Widdershins

by Oliver Onions

A collection of eight marvellous stories of the supernatural. The stories are: The Beckoning Fair One, Phantas, Rooum, Benlian, Io, The Accident, The Cigarette Case, & Hic Jacket.

Excerpt: ...off!" he ordered me. "I'll send for you again when I want you!" He thrust me out. "An asylum, Mr. Benlian," I thought as I crossed the yard, "is the place for you!" You see, I didn't know him then, and that he wasn't to be judged as an ordinary man is. Just you wait till you see.... And straight away, I found myself vowing that I'd have nothing more to do with him. I found myself resolving that, as if I were making up my mind not to smoke or drink-and (I don't know why) with a similar sense that I was depriving myself of something. But, somehow, I forgot, and within a month he'd been in several times to see me, and once or twice had fetched me in to see his statue. In two months I was in an extraordinary state of mind about him. I was familiar with him in a way, but at the same time I didn't know one scrap more about him. Because I'm a fool (oh, yes, I know quite well, now, what I am) you'll think I'm talking folly if I even begin to tell you what sort of a man he was. I don't mean just his knowledge (though I think he knew everything-sciences, languages, and all that) for it was far more than that. Somehow, when he was there, he had me all restless and uneasy; and when he wasn't there I was (there's only the one word for it) jealous-as jealous as if he'd been a girl! Even yet I can't make it out.... And he knew how unsettled he'd got me; and I'll tell you how I found that out. Straight out one night, when he was sitting up in my place, he asked me: "Do you like me, Pudgie?" (I forgot to say that I'd told him they used to call me Pudgie at home, because I was little and fat; it was odd, the number of things I told him that I wouldn't have told anybody else.) "Do you like me, Pudgie?" he said. As for my answer, I don't know how it spurted out. I was much more surprised than he was, for I really didn't intend it. It was for all the world as if somebody else was talking with my mouth. "I loathe and adore you!" it came; and then I looked round,...

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Fantasy, Paranormal, Ghost Stories

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

George Oliver Onions (1873–1961), who published under the name Oliver Onions, was an English writer of short stories and novels.

Oliver Onions was born in Bradford in 1873. Although he legally changed his name to George Oliver in 1918, he always published under the name Oliver Onions. Onions originally worked as a commercial artist before turning to writing, and the dust jackets of his earliest works included illustrations painted by Onions himself.

Onions was a prolific writer of short stories and novels and is best remembered today for his ghost stories, the most famous of which is probably ‘The Beckoning Fair One’, originally published in Widdershins (1911). Despite being known today chiefly for his supernatural short fiction, Onions also published more than a dozen novels in a variety of genres, including In Accordance with the Evidence (1912), The Tower of Oblivion (1921), The Hand of Kornelius Voyt (1939), The Story of Ragged Robyn (1945), and Poor Man's Tapestry (1946), which won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize as the best work of fiction published that year.

Onions was apparently a very private individual, and though admired and well-respected in his time, he appears not to have moved in literary circles, and few personal memoirs of him survive. He spent most of his later life in Wales, where he lived with his wife, Berta Ruck (1878-1978), herself a prolific and popular novelist; they had two sons, Arthur (b. 1912) and William (b. 1913). Oliver Onions died in 1961.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Edwardian era was the last great period of the English ghost story, and Oliver Onion's Widdershins is one of the classic collections of the age. Although each of the nine stories here is worth reading, the collection is famous because of "The Beckoning Fair One," a novella of ghostly obsession and mental disintegration almost as powerful as Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw."

Onions was a Yorkshireman of modest means, raised in the city of Bradford. Although he attended art school in London and Paris, and began his working life as a poster artist and magazine illustrator, he decided in his late twenties that writing might be a more lucrative occupation. He produced forty novels and numerous short stories in the course of his career; in his early years he was admired--and also criticized--as a grim realist, but today he is known primarily for his ghost stories, particularly "The Beckoning Fair One."

