Short Ghost Story Collection

By: Various The Short Ghost Story Collection contains ten classic spooky tales written by such master craftsmen as Algernon Blackwood, Charles Dickens, Bram Stoker and Saki among others.

The stories range from haunted houses to reincarnation (as a predatory otter), ancient curses in which marble statues come alive and wreak a horrible revenge and a long narrative poem that describes a dialog between a ghost and a human being.

This anthology features authors like Lewis Carroll and E Nesbit who are traditionally regarded as children’s writers and other practitioners of the paranormal like American writer Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.

Ghost stories generally deal with anything that’s considered scary. However, each writer has his or her own style of telling the tale. Some like Saki bring in their trademark irony, while Lewis Carroll ensures that the fantastic finds its way in.

Algernon Blackwood bends the ghost story to its most classic level, as he spins out this subtle and truly chilling tale “The Empty House”. Charles Dickens weighs in with a gothic tale of a jury member being haunted by the ghost of the person whose trial he is called upon to judge.

“The Trial For Murder” finds Dickens in an unusually crisp, rapier-like mode with none of his elaborate and often distracting details. Sheridan Le Fanu’s grim tale “Schalken the Painter” describes the bizarre experiences of a Flemish artist who falls in love with his teacher’s daughter.

The horror in this story is generated as much by what’s left to the imagination as what’s described by the narrator.

A brief but equally hair-raising little gem by E Nesbit, titled “Uncle Abraham’s Romance” is taken from her 1893 publication Grim Tales . A wistful story, tinged with an air of sadness, like an old keepsake, this story is sure to remain in your memory long after you’ve put the book down.

“Shadows on the Wall” is a tale of domestic horror by Mary E Wilkins Freeman an early feminist writer who dabbled in other genres occasionally. This classic tale will definitely creep you out whenever you’re home alone at night! It tells the tale of a mysterious crooked shadow that persistently appears on a wall, with no apparent substance to create it.

For ghost story enthusiasts and anyone who revels in scary, eerie, creepy, mysterious and spectral tales of weird and uncanny happenings, here’s a great collection to chill you to the bone!