Elizabeth Walter - The Spirit of the Place

[caninesapien]

Apr 13, 2017 21:52:30 GMT 1 rawlinson said:

That sounds like it'll stretch believability for me. Nobody goes to Merthyr Tydfil on a business trip.



Depends on the kind of "business" I suppose

[dem]

Back with the Mammoth Book of Elizabeth Walter ...

Come and Get Me & Other Uncanny Invitations (Harvill Press, 1973)

Come And Get Me: Welcome to Plas Aderyn, Radnorshire, a vast country residence nine miles outside the nearest village. The old place has fallen into disrepair since the death of Colonel Derby, VC, and the army have little difficulty in securing permission to use it as an observation post during a training exercise. Lieutenant Michael Hodges' party soon come to realise that the property is not quite as uninhabited as they'd been led to believe, though whether the elusive tenant is fleet-footed village idiot or the ghost of Derby's disgraced son is initially uncertain. With the testimonies of the senile former housekeeper, the late Colonel's parrot, and war hero General Anstruther, Hodges gradually unravels the dark secrets surrounding a family tragedy.

As selected by J. A. Cuddon for The Penguin Book Of Ghost Stories (1984). The author certainly chose high impact stories to open each collection.

The Travelling Companion: Jennifer Mallory finally leaves hospital and boards the train at Paddington, heading for her parents' home to recuperate. Much to her surprise, she's been assigned a chaperon, Tim, who she suspects is homosexual because she's heard gays make the best male nurses. In actual fact Tim is straight and has been through a similar tragedy to Jennifer - he lost his girlfriend in a motorcycle accident. After a grim journey interrupted by a professional mourner from somebody else's funeral, they arrive at her mum and dad's place only to find they've gone away that same day. Snippets of overheard conversation heard from gas-bagging neighbours suggest something isn't quite right. When the couple take a short cut through the cemetery en route to her aunt's place Jennifer learns the awful truth.

[Swampirella]

Mar 3, 2017 10:55:40 GMT piglingbland said:

NEW FROM SHADOW PUBLISHING:

THE SPIRIT OF THE PLACE AND OTHER STRANGE TALES: THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF ELIZABETH WALTER.

Edited and with an introduction by Dave Brzeski.
Cover artwork by Edward Miller.
ISBN 978-0-9572962-5-1.
Large size paperback 4to, 420 pages.

For the first time, all of Elizabeth Walter's 31 short stories collected in one volume. Supernatural, eerie and uncanny tales from her collections Snowfall & Other Chilling Events (1965), The Sin Eater & Other Scientific Impossibilities (1967), Davy Jones's Tale & Other Supernatural Stories (1971), Come And Get Me & Other Uncanny Invitations (1973) and Dead Woman & Other Haunting Experiences (1975).

Elizabeth Walter was a novelist, short story writer, translator and for thirty years from 1961 editor of the Collins Crime Club imprint, the highly regarded subscriber club. She was a very private person, but in his informative introduction, the book's editor, Dave Brzeski, has researched snippets of bibliographic information from her days with William Collins. In addition he discusses her writing and reviews the adaptations of her stories on television.

Positively brilliant. They should rank as classics among occult stories. The character building and atmosphere are superb. Dennis Wheatley on ‘The Sin Eater’

Order from the website or Amazon:

Shadow Publishing

Amazon UK

Email me

In case this is news to anybody, I just discovered it's now available in a Kindle version, for US$10 or UK7.99. Looking forward to getting my copy, once I get a hold of and finish the gargantuan Horrors! 365 Scary Stories....

[helrunar]

Thanks for letting us know, Swampi. Sounds quite interesting.

Best, Hel

[helrunar]

Special thanks to Dem for his witty, expertly phrased story notes on some of these. I added the book to my "kizmo" last night and this morning read quite a bit of "Dear Clarissa" on my commute. Walter, judging from this specimen, possessed a masterly acumen in the less pleasant, sometimes truly horrific byways of the human psyche. This particular yarn seems like an unusually modulated variant on the old "Sorry, wrong number" theme, but it's told through the protagonist's letters to her sister and this allows for a fascinatingly nuanced form of narrative technique. 

I don't think this kind of thing works for all readers, but I love picking up the hints and clues and seeing the pattern that begins to form. 

Walter was involved with television and at least one of her stories was adapted for the US Night Gallery series (hosted by Rod Serling), with Kim Stanley, a great but unfortunately seldom discussed actress (noted for Seance on a Wet Afternoon) playing what I now am beginning to understand to be a very characteristic Elizabeth Walter "type". 

Dr Braceman in "Dear Clarissa" seems like the kind of role to which Donald Pleasence would have brought some subtly crafted presence.

cheers, Hel

[Swampirella]

So glad you're enjoying it, Hel! I've read some of the stories elsewhere, but looking forward to getting this complete collection.

