Great Irish Tales of Horror: A Treasury of Fear

by Peter Haining (Editor)

From legends retold around the peat fire to modern stories of psychological terror, the Irish have always had a fascination with fear. Drawn from 200 years of short story writing, this book includes 24 powerful Irish tales with more than enough material to set pulses racing: satanic figures, ghosts, and hapless victims fleeing from their inescapable dooms. Writers includes such giants of classic horror fiction as Bram Stoker, Sax Rohmer, and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu; masters like George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge, and Dorothy Macardle; and such modern exponents of the genre as Brian Cleeve, Jack Higgins, and Neil Jordan.

Contents

9 • Introduction (Great Irish Tales of Horror) • essay by Peter Haining
17 • The Morgan Score • short story by Jack Higgins
31 • The Doomed Sisters • short story by Charles Maturin (variant of Leixlip Castle 1825) [as by Charles Robert Maturin]
45 • The Child Who Loved a Grave • short story by Fitz-James O'Brien (variant of The Child That Loved a Grave 1861)
51 • The Diplomatist's Story • (1955) • short fiction by Shane Leslie
60 • The Portrait of Roisin Dhu • (1924) • short story by Dorothy Macardle
69 • Danse Macabre • (1949) • short story by L. A. G. Strong
76 • The Happy Autumn Fields • (1944) • short story by Elizabeth Bowen
93 • Mr Murphy and the Angel • short story by Brian Cleeve
109 • The Raising of Elvira Tremlett • (1977) • short story by William Trevor
127 • The Unburied Legs • (1827) • short story by Gerald Griffin
133 • The Man from Shorrox' • (1894) • short story by Bram Stoker
147 • A House Possessed • (1912) • novelette by Sax Rohmer
167 • The Miraculous Revenge • (1885) • short story by George Bernard Shaw
188 • Five Pounds of Flesh • short story by J. M. Synge
194 • The Watcher o' the Dead • (1929) • short story by John Guinan
206 • The Samhain Feis • (1984) • short story by Peter Tremayne
227 • Fly Away Finger, Fly Away Thumb • (1953) • short story by Brian Moore
236 • Footsteps in the Lobby • (1838) • short story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
245 • The Cedar Closet • (1874) • short story by Lafcadio Hearn [as by Patrick Lafcadio Hearn]
255 • Will • (1899) • short story by Vincent O'Sullivan
262 • The Bride • (1902) • short story by M. P. Shiel
275 • Encounter at Night • (1935) • short story by Mary Frances McHugh
280 • Arachnophobia • short story by Catherine Brophy
292 • Last Rites • (1976) • short story by Neil Jordan

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Ireland, Irish Literature, Literature

301 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Peter Alexander Haining was an English journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk. Born in Enfield, Middlesex, he began his career as a reporter in Essex and then moved to London where he worked on a trade magazine before joining the publishing house of New English Library.

Haining achieved the position of Editorial Director before becoming a full time writer in the early Seventies. He edited a large number of anthologies, predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories, wrote non-fiction books on a variety of topics from the Channel Tunnel to Sweeney Todd and also used the pen names "Ric Alexander" and "Richard Peyton" on a number of crime story anthologies. In the Seventies he wrote three novels, including The Hero (1973), which was optioned for filming.

In two controversial books, Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a real historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800, was tried in December 1801, and was hanged in January 1802. However, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims. A check of the website Old Bailey at for "Associated Records 1674-1834" for an alleged trial in December 1801 and hanging of Sweeney Todd for January 1802 show no reference; in fact the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col. Joseph Wall who was hanged 28 January 1802 for killing a Benjamin Armstrong 10 July 1782 in "Goree" Africa and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January 1802. Strong reservations have also been expressed regarding the reliability of another of Haining's influential non-fiction works, The Legend and Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack.
He wrote several reference books on Doctor Who, including the 20th anniversary special Doctor Who: A Celebration Two Decades Through Time and Space (1983), and also wrote the definitive study of Sherlock Holmes on the screen, The Television Sherlock Holmes (1991) and several other television tie-ins featuring famous literary characters, including Maigret, Poirot and James Bond. Peter Haining's most recent project was a series of World War Two stories based on extensive research and personal interviews: The Jail That Went To Sea (2003), The Mystery of Rommel's Gold (2004), Where The Eagle Landed (2004), The Chianti Raiders (2005) and The Banzai Hunters (2007).