"The Beckoning Fair One" depicts the struggle for the soul of Oleron, a serious novelist, between the lady journalist Miss Bengough who loves him and "the Beckoning Fair One," a ghost the novelist believes inhabits his rented house, a presence he identifies with Romilly, the heroine of the book he is currently writing. Its theme is the conflict that pits human love and the comforts of work against the seductive promises of the unbridled imagination. Given that Onions was a prolific--and conscientious--writer toiling for a paycheck, married to another prolific writer also toiling for a paycheck (Bertha Ruck, who lived to be a hundred and produced more than fifty romance novels), is it surprising that this conflict would interest him as an idea for fiction?

Indeed, many stories in this collection have similar themes: an inspired artist or designer--a writer, a painter, a sculptor, a naval inventor, an engineer, an imaginative young woman--is contrasted with a less imaginative but more psychologically balanced professional. In most cases--as in "The Beckoning Fair One," the story ends with the more instinctive and inspired of the two of them becoming increasingly isolated and alone.

Three of my favorites in this exemplary collection: "Hic Jacet," in which a hack mystery author has difficulty completing the biography of his friend, a painter of genius; "Io," in which a young woman turns into a maenad before her prosaic young man's uncomprehending eyes; and "The Cigarette Case," involving a evening idyll spent by two young gentleman with two charming ladies, and which features an object--the aforementioned cigarette case--dislocated in time.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally picked up this hard-to-find book after reading of it in Newman & Jones' excellent overview volume, "Horror: The 100 Best Books." "Widdershins" is a collection of Oliver Onions' short stories, and was first published in 1911. Onions was supposedly a meticulous writer, writing and rewriting and rerewriting, changing words repeatedly until he felt that things were just right. And his attention to detail does indeed show. All the stories in this volume are impeccably written, with wonderful attention to detail, sensuous mood, and finely modulated suspense. None of the tales in this book are what I would call especially scary, especially by modern standards of violence and shock and grue, but all are fascinating and eminently readable. The main feature of all eight creepy little tales in this collection is that the supernatural element in each of them can be otherwise explained; that is, the ghosts or other strange happenings that we read of can be seen as being merely mental aberrations of the protaganist.

The collection starts off with a bang with "The Beckoning Fair One," one of the most oft-anthologized horror tales. This ghost story has been called one of the best in the English language by such luminaries as Algernon Blackwood and H. P. Lovecraft, and who am I to argue with them? The tale is certainly the best in the "Widdershins" collection, and concerns an author who moves into a deserted house and starts to become influenced by its ghostly female occupant? Or...is it just in his mind? In "Phantas," one of the survivors of an 18th century sinking galleon sees a vision of a 20th century ship as his own boat slips beneath the waves. Or...does he really? "Rooum" is the tale of an old engineer who complains of a phantom that constantly races up behind him and then THROUGH him, taking a bit more of himself with each passage. Is this really happening...or is the old guy just going barmy? In "Benlian," a sculptor decides to really put ALL OF HIMSELF into his last great project...soul and all. Does he really, or is the old bloke just slightly off his chump? "The Accident" involves no ghosts at all; just two men, enemies from their youth, who meet in a restaurant for dinner 40 years later. It's a tale of cosmic fate and what might have been. In "The Lost Thyrsus," we're back to the spooky region, and a convalescent woman who, after reading Keats' "Endymion," is visited by a horde of Grecian bacchanals. Does she really...or is it all in her sick mind? "Hic Jacet," a longish tale, tells of a hack writer who attempts to pen the biography of his recently deceased artist friend, and the major problems he has with this task. Is the deceased artist really haunting him...or is it, again, all in his mind? Finally, in "The Cigarette Case," two Englishmen on a walking tour in Provence encounter two strange women. Or do they really? When reading "Widdershins," the reader must answer all these questions for him/herself. I prefer to tend toward the more ghostly explanations myself, but that's just me.

