The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories: Volume 1

by Alastair Gunn, Louisa Baldwin, Katharine Tynan

Wimbourne Books presents the first in a series of rare or out-of-print ghost stories from Victorian authors. With an introduction by author Alastair Gunn, Volume 1 in the series spans the years 1852 to 1901 and includes stories from a wide range of female authors; English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and American. Includes tales by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Charlotte Riddell, Isabella Banks and Vernon Lee. Readers new to this genre will discover its pleasures; the Victorian quaintness, the sometimes shocking difference in social norms, the almost comical politeness and structured etiquette, the archaic and precise language, but mostly the Victorians’ skill at stoking our fears and trepidations, our insecurities and doubts. Even if you are already an aficionado of the ghostly tale there is much within these pages to interest you. Wait until the dark of the stormy night arrives, lock the doors, shutter the windows, light the fire, sit with your back to the wall and bury yourself in the Victorian macabre. Try not to let the creaking floorboards, the distant howl of a dog, the chill breeze that caresses the candle, the shadows in the far recesses of your room, disturb your concentration. Includes the stories; The Old Nurse’s Story (1852) – Elizabeth Gaskell; The Last House in C- Street (1856) – Dinah Maria Craik; My Friend’s Story (1859) – Catherine Ann Crowe; The Cold Embrace (1860) – Mary Elizabeth Braddon; How The Third Floor Knew The Potteries (1863) – Amelia B. Edwards; The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly (1866) – Rosa Mulholland; Wraith-Haunted (1869) – Isabella Banks; The Ghost in the Cap’n Brown House (1870) – Harriet Beecher Stowe; The Man With the Nose (1872) – Rhoda Broughton; Seen In The Moonlight (1875) – Ellen Wood; The Secret Chamber (1876) – Margaret Oliphant; The Open Door (1882) – Charlotte Riddell; In The Dark (1885) – Mary E. Penn; The Story of the Rippling Train (1887) – Mary Louisa Molesworth; A Wicked Voice (1890) – Vernon Lee; The Trainer’s Ghost (1893) – Lettice Galbraith; How He Left The Hotel (1894) – Louisa Baldwin; The Picture On The Wall (1895) – Katharine Tynan; The Woodley Lane Ghost (1899) – Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren; The Ghost of the Belle-Alliance Plantation (1901) – Lilian Giffen.

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

349 pages, Paperback

Published January 7, 2018

About the author

ALASTAIR GUNN is an author, musician and professional astrophysicist based in the UK and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. As well as an active scientist, Alastair is an experienced and popular public lecturer on astronomy and is known for his accessible (though challenging), light-hearted, and visually stunning lectures. He has made guest appearances on many TV and radio shows around the world and has hosted a regular astronomy program on radio. Alastair writes a regular column for BBC Science Focus magazine and has written for The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian and is a contributor to many astronomy magazines including Astronomy Now, BBC Sky at Night and StarDate. His fiction includes ghostly short stories, a collection of supernatural stories called Ballymoon and his debut novel, The Bergamese Sect.

Reviews

[Niki (nikilovestoread) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of Victorian Ghost stories is a mixed bag. There are some great stories and some real duds. I even ended up DNFing three of the stories. Luckily, I enjoyed more than I didn't and most were new to me. I think my favorite of all was The Trainer's Ghost by Lettice Galbraith. It was spooky and a perfect ghost story. I think it's worth reading the collection, but, like I said, there are a few which are really not worth reading.

The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell - 5 Stars
The Last House in C___ Street by Dinah Maria Craik - 3 Stars
My Friend's Story by Catherine Ann Crowe - 2 Stars
The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon - 4 Stars
How the 3rd Floor Knew the Potteries by Amelia B. Edwards - 5 Stars
Wraith Haunted by Isabella Banks - 5 Stars
The Ghost in the Cap'n Brown House by Harriet Beecher Stowe - 5 Stars
The Man with the Nose by Rhoda Broughton -4 Stars
Seen in the Moonlight by Ellen Wood - 0 Stars DNF
The Secret Chamber by Margaret Oliphant - 2 Stars
The Open Door by Charlotte Riddell - 4 Stars
In the Dark by Mary E. Penn - 5 Stars
The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly by Rosa Mulholland - 5 Stars
The Story of the Rippling Train by Mary Louisa Molesworth - 5 Stars
The Wicked Voice by Vernon Lee - 0 Stars DNF
The Trainer's Ghost by Lettice Galbraith - 5 Stars
How He Left the Hotel by Louisa Baldwin - 5 Stars
The Picture on the Wall by Katharine Tynan - 5 Stars
The Woodley Lane Ghost by Madeline Vinton - 0 Stars DNF
The Ghost of the Belle Alliance Plantation by Lilian Giffen - 3 Stars

[Rowan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first story, but found the rest tiresome and fairly dull. Some of the writers were simply *not good.* The bit at which I decided to stop reading was: "This sentence is full of long words; but unfortunately long words are required in such a case." Sigh.