He won the British Fantasy Awards Karl Edward Wagner Award in 2001.

Reviews

[Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Haining was an indefatigable editor of both scary/weird and mystery fiction, though this is actually the only one of his collections I've read so far. Given that his scope here includes both naturalistic horror and the supernatural, I'd say his editorial judgment in this anthology is, for the most part, pretty good. (A couple of the stories are more whimsical and dryly humorous than horrific, but I don't consider that a defect.) "The Child Who Loved a Grave" is not O'Brien's best or most compelling work ("What Was It?" or "The Diamond Lens" would have been better selections), and I don't recommend Neil Jordan's "Last Rites," which is as much --or more-- disgusting, depressing and pathetic than scary; and the organizing ideas behind Haining's division of the stories into three sections are unclear. Apart from these considerations, though, the other tales here all make worthwhile reading for fans of this sort of fiction. And the background notes on the authors enhance one's appreciation.

Of the purely natural stories, Jack Higgins' "The Morgan Score," which deals with Northern Ireland's bloody terrorism, is probably the best. Le Fanu is represented by "Footsteps in the Lobby" (which is abridged here), a Gothic tale dealing with a murder plot similar to the one he later presented at novel length in Uncle Silas. Probably the most chilling example of psychological horror in the book is Catherine Brophy's masterful "Arachnophobia."

My favorites among the supernatural stories here are Rohmer's "A House Possessed," a neglected classic of the ghost story sub-genre which draws the theme of moral good and evil very sharply, and Tremayne's "The Samhain Feis," an outstanding contemporary supernatural work that draws eruditely on the ancient Celtic folklore of Ireland, to excellent effect. Such stories as "The Doomed Sisters," "The Unburied Legs," and "The Portrait of Roisin Dhu" also notably draw on Irish folklore. Ireland's traditional folk Catholicism is reflected in Shaw's "The Miraculous Revenge," and in Brian Cleeve's "Mr. Murphy and the Angel." Finally, it would be remiss to close this review without mentioning another stand- out ghost story, Shane Leslie's "The Diplomatist's Story."

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like it spooky!

I tried to find the actual quote from the movie in gif form, but then I realized that is not exactly GR friendly! (Return of the Living Dead is amazeballs- highly recommended, etc).

/lazy review

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I rated this collection of stories solely on my emotional reaction to them, I would give it one star.

If the title were "Anthology of Creepy Irish Tales" or the like, I would give it three stars.

The problem was that the word "Horror" - especially in combination with "Great" - created an expectation which the stories fell far short of, leaving me quite disappointed. The inside of the dust jacket says, "... twenty-four of the most powerful examples of horror ever conceived."

Well, some of the tales I found mundane, some atmospheric, some mildly creepy, but only two managed to work me up into suspense. Had I been expecting something less than Horror, I'm certain I'd have enjoyed many of them. As it was, I finished story after story thinking only, "that wasn't horror."

It doesn't help that a fair number of the tales are more like classic Grimm-style fairy tales; mostly description of what happens with sprinklings of actual dialogue. To me they are more like outlines for stories.

And the last point of disappointment was the Bram Stoker story. I've never read anything of his beyond, of course, Dracula, but considering what an accomplishment that was, I expected a short story by him (again, in a collection of "Horror" stories) to be frightening to some degree. Instead, I found a humorous macabre story (which I could have enjoyed in a different context) with a distractingly written Irish brogue, as in: "But av any iv thim'd thry to git affectionate, as min do whin they've had all they can carry, well, thin she had a playful way iv dalin' wid thim what'd always turn the laugh agin' thim."

All that said, some of the stories are well-written, well-plotted, and engaging. Some have good ideas that more could be done with.

If you're into Irish lit, or enjoy exploring the fringes of spooky fiction, and your expectations aren't too high, you might find this book worthwhile.

[Carol Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great collection, but many of the older stories are slow and hard to follow. My three favorites were "The Unburied Legs," "The Child Who Loved A Grave" and "The Cedar Closet."

"The Unburied Legs" is more surrealistic than terrifying. A pair of body-less legs go walking down the road, and a laughing crowd follows them, and then they disappear! I won't give away the horrible crime behind the apparition. But it's interesting how Ireland is a country cut off from its own past, its own identity. Even the ghosts are cut in half and have no house to haunt, so they wander the roads!

