Richard Dalby - Chillers for Christmas

[dem bones]

Richard Dalby (ed) - Chillers for Christmas (Michael O’Mara, 1989)

Clifford Harper

Foreword - Richard Dalby

Rudyard Kipling - The Strange Ride Of Morrowbie Jukes
Frank Cowper - Christmas Eve On A Haunted Hulk
Ernest R. Suffling - The Phantom Riders
Amelia B. Edwards - The Guard-Ship At The Aire
Anon [John Berwick Harwood] - Horror: A True Tale
G. A. Henty - A Pipe Of Mystery
George Manville Fenn - On The Down Line
Arthur Conan Doyle - An Exciting Christmas Eve
Guy Boothby - Remorseless Vengeance
Bernard Capes - The Vanishing House
Dick Donovan - The White Raven
Frank Frankfort Moore - The Strange Story Of Northavon Priory
William J. Wintle - The Black Cat
John Collier - Back For Christmas
Sarban - A Christmas Story
L. P. Hartley - The Waits
Shamus Frazer - Florinda
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Hanging Tree
Alexander Welch - The Grotto
Eugene Johnson - Just Before Dawn
Peter Tremayne - Buggane
John Glasby - The Uninvited
A. J. Merak - A Present For Christmas
Simon MacCulloch - The Deliverer
Roger Johnson - The Night Before Christmas
David G. Rowlands - On Wings Of Song
Jessica Amanda Salmonson - The Santa

Of the three Dalby ... For Christmas collections I've read (the others being Ghosts and Horrors), this is by far my favourite with particularly strong contributions from the moderns.

A. J. Merak - A Present For Christmas:"It's horrible, Charles. Truly horrible. I've run here all the way from that accursed spot in the cemetery. The grave ... all dug up and opened. But from the inside."

Redforde near Exeter, West Country, early hours of Christmas morning. Anne Kirby's sister died at birth. Twenty years later, on the eve of Annes engagement to Jonathan Weatherby, the doppelganger-like ghost rises from the grave to claim her twenty years in Annes body. Charles, the narrator, is the only one to realise that Anne has been possessed and informs the doctor of his suspicions, effectively sealing the old boy's doom. He sets off to confront the demonic impostor.

David G. Rowlands - On Wings Of Song: Each Christmas, school-friends Patterson and Chris present a toy theatre drama. Chris, unfortunately, doesn't live to regret his decision to tackle Dracula casting a live mosquito as the bat by way of special effects ...

Jessica Amanda Salmonson - The Santa: Michelle watches Santa playing outside in the snow on Christmas Eve night. She steps out in the blizzard to join in, but Santa's disappeared and, looking back at the house she sees the Christmas tree ablaze and the curtains in flames. The house burns down and the firemen stumble upon Michelle buried in the snow. "Her blue legs and her blue arms stuck out from her yellow nightdress. Her eyes were frozen open and her face was pressed close to a ragged clownish doll." Had the Santa tried to save her or did he torch her home?

Simon MacCulloch - The Deliverer: Yet another psycho Santa, this one the spectre of the insane Rev. Piper. Rather than leave loads of presents by the children's beds, he carries six unfortunate little ones off in his sack.

L. P. Hartley - The Waits: The Marriner family are all set for Christmas with father feeling particularly smug with himself on account of there being one less expensive present to fork out for this year. That's when the carol singers show up. Two of them, man and boy. And they're very demanding - they even refuse Mr. Marriner's tip as "not enough". Also, those are not the correct words to God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen ...

R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Hanging Tree: Christmas with the Fortesque family and friends, and the young, romantically inclined Movita is busy spinning fantasies around the family ghost, that of a young man who killed his lover then hung himself from a tree in the garden during the previous century. Her insistence that she's seen him has the household despairing for her sanity, all save Miss Mansfield who realised Movita is psychic and inadvisedly intervenes on her behalf.

Another Victorian spook show, partly told from the point of view of the vampiric spectre.

Frank Cowper - Christmas Eve On A Haunted Hulk: The narrator is forced to spend the night on a ship stranded on a mud bank off the south coast. An excellent ghost story in the tradition of Bulwer-Lytton's The House And The Brain which is mentioned in the text.

