Polar Horrors: Strange Tales from the World’s Ends

by John Miller (Editor)

Inspired by ground-breaking expeditions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, writers of the weird began to construct a literary Arctic and Antarctic in which terrors lay undiscovered in the ice and gateways to bizarre hidden worlds lay waiting. From lurid Arctic narratives of life amongst polar bears to tales of ghostly visitations within the wind-blown wilds of the southern continent, this new collection uncovers a wealth of neglected material from this niche of literature obsessed with the limits of human experience.

Featuring tales rife with aliens, twisted science and madness spanning from 1837–1946, this anthology also includes a gem of twenty-first century Arctic horror to trace the enduring lure of these sublime and uncanny spaces at the ends of the Earth.

Contents:
- The Surpassing Adventures of Allan Gordon (James Hogg)
- The Moonstone Mass (Harriet Prescott Spofford)
- The Captain of the "Polestar" (Arthur Conan Doyle)
- Skule Skerry (John Buchan)
- The Third Interne (Idwal Jones)
- Iqsinaqtutalik Piqtuq: The Haunted Blizzard (Aviaq Johnston)
- A Secret of the South Pole (Hamilton Drummond)
- In Amundsen's Tent (John Martin Leahy)
- Creatures of the Light (Sophie Wenzel Ellis)
- Bride of the Antarctic (Mordred Weir)
- Ghost (Henry Kuttner)
- The Polar Vortex (Malcolm M. Ferguson)

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Gothic, Fantasy, Classics

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2022

About the author

John Miller is Senior Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature at the University of Sheffield.

Reviews

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

a 3.5 rating seems about right to me.
full post is here:
http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2023...


It's time for another book in the British Library Tales of the Weird series. This time we're off to the remoteness of the Arctic and the Antarctic with Polar Horrors: Strange Tales From the World's Ends. My geek self has a particular fascination with the history of polar exploration, which after a while led to a particular fascination with fiction set in these locations as well, so this book is tailor made. With the exception of one story from 2019 that editor John Miller has chosen to include here, the remainder of the stories range from the 1830s through the 1940s, with the earliest in the section entitled "North," reflecting, as Miller notes in his introduction, the "earlier arrival of the Arctic than the Antarctic into European and American writing."

Out of eleven stories in this volume, I'd read only two before picking up this book. Three of the remaining nine tales made my top favorites list with "The Third Interne" by Idwal Jones (1938) surpassing them all. First appearing in Weird Tales in January of that year, it was listed there as "A brief tale of a surgical horror in the Asiatic wastes of northern Russia." As Miller notes about this story, the setting "outside the established limits of civilisation" is perfect for the secretly- unfolding of "darker enterprises." This is one of the strangest and most eerie mad scientist stories I've ever encountered, giving me not only a serious case of the shivers but making me feel queasy as well. Another favorite is "Skule Skerry" by John Buchan (1928), from his The Runagates Club and the last one is John Martin Leahy's "In Amundsen's Tent," also from 1928, in which movie buffs may sense something familiar.

The thing about anthologies is that they truly are a mixed bag so you don't know what you're going to get. Out of these eleven there were three I did not at all care for at all, including the volume's opener, "The Surpassing Adventures of Allan Gordon" by James Hogg. Its novella length and a polar bear with the name of Nancy saving the main character's skin time after time just didn't do it for me, and honestly, this isn't the story I would have led with. On the other hand, the eight stories I did enjoy were still well worth the price of the book, so I can't complain too much. And then there's this: I've read and loved two other anthologies in this series edited by John Miller (Tales of the Tatttoed: An Anthology of Ink and Weird Woods: Tales From the Haunted Forests of Britain) so if I wasn't exactly enamored with each and every story in this book, he's still provided me with hours and hours of solid reading entertainment, as has the series as a whole.

Recommended.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The majority of these stories were written as people began to explore the frozen extremes of our planet. The adventurers who risked everything to discover what was at these latitudes bought the daring exploits back and the writers of the day explored the terror of the unknowns in their own way. There are six stories set in each of the North and South Poles and there is something for everyone in here

North
The Surpassing Adventures of Allan Gordon written by James Hogg
I wasn’t that enamoured with this story. It wasn’t very horrific, just very melodramatic. I thought it was fairly unplausible as the main character tames a polar bear. The writing is a bit laboured and not overly clear. It is almost the length of a novella too.