"The Child Who Loved A Grave" is the same way. The story isn't that scary, but it makes you think about Irish history. A little child in poverty has no place to hang out but the grave of a little aristocrat who died centuries ago! But the only way to connect to the aristocratic past is to lie down and die. Ireland has no future, and even the little children know that the past is the place to be!

"The Cedar Closet" was my favorite story of all, but it's not really an Irish story. Lafcadio Hearn writes a really good Victorian horror story, and it's all about conflicted Victorians who are in love with the idea of innocent girlhood, deeply committed to marriage and motherhood as the one goal in a woman's life, and yet completely horrified by sex. The young girl telling the story is genuinely appealing, so sweet and good, yet she reveals a lot more than she means to. "My girlhood was joyful and pure, and thanks to patient and gentle husband, my marriage has been nothing but bliss and contentment. Yet in between there was this horrible, nightmarish experience that I had, that's just too distasteful and gruesome to talk about. So I'm going to tell you a ghost story instead!"

So how was the wedding night, honey?

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost all of these stories were decently written and interesting to some degree, but the majority of them are not horror. There is some weirdness, some folklore and even some humor, but very little horror. To make things even more frustrating, the introduction to nearly every story mentions other works by each author that sound ten times more relevant than what is actually included.

To be sure, this is an eclectic and even intriguing collection of Irish writers and their lesser-known short stories, but the title is wildly misleading. There is something seriously flawed in your premise when a tale by George Bernard Shaw is more chilling, tense and horrific than one by Bram Stoker.

[Siobhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute rubbish

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little collection of short horror stories......some classic, some off the wall. Not bad for the occasional short burst of reading.

[Jillian Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some tales that are interesting, and some that bored me a lot. It's not a an actual horror set of stories. They're kinda more like stories you'd tell at a campfire.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book. However, they weren't very horrific overall. Most likely my desensitized 21st century existence diminished the scariness of the stories, since they were written awhile back (early 1900s if i'm not mistaken).

Couldn't read one story since it was written in the old cockney accent!

Also, I was pleasantly surprised to see a slightly modified version of one of my favorite horror stories which I remember reading from my childhood in "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark"....all I have to say is...."room for one more??" mwahahaha.

Side note connected with "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark"...that artwork really freaked me out as a kid....they're still kinda creepy actually.

[Katy Downes · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is definitely a misnomer! I was expecting traditional old Irish folktales (which will curdle your blood they’re so frightening)—I got a collection of weird (albeit often fascinating) short stories. I had an easy time putting this down for long spells...which does not speak well of a book titled “Tales of Horror”!

[Brian O'Connell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An emphatically mixed bag, with some particularly odd choices, but certainly worth reading--especially in cases where the material is rare.

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is exactly what it says on the tin. It's an anthology of horror stories by Irish writers. The themes are, for the most part, kept Irish though there are some variations (like a tale of bandits in Italy). The mood also varies with some stories almost coming off as jokes even if they have supernatural subject matter. The stories run mostly from writers of the 19th and 20th centuries and doesn't leave out the big names like Bram Stoker and includes many potentially obscure writers.

It is an anthology so I'm going to cover a few of the stories that stick out in my mind, having finished it.

The first story in the book sets a strange tone for the collection. It's not a horror story. Sorry, it's not. It's a noir-y mystery with a twist ending. That the protagonist is secretly an informant working for Britain might qualify as horrible, especially for an Irish collection, it isn't horror in the same every other story in the book. This lead me to have no idea what to expect from the rest of the book.

And, indeed, a lot of the stories are somewhat forgettable. Some of this can be attributed to somewhat antiquated writing styles. The nineteenth century's prose often lacks the punchiness of Poe and could get dogged down in details. The dialog is generally wonderfully written and fully evokes the Irish accent. Save for one example. Bram Stoker's story featured in the book is written in impenetrable vernacular and is downright incomprehensible. It's unfortunate that the writer who brought us Dracula is represented this way but it may be my fault. Perhaps growing up listening to the Irish accent might help make sense of the writing.

The anthology drags in the middle but picks up near the end. There's a story that's quite funny about the relative of a high ranking clergyman being sent into the countryside to verify a miracle. A sinner was burried in a sanctified cemetery and the occupants of said cemetery moved across the river to be away from him. In the course of his investigation, the protagonist finds the miracle to be genuine but runs afoul of the local clergy and so, in revenge, decides to undo the miracle. He transplants the sinner's body across the river and the graves of the faithful all move back to their original spots just in time for church agents to arrive and discover the fraud.

