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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 26, 2009 15:09:03 GMT
(Fawcett 1979)WITCHES COVENS AND SABBATS:
The Witch Dance on the Brocken - Frederick Gottschalck The Witches' Revel - E. F. E. The Weird Gathering - John Greenleaf Whittier The Midnight Voyage of the Seagull - Volney E. Howard Fairies, Deils and Witches - James Hogg
THE SOLITARY SORCERESS
The Witch Caprische - E. F. E. The Witch - Miss Elizabeth P. Hall Fairies, Brownies and Witches - James Hogg The Witch of Rosberry Topping - Anon The Witch of the Gray Thorn - James Hogg The Witch - Anon The Last Witch - Clara F. Guernsey Aunt rache - Joseph R Chandler Miriam Power - Anon The Witch - Anon
WATER SPIRITS AND THE DEMONIC POWER OF WOMEN
The Nymph of the Waters - Anon The Sorceress of the Sea - Anon The Enchanted Lake - Anon The Water Lady - Anon A Night on the Enchanted Mountains - Anon
DIABOLICAL FAIRIES AND THE ROMANTIC SPIRIT
Hamet - Anon Seppi, The Goatherd - Anom A Swiss Legend - Anon The Three Swans - Anon The Wife of Kong Tolv - Anon The Magic Mirror - R. R. W. Crochet - Alfred Crowquill Fairy Land and Fairy Lore(this boook can seriously harm your health. Avoid at all costs...)
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Post by dem bones on Sept 26, 2009 20:32:08 GMT
It's hard going, I'll grant you but Curran clearly put plenty of work into compiling it. Subtitled "Supernatural" Women in American Popular Fiction, 1800-1850, The Weird Gathering collects some of the earliest examples of witch-fict in the short story, folklore and poetry and is possibly of more appeal to literary scholars than Hamlyn nasty freaks. Doesn't make it a bad book though. Despite the emphasis on America, enough of this material emanates from the UK for me to move it to the Wordsworth-interest section. To complete the contents list; J. K. Paulding - Fairy Land And Fairy Lore
AMERICAN INDIANS AND NATIONAL PASSIONS
Richard Evans - Witch Creek Anon - The Dark Maid Of Illinois Anon - The Mermaid Of Martin Meer
SHREWS, VIXENS & VIRAGO's: THE VILLAINOUS WOMEN
Mrs. Emma C. Embury Anon - The Murderess Anon - The Dream-Girl Anon - The Wedding Garment E. M. D. C. - Female RevengeThere's also a twenty page introduction. Ronald Curran edited at least one companion volume, the more accessible (it's got Edgar Allan Poe in it) Witches, Wraiths and Warlocks.
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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 26, 2009 21:13:51 GMT
....yeah' was going to post the rest of the contents, but had lost the will to live by that point...Thanks for tidying up for me!
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Post by lobolover on Oct 11, 2009 16:43:57 GMT
The only name which I recognise here is James Hogg . So, what, are the stories themselves that bad or what ? I can sort of see with all the anonymouse things in there ,but stil......
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Post by dem bones on Sept 13, 2021 6:12:45 GMT
Much crossover with Curran's earlier Witches, Wraiths and Warlocks (1971). A number of terrific, gory Gothic horrors among the selection, some containing 'supernatural' elements. Have skipped those stories told in verse. Volney E. Howard - The Midnight Voyage of the Seagull: A Tradition of Salem: ( Godey's Lady's Book, July 1842). To the astonishment and disgust of Sarah, his beloved daughter, Mr. Carew returns from a business trip in Boston with a new wife. Sarah bemoans her woes to fiance Dr. Horace Harden. The woman is French, and, as if that were not bad enough, everyone seems to think she's young, elegant and charming. Only Sarah sees her for what she is - an evil old witch! Dr. Harden is introduced to the second Mrs Carew to find her just as wonderful as everyone - bar Sarah - says she is. This is too much for his sweetheart, who grows despondent, takes ill and is fast lost to idiocy! Comes the day Dr. Harden tends a patient in terrible distress. Joe, the cabin boy aboard Mr. Carew's brig, The Seagull, confides that every Friday night, Mrs. Carew secretly boards the ship with a company of witches in cat guise, and force him to sail for a strange island to gather marsh-rosemary. Before the first such voyage, Mrs. Carew ordered Joe to throw the ship's Bible overboard. She threatens him with a curse should he ever betray their secret. The very next Friday, Dr. Harden, disguised as the cabin boy, but with a toothache so he can cover his face, stows away aboard The Seagull. He overhears Mrs. Carew scheming with her hag of a mother. She plans to do away with her husband, inherit his everything and take Harden himself as her lover! The old baggage agrees to prepare a love philtre should her daughter's charms fail. As for Sarah, she is not, after all, a witless cretin. The evil stepmother has