Night Shivers: The Ghost Stories of J.H. Riddell

by J.H. Riddell, Charlotte Riddell, David Stuart Davies (Series Editor)

Moving, his candle was instantly extinguished, and in the very moment of being left in the darkness he saw, standing in the doorway, a woman, resembling her who had haunted his dream overnight. He rushed with outstretched hands to seize her, but clutched only air. Night Shivers presents a treasure trove of the stories of Mrs J. H. Riddell, one of the greatest Victorian writers of ghost stories. These tales, many of which have been out of print for years, take the reader on fearful journeys into the gloomy haunts of old neglected houses, into a world of prophetic dreams, out onto the wild terrain of Ireland to encounter a frightful banshee and even down into Hell itself. In these fourteen short stories and one novella, The Uninhabited House, there is the distillation of the best and most effective of Riddell s spine-tingling supernatural fiction.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Classics, Irish Literature, Fiction, Gothic, Ghost Stories

449 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

AKA: Mrs. Joseph H. Riddell and Charlotte Elizabeth Lawson Cowan Riddell. Sometimes published under the names C.E.L. Riddell, Catherine Riddell or F.G. Trafford

Charlotte Riddell aka Mrs J.H. Riddell (30 September 1832 – 24 September 1906) was one of the most popular and influential writers of the Victorian period. The author of 56 books, novels and short stories, she was also part owner and editor of the St. James's Magazine, one of the most prestigious literary magazines of the 1860s.

Born Charlotte Eliza Lawson Cowan in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Ireland on 30 September 1832, Riddell was the youngest daughter of James Cowan, of Carrickfergus, High Sheriff for the county of Antrim and Ellen Kilshaw of Liverpool, England.

In the winter of 1855, four years after her father's death, she and her mother moved to London. Charlotte was visited by death again the following year when her mother died. In 1857 she married Joseph Hadley Riddell, a civil engineer, originally from Staffordshire, but resident in London. It is known that they moved to live in St John's Lodge between Harringay and West Green in the mid-1860s, moving out in 1873 as the area was being built up. She was the author of many ghost stories, six of which were published as Weird Stories in 1882.


Her husband died in 1880. Charlotte lived a lonely life thereafter until she died from cancer in Ashford, Kent, England on 24 September 1906.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories were more like supernatural mysteries than terrifying ghost stories. Most were well-written, but when read one after the other a familiar pattern is found in nearly each one. The new owner of a haunted house sees a ghost there, finds there's a mystery about it that needs to be solved, and after solving it the ghost is at rest and haunts no more. If you get this book, I suggest you dip into it occasionally and not read it through at one time. You might appreciate the stories better that way.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

End-of 19th Century supernatural fiction in English literature in itself is rather enigmatic. As the imperial decay (although in a regal style) set in, society (and hence literature) tried as best as possible to acccomodate the radically different lifestyle into the coziness of the already-distant past. Hence we found glorification of scholastic initiatives in juxtaposition with darkness & macabre thoughts of past & present, best typified by the doyen of English Ghost Story: M.R. James, who was followed by L.P. Hartley in the Edwardian era. But there were numerous "also-ran" authors who tried (and succeeded to some extent)to satiate the appetite of the readers for macabre evnets in the backdrop of "homely" surroundings. Among them there were few who knew how to keep their plots neat & tight until the end; unfortunately Charlotte Riddell can not be included in that select list. Her plots are interesting to begin with, characterization is effective as a few strokes are enough to make the protagonists & others alive, but the endings always bring the stories down. The pace slackens, the woman characters are totally stereotypical (even in their villainy), there is always a conscious effort to keep the "scandalous" elements away and hence the wrong-doers are dispatched to other countries conveniently, and the "novel" goes on & on & on. But, THE BOOK IS VERY REASONABLY PRICED AND FOR A LITTLE AMOUNT YOU CAN READ A LOT OF OUT-OF-PRINT STORIES. for which Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural deserves praise.

[Brian Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that brings about an understanding of the time, as regards to the themes of property and ownership, and how the landed gentry dealt with this. J.H. Riddell having witnessed her family lose their wealth t a young age, which obviously had a negative impact on her. The sentimentality that runs through her outlook of the past comes through these tales. The tales are well written, as regards to the style. Nevertheless, they are not scary at all, as a horror fan, used to the likes of Le Fanu, H. P. Lovecraft, the Benson brothers, Henry James, M. R. James, Stephen King and James Herbert. The stories pale in comparison in their fright factor and characterisation. These stories are worth reading but don't expect to be terrified or left with a healthy curiosity about the happenings in the stories like Henry James, Stephen King and Le Fanu, who do this very well. 'Night Shivers' provides the reader more with the historical mindset of property and money of the time in a historical context rather than pure cut throat horror.

