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The Death Spancel and Others
“Come to me, a lonely ghost, / Out of the night and rain.” – “The Ghost”
Katharine Tynan is not a name immediately associated with the supernatural. However, like many other writers of the early twentieth century, she made numerous forays into literature of the ghostly and macabre, and throughout her career produced verse and prose that conveys a remarkable variety of eerie themes, moods, and narrative forms.
From her early, elegiac stories, inspired by legends from the West of Ireland, to pulpier efforts featuring grave-robbers and ravenous rats, Tynan displays an eye for weird detail, compelling atmosphere, and a talent for rendering a broad palette of uncanny effects.
The Death Spancel and Others is the first collection to showcase Tynan’s tales of supernatural events, prophecies, curses, apparitions, and a pervasive sense of the ghastly.
Katharine Tynan is not a name immediately associated with the supernatural. However, like many other writers of the early twentieth century, she made numerous forays into literature of the ghostly and macabre, and throughout her career produced verse and prose that conveys a remarkable variety of eerie themes, moods, and narrative forms.
From her early, elegiac stories, inspired by legends from the West of Ireland, to pulpier efforts featuring grave-robbers and ravenous rats, Tynan displays an eye for weird detail, compelling atmosphere, and a talent for rendering a broad palette of uncanny effects.
The Death Spancel and Others is the first collection to showcase Tynan’s tales of supernatural events, prophecies, curses, apparitions, and a pervasive sense of the ghastly.
200 pages, Hardcover
First published November 19, 2020
1 person is currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Katharine Tynan
264 books6 followersBorn in 1861 in Clondalkin, County Dublin, Irish poet and novelist Katharine Tynan was educated at a convent school in Drogheda, and began publishing her poetry in 1878, when she was seventeen years old. Tynan was active in Dublin literary circles, and was friends with poets Gerald Manley Hopkins, and William Butler Yeats, and a correspondent with poet Francis Ledwidge. She married writer and barrister Henry Albert Hinkson in 1898, and moved with him, for a time, to England. They had three children, one of whom - Pamela Hinkson - was an author herself. In addition to her poetry, Tynan wrote over one hundred novels, as well as five volumes of autobiography.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 20, 2022
right around 3.7 or so, rounded up.
full post here: http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2022...
"There's few could look on the boorwaugh washa, the death spancel, without terror."
For me there is no greater comfort than to make a pot of tea, grab my favorite blanket and crawl into my favorite comfy chair with a book of older ghost stories in hand. Let's just say that it is much more comforting than even my favorite comfort food (a grilled cheese sandwich with some hot, fresh homemade tomato soup - a childhood holdover), and that the pleasure is augmented when what I'm reading is written by an author whose work I have not previously read. Imagine my pleasure in finding this book (thanks to one of my like-minded goodreads friends) -- but I did have to ask myself the following question:
what the hell is a spancel?
As anyone might do, I googled it and discovered that it's something that "hobbles" or "tethers," with the original usage having to do with cattle. It's definitely not put to bovine use here though, as I discovered, in not one, but two stories: first, the titular story "The Death Spancel" and a bit later in the book, "The Spancel of Death." In simplest form, it is skin cut from a corpse from head to heel in one swoop, much like one might do with an apple. From the second story we learn that the cutting of the skin is done with "ceremonies so awful that it would make this story too ghastly reading to detail them." In his introduction, Peter Bell notes that it is a "grim artifact of Irish lore;" William Gregory Wood-martin goes a step further in his description in volume one of his Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland: A Handbook of Irish pre-Christian Traditions, calling it a "love charm of most gruesome character." In the first story, it "dangles" from the "dusty rafters of Aughagree Chapel," a "devil's charm" of "such power that no man born of woman can resist it, save by the power of the Cross."