Also, nobody really reads an anthology for the introduction or notes from the editor. However, I wanted to add that this collection's editor made some truly strange decisions, such as writing lengthy biographies of the authors but lumping them all together in the intro, rather than pairing them with the respective stories.

[John Meszaros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winter is the season of ghosts. As the nights grow longer and the days colder, as the trees turn to twisted skeletons and the land itself goes to sleep, it is said that the walls between worlds grow thin, allowing the dead- and other, stranger spirits- to step into our world. If you look at Yule traditions outside of America, you’ll find hordes of ghosts, witches, trolls, household spirits, and other things creeping around the outside walls or hiding behind the stove.

This Yuletide spookiness underlies the British tradition of telling ghost stories around Christmas. When you hear “Christmas ghosts” you probably think of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” (and maybe also the line about how “there’ll be scary ghost stories” from the song “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”).  But this was just one among many in a long history of tales. And indeed, it was only one among man Christmas ghost story Dickens wrote.  

Winter ghost stories have been told in Europe for centuries, but in Britain the tradition really took off in the Victorian period. These tended to be what you might call “cozy” stories. The protagonists were often well-to-do or at least comfortably off. The hauntings frequently took place in or around a stately manor or otherwise well-furnished dwelling. These were tales meant to spook, but not horrify. Something to create a little creepy fun on a cold winter’s night. What M.R. James called “a pleasing terror”.

The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories is actually a series of anthologies collecting dozens of ghostly tales from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Each volume has a theme for the included authors, and this first volume focuses on women writers of British ghost stories.

Though many of these tales ae meant to be light, there are still plenty with a gothic sense of dread such as Elizabeth Gaskell’s “The Old Nurse’s Story”, or Isabella Banks “Wraith-Haunted”. Others are quieter, moody encounters such as Amelia B. Edwards “How the Third Floor Knew the Potteries”, or Louisa Baldwin’s “How He Left the Hotel” (I’m particularly fond of the latter tale because I find the thought of being an elevator-operator in a haunted hotel oddly quaint and charming).

Some stories are just short descriptions of ghostly encounters, such as Mary Louisa Molesworth’s “The Story of the Rippling Train”, or Ellen Wood’s “Seen in the Moonlight”. Then there are tales that are phantasmagoric enigmas such as Rhoda Broughton’s “The Man With the Nose” which has lots of Freudian and even feminist themes to it.

Many of the stories are written as if they were transcriptions of a narrator relating a story to friends- likely because they were meant to be read out loud to an audience gathered around the fireplace. The effect gives the tales a distinct feel that can take some getting used to. Also, some of the cultural attitudes can be dissonant or off-putting at times coming as they do from a society and time period obsessed with class and maintaining social mores. Though the only story that really falls flat is Lilian Giffen’s “The Ghost of the Belle-Alliance Plantation” which relies on a weird racist trope for its big jump-scare moment.

Overall, however, there is enough variety in the tones and themes of these stories that a reader will likely find several favorites. 

[Charlene Morris]

The Old Nurse's Story (1852) – Elizabeth Gaskell
The Last House in C- Street (1856) – Dinah Maria Craik;
My Friend's Story (1859) – Catherine Ann Crowe;
The Cold Embrace (1860) – Mary Elizabeth Braddon;
How The Third Floor Knew The Potteries (1863) – Amelia B. Edwards;
Wraith-Haunted (1869) – Isabella Banks;
The Ghost in the Cap'n Brown House (1870) – Harriet Beecher Stowe;
The Man With the Nose (1873) – Rhoda Broughton;
Seen In The Moonlight (1875) – Ellen Wood;
The Secret Chamber (1876) – Margaret Oliphant;
The Open Door (1882) – Charlotte Riddell;
In The Dark (1885) – Mary E. Penn;
The Story of the Rippling Train (1888) – Mary Louisa Molesworth;
A Wicked Voice (1890) – Vernon Lee;
The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly (1891) – Rosa Mulholland;
The Trainer's Ghost (1893) – Lettice Galbraith;
How He Left The Hotel (1894) – Louisa Baldwin;
The Picture On The Wall (1895) – Katharine Tynan;
The Woodley Lane Ghost (1899) – Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren;
The Ghost of the Belle-Alliance Plantation (1901) – Lilian Giffen.

[D J Rout · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is pretty eclectic. it's a good thing because it's good to see a wide range of stories in all kinds of styles from various authors, but the quality is very op and down. Certainly none of them are all that scary, but in those times it was probably sufficient to just have a ghost, say it's a ghost and let the reader do the rest of the work.

However, if you can get yourself into a Victorian (19th century) mindset, some of the stories are pretty good. there was one about a ghost who inhabits an organ that is nearly as good as a good Seabury Quinn. There was one about an attempt to poison a racehorse and the comeuppance for the poisoners that, if you change the language a bit, could've been written by Damon Runyon.

Enjoyable, but not scary. The good thing is that this is the first of a long series, so the collection will at least be thorough, and if you sift enogh dirt you'll find a gem.

[David Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting collection of ghost stories.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice selection of tales, with an excellent introduction by Gunn.

[Naticia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd read most of these before but enjoyed almost every story in this collection.