Best,

Swampi

[Shrink Proof]

The recent flurry of posts about this has prompted me to move it up my "To Be Read" stack, into the Urgent section. It's now at Number 285, with a bullet.

[helrunar]

I am now on my third of the stories I have read to date in this volume, "The Sin Eater." Her descriptive prowess in conveying the landscape and horrifically desolate scene of the old Welsh farmhouse (and its sad, ruined inhabitants) is nothing short of masterly.

I'd call these psychological suspense yarns, yet the writing feels quite cinematic to me. In fact, I could imagine these being dramatized on a series such as Boris Karloff's Thriller, or the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (which I need to catch up with, someday--may have seen one episode some years back, but never even heard of it back when it was on; I think that was when I was living out in the Far East for several years. And no, I'm not a retired colonial administrator, lol.)

I really think these will appeal to a reader for whom character, atmosphere, and intricately unfolded psychological dynamics are elements that appeal in a tale. The stories tend to be longer format. The way suspense built in "The Drum" showed extraordinary skill in handling pace and a significant shift in the primary character's outlook on the situation. The finale was quietly blood-chilling.

These aren't pulp stories, and they require a longer commitment of time and attention than is typical of magazine fiction. There's a blurb from Dennis Wheatley for the book--I bet he prayed that someday he might be able to write as well as this.

cheers, H.

[helrunar]

Continuing to read this weighty tome... I am "home for the holidays" and my somewhat beleaguered powers of concentration will only permit of a few stray notes.

"Telling the bees" was one of the most intriguing of the stories in the book, mainly because of my interest in the folklore around which the tale revolves. It also features a character with one of the more oddly  twisted psychological makeups in her canon. I don't feel up to saying more about the story than that: again, it feels like the kind of story to which only a reader with rather unusual tastes would respond. Although the ending is horrific, not really a horror tale.

I felt the same was true of "The Tibetan Box," though that one does have some more traditionally "weird" and horror elements to keep the more typical thrills reader at least somewhat happy.

I don't believe the editor mentions that Elizabeth Walter, though she did not create any recurrent characters (so far as I have discovered), does have her own version of Arkham. It is a town called Carringford and it seems to be located in the Welsh Border region, which is where she spent her childhood. At this point in my reading of this volume, whenever Carringford is mentioned, I know that something spectral is about to materialize.

"A Christmas Story," which closes out the volume (I have not been reading in sequence--hope that doesn't upset anyone following along at home) has a marvelously turned variant on the old haunted inn type of tale. 

The title story of this anthology, "The Spirit of the Place," is the kind of yarn that could easily have shown up in adapted form on the perhaps not so well known American anthology series of the early Sixties, One Step Beyond. As is often the case, I figured out what was going on well before the revelatory final paragraph, but that did not at all spoil my enjoyment of the tale.

cheers, Helrunar

[ripper]

The Concrete Captain was dramatised for the US supernatural anthology series Ghost Story in 1972.

[helrunar]

Hi Ripper,

Four of Elizabeth Walter's stories were dramatized for Ghost Story. From what I can determine, only "The New People" retained at least some plot elements in what was eventually filmed and broadcast. I might watch that one again soon and if so, will make a note here if there's anything interesting to say. Neither "Prendergast" nor ""The Travelling Companion" made it out with the same titles as the "source" material--quotation marks used because again, from what I can determine, the stories were completely re-written. "Elegy for a Vampire" was what "Prendergast" wound up as after Jimmy Sangster was finished with it, and the result wasn't very good, from my very vague memory of viewing the episode a few years ago.

A fifth story was somewhat more faithfully adapted on Night Gallery, the tale "Spiders." But I thought the Night Gallery script missed the point of the whole exercise. Nice to see for Kim Stanley--the special effects were quite dodgy in that one.

A lot of the stories really remind me of the old show One Step Beyond (I think I already mentioned that). "Hushabye Baby" was an intriguing update of two old Faery legends--the old belief in Faery changelings (in which one of the Good Folk would steal a human infant and leave a stunted changeling baby in its place), and the old ballad Tam Lin--really good stuff. Fans of "folk horror" might want to track down this one. Mrs Ann Forest (a name that makes me smile as I type it) is one of Walter's most deftly limned characters.

I also feel like mentioning "Come and get me," one of the most expertly plotted tales of a disturbed, vengeful spirit exacting retribution in an unforeseen way. In "Exorcism," Miss Walter sends up the whole subgenre of disgruntled ghosts seeking revenge with a lacing of wit some may find heavy-handed--I don't think Dem cared for the tale. I enjoyed it for what it was.

cheers, H. 

