E. F. Benson: The Complete Supernatural Stories (50+ tales of horror and mystery: The Bus-Conductor, The Room in the Tower, Negotium Perambulans, The Man ... Hall, Caterpillars...)

by E.F. Benson

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer, best known now for the Mapp and Lucia series, written relatively late in his career. Benson was also known as a writer of atmospheric, oblique, and at times humorous or satirical ghost stories. His 1906 short story "The Bus-Conductor", a fatal-crash premonition tale about a person haunted by a hearse driver, has been adapted several times, notably in 1944 (in the film Dead of Night and as an anecdote in Bennett Cerf's Ghost Stories anthology published the same year) and in a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone. H. P. Lovecraft spoke highly of Benson’s works in his “Supernatural Horror in Literature”, most notably of his story The Man Who Went Too Far.

Genres: Horror

514 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 15, 2019

About the author

Edward Frederic "E. F." Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer.

E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.

Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.

Last paragraph from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Richard Howard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I shall now write a typical E.F. Benson Supernatural Story
"Two chums take a house in the country where there are opportunities for golf nearby. The house promotes feelings of unease. One of the chums feels a presence. The two chums see a ghostly figure. The chums ask a local about the house. The local tells a story of skullduggery at the house. The two chums find what the ghost is looking for. The ghost goes away.'
This must be the lamest collection of supernatural stories I've ever read. The author is best known for his witty 'Mapp and Lucia' novels and, when he displays his wit the stories are fun but too often they're rambling with no sense of unease and nary a scare to be had. There are a lot dealing with Spiritualism and, again, when the author is cynical, they work but too often they strain credulity. When the author tries to be scientific the results are risible.
I'll need to re-read a few M.R. James' tales to remind me of how chilling a ghost story can be.

[Derek Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is NOT a ‘Complete’ set of Benson’s Supernatural Tales as it claims to be, as the final story (The Friend in the Garden) is missing. In its place is the single letter D!