Status Updates From Chill Tidings: Dark Tales o...

***. The Fourth Wall by AM Burrage (1915) Three stars. A group of friends decide to spend the Christmas holiday in an old cottage with a reputation for being haunted. This story was soooo close to being four stars but it just didn't stick the landing.

** Transition by Algernon Blackwood (1913) Two stars. Algernon Blackwood wrote one of my favorite stories ever. The Wendigo was written in 1910, three years BEFORE this mediocre story. It's about a man on his way home to his family for Christmas who narrowly misses a car accident crossing the street. Very predictable for our times, but maybe not for the time it was written.

*** Old Applejoy's Ghost by Frank R. Stockton (1900). Three stars. This is not scary at all. It's cute though. A ghost and his (living) great-granddaughter convince a manor's owner to stop being a miser and throw a Christmas party. It has "The Canterville Ghost" vibes.

** The Old and the Counterfeit by Louisa Baldwin (1895). Two stars. A trio of friends spend Christmas at a manor supposedly haunted by a Cistercian monk. One of the friends is a skeptic and tries to play a trick on the others. The story meandered but I will say the ending surprised me. Still, it was not enough to rise above two stars.