I should perhaps warn potential readers of this volume that "Widdershins" is NOT an easy read. I can't imagine anyone of average intelligence going into this book without the aid of an UNabridged dictionary, an atlas, an encyclopedia and the use of the Internet as research tools. There are lots of 100-year-old British slang words and expressions, and even I--a copy editor with what I feel to be an above-average vocabulary--was thrown many times. Still, for those willing to take the time and effort to read this book with the care and attention it deserves--the same care and attention, I might add, that Oliver Onions obviously invested in his writing of this volume--"Widdershins" will repay their efforts.

[Samichtime · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first one’s good but the others really aren’t. Especially Rooum.

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is his real name Oliver Onions, I wondered.
His real name is George Oliver Onions.
Pretty cool, eh?

My favourite story was The Rocker.

[Jim Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally considered a landmark publication of ghost stories, it should be noted that only three tales in this collection seem to aspire to make the reader shudder. These include haunted house novella The Beckoning Fair One – surely one of the great masterpieces of the genre – and the shorter stories Rooum and Benlian. Two other lyrical tales deal with the supernatural in a lighter and more moving fashion – The Cigarette Case and The Rocker. The remaining tales in this book deal with areas of art and the visionary imagination and are arguably more psychological fiction than supernatural fiction, though they are in their way solid pieces and stylishly written, particularly the anguished portrait of a doomed artist in Hic Jacket.

Widdershins (wonderfully apt title) is a consistently good set of stories and frequently tries to sublimate the ghostly tale into high artistic literature, though those looking for a book of terrors akin to those of M. R. James or E. F. Benson shall be disappointed as much of the content does not aim for horror and instead expresses a haunting stemming from a sense of uncanny psychological melancholy. Perhaps of little interest to many horror fans, but recommended reading for those who enjoy the strange stories of Robert Aickman or Walter de la Mare.

[denudatio_pulpae · Rating 3 out of 5]

W paszczy szaleństwa.

Oliver Onions raczej nie gustował w grozie dosadnej, tej od trumien i mar nieczystych. Tutaj królują niedopowiedzenia – czy to jeszcze choroba psychiczna, czy już ingerencja świata nadprzyrodzonego?

Pierwsze, najsłynniejsze, i zarazem najlepsze opowiadanie to „Zew pięknej”. Historia pisarza, który próbując pokonać kryzys twórczy i finansowy, wprowadza się do nowego lokum. Taniego lokum. Podejrzanie taniego, rozpadającego się lokum, w którym nikt nie chce mieszkać. Czy zmiana otoczenia wpłynie pozytywnie na próby ukończenia dzieła jego życia? A może bardziej wpłynie na ukończenie samego żywota? Bardzo dobre opowiadanie, nie dziwię się wcale, że nawet Blackwood się nim zachwycał.

Pozostałe opowiadania nie dorównują pierwszemu, ale nie ma tragedii. Chociaż osobiście wolę truchła i zmory nieczyste :)
7/10

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8⭐

The British author George Oliver Onions (1873-1961) prefaced his collection of ghost stories
Widdershins (London: Martin Secker, 1911) with the prayer:
“From Ghaisties, Ghoulies and long-leggity Beasties and Things that go Bump in the night—
“Good Lord, deliver us!”

The Beckoning Fair One 5⭐
Phantas 4⭐
Rooum 3⭐
Benlian 3.25⭐
Io 2.5⭐
The Accident 3.25⭐
The Cigarette Case 4.25⭐
The Rocker 3⭐
Hic Jacket 5⭐

[Andy Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oliver Onions was a prolific writer of tales of the supernatural in the first half of the 20th century. Despite what one might think initially, he did write under his given name, though omitted the George. He is recognised as a master of the genre, though he did write quite a lot of other stuff.