While those two stories alone were well worth the price of this book, there are plenty of other topnotch tales included here, including two I've deemed as winners in the "most disturbing" category, "A Night in the Cathedral" and "The Picture on the Wall." There is also a number of poems; the final section of the book includes other short writings, including a "weird tale," by the author, a "chat" with Tynan, and a brief anecdote about fantasy author Lord Dunsany. All in all it's a fine and engrossing collection; and while not unexpectedly some stories worked better for me than others, it was still a great pleasure to read and to lose myself in this author's strange tales. Leave it until the end, but do not miss the great introduction by Peter Bell.
I'll happily recommend this book to others who enjoy finding new (old) authors, women writers whose work has sadly sank into obscurity, and to those readers who are fans of older Irish fiction and folklore as well. And it's from Swan River Press, which has provided me with hours and hours of great reading time over the last few years, so you know it's going to be good.
full post here: http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2022...
"There's few could look on the boorwaugh washa, the death spancel, without terror."
For me there is no greater comfort than to make a pot of tea, grab my favorite blanket and crawl into my favorite comfy chair with a book of older ghost stories in hand. Let's just say that it is much more comforting than even my favorite comfort food (a grilled cheese sandwich with some hot, fresh homemade tomato soup - a childhood holdover), and that the pleasure is augmented when what I'm reading is written by an author whose work I have not previously read. Imagine my pleasure in finding this book (thanks to one of my like-minded goodreads friends) -- but I did have to ask myself the following question:
what the hell is a spancel?
As anyone might do, I googled it and discovered that it's something that "hobbles" or "tethers," with the original usage having to do with cattle. It's definitely not put to bovine use here though, as I discovered, in not one, but two stories: first, the titular story "The Death Spancel" and a bit later in the book, "The Spancel of Death." In simplest form, it is skin cut from a corpse from head to heel in one swoop, much like one might do with an apple. From the second story we learn that the cutting of the skin is done with "ceremonies so awful that it would make this story too ghastly reading to detail them." In his introduction, Peter Bell notes that it is a "grim artifact of Irish lore;" William Gregory Wood-martin goes a step further in his description in volume one of his Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland: A Handbook of Irish pre-Christian Traditions, calling it a "love charm of most gruesome character." In the first story, it "dangles" from the "dusty rafters of Aughagree Chapel," a "devil's charm" of "such power that no man born of woman can resist it, save by the power of the Cross."
While those two stories alone were well worth the price of this book, there are plenty of other topnotch tales included here, including two I've deemed as winners in the "most disturbing" category, "A Night in the Cathedral" and "The Picture on the Wall." There is also a number of poems; the final section of the book includes other short writings, including a "weird tale," by the author, a "chat" with Tynan, and a brief anecdote about fantasy author Lord Dunsany. All in all it's a fine and engrossing collection; and while not unexpectedly some stories worked better for me than others, it was still a great pleasure to read and to lose myself in this author's strange tales. Leave it until the end, but do not miss the great introduction by Peter Bell.
I'll happily recommend this book to others who enjoy finding new (old) authors, women writers whose work has sadly sank into obscurity, and to those readers who are fans of older Irish fiction and folklore as well. And it's from Swan River Press, which has provided me with hours and hours of great reading time over the last few years, so you know it's going to be good.
March 29, 2021
I absolutely loved this collection of late-Victorian/early 20th Century ghost stories. Katharine Tynan’s prose is inviting, moody, beautiful, and unabashedly Romantic. As with Dorothy Macardle’s slightly later stories that I just recently read, the supernatural elements derive from Irish folklore and legend. Two of the later stories - “A Night in the Cathedral” and “The Picture on the Wall” - are particularly intense. A few of Tynan’s ideas from earlier stories are revisited and revised in later ones, but this is an impressive and truly satisfying collection of supernatural fiction.
The Swan River Press hardcover edition has a gorgeous Art Nouveau cover design and dust jacket. The book itself is well-made and the text is meticulously edited. In addition to the stories, the book includes several excellent ghostly poems and a few interesting bits of literary miscellany, wherein which the author relays a true ghost story as well as a memorable visit with fantasy writer Lord Dunsany.
