Haunted House Short Stories

by Rebecca Janicker (Foreword), Ramsey Campbell, John Everson

Following the great success of our Gothic & Fantasy deluxe edition short story compilations, Supernatural Horror, Dystopia Utopia, Murder Mayhem, Lost Souls and many others, this latest title takes housebound trapped spirits and creepy gothic mansions as its chilling subject. Contains a potent mix of classic and brand new writing, with authors from the US, Canada, and the UK. Oh, what is that sound within the walls? The creaking floorboards, the children hiding in the mirror, the spirits that rake across the flesh of the mind - all find a home in this anthology of spine-tingling tales.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Gothic, Fantasy, Short Story Collection, Anthologies

480 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2019

Reviews

[Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection took a bit more time than the other Flame Trees to get through, only because there was a plethora of unfamiliar (to me, anyway) stories. More often than not, collected works of genre fictions have the mainstays (Poe, Hawthorne, Stoker, Shelley; you catch my drift) but Flame Tree gives underrated classics and newly printed works some much deserved shine. These had a few works I've read before, but the ones I enjoyed most were by the new authors. The subjects ran the gambit from the typical ghoulish ghost, to haunted houses personified. My stars stem from the stories I enjoyed, as anthologies are often a mixed bag anyway. Here are the ones that had me dreading every creak
*"The Room in the Tower"-E.F. Benson
*"The Spook House"-Ambrose Bierce
*"Sanctuary"-Rebecca Buchanan
*"At Lorn Hall"-Ramsey Campbell
*"No. 52 Rue M. Le Prince"-Ralph Adams Cram
*"Number Ninety"-B.M. Crocker
*"The Patient in Room 96"-H.B. Diaz
*"A Handful of Dust"-Tom English
*"The House at the Top of the Hill"-John Everson
*"The Bones of Home"-Adele Gardner
*"The Furnished Room"-O. Henry
*"The Toll-House"-W.W. Jacobs
*"The Woman Out of the Attic"-Gwendolyn Kiste
*"The Apparition"-Guy de Maupassant
*"Nina"-John M. Mcllveen
*"Creak!"-Kurt Newton
*"The Burned House"-Vincent O' Sullivan
*"The Great Indoors"-Zach Shephard
*14 Oak Street"-Morgan Sylvia
*"Pictures at Eleven"-Mikal Trimm

[The Carrion Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

"How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery" by E.F. Benson (1912)
👍 A surprisingly sweet ghost story.

"The Room in the Tower' by E.F. Benson (1912)
👍 Dreams! Ghosts! Vampires?? A good time.

"The Spook House" by Ambrose Bierce (1889)
👎 I think the title and the southern setting ruined this one for me.

"The Shadow in the Corner" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1879)
👍 A solid spooky tale.

"The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth" by Rhoda Broughton (1873)
👍 An epistolary story featuring some truly terrifying interior decorating.

"Sanctuary" by Rebecca Buchanan (2019)
😕 The first contemporary tale in the collection. Gotta admit I was digging the idea of a happy foster home for ghosts until it was revealed the foster parents were trapped there.

"The Haunted and the Haunters" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1859)
👎 💀 This one started out incredibly spooky and then just got boring as it dragged on and on trying to explain itself with ridiculous pseudoscience. Dude, sometimes vengeful spirits from beyond the grave is all that's needed.

"At Lorn Hall" by Ramsey Campbell (2014)
👍 Another contemporary story. Really enjoyed the set up; not sure I understood the ending.

"An Eddy on the Floor" by Bernard Capes (1899)
👎 Such a neat set up for such a dumb spiritual manifestation. Also I found the writing difficult to follow.

"No. 252 Rue M. Le Prince" by Ralph Adams Cram (1895)
👍 Not much plot but a whole lot of atmosphere.

"To Let" by B.M. Croker (1890)
😐 I think this story might be the primary reason for the publisher's content warning at the beginning of the collection regarding dated language. Also the characters in this story are complete weiners. Nothing that happens to them is at all dangerous. This one did make me wonder why we stopped using "destroyed themselves" as a euphemism for suicide.

"Number Ninety" by B.M. Croker (1895)
👎 Not enough happens for this one to be all that spooky.

"The Patient in Room 96" by H.B. Diaz (2019)
👎 A contemporary story that unfortunately uses a few too many clichés.

"A Handful of Dust" by John Everson (2017)
👎 Ghost wasps don't really do it for me.

"The House at the Top of the Hill" by John Everson (2002)
👎 This one read like a bizarrely gruesome children's story. I dislike it when ghosts can hold a full conversation with the person they're haunting; it just makes it less frightening to me.

