbit and "The Tarn" by Hugh Walpole. "The Hedgehog" by Saki is not a ghost story at all, and should not have been included.

[Am Y · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very average. Some of the tales were fun and amusing, but others not so much. More often than not you could predict right from the start what was coming. But at least most stories concluded properly, so you felt you hadn't wasted your time.

[Chloe Mackenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading ghost stories from all different authors and some of them I really enjoyed. I found it difficult getting used to each authors writing style. How some stories were written and some words used also made this a challenging read for me.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is how I like my horror -- creepy rather than gory.

[Sabrina Clara T.A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful compilation of eclectic ghost stories, perfect for those who have a busy schedule but want to keep up the reading habit!

[Becky Bonfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good night's read, not exactly terrifying but a good starting point for finding writers of ghost stories.

[Sam P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prompt: A ghost story

[Rachel (Sfogs) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and quick read.
Some of the stories I'm not sure fall into the 'Ghost' story category.