[Hugo Emanuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Colecção de histórias de fantasmas tremendamente medíocre. Apesar dos contos e pequeno romance incluídos nesta edição não serem terrivelmente aborrecidos também estão longe de serem particularmente interessantes ou originais. As motivações e características das aparições e outras criaturas sobrenaturais que "assombram" as páginas deste livro são de tal modo "clichés" e previsíveis ao ponto de se misturarem umas com as outras na memória do leitor (ao consultar o índice da colecção tive dificuldade em recordar-me dos eventos narrados numa boa quantidade de histórias por estas serem tão semelhantes umas ás outras).

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid collector Victorian spooky stories including the very sweet-hearted Walnut-Tree House.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.9⭐

Nut Bush Farm 4.25⭐
The Open Door 5⭐
The Last of Squire Ennismore 3.5⭐
A Strange Christmas Game 4.5⭐
The Old House in Vauxhall Walk 4.25⭐
Sandy the Tinker 4.25⭐
Forewarned, Forearmed 3.25⭐
Hertford O'Donnell's Warning 3⭐
Walnut-Tree House 4.5⭐
Old Mrs. Jones 3.5⭐
Why Dr. Cray Left Southam 3⭐
Conn Kilrea 2.5⭐
Diarmid Chittock's Story 4⭐
A Terrible Vengeance 4⭐
The Uninhabited House 5⭐

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mrs. J. H. Riddell aka Charlotte Riddell is supposed to be one of the best writers of Victorian Ghost Stories. If this is the case then you would think Victorian Ghost Stories must really suck. That isn't necessarily true though. I have personally read some great ones. But I'm also a guy whose favorite ghost story is P. G. Woodhouse's Honeysuckle Cottage, and my favorite novel length ghost stories are books where the idea that the characters might be imagining the ghost is played up. (The Haunting of Hill House, The Turn of the Screw.)

Most of the stories in this collection follow this structure.

1. Person moves into, buys or finds themselves staying unexpectedly at a haunted site.

2. Person experiences ghostly goings on.

3. Person investigates the story behind the ghost.

4. Person resolves the conflict from beyond the grave and puts the spirit to rest.

Not all of the stories follow this structure exactly but so many do that it is really a wonder that one person can write so many versions of the same unimaginative story. What is really important is none of these stories scared me.

[Unbestechlich · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 at the whole, most stories were quite banal
Nut Bush Farm 2,5/5
The open door 3/5 - the beginning was promising"
'the last of squire ennismore' - 1,5/5
the old house in vauxhall walk - 2/5
sandy the tinker - 2/5
forewarned, forearmed - 2/5
hertford o'donnell's warning - 2/5
walnut-tree house - 3/5
old mrs jones - 2/5
why dr cray left southam, Conn Kilrea - 2/5
Diarmid Chittock's story, A terrible vengeance, the uninhabited house - 3/5

[Melissa Arenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've spent 4 years chipping away at this short story collection on rainy days and crisp October mornings. I am so terribly sad that I have completed it (perhaps why I drug it out so long!). While there were a few stories I was not enamoured with, this majority are wonderful time-period stories that give horror of a mental sort rather than the a simply disgusted sort. I only wish there were more...

[Jed Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t imagine that any of these stories would actually frighten anyone, but Riddell is an essential contributor to the history of the ghost story in English and this collection gathers all her most important work.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Night Shivers is a 2008 collection of ghost stories written by popular 19th century author JH Riddell. The stories comprise 14 short stories and 1 novella originally published over the years 1868-1899. The stories are not really macabre in any way, and many of them have a recurring theme of a murder mystery surrounding a haunted house. They are competently written, but the novella seems somewhat superior as its length allows some excellent character development in place of the cardboard characters that short stories are forced to adopt through length constraints.

[Beluosus]

A third of the first story was haggling over the amount of rent to be paid for a farm. The second story contained a lengthy account of negotiating how much the protagonist should be paid to investigate the haunted house. I gave up after that.

[Gary · Rating 2 out of 5]

No shivers but rather yawns.

[Billi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book was decent. Some of the stories were extremely intriguing while others were barely tolerable. I did find it interesting to read ghost stories from a different era and compare them to modern ghost stories.

[Lynda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice to read past story books on the paranormal.
Quite a few of the stories were a bit boring but others still turned on the spooky
goose bumps and left you wanting to leave the light on.
Well worth a read.

[Cassie 'The Thinker Go Go Go Go' Mis. Roben Goodfellow'\Isabelle Lightwood]

Alright y'all! After one full year plus almost a month of not finishing this. I'm going to call it a Did not finish. If I DO finish it sometime in the future, then I will come back and edit this review. But before I get there as of right now I'm calling it seeing as I'm tired of it staring me in the face and feeling bad because I haven't finished it. At least in my room it's not staring me in the face. That's something right? Right?
But anyways.

So far, it was good, although the phrasing and wording is a bit outdated and hard to understand at points. But I did\do enjoy it even though it's not something you could sit down and read in one sitting for sure.

Oh well. Look for updates if you plan on going out to read this seeing as now I'm determined to finish it!