The Moonstone Mass by Harriet Prescott Spofford
This is an unsettling story set in the Arctic. There are strange happenings. The compass stops working and the characters have a feeling of disconnect to the world as the battle against characters that causes them utter horror.

The Captain of the Polestar by Arthur Conan Doyle
A whaling ship in the far north is hoping to harpoon some whales soon to pay their way. They don’t see any whales, but the men keep reporting a ghostly apparition that ends up spooking the captain of the ship. I think I preferred the Conan Doyle story that I read in Cornish Horrors

Skule Skerry by John Buchan
I thought that this was a very atmospheric and dramatic story of a man on an island who is there to spot migrating birds. After being pummelled by a storm, he is on the ragged edge of survival when he glimpses something that shocks him to his core.

The Third Interne Idwal Jones
A very very short story about three assistants who had died. The guy who survived was sure they had been murdered but there was no proof. Apart from the voices…

Iqsinaqtutalik Piqtuq: The Haunted Blizzard by Aviaq Johnston
A modern story about a shadow glimpsed in a blizzard. It is very well-written and genuinely terrifying!

South
A Secret of the South Pole Hamilton Drummond
A ghost ship that has sailed all around the sea is discovered. The crew are all dead and the thing that still killed them is still on there…

In Amundsen’s Tent by John Martin Leahy
I thought this story was the closest to horror in this book. There is a severed head and a diary documenting the last days of the team as they encounter something that inhabits this Antarctic landscape.

Creatures of the Light by Sophie Wenzel Ellis
A very strange tale that is based on eugenics. Someone is hoping to create a god-like people to repopulate the earth. Strange and always disturbing as most things about this subject are.

Bride of the Antarctic by Mordred Weir
A classic creepy ghost story. Very short and very well written.

Ghost by Henry Kuttner
A modern haunting from an old but dangerous ghost that has been brought back by modern science. But is it manifesting? One character heads to the Antarctic to perform an exorcism with the hope of ridding the station of the ghost. An interesting story and premise for a plot

The Polar Vortex by Malcolm M Ferguson
I really was struck on this story. It is a cross between a scientific diary and a man reaching the very edge of his sanity.

The stories included within can vary in quality, but the thing I like most about this series is that it brings to my attention writers who I have genuinely never heard of or read. If you are collecting these and haven’t got a copy of this, get it!

[Elliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars !

There were a few absolutely class stories in here that will stick with me but equally some that just felt so dull. I expected it from an anthology though, so I'm not disappointed in the slightest. Really interesting to get an insight into the influences of polar horror.

My favourites were;

-The Captain of the Polestar
-The Third Interne
-Iqsinaqtutalik Piqtuq: The Haunted Blizzard
-In Amundsen's Tent
-Ghost

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Synopsis Spoiler Free

A mediocre collection of tales taking place on the poles divided into North and South polar ends. It has a slow, dull start. The first three stories were terribly slow, and two were rereads for me. One new-to-me tale was a very good read, though, and I was surprised to have gotten on so well with Conan Doyle, who is not usually a favourite of mine. From this point on, things went better, and the usual mixture of mostly good, some great, but a few higher-than-normal duds. It was the north section that fell flat for me, with the south section, a much better collection. Of course, your mileage may vary.

North
1. The Surpassing Adventures of Allan Gordon by James Hogg (1837) - This is closer to a novella than a short story covering the span of years and taking me an entire day to read. This is a survival horror, which I usually love, but this was a slog. A man is shipwrecked, the only survivor on an expedition to the North Pole, and takes on a bear cub, gaining a full-grown polar bear companion after the first year. Nothing exciting happens until the end and yet it all builds up in meaning towards that end (2/5)

2. The Moonstone Mass by Harriet Prescott Spofford (1868) - This is a reread for me. Not one I'm fond of. A man goes on a Northwest Passage expedition at the request of his uncle, who promises to give him half of his inheritance upon completion. Another survival horror that gets freaky but is made boring with all the pseudoscience. My mind wandered over blocks of text. (2/5)