"An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street" by Jospeh Sheridan le Fanu (1853)
👍 💀 Aside from the complete tease midway through for a story that's never given, this one was properly scary.

"Haunting Christmas" by Marina Favila (2017)
😕 A contemporary story from the ghosts' point of view and much more comedic than the other stories in this collection.

"House Hunting" by Shannon Fay (2013)
😕❓ This is a clever little story that's unfortunately been included in the wrong collection.

"The Vacant Lot" by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1902)
👍 Interesting new twist on the haunted house story.

"The Bones of Home" by Adele Gardner (2015)
👎 Couldn't follow what exactly was happening; Not a fan.

"The Old Nurse's Story" by Elizabeth Gaskell (1852)
👍 Previously read for an undergraduate course.

"The Giant Wistaria" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1891)
👎 A little hard to follow and not particularly scary.

"The Furnished Room" by O. Henry (1904)
👍 Previously read in The Haunted Omnibus.

"The Whistling Room" by William Hope Hodgson (1910)
👍 💀 Another re-read. I love Carnaki! Carnacki, the Ghost Finder

"The Toll-House" by W.W. Jacobs (1909)
👎 Wager to stay in a haunted house overnight. Underwhelming

"Number 13"(1904) & "The Residence at Whitminster" (1919) by M.R. James
👍 Previously read in The Collected Ghost Stories. Not sure why these were chosen as they're not even his strongest stories.

"They" by Rudyard Kipling (1904)
👍 Previously read in Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories

"The Women out of the Attic" by Gwndolyn Kiste (2019)
👍 Great story. Feminist. Queer. Reminded me of Carmen Maria Machado.

"Drydown, 1973" by Bill Kte'pi (2019)
👍 Another winner. Loved the use of perfume to explore the connection between scent and memory.

"The Rats in the Walls" by H.P. Lovecraft (1924)
😒 ❗ I stand corrected, this is definitely the reason for the racism disclaimer. Jesus Christ, that cat's name.
If I was giving Lovecraft the benefit of the doubt, I'd say the cats name and the disclosure that the narrator's family owned a plantation were being used to foreshadow the fact that the nature of Delapores hadn't actually changed that much despite his ancestor's supposed rejection of the family tradition.
But I'm not. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, that is. That cat is named after his own cat. Dude's a racist. Apparently dehumanizing and torturing people is fine as long as you're not eating them too. 🙃
If I was a contemporary writer getting my story published for the first time alongside this (like some of the authors in this collection are) I would be pissed.

"The Apparition" by Guy de Maupassant (1880-93)
👍 Old timey and creepy. Made me picture the way-back flashbacks from Netflix's Bly Manor.

"Nina" by John M. McIlveen (2013)
👎 Good start but didn't stick the landing. I work with kids and yes they can be little psychos; creepy children don't scare me.

"The Ebony Frame" by Edith Nesbit (1891)
👎 The narrator of the this one is a real douchebag. Just didn't care what happened to him.

"creak!" by Kurt Newton (2002)
👎 Who the actual fuck keeps the object their only child asphyxiated in as a coffee table?
This was apparently originally written for What Walks Alone: A Creative Tribute To Shirley Jackson's Novel The Haunting Of Hill House. Shirley deserves better; that book slapped. Meanwhile every conversation between a man and his wife in this story grated on my soul.

"The Burned House" by Vincent O'Sullian (1916)
😕 Do forerunners really count as ghosts? At any rate this one was alright.

"The Library Window" by Margaret Oliphant (1896)
👎 DNF Look, do I spend a questionable amount of time staring at the window of the neighbors across the alley, mentally noting their routines and habits, every tenant and furniture changeup, and silently rejoicing when I catch a glimpse of one of their cats? Maybe. Do I write a 70 page short story about it and inflict it on other people? Hell, no.

"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe (1839)
👍 Previously read for an undergraduate class.

"A Pair of Hands" by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1900)
👍 Lovely, but I have never met a seven year old that interested in cleanliness.

"Sparrow" by M. Regan (2019)
👍 Dark AF

"Gretal" by Zandra Renwick (2009)
👎 No ghosts here, only edgy teens.

"The Old House in Vauxhall Walk" by Charlotte Riddell (1882)
😕 Very confused about what the hell actually happened at the end, which is doubly frustrating as this one was on the longer side and had the space to explain it!

"The Great Indoors" by Zach Shepard (2019)
👍 Great story, but what 22-year-old has a blog anymore? This is a contemporary publication. Lindsey is definitely running an instagram, maybe a tumblr.

"14 Oak Street" by Morgan Sylvia (2019)
👎 Another edgy attempt. This one is more about demonic possession than ghosts though.