Anon - Horror: A True Tale: Grim goings on in a Tudor mansion. The nineteen-year-old Rosa's hair turns white and her entire life is ruined when, having been terrified by the grisley tales of an embittered aunt, Lady Speldhurst, she discovers that she is sharing her makeshift bedroom with an escaped lunatic, the chained man responsible for tearing apart several sheep and drinking their blood.

G. A Henty - A Pipe Of Mystery: India, last days of the Empire. In return for saving him from a man-eating tiger, a fakir gives Harley and Simmonds a pipe to smoke which gives them a glimpse into the future. Each has a premonition of a Sepoy mutiny in which many of their companions are massacred. When the uprising really does take place a few years later, both are able to escape due to their visions and Harley is even able to rescue the beautiful woman who will become his wife. "May happily had fainted as I lifted her on to my horse - happily, because the fearful screams we heard from the various bungalows almost drove me mad, and would probably have killed her, for the poor ladies were all her intimate friends."

Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle - An Exciting Christmas Eve: Far from being 'exciting' this is maybe the dullest tale in an otherwise worthy collection, IMO, Neither ghost nor horror, this one concerns an explosives expert who is kidnapped by anarchists.

Sarban - A Christmas Story: Set in Russia, this one centres around a Bison's graveyard. Like the Conan-Doyle, it's somewhat out of place in here although there's a moment of horror when Alexander and his companion realise just what type of meat it is they've sustained themselves on these past few days.

George Manville Fenn - On The Down Line: The driver sees a spectral train running alongside, and is later crushed under the wheels of his own engine.

[Johnlprobert]

Just finished this as part of my festive reading. I agree that the better stories are from the more modern authors. Quite a few of the older tales could be set at any time and just happen to take place at Christmas. My favourite of the oldies is probably Frank Cowper's that creates a superb atmosphere on board a boat in pitch darkness. The best moderns? Probably the John Glasby contributions. Buried corpses digging themselves up and dragging themselves back to say 'Happy Christmas' - that's what we want at this time of year!

I agree the Conan-Doyle is a bit of an anachronistic entry, but while it's not very scary, I did think it was hilarious, and surprisingly enough, intentionally so.

[dem bones]

Artwork: anonymous (wisely)

God, but those Dalby Headline covers were shockers. Anyway, finding this has at least given me the required kick in the arse to continue; must make amends for that weedy synopsis of Frank Cowper's terrific story while i'm about it.

The paperback Blurb;
Feast upon a festive collection of hauntings and horrors...
Here are twenty-seven tales in a winning mix of ancient and modern that will give Christmas and the new year an extra wintry chill. There are supernatural tales of suspense and horror from such illustrious pens as Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle and L. P. Hartley and less well known tales from experts in their fields. Frank Cowper's Christmas Eve on the Haunted Hulk will leave more than timbers shivering; Buggane by Peter Tremayne and The Uninvited by John Glasby tell of horrors that might visit us all only too soon.
CHILLERS FOR CHRISTMAS is the perfect antidote for those surfeited on good cheer and high spirits.

Frank Frankfort Moore - The Strange Story Of Northavon Priory: Arthur Jephson throws a Christmas party at his new residence, little knowing of the black masses and human sacrifices which were celebrated in one of the chambers during the reign of Henry VIII. That night, the guests are awoken by a terrible scream followed by a yell of laughter, while a weird red light emanates from Tom Singleton's room. The following morning they retrieved his body, Tom having seemingly suffered a cardiac arrest, although how to explain the burn marks, "as if a red hot gauntlet had been laid upon it", found on a wooden shutter? On the anniversary of the tragedy, at the last minute Sylvia Jephson decides against using the room and instead allows a maid to sleep there ....

Bernard Capes - The Vanishing House: Capes in fine fettle. Narrated by Jack, the banjo player at Winchester's The Good Intent. At Christmas, Jack, his grandfather and fellow musicians scrape a living from playing the waits, and this night finds them stood in the snow before a strange house. A young lady opens the door and offers them drink, but the company retreat when they spot a hideous face leering at them across her shoulder. To save face, Grandfather accepts a glass and drains off half the contents. "Dear, dear!", said the gal in a voice like falling water, "you've drunk blood, Sir!". And that's when the story turns really strange.