been drugging and beating the girl from day one! Horden raises the alarm, and Mrs Carew and her mother are taken into custody, but neither live to face trial ... Story is set some time before the Witch trials, and author wonders if perhaps it may have influenced the villagers thoughts and deeds over 1692-3. Anon - The Witch: ( Atkinson's Casket, 1827). Stoke Regis, during reign of James I. When Alice Thornwald, a doting young mother is rude to "matronly recluse" Rebecca Swarf, the old woman curses her that she will be the instrument of the child's death. So it proves when Alice is hung for taking a knife to the infant in its cradle. Eden Thornwald tells what he knows to the rector, who has Swarf arrested as a witch. Confessing all, she is burnt at the stake. Frederick Gottschalck - The Witch Dance On The Brocken: (Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, Nov. 1840). Short, atmospheric eyewitness account of a Witch's revel in the Hartz Mountains with the Devil himself fulfilling barbecue duties. Anon - The Murderess: ( Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, Feb. 1838). The author is at pains to insist he bears the sex no malice, but as a lawyer he regards it as proven fact that a woman once fallen from the righteous path is beyond rehabilitation. As he puts it; "once chained to crime and her fetters are riveted for life." He cites as evidence the case of a young Mary Stewart, brought before the court on a charge of infanticide. Mary's dignified manner and neat mourning attire impressed the sympathies of all - surely she could not have deliberately dashed her baby's brains against the wall prior to burying it on the common? The jury agree and return a verdict of "not guilty." After the trial, Mary hands the lawyer a document only to be opened on her death, which, as it transpires is only a year later, The lawyer breaks the seal on Mary's dramatic confession, the conclusion of which is particularly, gloriously horrible.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 13, 2021 14:00:12 GMT
E. M. D. C. - Female Revenge: (Southern Literary Messenger, March 1843). Paris, Napoleonic era. Fretful that he loves her no more, rich heiress Marie eavesdrops on husband Antonio's conversation with her best friend, Victorine. Alas, it's true! Antonio has grown cold on Marie and plans to announce their separation in three days time, whereupon he will take up with — Victorine!
Affecting innocence of their plans, Marie insists they celebrate her birthday — and poisons the wine.
Soon afterward, the city is thrown into panic as a serial killer, who preys upon eligible bachelors, stalks the social scene.
Anon - The Wedding Garment: (Littell's Living Age, Sept. 1849). Exposed as a cardsharp, the ghastly Mrs. Canderson has her revenge on Lady Ann Rankles (née Runt) on what should be the happiest day of her eventful and, in the early days, impoverished life. A Paddington cinder sifter, at fifteen Anne married a debased boy baker, who took to gin, brutalised her and, thankfully, succumbed to a fatal illness. A widow before her teens were done, in a moment of desperation, Anne disencumbered herself of their infant son by abandoning him in the street. She then took a position as housekeeper - and lover - of Sir Peter Rankles, whom she wed and soon lost to old age, inheriting his all. Yes, you can be sure Mrs Canderson - "I never forget my friends, NOR FORGIVE MY ENEMIES!" (she ever emphasises the latter sentiment in bold lettering) - has made it her business to study Lady Rankles' murky history to use against her!
Mrs. Emma C. Embury - The Twin Sisters: A Leaf from the Journal of an Antiquarian: (Graham's Magazine, April 1843). Folkestone, Kent. Rosamund and Lilias, the beautiful and impossibly spoilt daughter's of a doting Marquis, and the last of an ancient family, become embroiled in a love triangle with shy young rector, Herbert Bellenden. Herbert's preference is for Rosamund, but her identical twin dupes him at the altar when she learns of their proposed clandestine midnight marriage. Consequently, Herbert despises every bone in his wife's body though never once does he show her anything but civility and kindness. Sometimes his feelings toward her approach affection. Then she is she crippled and hideously mutilated in a carriage accident. This is the final straw! How can he possibly be expected to stay faithful to that? When Lilias dies - we refuse to listen to idle gossip that Herbert and Rosamund helped her on her way - the two who should have been man and wife finally become so. Everything is joy and gaiety when Rosamund falls pregnant. Until ....
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Post by helrunar on Sept 13, 2021 14:48:06 GMT
Thanks so much, Kev, for providing a much-needed laugh with the phrase Lady Ann Rankles (née Runt)--good stuff.