The last story that sticks with me is a beautiful piece of macabre. A young woman is deadly afraid of spiders and has begun seeing a therapist to free herself from this affliction. Unbeknownst to her therapist, this fear of spiders extends to her caretaker whom she calls the Black Widow. Indeed, she sees all spiders as black widows. As the therapist diminishes her terror of spiders he raises her ability to stand up to her caretaker until she drowns the Black Widow in the bathtub. It's brutal and you can see where this is going from early on and this creates a rising sense of dread as the story builds to its climax. I will be seeking out more writing by that author.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book includes 24 stories by authors as great as George Bernard Shaw and Bram Stoker. It is an eclectic group of stories broken into three sections: Lurking Shadows, Wake Not the Dead, and To Make the Flesh Creep. None of these stories were what I call horror but it may just be me. A young boy is tempted and his soul taken by the devil, A man loves two sisters and plays them against each other, a young woman is obsessed with her fear of spiders. The list goes on and on. I was waiting to be scared, but it just didn't do it for me. Some of the stories came close but no cigar.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filled with some absolutely, wonderfully, dark stories (The Miraculous Revenge by George Bernard Shaw, Will by Vincent O’Sullivan) and some classically familiar in form to anyone who’s ever heard or told a story around the campfire ( The Diplomatist’s Story by Shane Leslie, Danse Macabre by L.A.G. Strong).

That said, those gems are very poorly balanced with some utter slogs and weirdly tone-deaf stories that are barely horror, even in the loosest sense.

Uneven, but worth it for at least some of those pieces that, at the time of the book’s publication, weren’t anthologized anywhere else.

[James Greening · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love great Horror short stories, and being 75% Irish myself, these tales spoke to my heart. Editor Peter Haining does a great job choosing scary stories from the Emerald Isle that cover several topics, time periods, and styles of writing. There are some rare pieces in this collection as well. My favorite story by far was "Arachnophobia" authored by Catherine Brophy. Truly inspirational in terms of giving any aspiring Horror short story writer new ideas and methods. I definitely recommend this collection for the Halloween season!

[Vivian Parras · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is divided into three parts. Lurking Shadows. Wake not the Dead. To Make the Flesh Creep. I enjoyed the stories in the third part best especially Arachnophobia by Catherine Brophy, Last Rites by Neil Jordan, The Cedar Closet by Patrick Laficadio Hearn, Will by Vincent O'Sullivan and The Bride by M.P.Shiel. One story "The Happy Autumn Fields by Elizabeth Bowen I didn't particularly understand. And the story by Bram Stoker I barely started and didn't finish because it's mostly written in Irish (even though I love the book Dracula).

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

well i expected more out of this book. this book is a collection of old Irish writers that wrote Irish ghost stories. before each story theirs a paragraph with some information about the author, their books or stories and any of their accomplishments. the stories ranged from ok,to good, to really bad. all though i enjoyed a few stories i would pass on this book given a second chance but if you were in to older writers, particularly Irish ones this one would be up your ally.

[Jill Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really horrifying. Some stories I would have to go back some pages and re-read. But for some reason, I ended up liking this book. I had gone to a furniture store and instead of buying furniture, I asked the manager if I could buy the book. He gave it to me free. Poor book was just sitting there. It did take me a while to read. Worth it if you like folklore.

[Carol Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover page describes this book as “a treasury of fear”

It isn’t.

The stories are for the most part old, for the most part overlooked, and for the most part not particularly scary. “Arachnophobia” was by far the best. And that little tail, the truth cause of a phobia was identified, address, and resolved.

[J Bunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I genuinely can't remember the other tales from this book off the top of my head, except for Red John. I read this yrs ago, & I think of that story OFTEN!!! Monthly at least, that's how prominently it stuck out for me!! Idk if it's because of the name, or my son was a child, but i find myself looking at some children suspiciously now lol. It's worth reading purely for that story!

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am fascinated with fear, and horror novels and stories. And out of all the books of horror I read, I find these short stories a little difficult to follow. They do have some cultural value and old Irish myths mentioned, but I jut found this book a struggle to understand.