'Dick Donovan' - The White Raven: Daddy buys Moorland Grange on Dartmoor for his beautiful daughter, Lydia, so that she and husband-to-be Herbert Wilson will have a really out of the way place to themselves come the happy occasion of their nuptials. Fortunately, Jack Bewdley the gloomy gardener comes thrown in with the package: "By goom miss, but you're powerful handsome! I hope as how you won't be seeing of the White Raven in th' owd Grange ... Ah, I won't be the chap to make your pretty face white wi' fright, so doan't ye ask me, please." Lydia, naturally, favours the oak chamber for her bedroom until she reads a truly abysmal poem relating to the curse carved into a wall panel. Herbert arrives home for Christmas, a date is set and Lydia is so overjoyed, she forgets all about the curse and offers him the haunted chamber of doom! The following day he sets out with a hunting party and .... well, what happens certainly makes up for the rest of the story ...

Guy Boothby - Remorseless Vengeance: General Van Der Vaal hung a man on Christmas day and now his victim's brother, notorious pirate Captain Berringer, plans to return the nicety. With the assistance of our narrator, Der Vaal is bundled aboard ship and readied for the noose, but the ghost of the Captain's brother intervenes. If anyone is to have the pleasure of killing Der Vaal it's going to be him.

Eugene Johnson - Just Before Dawn: Christmas Eve on the Embankment with Toby Bellman, who has finally decided to end it all by throwing himself off Westminster Bridge. Toby was ruined when his business partner, Richard Stillwell, pilfered some valuable cargo leaving the innocent man to take the consequences. Although Toby was exonerated of all blame, his transport company collapsed, his wife sued for divorce and now he dosses on the streets. And where is Stillwell while all this is going on? Aboard his luxury cruiser in the South Of France, that's where! But never fear, gentle reader, his hour is almost up. Found this to be a bit on the mawkish side, to be honest, but then i guess so is A Christmas Carol.

John Collier – Back For Christmas: On the eve of his departure from Little Godwearing for a three month lecture tour in America, Dr. Carpenter rids himself of his insufferably pushy wife Hermoine by caving her head in with an iron bar, cutting her in pieces and burying them in the cellar. Will he get away with it?

Probably the "best" story, but of this spooky six, the Capes, Donovan (for the nasty business at the grouse shoot) and Frankfort Moore stories did it for me.

[dem bones]

four blinders on the trot;

Shamus Frazer - Florinda: James 'Shamus' Frazer only seems to have written ten or so horror stories, but from the few i've read, he was brilliant at it. Little Jane is forever babbling on about Florinda, a girl her mother supposes to be an imaginary play-friend or, more likely with Christmas approaching, the idealised doll she wants for from Santa Claus. But whatever she is, Florinda is given to playing spiteful tricks, and after one such on Miss Reeve the Governess, Jane's parents decide it's time to have the overgrown pathway cleared before there's an accident. "Florinda won't like that" warns Jane. Florinda doesn't. The workmen clearing away the thickets and weeds are spooked by all the tiny animal skeletons they find and complain of something watching them, while at night a killer is abroad, tearing apart the neighbours' poultry. Matters come to a head when Jane quarrels with Florinda over her despicable behavior and withdraws the invitation to join them in the house for Christmas Eve .... Genuinely creepy.

Peter Tremayne - Buggane: Jon Jameson, scriptwriter for a successful soap opera, rents Rhullick cottage on the Isle of Man for the winter months. Hardly has he settled than he's urged not to spend Christmas Eve there, first by a mystery girl on horseback, then by the locals at Thie-ny-Cailleeyn pub. Rhullick is reputedly haunted by fiddler Kerron Moughty whose daughter Calyhony was seduced and abandoned by a cowardly soldier, an act that lead to the murder and death of three people. Moughty is a buggane, "a spirit of retribution for an unpunished wrong." Not being the superstitious type, the writer spends the 24th at home regardless. Rotten time to discover which of the parties he's descended from.

It's Tremayne at home with his favourite source material, there's a neat pub interlude and a satisfyingly portentous climax. What more do you want?

Alexander Welch - The Grotto: Closing time, Christmas Eve in the department store and Santa, aka Charlie, sneaks another swig from his hip flask before shutting the grotto for another year. It sure is bloody cold in here and, just when you want to get away to the pub, there's that weird-looking bloody kid wants to play hide and bloody seek over by that disused Victorian lift-shaft ....

Roger Johnson - The Night Before Christmas: Related by Hilary Falkner as an old woman by way of explanation of her loathing of Christmas.

Throughout childhood, Hilary's best friend, Diana, was plagued by a nightmare so traumatic that she could never remember it on awakening. All this changed when the girls were fourteen and they spent Christmas at Woodham Priors, near Malden, Essex, as guests of a classmate. As part of the festive merriment, the host, Richard, has arranged for the Mummers to call on Christmas day, but the fat old jolly Santa is so reminiscent of the man in her nightmares that Diana lets out a shriek and faints dead away. As it turns out, there's no malice in kindly old Uncle William/ Santa whatsoever, but his ancestor, Marcus Ridler was a different kettle of fish. Ridler, a lecher and sadist, was done to death in 1839 and such was his unpopularity among the locals that no-one ever stood trial for his murder.

When they reach eighteen, Diana and Hilary returns to Woodham for what will be their last Christmas together ....

[dem bones]

William J. Wintle - The Black Cat: Sydney has a morbid fear of cats. His obsession never manifests in acts of cruelty - Sydney even donates to a cat charity - but he hates the mangy rotten fleabags all the same. So it's just his luck when, researching a book on early Egyptian history, his rummaging in a London antique shop unearths a casket containing mummified remains of cat. The spectral feline torments poor Syd through December before finally slashing him up good on Christmas eve.

E. R. Suffling - The Phantom Rider: The Old Manor House, Minehead, December 1695. Boring Wynne Clarge fondly imagines himself the suitor of Squire Simmons beautiful daughter, Julia, so he's not best pleased when Charles Benwick, a handsome long lost cousin, arrives from the States to win her heart. Refusing an invite to the Squire's Christmas Party, Clarge lies in wait for the "sallow faced American loon" as he gallops off to claim some important deeds at Stoke Pero. Neither man is seen alive again, although both their spectres put in an appearance at the Manor House, the one all ghastly pale and lifeless, the other wearing a saturnine grin on it's face and fresh blood on its sword. What could have happened? Twelve months later, the Squire and his daughter are invited to spend Christmas with the sporting rector of Stoke Pero. They arrive on the moors just in time to witness the reenactment of Clarge's cowardly murder of Charles in "phantom vision." This proves to much for Julia who expires on the spot.

[hugegadjit]

If you want some real horror stories, try speaking to anybody that worked for that publishers!

[cauldronbrewer]

Dec 28, 2007 19:19:38 GMT Johnlprobert said:

Just finished this as part of my festive reading. I agree that the better stories are from the more modern authors. Quite a few of the older tales could be set at any time and just happen to take place at Christmas. My favourite of the oldies is probably Frank Cowper's that creates a superb atmosphere on board a boat in pitch darkness.

Cowper's "Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk" is a textbook case of how to create an atmospheric setting for a scary story and then exploit that setting for all it's worth (not just the pitch darkness, but also the detail of the missing floor--which pays off, not once, but twice).

None of the other older tales came close. I'm with Dem on "An Exciting Christmas Eve"--I got that Doyle was trying to be funny, but he didn't make me laugh. "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes" reminded me how much I dislike Kipling. Fenn's "On the Down Line" set me to skimming by the second page. The rest were a mixed bag--some solid but unspectacular, some forgettable.

So far I'm liking the newer tales better.

[dem bones]

Of the Christmas collections i've read, this is my favourite, surpassing Richard's Ghosts For Christmas which is no slouch itself. Even those few stories i didn't much care for (as if that matters) somehow belong here. For me, the first half is patchy, but from The Waits onward Chillers is hit after hit after hit.

[cauldronbrewer]

Dec 12, 2012 20:37:25 GMT dem bones said:

Of the Christmas collections i've read, this is my favourite, surpassing Richard's Ghosts For Christmas which is no slouch itself. Even those few stories i didn't much care for (as if that matters) somehow belong here. For me, the first half is patchy, but from The Waits onward Chillers is hit after hit after hit.

I enjoyed the newer stories a good deal more than the older ones. I particularly liked Frazer's "Florinda," Tremyane's "The Buggane," Chetwyn-Hayes' "The Hanging Tree," and Johnson's "The Night Before Christmas." The revised lyrics to "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" in Hartley's story are a hoot, as well.

[ripper]

A nice collection with a good mix of the old and the new. I really liked the Cowper tale; RD also included it in his Mammoth Book of Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories, and it is wonderfully atmospheric and creepy. As always with RD, the sprinkling of stories from authors from G &S and All Hallows is very welcome, and I particularly enjoyed David G. Rowlands' contribution.

[cauldronbrewer]

Dec 23, 2012 12:15:57 GMT ripper said:

As always with RD, the sprinkling of stories from authors from G &S

I always look forward to reading stories from Ghosts & Scholars. Karl Edward Wagner often included them in the volumes of The Years' Best Horror Stories that he edited.

[ripper]

G.A. Henty wrote many "boys own" style novels, many set in troublespots around the globe. He was also a journalist after he left the army and covered the expedition to Abyssinia in 1867-1868, and his despatches were collected in book-form as "the March to Magdala."

[Craig Herbertson]

Aug 20, 2013 11:25:58 GMT ripper said:

G.A. Henty wrote many "boys own" style novels, many set in troublespots around the globe. He was also a journalist after he left the army and covered the expedition to Abyssinia in 1867-1868, and his despatches were collected in book-form as "the March to Magdala."

One of my first books as a child. Henty's 'Winning His Spurs' which you can now read free.

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12308

This scene caught my imagination as a kid. The captured Knights were being beheaded and good old Cuthbert is next in line:


None of the knights moved to accept the offer, but each, as the eye of
the emir ran along the line, answered with an imprecation of contempt and
hatred. Saladin waved his hand, and one by one the captives were led
aside, walking as proudly to their doom as if they had been going to a
feast. Each wrung the hand of the one next to him as he turned, and then
without a word followed his captors. There was a dull sound heard, and
one by one the heads of the knights rolled in the sand.

Cuthbert happened to be last in the line, and as the executioners laid
hands upon him and removed his helmet, the eye of the sultan fell upon
him, and he almost started at perceiving the extreme youth of his
captive. He held his hand aloft to arrest the movements of the
executioners, and signalled for Cuthbert to be brought before him again.

"You are but a boy," he said. "All the knights who have hitherto fallen
into my hands have been men of strength and power; how is it that I see a
mere youth among their ranks, and wearing the golden spurs of
knighthood?"

"King Richard himself made me a knight," Cuthbert said proudly, "after
having stood across him when his steed had been foully stabbed at the
battle of Azotus, and the whole Moslem host were around him."

"Ah!" said the emir, "were you one of the two who, as I have heard,
defended the king for some time against all assaults? It were hard
indeed to kill so brave a youth. I doubt me not that at present you are
as firmly determined to die a Christian knight as those who have gone
before you? But time may change you. At any rate for the present your
doom is postponed."

He turned to a gorgeously-dressed noble next to him, and said,--

"Your brother, Ben Abin, is Governor of Jerusalem, and the gardens of
the palace are fair. Take this youth to him as a present, and set him to
work in his gardens. His life I have spared, in all else Ben Abin will
be his master."

[ripper]

I've read a few by Henty, such as The Young Buglers (Peninsular War), For Name and Fame: To Cabul with Roberts (2nd Afghan War) and On the Irrawaddy (1st Burma War), but not Winning his Spurs as yet. Not really sure if A Pipe of Mystery was his only supernatural-tinged story or if there are others out there.

[ripper]

Just scanning through the contents of this one I noticed the Harwood story. My only other exposure to his writing has been "The Underground Ghost" from the same editor's "Mammoth Book of Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories," which I recommend highly. I enjoyed the two Harwood stories very much, but so far have not come across anything else by him.