3. The Captain of the "Polestar" by Arthur Conan Doyle (1883) - Another reread. This is a classic Doyle seafaring ghost story. A Dr starts to keep a diary when they are stuck in the ice on an expedition for the Northwest Passage. They fear death if the ice doesn't break up before stores run out. Meanwhile, the captain is acting stranger than his usual not-so-normal self. This is a decent tale. The diary entries make it. Keeping the action front and center, there are no long descriptions of dialogues like the previous two. A crisp, well-told story kept tightly together within the bounds of the diary format. (3/5)

4. Skule Skerry by John Buchan (1928) - A quiet world-famous ornithologist at a gentleman's dinner tells a tale of the time he was the most frightened in his life. This was really good. I've never been fond of Buchan, so I went into it with low hopes but found it a stellar supernatural tale. (5/5)

5. The Third Interne by Ideal Jones (1938) - An inspector comes to a small hospital/prison way up in the north, and he and the Chief are about to have dinner when the man is called out to help an injured trapper. In comes a young man with "burning" eyes who tells him a wild tale about the Chief. This is brilliant. I was carried along and got right into the story. (5/5)

6. Iqsinaqtutalik Piqtuq: The Haunted Blizzard (2019) - Takes place in the northernmost part of Inuktitut, Canada. There is a blizzard and the children are sent home from school. The narrator, a Grade 7, walks the final but alone. A predictable scared-in-a-storm story. Most of all, this modern-day story doesn't fit here and is jarring to the flow, a bad editing decision. (3/5)

South
7. A Secret of the South Pole by Hamilton Drummond (1901) - A seaman tells the tale of a strange derelict ship found 80° South and the weird events that happened there. A little hard to read at first with jargon and stiffness. Once the tale gets going, I found it boring for the most part until it came to a head. Then the pseudoscience and explanation were fun. (3/5)

8. In Amundsen's Tent by John Martin Leahy (1928) - A trio of men went on an Antarctic expedition and found a tent with a severed head in it. They also found a journal with the scribblings of a madman. That is presented here. A decent story. Quite detailed as it depicts both expeditions. I always like the journal format and this is well done with a creepy ending. (4/5)

9. Creatures of the Light by Sophie Wenzel Ellis (1930) - This follows the concept of eugenics, the perfect race, popular in America during the 1930s. A scientist brings a perfect man to his hidden lab in Antarctica to meet with the perfect woman so they can further the race he has already going there. This all felt like a classic B&W horror movie of the times. I could imagine Bela Lugosi as a scientist. Don't think too deeply about the disgusting theme and it's a fun mad scientist sci-fi horror romp. (3/5)

10. Bride of the Antarctic by Mordred Weir (19 39) - Three men camp in the Antarctic on the site of the doomed Howell expedition and start to hear voices in the cellar. A bit predictable, I found my mind wandering for the most part but the ending was a bit over the top for a splash of fun. (2/5)

11. Ghost by Henry Kuttner (1943) - In a station in the Antarctic in the future year of 2030 there are giant columns which are brainpans which simulate brains only faster and smarter. They have become infected by an operator who went manic-depressive and shot himself, and now his ghost haunts the station. Rather confusing with the weird quasi-science and ultimately plain boring. (2/5)

12. The Polar Vortex by Malcolm X Ferguson (1946) - A scientist sets up a lab to secretly test a human guinea pig on the effects of long-term solitary visual exposure to space. Predictable. Decent story. (3/5)

[Kinga · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real mixed bag of stories with the exploration of the south or north poles as a theme running through.

[Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

A resounding OK for me, about half of these stories are worth a read, the other half were sadly forgetful. Stand outs were:

The captain of the "polestar" - Arthur conan Doyle
The third interne - Idwal Jones
Iqsinaqtutalik piqtuq: the haunted blizzard - Aviaq Johnston (a modern take on an Inuit legend, by an Inuk author, genuinely haunting)
In Amundsen's tent - John Martin Leahy
Ghost - Henry Kuttner (a Sci fi horror about a haunted quantum computer built under Antarctica, I'm absolutely obssessed)

[p. · Rating 3 out of 5]

pleasant surprised at how many of the stories involved science and scientific matters. but either way, this book offers a cosy chill during the cold winter nights.

favourites: 'the captain of the "polestar"' by arthur conan doyle, 'the third interne' by idwal jones, 'iqsinaqtutalik piqtuq: the haunted blizzard' by aviaq johnston, 'in admunsen's tent' by john martin leahy and 'ghost' by henry kuttner

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am obsessed with doomed (Ant)arctic explorations. I was thrilled when the British Library added this to their Tales of the Weird series. This book explores both polar regions through nautical oddities, explorer’s madness, and supernatural creatures. In a way, all of these things can exist in a world so remote. It’s not as if any of us can go investigate for ourselves. We have to take the word of those that have been, and survived.