The highlight of this book is without doubt, the novella, The Beckoning Fair One.
In this, an unsuccessful writer moves into rooms in an empty mansion, hoping that the isolation will help his failing creativity. The reverse happens. His sensitivity and imagination are enhanced by his seclusion, but his sanity is gradually destroyed in the process.

The other seven stories are of the short format. Bear in mind that this was his first published collection of stories, in 1911, so the consistency of their quality is understandably varied.

I would select two as being the best of the bunch.
The Cigarette Case in which a man comes to terms with a ghostly incident from his younger years, and Rooum in which an engineer is pursued by a mysterious and terrifying being.

Though his first collection, this is the one he is perhaps best known for.
I am keen to seek out some of his later work though, The Painted Face from 1929, and The Hand of Kornelius Voyt from 1939.
Valancourt have reissued the latter in 2011, but the former looks difficult to get hold of (hint to any publisher keen to discover a lost work..).

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF ing at 33% I just can't get into this....

[Myan]

Favourites:
- The Beckoning Fair One
- Benlian [reread]
- The Accident
- Hic Jacet

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent set of short stories from a largely forgotten early 20th century author. These don't conjure the sense of dread of MR James but they display an acute psychological insight and are written in a unique style, with an attention to detail that makes them evocative of the era. They're free on Gutenberg too.

[Jolie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, Edwardian era horror is strange. Particularly Edwardian era short horror stories. I did enjoy "The Beckoning Fair One", however.

[Catherine Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writing. Less horror and more psychological which is my preference for ghost stories.

[Jack Deighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of eight short stories - well, one is a novella - first published in 1911, by Yorkshireman Onions. He wrote well, each of the stories holds the attention and his characterization is good. All have at least a hint of the strange or unnatural. They stand up even a century after writing.

In the combined ghost and horror story The Beckoning Fair One a writer takes a flat in an otherwise empty house and finds he can no longer continue the novel he has been working on, nor the enthusiasm for much else. I was reminded a bit of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper.
Phantas is the story of the captain of a becalmed - and sinking - galleon out of the port of Rye, who dreams of a means of propulsion which would enable ships to avoid such a predicament. Out of the mists looms a grey, steam-driven modern destroyer.
Rooum is one of those unlettered men who has a natural flair for competency in his trade. He questions our unnamed narrator about molecules and osmosis as he feels he is occasionally subject to a kind of interpersonal merging.
The register in which Benlian is told is a familiar one to readers of Fantasy or Science Fiction, a realist depiction of a weird phenomenon. Benlian is a sculptor whose essence is increasingly opaque to photography, a man passing away, into his sculpture. The possibility that the narrator is mad rather spoils things though.
In Io a young woman who is convalescing tries to remember the dreams she had during her illness so as to enter their reality.
The Accident occurs when a man about to meet an old adversary in an attempt at reconciliation has a vision of how the encounter will - must - turn out.
The Cigarette Case is one of those shaggy dog stories of the “as told me by a friend” variety.
In Hic Jacet a successful author of detective fiction - a thinly veiled model, this - is asked to write the “Life” of an artist friend (who did not compromise his integrity for commercial success) and finds the gods of writing are against the project.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this collection. Oliver Onions is totally new to me and I’m astounded that I haven’t encountered him before. These stories a sparingly written (for the time) and Onions’ economy is precise. That is, he gives me just enough to grasp a psychology or paint a scene, but never belabors either aspect. I’m also compelled to suppose that the author must’ve been a fan of poetry as he references quite a bit of it throughout. Indeed, the story ‘Io’ could read as a cautionary tale against reading Keats’ ‘Endymion’ at night, lest one be moved to leap out the window and worship Bacchus. ‘The Beckoning Fair One’ would make a perfect addition to any curriculum examining Saki’s ‘Sredni Vashtar’ or Conrad Aikins’ ‘Silent Snow, Secret Snow.’ A great book for candlelight and maybe the sound of rain outside.