Very much recommended!
The Swan River Press hardcover edition has a gorgeous Art Nouveau cover design and dust jacket. The book itself is well-made and the text is meticulously edited. In addition to the stories, the book includes several excellent ghostly poems and a few interesting bits of literary miscellany, wherein which the author relays a true ghost story as well as a memorable visit with fantasy writer Lord Dunsany.
Very much recommended!
February 5, 2026
🫂 En primer lugar, quiero agradecer a @labibliotecadecarfax por el envío del ejemplar.
🕛 Este librito de relatos de terror ha sido toda una sorpresa, pues aparte de historias turbias para quitarnos el sueño, también tiene una ambientación preciosa en Irlanda y, de alguna manera, en cada una siempre queda representado el amor en alguna de sus formas (para bien o para mal).
🗺️ Estos relatos están claramente influenciados por la ascendencia de la autora, y es que podemos trasladarnos perfectamente a los diferentes escenarios de cada una de sus propuestas.
Consigue crear una atmósfera que hace que te metas de lleno, ya sea en un pequeño pueblo al lado del mar con secretos turbios, en una habitación oscura en mitad de la noche o en una catedral inundada.
Todo este ambiente gótico e inmersivo que consigue crear es perfecto para ponernos tristes con una historia de fantasmas medio cuqui o para hacer que nos den escalofríos en mitad de la noche y tengamos que encender la luz (real, maldito relato del cuadro xD).
🎭 Los personajes con los que nos encontramos son bastante variopintos, y al ser relatos al final solamente tenemos algunas pinceladas. Algunos, como El pequeño fantasma o La casa soñada, sí que profundizan un poco más en las protagonistas y nos dan algo más de contexto, que va bastante de la mano con el desarrollo más emocional de sus historias. En Una sentencia de muerto o Un combate, por ejemplo, no me han dicho mucho y creo que han sido los que menos me han llegado.
💀 Ahora bien, realmente no todos los relatos son de terror como tal.
El pequeño fantasma puede resultar un poco perturbador, pero es más una historia triste de fantasmas (para mí, esta sería la definición de cuento gótico) que se desarrolla en un casoplón y sus tierras; por otro lado, Una noche en la catedral es un relato asfixiante con escenas que harán que nos pique todo el cuerpo y nos pongamos totalmente en tensión; Los muertos del mar y La atadura de muerte me han dado unas vibras un poco similares, más estilo folk, brujería, el pueblo, el mar... y El cuadro en la pared hará que vuelvas a tenerle miedo a la oscuridad e incluso a dormir.
✒️ La pluma (y, por supuesto, la traducción y notas) me ha parecido que acompaña totalmente a las historias y que encaja y ayuda a transportarnos, haciendo brillar la ambientación con descripciones oscuras pero bonitas y melancólicas.
⌛ En definitiva, si te molan los cuentos góticos, los relatos perturbadores, de fantasmas y, además, la vibra rural irlandesa es tu rollo, este libro es para ti.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
🕛 Este librito de relatos de terror ha sido toda una sorpresa, pues aparte de historias turbias para quitarnos el sueño, también tiene una ambientación preciosa en Irlanda y, de alguna manera, en cada una siempre queda representado el amor en alguna de sus formas (para bien o para mal).
🗺️ Estos relatos están claramente influenciados por la ascendencia de la autora, y es que podemos trasladarnos perfectamente a los diferentes escenarios de cada una de sus propuestas.
Consigue crear una atmósfera que hace que te metas de lleno, ya sea en un pequeño pueblo al lado del mar con secretos turbios, en una habitación oscura en mitad de la noche o en una catedral inundada.
Todo este ambiente gótico e inmersivo que consigue crear es perfecto para ponernos tristes con una historia de fantasmas medio cuqui o para hacer que nos den escalofríos en mitad de la noche y tengamos que encender la luz (real, maldito relato del cuadro xD).
