Classic Victorian & Edwardian Ghost Stories

Although I bought "Classic Victorian & Edwardian Ghost Stories" thinking it would be more horror-oriented than it turned out to be, the fact that it was different didn't turn out to be a hinderance. What we've got here is a great collection of stories from the 1800s (and perhaps the late 1700s and ealy 1900s as well; it doesn't mention the exact date when each tale was first published) that spans the terrain of mystery, horror, adventure and sometimes even comedy. Among the writers represented are Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, M.R. James, Robert Louis Stevenson and Edith Nesbit, among others. Horror elements are present in such tales as Edgar Allan Poe's famous "The Tell-Tale Heart", the two contributions by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu ("An Account Of Some Strange Disturbances In Aungier Street" and "Narrative Of A Ghost Of A Hand") and in Edith Nebit's "Man-Size In Marble". This last one is one of the best stories in the book, centering on a newly married couple hard-pressed for cash who find a beautiful and uncommonly affordable country cottage in a beautiful part of the English countryside; and a local superstition involving stone statues. This one's like a great Hammer horror movie. Charles Dickens presents a pair of stories - "To Be Taken With A Grain Of Salt" (whose title clashes oddly with the eerily believable nature of the story itself), probably one of the earlliest courtoom/ghost crossover stories - and "The Story Of The Bagman's Uncle". As good as "...Grain Of Salt" is, "Bagman's Uncle" is clearly the standout of the two, a delightful and exciting adventure that mixes the mystical and romantic, and the charming and the 'swashbuckling' into one of the best, and most vividly written, short stories I've ever read. Speaking of delightful, Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost" starts off as a spooker and crosses over to the realm of comedic fantasy and a tale on the magic of kindness, and meshes all its parts perfectly. Amelia B. Edwards's "The Phantom Coach" is a captivating story about a recluse who is what we'd now term an 'amateur paranormal investigator', I guess, and a stormstayed guest of his. On the sixth page of this one begins an empassioned rebuttal by the recluse against excessive skepticism, that's a true beauty to read. I've been waiting for somebody to put this into words so eloquently, and come to find out, Amelia Edwards did it over a century ago! Another true great in the collection is Robert Louis Stevenson's "Markheim", which carries twists so unexpected - and starts off with hardly a clue as to what its true nature is going to be - that I hesitate to say anything at all about it. One of the more surprising tales I've ever read, this is one it's best to go into with as little foreknowledge as possible. There are some other good ones, and there are also a few not-so-good. The most unfortunate thing is that several stories - including a couple that could have been much better reads - get marred

I always try to have an anthology of great ghost stories on hand. The table of contents is as different and as full of great stories as the other classic horror anthologies I've already purchased and read. Enjoy.