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Post by vulgardisplay on Dec 6, 2011 19:28:06 GMT
Hi guys, I had a hardback horror anthology many years ago which I have since either lost or given away. The one vivid memory I have of it is a short story about a young nobleman - an earl, I think - who, upon the death of his father, visits his ancestral home where a horrific secret is revealed to him: that on his death he, like each earl before him (including his father) is lowered into a bricked-up room housing an immortal female ancestor, who will then feed on his corpse's flesh. I have a vague recollection that the ancestor in question performed some satanic rite which granted her immortal life... at any rate, she seemed pretty evil (and age hadn't been kind to her!). I cannot remember the name of the story, or its author, or of the anthology it was contained in. I think I bought it at some point in the mid-80s, and I'm pretty sure that one other story it contained was Theodore Sturgeon's 'It!'. The cover had a werewolf's face on it, I believe. I would be hugely grateful if anyone could help me out with this one! Google turns up almost nothing, apart from this tantalizing entry at Yahoo! Answers, which I'm certain refers to the story in question (it's definitely not 'The Canterville Ghost', as suggested there). Cheers! Chris |
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Post by jamesdoig on Dec 6, 2011 20:05:25 GMT
That's "The Horror at Chilton Castle" by Joseph Payne Brennan - in a couple of Mary Danby anthologies.
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Post by vulgardisplay on Dec 6, 2011 20:18:35 GMT
That's "The Horror at Chilton Castle" by Joseph Payne Brennan - in a couple of Mary Danby anthologies. Yes, that's right - now I remember! Thanks so much, James! Best, Chris P.S: And the anthology in question is 65 Great Tales of Horror. |
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Post by andydecker on Dec 8, 2011 19:47:38 GMT
That's "The Horror at Chilton Castle" by Joseph Payne Brennan - in a couple of Mary Danby anthologies. I don´t know the Brennan story, but the plot sounds also much like a chapter out of Sax Rohmer´s Brood of the Witch-Queen. Everything is there. The heir, the familiy secret, here a vampire in a secret dungeon which returns to haunt the family. When did Brennan wrote this story? A case of being inspired? |
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Post by dem on Dec 8, 2011 22:16:33 GMT
i think it was first published in Brennan's 1963 collection, Scream At Midnight, though to be fair, both stories owe something to the popular legend of the Monster of Glamis Castle which a number of horror authors have utilised down the years. William Croft Dickinson's The House Of Balfother, A. A. Rawlinson's The Creeping Horror and 'Errol LeCale's Specialist novel Castledoom likely took their inspiration from the same source and i'm thinking maybe Chetwynd-Hayes borrowed it for something too.
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Post by jamesdoig on Dec 9, 2011 6:06:58 GMT
It must be a fairly common plot - the ancestral curse type of thing. Marriott Watson's "The Stone Chamber" is a bit like that, plus Barry Pain's "The Undying Thing", plus Clark Ashton Smith's "The Nameless Offsping" - very much in the Gothic tradition.
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 9, 2011 10:16:44 GMT
the popular legend of the Monster of Glamis Castle which a number of horror authors have utilised down the years And was filmed in 1953 (in 3D) as The Maze, which I saw once many, many years ago on late-night TV. It's on YouTube. |
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Post by ramseycampbell on Dec 9, 2011 13:41:26 GMT
the popular legend of the Monster of Glamis Castle which a number of horror authors have utilised down the years And was filmed in 1953 (in 3D) as The Maze, which I saw once many, many years ago on late-night TV. It's on YouTube. Indeed, and the novel by Maurice Sandoz was illustrated by Salvador Dali, no less. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 9, 2011 15:45:52 GMT
Indeed, and the novel by Maurice Sandoz was illustrated by Salvador Dali, no less. Wow, I didn't know that. Don't suppose there's much chance of picking one of those up in the local charity shop. |
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