🎭 Los personajes con los que nos encontramos son bastante variopintos, y al ser relatos al final solamente tenemos algunas pinceladas. Algunos, como El pequeño fantasma o La casa soñada, sí que profundizan un poco más en las protagonistas y nos dan algo más de contexto, que va bastante de la mano con el desarrollo más emocional de sus historias. En Una sentencia de muerto o Un combate, por ejemplo, no me han dicho mucho y creo que han sido los que menos me han llegado.
💀 Ahora bien, realmente no todos los relatos son de terror como tal.
El pequeño fantasma puede resultar un poco perturbador, pero es más una historia triste de fantasmas (para mí, esta sería la definición de cuento gótico) que se desarrolla en un casoplón y sus tierras; por otro lado, Una noche en la catedral es un relato asfixiante con escenas que harán que nos pique todo el cuerpo y nos pongamos totalmente en tensión; Los muertos del mar y La atadura de muerte me han dado unas vibras un poco similares, más estilo folk, brujería, el pueblo, el mar... y El cuadro en la pared hará que vuelvas a tenerle miedo a la oscuridad e incluso a dormir.
✒️ La pluma (y, por supuesto, la traducción y notas) me ha parecido que acompaña totalmente a las historias y que encaja y ayuda a transportarnos, haciendo brillar la ambientación con descripciones oscuras pero bonitas y melancólicas.
⌛ En definitiva, si te molan los cuentos góticos, los relatos perturbadores, de fantasmas y, además, la vibra rural irlandesa es tu rollo, este libro es para ti.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
March 7, 2023
PREFACE: I was finishing Green Book #10 (Swan River Press), an all Dunsany issue.
Though the focus of this issue was Lord Dunsny’s fantasy œuvre, my favorite article was a reminiscence by Katharine Tynan, and that informed my decision regarding what to read next.
Tynan, Katharine - The Death Spancel
Traditional, wonderful ghost stories, with vivid descriptions and rich word use.
The second wife is already taking command of the home, and has borne two children to her husband. “The First Wife,” cold and long buried, still abides, sensed by a faithful family pet.
Faithful love of another sort is ensnared by a binding spell in “The Death Spancel.”
“A Bride From The Dead” and “The Body Snatching” both delve into the unpleasant business of graverobbing.
Possession, another version, occupies “The Ghost,” as the spirit of a bankrupt family, forced to sell their ancestral manor, troubles a male guest.
“The Dream House” presents a delightful variant on a haunting.
For fans of pure horror, “A Night In The Cathedral” delivers the goods. Love and adventure, blood and steel.
Peter Bell provides a lengthy and thoughtful introduction. Throughout, scattered poems act as interludes.
This is a great book from Swan River, and an essential edition to titles in the “Mistresses Of The Macabre” sphere. Rest easy, Richard Dalby, this latest entry is a worthy addition.
Though the focus of this issue was Lord Dunsny’s fantasy œuvre, my favorite article was a reminiscence by Katharine Tynan, and that informed my decision regarding what to read next.
Tynan, Katharine - The Death Spancel
Traditional, wonderful ghost stories, with vivid descriptions and rich word use.
The second wife is already taking command of the home, and has borne two children to her husband. “The First Wife,” cold and long buried, still abides, sensed by a faithful family pet.
Faithful love of another sort is ensnared by a binding spell in “The Death Spancel.”
“A Bride From The Dead” and “The Body Snatching” both delve into the unpleasant business of graverobbing.
Possession, another version, occupies “The Ghost,” as the spirit of a bankrupt family, forced to sell their ancestral manor, troubles a male guest.
“The Dream House” presents a delightful variant on a haunting.
For fans of pure horror, “A Night In The Cathedral” delivers the goods. Love and adventure, blood and steel.
Peter Bell provides a lengthy and thoughtful introduction. Throughout, scattered poems act as interludes.
This is a great book from Swan River, and an essential edition to titles in the “Mistresses Of The Macabre” sphere. Rest easy, Richard Dalby, this latest entry is a worthy addition.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews