What about the OTHER Benson brothers?

[lobolover]

What tales would be interesting to read from A.C. and R.H.?

[weirdmonger]

I have 'Paul The Minstrel and Other Stories' (1911 Smith, Elder) by AC Benson including all his stories from 'The Hill of Trouble' and 'The Isles of Sunset' collections. Great stories.

I have a RH Benson collection somewhere but currently can't find it. ;D

Also this other Benson associated collection:
THE FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW and other tales
by H.F.W. Tatham (Assistant-Master of Eton College)
With a Memoir by AC Benson
Macmillan and Co, Limited, 1910

I can't really pick out individual stories, but any by the Benson brothers are great if you can find them, imo.
des

[dem bones]

Wordsworth recently added a shared collection by the other Brother's Benson to their Tales Of Mystery & The Supernatural collection

The Temple Of Death: The Ghost Stories of A. C. & R. H. Benson (Wordsworth Editions Ltd, Sept. 2007)

Selected & Introduced by David Stuart Davies

Stories by A. C. Benson

The Temple Of Death
The Closed Window
The Slype House
The Red Camp
Out Of The Sea
The Grey Cat
The Hill Of Trouble
Basil Netherby
The Uttermost Farthing

Stories by R. H. Benson

The Watcher
The Blood-Eagle
'Consolatrix Afflictorum'
Over The Gateway
Father Meuron's Tale
Father Macclesfield's Tale
The Traveller

Blurb:

The great oaken gate heaved and splintered, and a monstrous beast as huge as a horse appeared at the mouth of the den; his small head was laid back on his hairy shoulders, his little eyes gleamed wickedly, and his red mouth opened snarling fiercely'.

Undeservedly, the weird and chilling ghost stories of Arthur Christopher Benson and Robert Hugh Benson have been neglected for far too long. This volume attempts to rectify that situation. This dark banquet of tales take us to strange, unworldly and often archaic environments, far removed from the manic pace and pressures of the twenty-first century, but as exercises in the art of luring the reader into a state of unease, they are as potent as they were when the ink was barely dry on the page.

I just looked through my sad old handwritten index where i used to put stars against stories i rated, red for v.good, blue for so-so. A. C. came out of it rather better than R. H., with reds for Basil Netherby and The Uttermost Farthing but i can't remember anything about them. The only one to have stayed in my mind is A. C.'s sinister fairy tale, The Snake, The Leper And The Grey Frost - and that isn't in this collection.

[lobolover]

Out Of The Sea seems interesting.Okay,im gonna look some up.

Incidentely,I got a full colection of E.F. of from Gutenberg Au-some stuffs there,while I got "The outcast" from horrormasters.

[jonathan122]

"Consolatrix Afflictorum" (by RH) is well worth checking out. I actually found it to be the best story I've yet read by someone with the surname Benson, although I think it's effectiveness as a horror story was probably unintentional - as RH was on the verge of becoming a Catholic priest at the time, he probably didn't think that the ghost of the Virgin Mary appearing in children's rooms at night was such a bad thing, but I still find it incredibly creepy.

[jonathan122]

Incidentally, the painting on the cover on the Wordsworth edition is rather wonderful. I can't remember what it is off the top of my head, but there's an animated film by Norman McLaren which uses it as a basis.

[cauldronbrewer]

Nov 10, 2008 12:47:58 GMT dem bones said:

I just looked through my sad old handwritten index where i used to put stars against stories i rated, red for v.good, blue for so-so. A. C. came out of it rather better than R. H., with reds for Basil Netherby and The Uttermost Farthing but i can't remember anything about them.

Based on the selections in the Wordsworth collection, I'd definitely agree with rating A.C. above R.H. A.C.'s stories come across to me as creepy tales that happen to include religious messages (I especially liked "Basil Netherby"), whereas R.H.'s come across as theological pontificating with a few creepy details occasionally thrown in.

Jan 28, 2009 18:40:17 GMT jonathan122 said:

"Consolatrix Afflictorum" (by RH) is well worth checking out. I actually found it to be the best story I've yet read by someone with the surname Benson, although I think it's effectiveness as a horror story was probably unintentional - as RH was on the verge of becoming a Catholic priest at the time, he probably didn't think that the ghost of the Virgin Mary appearing in children's rooms at night was such a bad thing, but I still find it incredibly creepy.

That's the only way that I can imagine the story working as horror. Read straight, it's undiluted schmaltz.

[cromagnonman]

The Temple of Death: In the days of the early Christian church a wandering evangelist named Paullinus loses his way in the trackless woods of Gaul. He ends up taking shelter - albeit unknowingly - with the priest of the Temple of Death. This priest is a forbidding figure who's main vocation is in acting as executioner for the surrounding tribes; dispatching their criminals by sacrificing them to the ferocious primordial beast stabled within the temple precincts. Minded to afford Paullinus a similar courtesy he is instead won over by the Christian's simple innocent faith and ends up a victim of his own murderous creed.

The Closed Window: Sir Mark de Nort and his cousin Roland Ellice share a blithe untroubled companionable existence, domiciled within the ancestral folly of The Tower of Nort. Until the day when they decide to investigate the sealed turret garret wherein wicked old Sir James de Nort was found dying with the mud of a long journey upon his clothing even though he had not left the room. Inside is discovered a sealed and shuttered window daubed with the legend: CLAUDIT ET NEMO APERIT [He shutteth and none openeth].
When in due course Sir Mark succumbs to the inevitable temptation and unshutters the window he finds himself confronted by the bleak shadowed vista of an alien land, inhabited by nebulous scurrying forms and a strange beckoning figure that exerts an irrisistable attraction. Only by a herculean effort of will is Sir Mark able to resist the compulsion to follow the figure.
Cousin Roland is not so fortunate.



Yes, these stories quite clearly are unequivocal in their religious conviction and unwavering from their lessons of moral fortitude. But such is their right and this is an observation not an inherent criticism. Beyond their agendas they elicit a chilling sense of atmosphere, be it in the sinister aspect of the Gaulish temple or the soul shrivelling bleakness of the turret view. The latter conceit is in fact a pioneering concept foreshadowing both the Night Land and some of the most effective of Clark Ashton Smith's stories (among many others). And whilst Benson's language isn't explicit some of his imagery is surprisingly grim: none more so than the reference to the girl left for the wolves with her ankles bound together.
I liked these. A lot. AC might not have been as prolific in his production line of ghost stories as EF was but he doesn't warrant the reputation of standing in his shadow.      

[cromagnonman]

The Slype House: A misanthrope in the throes of a mid-life crisis attempts a communion with the dead. As a consequence he finds himself the prize in a tug-of-war between the powers of good and evil.

The Red Camp: An impoverished land owner - in defiance of accepted wisdom - excavates the earthwork known as the Red Camp in pursuit of buried treasure. His efforts are rewarded with the discovery of fifty bars of Roman gold. But the find brings him no joy as he is haunted by the aggrieved spirit of a Roman legionary who perished in the defence of the gold.


Brief resumes for two stories which despite their differing lengths share the same paucity of plot. Each story provides excellent instances of imagery though, especially the skull and skeletal hands in the alcove of "The Slype House" which elicits the ghoulish description of looking as if "a dead man had come up to the surface of a black tide, and was preparing presently to leap out." The excavation of the Roman fortalice in "The Red Camp" is likewise effectively presented.


Unfortunately having set up two interesting premises Benson's eagerness to promote and publicise the redemptive qualities of his faith transduces the material into juvenile moralistic parables. That is not objectionable in itself only the crude heavy-handedness of the way it is done here. If the heavenly choir had descended blowing trumpets it would scarcely have been any more in-your-face that the approach Benson takes in each case. Sometimes the most effective way to make your point is with subtlety rather than stridency. Storytelling is seldom served by sermonizing.

"The Red Camp" does provide one unintentional laugh however when the "old and wise" churchman to whom the landowner pours out his troubles solemnly advises him that the cursed treasure "must not be used to enrich [himself]" but that the endowing of a church and a community of priests, on the other hand, would be perfectly acceptable.       

[helrunar]

Thanks for reading and writing about these tales, Richard. I got a good guffaw out of your closing salvo. 

Horror as Catholic/Christian propaganda is a time-honored theme, and can still be worth perusal if done with style and finesse. Sounds like yet another case of a mixed bag--hope there are more good ones than duds if you continue to read.

I stopped commuting after 3/13 because the Red Death is rampaging the land and we have been ordered to "work from home," but earlier in the month I read several of EFB's stories. I definitely found them to be a mixed bag--as good as "The Room in the Tower," "And no bird sings," "Mrs Amworth" and "Negotians Perambulans" are, he wrote quite a few "spook tales" that are only really diverting now as period pieces. Still, hope to read more of the stories. The ACB and RHB tales, from reviews I've read, just seem too focused on a certain style of religiosity to be terribly palatable for this reader.

cheers, Steve (actually doing fairly well--exercising more, enjoying cooking more meals, etc.)

[cromagnonman]

Mar 26, 2020 22:50:25 GMT helrunar said:

Thanks for reading and writing about these tales, Richard. I got a good guffaw out of your closing salvo. 

Horror as Catholic/Christian propaganda is a time-honored theme, and can still be worth perusal if done with style and finesse. Sounds like yet another case of a mixed bag--hope there are more good ones than duds if you continue to read.

I stopped commuting after 3/13 because the Red Death is rampaging the land and we have been ordered to "work from home," but earlier in the month I read several of EFB's stories. I definitely found them to be a mixed bag--as good as "The Room in the Tower," "And no bird sings," "Mrs Amworth" and "Negotians Perambulans" are, he wrote quite a few "spook tales" that are only really diverting now as period pieces. Still, hope to read more of the stories. The ACB and RHB tales, from reviews I've read, just seem too focused on a certain style of religiosity to be terribly palatable for this reader.

cheers, Steve (actually doing fairly well--exercising more, enjoying cooking more meals, etc.)

Glad to hear you're hale, hearty and thriving in these troublesome times Steve.
You make salient points about all the Benson brothers' output. And I would certainly agree that AC's catalogue is a mixed bag and rather limited in tone and content. Both of which are now largely alien to the modern palate, I would suppose. And his storytelling certainly suffers in response to his didactic agenda. But when he managed to contrive it so that the latter actually complimented the former rather than impeding it the result could be astounding.
As the following demonstrates.   

[cromagnonman]

Out of the Sea: The vicar of an isolated coastal hamlet finds himself beseeched to help a local family terrorised by a malevolent spectre. In so doing the churchman exhumes a tale of very human greed and the cruelest of maritime murders.

So yes, on the one hand, we do have one more wise hearted clergyman, and admittedly yet another capric entity and again there is the habitual affiliation of paranormal activity with a guilty conscience. Plus there is another restored and fully functioning church to celebrate at the end of things. By rights shouldn't we be decrying the one dimensional nature of Benson's work and ridiculing its repetitiousness? No, as it happens because when Benson's favoured elements gel as effectively as they do here they produce a quite stunning and sublime result.

This is an absolutely brilliant story.


Yes, the vicar is a pious old cove but thankfully shorn of the insufferable sanctimony characteristic of Benson's usual stable of clergymen.  And he is seen to experience doubt and genuine fear. As well he might for the story's malefic spectre is a truly terrifying creation, accompanied as it is by the scent of the sea tinged with "the smell of corruption". The moment when the vicar finds himself confronted by the thing with its hairy forelimbs rested on his bed, fixed by its "narrow and obscene eyes" is gobsmackingly good and more effectively sinister than anything Benson might previously have been believed capable of. Most satisfying of all the spirit isn't vanquished by a walk on from Jesus either which on previous evidence was Benson's preferred resolution. Its still there at the end "snuffing at the sand".


A five star belter of a story which would hold its own in any company. 

[cromagnonman]

The Grey Cat: A boy living in the remoteness of a welsh valley develops a fascination for the haunted tarn hunkered at the foot of a bleak black mountain. Breaking his pledge to avoid the site he is adopted there by a grey cat. Nurturing a furtive affection for the creature the boy begins to physically wane even as the malign feline grows fat. Events culminate with a battle for the boy's spirit while the church bell tolls the night of All Souls.

So a lot of expected themes on parade here. And another stern lecture from schoolmaster Benson to impressionable youth about the folly of following one's fancies and the value of exercising self-restraint. In some ways AC appears to have conciously modelled himself as the anti-Crowley. Instead of 'Do What Thou Wilt' this AC's prevailing message is 'Whatsoever Thou Wilt Doest Not'.

It was always asking too much to expect this story to scale the same magnificent heights as "Out of the Sea". But it still has its moments. The dream sequence wherein the boy is beguiled by an alluring figure that rises out of the pool and opens a secret door into the mountain is rendolent of Le Fanu. And the climactic image of the pool writhing with luminous worms is a memorable one.

A good tale and one that only really suffers by comparison to the brilliant one that preceeded it.

[cromagnonman]

The Hill of Trouble: An unworldly Cambridge scholar called Gilbert goes on holiday to the west country. There he cultivates a fascinated interest in a shunned piece of local topography called the Hill of Trouble. Ignoring the obligatory prevailing wisdom to avoid the place Gilbert goes there and discovers a pagan stone circle haunted by a belligerent old man who affords Gilbert three glimpses into his future. These prove to cast an ominous shadow over the scholar and as each prediction subsequently proves itself true Gilbert finds himself drawn back to the hill for a climactic confrontation.

Sounds good doesn't it. And it is to a certain degree. But it would be a whole lot better if the ending wasn't so twee and coloured with quite so much Edwardian sentimentality. In many ways it reads like a companion piece to "The Grey Cat". We have another example of forbidding geography, the customary pooh-poohing of local wisdom and the inevitable grim consequences. "The Grey Cat" probably rates higher on the drama count. But "The Hill of Trouble" is still a very readable story and is elevated above average by the remarkable fortune telling scene which contains a gruesome vision that, I predict, will live with the reader long after all the other details of the story are forgotten.

So yes, another cautionary tale that extols the virtue of faith as is only to be expected of AC by this point. I think the qualities of the individual stories are served by being read sparingly rather than in quick succession. I probably enjoyed this one more than I would have if I'd ploughed straight into it after finishing "The Grey Cat". 

[weirdmonger]

Yes, what about the other Benson brothers?

My review today of A.C. BENSON’s THE CLOSED WINDOW, perhaps a seminal story?
dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2022/08/24/the-closed-window-by-a-c-benson/