[Moira Zamora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tales, some do invoke a spirit of horror, most are just slightly spooky or disturbing. If you want skin crawling horror this is not the book for you. Spooky well written stories, yes, that they are

[Aimee]

DNF. I tried several times to get into this, and even renewed it once, but the stories were older and didn't peak my interest. Plus, the font was pretty small and harder to read. They can't all be winners lol.

[Michelle Horst · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for chills and thrills - of spine-tingling horror. There are maybe 2 stories in here that made my spine tingle. The rest of the short stories were more like mysteries akin to Sherlock Holmes. This certainly wasn’t a treasury of fear - at least not to me.

[Laura Talley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great collection

[Emily]

DNF @ 31%

Not very horrifying, and they're all that kind of Old story where someone in the story is telling someone else a story and that's the story. It's so distant and impersonal.

[Ryan Ricks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories are better than others. Many or most of them would be a stretch to consider horror.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of stories but not a great anthology, in fact in many ways a poor one, it is an uneasy mix of the long out of print (and out of copyrite) and some more well known authors. This has led to the inclusion of stories which stretch either the definition of Irish and Horror. Neil Jordan's beautifully moving story of despair 'Last Rites'* is clearly included because at the date of publication Jordan was famous for adapting Anne Rice's 'Interview with a Vampire' while the opening story in the anthology 'The Morgan Score' by Jack Higgins is there because of Higgin's fame (he wrote the 'Eagle has Landed' and many other novels that were made into films) but is also not a 'horror' story in any conventional sense**.

There are excellent stories from first rate writers like Elizabeth Bowen, Brian Moore, William Trevor and the already mentioned Jordan and Higgins (though I am not a fan of Higgin's writing) but most of the rest is very so-so - Bram Stoker's 'The Man from Shorrox' with its painful 'begorrah' peasant talk is embarrassing while the inevitable inclusion of Sheridan Le Fanu made my heart sink. I'll admit I get bored very quickly with the classic horror tropes of haunted castles and houses. If the dead spirits remain attached to places they suffered or were unhappy why are the lanes and hedgerows of Ireland not thick not thick with the dead from the great famine?

There are good stories in this anthology which is why I give it three stars but it is a very flawed and unsatisfactory anthology otherwise.

*From his first book, a collection of stories 'Night in Tangiers'
**It is about IRA violence and of course that is a 'horror' but I am convinced it was the author's fame which gave it a place.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title calls it a "treasury of fear," but after delving into the book, I realized that not all of these stories really should have been put in here. Don't get me wrong; they're very well written and each author gets a little write up prior to his or her story explaining background and what other works for which the author may have been famous.

The book is actually divided into three parts. Part I is "Lurking Shadows: Stories of Fear," and features such authors as Jack Higgins, Dorothy Mcardle and Elizabeth Bowen. In this group, I particularly liked "The Portrait of Roisin Dru," (Macardle); although I did enjoy "The Doomed Sisters" (Maturin) and "The Child Who Loved a Grave," by Fitz-James O'Brien. Part II, "Wake Not the Dead: Traditional Terror," features a wonderful story by Sax Roehmer (I didn't know he was Irish until I read this) entitled "A House Possessed," and second to that one, "The Samhain Feis," by author Peter Tremayne, known for his Dracula stories. Part III, "To Make The Flesh Creep: Chilling Tales," features my favorite Irish author of all time, Sheridan LeFanu (writer of Carmilla, The Rose and the Key, and Uncle Silas) with a small vignette entitled "Footsteps in the Lobby."

While it is true that not all of the stories in here bring on bone-chilling terror, the stories are interesting in that the reader gets a feel for Irish folk belief & history within the context of these little stories. I would recommend it if you don't mind picking through the non-scary stuff to get the hackles raised on your neck a bit.

[Gonzalo · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Great Irish Tales of Horror: A treasury of Fear" is a book that is interesting but gets boring easily. It has many "great" stories of horro that aren't that scary but are still entertaining to read when you're bored. its actually pretty great to read certain stories during the night like at 1 am when everything is dead quiet, if you read it during the night it will bring fun times. The book is divided into three parts, my favorite part was the last one which was Part III, "To Make The Flesh Creep: Chilling Tales" because in my opinion had the most realistic and creepiest stories of the book. Overall, the book is interesting and well-written but sometimes the book gets boring and is not scary at all. I recommend this book to people who will finish a book when they start it because this book can get boring at times.