Those stories sound interesting, provided one can get past the sometimes stodgy "slick" mag style of the mid to late 19th cent.
cheers, Steve
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Post by andydecker on Sept 13, 2021 15:46:26 GMT
It is interesting to see how much stories were published in what would today be called mainstream magazines, before genre as a category was invented.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 14, 2021 8:38:58 GMT
Those stories sound interesting, provided one can get past the sometimes stodgy "slick" mag style of the mid to late 19th cent. I've found each of the above far easier and satisfying reads than much of the up itself wank packaged as "dark fantasy" from 'nineties through to present day. If there had been such a thing as an early nineteenth century Pan Book of Horror equivalent, the commendably unflinching likes of The Twin-Sisters, The Murderess and Female Revenge would surely have been in there, while The Midnight Voyage of the Seagull still impresses as a lively witchcraft novella. Curran's achievement in bringing so much rare material back into the light is especially impressive when you take into account he and those like him had to put in some real spadework, hunting down copies of rare publications in newspaper libraries & Co. No sitting in front of a screen and searching the word "ghost" in digitised newspaper archives for the 'seventies anthologist. Anon - The Nymph of the Waters: ( New York Mirror & Ladies Literary Gazette, 29 July 1826). An Undine variation. A siren of the Rhine is both blamed for distracting sailors so their ships perish on the rocks, and praised for showing young fishermen where best to cast their nets. Count Palatine vows to bring the nymph before the Palace and establish once and for all whether she be evil-doing witch or friend of sea-faring folk. Having no wish to leave the river, our heroine calls upon Neptune to save her. The Sea King duly intervenes on the nymph's behalf, and one of the Count's men makes fatal mistake of attempting to down her with a crossbow bolt. Anon [Eliza Buckminster Lee] - Miriam Power: ( Atkinson's Casket, March 1838, via Sketches of a New England Village in the Last Century, 1838). On the word of a vengeful, snake-eyed native American, Miriam, eighteen, a beautiful awful caring for an epileptic little brother, is brought before the court at Salem and charged with witchcraft. Will the usual bigotry and stupidity prevail? Yes, and no. Miriam is condemned to death, essentially for being a caring nurse, but there's always some do-gooder busy-body has to spoil it for everyone. Anon - Aunt Rache: ( Godey's Lady's Book, March 1833). Old Rachel is the storm prophetess of Plymouth Bay, New England. Sailors tip her a small sum to forecast tomorrow's weather before they set sail. She has never been known to err in her predictions. One day she warns one of her townsmen, John Burgis, the deacon's son not to throw in his lot with a rum bunch of "moon-cursers" and wreckers whose victims include her own husband. Furious, one of their number torch her hut that same night, signing his own death warrant.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 14, 2021 18:33:07 GMT
One for Mr. Brewer.
Anon [Charles Fenno Hoffman] - A Night on 'the Enchanted Mountain': (The Magnolia, 1836). A traveller exploring the Appalachian mountain range hires a brassy tavern girl to guide him to a cavern supposedly haunted by either a moon-elf or water sprite. It is only as they press on through the dark he realises the girl didn't show and he is being led by the ghost of the sweetheart he lost to illness. His joy turns to horror that which has assumed the form of the loved one lets slip her mask to reveal the gloating demon beneath ....
Which is when author ruins all his good work with the lamest cop-out ending (you know the one).
Anon - The Enchanted Lake (The New York Mirror & Ladies Literary Gazette, 17 May 1828). Taunted by friends, a high-spirited youth announces that he will sail a skiff the length of Lake Geneva. Not only will Victor brave the whirlpool, but he will pluck a hair from the head of the beautiful singing spectre said to haunt it. He survives a violent storm, but returns a much changed, sombre individual, knowing that when next the Lorelei sings, he will be powerless to resist both her call and deathly embrace. So it proves.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 15, 2021 8:54:53 GMT
Anon - The Water Lady: A Legend: (The Port-folio, June 1822). Count Albert, a brave young adventurer cursed with an "unhallowed curiosity," defies the wishes of the Lady Bertha, his betrothed, and all good sense to seek out the siren of the Black Water Vault, whose song has lured so many to their doom beneath the foaming waters. Lady Bertha need not concern herself overmuch with wedding preparations.
Anon - The Dream-Girl: (Godey's Lady's Book, March 1835). Rossignol village. Antoine has loved Julie since childhood, but she is cold to all men. Born athletes both, he is the only person can outpace her in the annual chase across the treacherous midnight mountains. One strange and eventful night, Antoine, alerted by a dream, watches in horror as, high up on the peaks, Julie somnambulates across a crumbling arch. The brave young man performs a miraculous rescue and his love is unrequited no longer. Author is at pains to stress continued relevance of a quotation from Genesis. It is not good for a woman to be alone.
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