"Pictures at Eleven" by Mikal Trimm (2019)
👍 Very sad.

"A Ghost Story" by Mark Twain (1875)
👎 More of a gag than a ghost story. Also once I googled the Cardiff Giant I couldn't help picturing the ghost with his giant dong out the entire time (which was probably Twain's intention).

"The Staircase" by Hugh Walpole (1929)
👎 Sexist and meh.

"Miss Mary Pask" by Edith Wharton (1925)
👍 Another narrator that is a complete douche canoe. Great twist though.

"Mr. Jones" by Edith Wharton (1930)
👍 A great end to the collection. Such a cliffhanger. I would have read a novel about this story.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

31/10/2021. To let, was good. 3.5 🌠

10/4/2022. A Handful of Dust . 3.4 🌠

12/6/2022 - 25/6/2022. House Hunting.
4.1 🌠

10/7/2022 - The woman out of the attic. 1.2 🌠

31/8/2023 -The patient in room 96. 1.2 🌠

31/12/2023 - The Whistling Room. 3.4 🌠

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is part of the gothic and fantasy Collection. This book was absolutely fantastic to read, I absolutely loved this anthology book. Full of creepy, spooky, tragically heartbreakingly sad, thrilling, spine chilling, gothic haunting short stories. I absolutely love reading dark gothic haunting ghost stories so I knew this book was definitely my kind of book. I came across this book in my local bookstore and the beautifully gothic dark designed book cover caught my attention and I ended up buying this book along with half a dozen other titles all designed very similarly to this hardcover edition of the gothic and fantasy collection, and I am certainly glad I picked this book it is fantastic to read it’s a blend of modern Short stories written by contemporary writers and classic stories. This is a great read especially on a cold rainy winter’s night, this book provides a perfectly blend of mixed stories by different authors giving a decent amount of variety to read. If you love reading gothic haunted ghost stories this collection is ideal to read. Some of my personal favourites through this book are…

How fear departed from the long gallery written by E.F. Benson tells the story of two tragically murdered children that haunt the grounds of church Peveril as they punish those who mock them.

The shadow in the corner by Mary Elizabeth Braddon Maria a servant girl whilst working for her employer stays in an attic room is haunted by a swinging shadow of a person hanging on the wall every night at Wildheath Grange. Michael her boss and descendant of the original owner stays in the room at night has an experience but isn’t as terrified as Maria is. Michael butler is very cruel to Maria over her fears and ends up finding her hanging body in the morning forever haunting Michael.

At lorn hall by Ramsey Campbell escaping from a storm a man takes refuge in a mansion that’s open
To the public takes an audible tour only to find something terrifying within.

Number nighty by B.M. Croker a sceptic of the supernatural John visits a notoriously haunted house and stays the night the next day tells his friends of his experience of the night deciding to spend another night only for his body to be found in the morning.

The house at the top of the hill by John Everson on Halloween night two boys dare each other to enter a haunted house and experience a terrifying encounter.

[Jenny Wiley]

some of the stories were good but some were hard to understand

[Michelle Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few stories were truly excellent, but the collection overall failed to impress. There were some liberties taken with the concept of haunted houses (one story features man eaters who disguise themselves to look like houses to lure people in, but I don't consider that truly in the spirit of haunted houses). Other stories were about odd occurrences that weren't scary, just odd; I always hope for chills in these type of collections, but merely qualifying as "odd" is usually just forgettable.

[Robert's reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

31/08/2023 The Patient in Room 96 2.0

29/10/2023 The Toll House 2.0

31/12/2023 The Whistling Room 3.3

[Thomas Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really hard to think of a rating for this book so I just went with the generic three stars. There were a select few of the stories which I absolutely loved (mostly the ones I’d read before), a lot that were pretty good, and a good deal that were just meh. I am biased towards older stories, so I didn’t care for most of the modern ones, though I enjoyed some. Not really a book I’d select for my personal collection of ghostly stories, but there were a lot of pretty unique and less-heard-of tales that I otherwise probably would never have come across.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good stuff, but I'm not a fan of newer stories. They seem to lack the atmosphere of the classics. I liked the House Hunting story, though. It reminded me of the stuff i used to write in high school. I wouldn't buy this collection for my personal library, but I'd look for some of the stories in other anthologies.

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I have not read most of the 49 short stories in this 478-page volume. I am writing this to alert readers that the text is incredibly tiny, and the margins also very small, making it hard to read some of the pages that fold into the spine. I applaud the publishers for jamming so much into the book, but having to use a magnifying glass to read isn't ideal.

[Belinda Curd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books!!!!