[Juushika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories, the longest of which, the novella "The Beckoning Fair One," is the most famous and most successful: after moving into new lodgings, the narrator finds himself courting the jealous spirit who inhabits it; it has that perfect, seductive claustrophobia of a haunted house, pushing away the outside world, drawing the protagonist into an obsession which is toxic but irresistible. The other stories are shorter and more gimmicky, not in a negative way; it reminds me, weirdly, of the Twilight Zone, a sort of "wouldn't it be fucked up if that happened" vibe - to live a life in an instant, to be pursued by one's shadow-self, to sacrifice sanity for art, which is the most consistently recurring theme in this collection. Only the novella is particularly good, but the whole collection is very readable.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard going for the most part. The first tale was probably the most intriguing of this motley crew; a man's descent into madness brought on by his refusal to reciprocate affection to a woman and his dithering over the story he was writing. The remainder range from meh to confusing. There's nothing particularly ghostly, scary or horrifying about any of these tales - which is how they are marketed. The majority of them belong in the weird fiction category, if they belong anywhere at all.

[Dan McCollum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a wonderful collection of stories. I have come to really appreciate early 20th centuries British ghost stories, and Onions was a master of the style. The Beckoning Fair One, obviously stands out as a story that is surprisingly ahead of its time, but all the stories in this collection are good.

[Paige Richards · Rating 1 out of 5]

This shit tricked me, noting it's release in 2020. But really it's like 1910. I liked the first story, the others were ehh. Maybe another in there that was okay but I can't quite recall. All I know is when I looked it up most things said "Edwardian horror, am I right?" And I just still have a hard time understanding what that is. Lmao.

[j · Rating 2 out of 5]

My love-hate relationship with short fiction -- this medium I seem so ironically bound to -- certainly serves as something of a roadblock to enjoying some material. Regarding Widdershins, it is probably better than I would give it credit at present. I admired the opening novella, but the rest really failed to grab me. I'd sooner read more Machen than another Onions collection, I suppose.

[Larissa Kratz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful classic collection of ghost stories! While not actively horrific, those who enjoy the general aesthetics of hhost may find enjoyment in this one. I really enjoyed the unique way the author strung together words and I'll definitely be coming back to read passages again just to get inspiration for my own sentence structures.

[JM Blackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fair Beckoning One was good, the writing styles although dated as good, however the narrative, internal workings were a bit strained. The good story showed an understanding of psychology, marginalization, loneliness and compulsion that seemed unusually wise for the time.

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume of short unrelated stories is quite good. The stories are totally different from each and vary in 'how scary' they are. Mostly the tales are a bit peculiar and mysterious. I enjoyed the book.

[Haylee]

Dnf at 15%. Just wasn’t feeling this one. I’ve tried over and over to get back into it, but I’m not going to waste my time on it. I might eventually try to come back to it, but not anytime soon.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars.

[Scott Free · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and creepy

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Slow Sizzle

I liked the first tale- The Beckoning. Very modern writing style for a 100 year old book! I will try more.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six out of ten

[Susan O · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Beckoning Fair One", Onions' most well-known short story, is the first in this short collection. It is an excellent ghost story with an unexpected twist at the end. The fear isn't caused only by the description of the ghostly activity, but also by the madness into which the main character descends. Definitely 5 stars.

Another story that has stuck with me is "Benlian". It's bizarre and thought-provoking. What does it mean to pour oneself into a work of art? To put your soul into it?

The stories in this collection explore the twists and turns that occur in a person's mind. What is reality? What is madness? They are ghost stories, but with a twist and the question - are the ghosts real, or are they part of the madness. Definitely room for interpretation.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic supernatural horror rooted firmly in the psychological. Stories with an allowance for interpretation and the fantastic; Onions writing tends to the convoluted, but not overly complex, and in doing so pushes traditional ghostly occurrences into realms of tortured minds, deception and insanity, lending to them sinister and spectral qualities.