[Sam Levy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of absolute bangers in here (The Captain of the Pole Star and In Amundsen’s Tent especially) but also a lot of okay stories and it opens with one I thought incredibly uninteresting, which also goes on for almost 100 pages and is the longest of the lot.

[Morgan]

Leaving unrated because I think it's very hard to give a rating to something like this.

I know July/August was definitely not the most fitting time of the year to read this, but I've always been intrigued by this niche little subgenre of horror. These books are such a nice little change of pace. Obviously not every story is good, but still very interesting.

[Katrine Engelhardt Thomsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

En formidabel samling af noveller om gys og gru fra to poler. ❄️🐻‍❄️🥶🌧️⛄️🐧🌜🔥❄️🧟‍♀️

Særlig gribende var læsningen af Inuk forfatterinden Aviaq Johnstons novelle “The Haunted Blizzard”, der giver et moderne gys fra Inuk kulturens tro på hjemsøgte snestorme.

John Martin Learhys novelle “In Amundsen’s tent” var ligeledes frydefuldt velskrevet og gåsehudsfremkaldende og endda en mulig kilde til gyserfilmen “The Thing” fra 1982 af John Carpenter.

Nogle noveller er med tiden blevet ufrivilligt morsomme.

Fx. forfatterinden Sophie Wenzel Ellis’ “Creatures of the Light”, der fortæller mere om samtidens flirten med forestillingen om eugenics, rumvæsner og okkultisme end polernes egentlige verdener.

Novellen rummer dog et vidunderligt potentiale for et campy remarke i stil med Rocky Horror Picture Show. Men denne gang må koret bare synge “Creature of the Liiiiiiiiight!” 🌈💋💄

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the British Library Tales of the Weird series. This one focusses on the two poles. There are six stories relating to the North Pole and six to the South. The time range of the stories runs from 1837 to 2019. The stories relating to the South Pole tend to be later as the awareness of Antarctica is later than that of the north.
There are stories from Conan Doyle, John Buchan, James Hogg, Harriet Spofford, Idwal Jones, Aviaq Johnston, Hamilton Drummond, Sophie Ellis, John Leahy, Mordred Weir, Henry Kuttner and Malcolm Ferguson.
The stories are a varied bunch. The first by James Hogg (The Surpassing Adventures of Allan Gordon) is novella length and for me the worst of the stories. It is effectively Robinso Crusoe in the Arctic, but instead of Friday there is a Polar Bear called Nancy. The primitive peoples have a shortage of men and you can guess the rest.
There are better contributions thankfully. Skule Skerry by Buchan is more effective. The most recent story was, for me, the best: Iqsinaqtutalik Piqtuq: The Haunted Blizzard by Aviaq Johnston an Inuk writer. It mixes modernity and legend and is more of a straightforward horror story.
A few of the stories postulate hidden worlds with varying success. There’s good and bad here, but as always, these collections are interesting.

[Romuald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strongest stories in this anthology are Skule Skerry by John Buchan and The Third Interne by Idwal Jones, in my opinion. Bride of the Antarctic by Amelia Reynolds Long (pen name Mordred Weir) and a couple of more stories also conribute to a good read, while the rest of stories are rather weak and cliché, even considering the time period these were written in.

In Amundsen's Tent by John Martin Leahy, while not being a great example of story telling, introduces a fine idea, which later was utilized (independently?) in Campbell's Who Goes There? , which later became The Thing , although I do not know if Campbell ever read this story by Leahy.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great addition to the British libraries tales of the weird collection and more of a 3.5/5 than a 3. The theme of this collection lends itself well to weird fiction and the majority of the tales deal with the isolation of the south and north poles, and how they represent an ‘otherness’ that cannot be found elsewhere on the planet. As always, some of the tales were forgettable, but there were some absolute hidden gems, in particular:
The Third Intern by Idwal Jones and creatures of the light by Sophie Wendell Ellis, both of which dealt with experiments and madness. Likewise, the haunted blizzard, the only story from the 21st century (included to show how the setting still elicits inspiration for modern writers) was intensely creepy and achieved in less than 10 pages a real sense of discomfort in me. Finally, In Amundsen’s Tent, where Leahy uses the classic horror technique of diary entries to slowly build up a lovecraftian style story that despite its obvious ending, was incredibly compelling.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all anthologies, it's a bit hit and miss. Overall they're pretty mid, but there are a couple that stand out. One is Bride of the Antarctic by Mordred Weir, and after reading it you won't be surprised that that's a pen name. Captain of the Pole Star is also decent. The best is Iqsinaqtutalik Piqtuq: The Haunted Blizzard by modern Inuit writer Aviaq Johnson. Read it and regret living alone, 5*.

Unlike most of the reviewers, I felt In Amundsen's Tent was one of the mid ones. If the writer doesn't themself know what the scary thing is, it fails to land imo. I'm glad we all agree the first story is tiresome though! 😂

[Amolhavoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely the mixed-est bag I have read from this series so far, but there are a few stand-outs. Idwal Jones surpasses Lovecraft in the very Lovecraftian The Third Interneand John Buchan's Skule Skerry is genuinely chilling (no pun intended) though the polar connection is a bit tenuous. John M. Leahy's In Amundsen's Tent is also very enjoyable, both as a literary precursor to all of the iterations of The Thing and as the best example in the volume of the "found diary" format.

A solid three stars but no more.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of polar stories, obscure and deservedly so. Most of the “horrors” are so deliberately diffuse and unspecific as to be hardly worth the effort to realize them.

Further, I assume these stories were retrieved by scanning the originals, which would explain the profusion of obvious, embarrassing typographical errors. An effort, but all in all, a subpar one. Hoping for better things in the rest of the series.

[Dev Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite a nice anthology! My faves were probably "The Captain of the Polestar" (Conan Doyle), "The Third Interne" (Jones), "In Amundsen's Tent" (Leahy), and "Ghost" (Kuttner) - but honestly, almost everything was good. Thematically, there was a neat mix of the occult, pagan/folk horror, and early psychology. I also dug the little biographical snippets that preceded every new story. Good stories editorialized well - I approve 😎

[Hel Rasmussen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this collection a very hit or miss anthology with some top class stories and some that I am still going wtf about. Overall, it kept me entertained, but some of the stories were kind of ill fitting for this collection. Apart from the location, they didn't really fit the vibe the authors were going for.

[Meg Johannessen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual, hard to review a collection of short stories as they varied in quality. Overall I enjoyed them, and it was mostly interesting to read older ones and see the history of one of my favourite horror sub genres.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

One really good story, many middling stories, and a couple where the author didn’t do any research at all regarding anything and just wrote a story featuring the arctic (looking at you, first story). Only the modern story is truly scary and is the best of the bunch.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably my least favourite of the Tales of The Weird that I've read so far. Still lots of good stuff but also a couple of real clangers and the first 100 pages are the story of a guy who really loves his polar bear which was a very odd one.

[Norah Train · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stories were interesting, but I read it for a class. I cannot physically think abt the words in this book anymore.

[Pieter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very good stories, some a bit meh; overall enjoyable, but not much special.

[Kieran Gibbons · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea Is cool but 1/3 of the book is taken up by a singular story that (to me) didn't feel remotely gothic or aligned to horror literature

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far from the strongest instalment in the series, with too much space given to texts which were never good, and nowadays are both not good and badly dated. An interesting topic, misused.

[geeeeorge jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories, some duds 😞 and some dubs 🥳. Ghost by Henry Kuttner and The Haunted Blizzard by Aviaq Johnston were my favs for sure.

[Jarno van der Werff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoewel ik het idee van een bundel losse oude verhalen erg leuk vind, spraken de verhalen me niet echt aan. Het zijn geen verhalen zoals "The Terror". Het zijn verhalen die wel interessant zijn, maar die toevallig op de ijskappen afspelen. Ze hadden net zo goed in de jungle of in de woestijn plaats kunnen vinden. Maar goed, ik heb me vermaakt en ik kan er alleen maar vanuit gaan dat deze bundel een goeie representatie van het genre is. Zodoende vier sterren.