[ripper]

Dec 28, 2018 18:57:50 GMT helrunar said:

Hi Ripper,

Four of Elizabeth Walter's stories were dramatized for Ghost Story. From what I can determine, only "The New People" retained at least some plot elements in what was eventually filmed and broadcast. I might watch that one again soon and if so, will make a note here if there's anything interesting to say. Neither "Prendergast" nor ""The Travelling Companion" made it out with the same titles as the "source" material--quotation marks used because again, from what I can determine, the stories were completely re-written. "Elegy for a Vampire" was what "Prendergast" wound up as after Jimmy Sangster was finished with it, and the result wasn't very good, from my very vague memory of viewing the episode a few years ago.

A fifth story was somewhat more faithfully adapted on Night Gallery, the tale "Spiders." But I thought the Night Gallery script missed the point of the whole exercise. Nice to see for Kim Stanley--the special effects were quite dodgy in that one.

A lot of the stories really remind me of the old show One Step Beyond (I think I already mentioned that). "Hushabye Baby" was an intriguing update of two old Faery legends--the old belief in Faery changelings (in which one of the Good Folk would steal a human infant and leave a stunted changeling baby in its place), and the old ballad Tam Lin--really good stuff. Fans of "folk horror" might want to track down this one. Mrs Ann Forest (a name that makes me smile as I type it) is one of Walter's most deftly limned characters.

I also feel like mentioning "Come and get me," one of the most expertly plotted tales of a disturbed, vengeful spirit exacting retribution in an unforeseen way. In "Exorcism," Miss Walter sends up the whole subgenre of disgruntled ghosts seeking revenge with a lacing of wit some may find heavy-handed--I don't think Dem cared for the tale. I enjoyed it for what it was.

cheers, H. 

After posting, I realised that the pilot for Ghost Story, The New House, was based on the Elizabeth Walter story of the same name, but am surprised to hear that so many were dramatised for the show. The makers must have thought highly of Walter's work to use so many. I quite liked the series, particularly those that featured Sebastian Cabot as Winston Essex. I've no idea why they dropped him and changed the series title mid-season. Shame that it isn't better remembered nowadays.

[helrunar]

I made a mistake and referred to "The New House" as "The New People." The latter was a very odd episode of Journey to the Unknown--it featured good roles for Adrienne Corri and Melissa Stribling.

"Dead Woman" stood out for me as one of Walter's more unusual tales. Jane Davies, retired civil servant, finds the perfect plot in a remote Welsh village to build her dream cottage. Little does she suspect that she's chosen the site where Jennet Paris, accused 17th century Witch, lived, and that her home is in the shadow of "Dead Woman," the hill where Jennet was killed by summary hanging at the hands of a village mob after her evil powers of "ill wishing" led to the death of a child.  Will history repeat itself as anyone and anything crossing Jane's path meets sickness, disaster and death? And will Mrs Probert ever forgive Jane for deliberately ruining her prize bouquet at the Village Flower Fair?

So grateful to all of you for pointing my way towards this book. Truly the gift that keeps on giving.

cheers, H.

[Swampirella]

Apr 13, 2017 20:38:04 GMT dem said:

Davy Jones's Tale & Other Chilling Supernatural Stories (The Harvill Press, 1971).

Davy Jones's Tale: Porthfynnon, Pembrokeshire, 1970. Tonight marks the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of The Guiding Light during a gale. Mindful of the danger to his own men, the lifeboat commander reluctantly gave the order to turn back to shore, swearing to his dying day that he believed the beleaguered ship would survive the night. It didn't, and all but one of the crew were lost.

The Captain of The Guiding Light has never forgiven the lifeboatmen their "cowardice", and this night seeks revenge on the present day crew. By a freak chain of events, Davy Jones, great-grandson of the original commander, is among the party who set out to assist a ship in distress along the same hostile coastline. Alongside him, Owen, his cousin and surrogate brother until Agnes came between them.

This time there is no turning back. The rescue team come a cropper on treacherous rocks and all hands are thrown into the sea. Davy is caught by a giant wave and washed aboard the phantom ship to confront the ghastly spectres of the Captain, his wife and infant daughter. The captain assures the half-drowned Davy that he has been marked for survival, but should any of his fellow crewmen live to see the morning "I shall rise again down the centuries, as long as time endures."

Elizabeth Walter invariably chose high impact stories to open each collection, and this is perhaps the bleakest. So many lives broken beyond repair.

The Hare: A Cold War cloak and dagger espionage supernatural thriller located in the Brocken. I was so wondering when the author would get around to one of those.

Veteran spy Karlheinz Ackermann has been sent to the Hartz Mountains tasked with delivering a high profile defector across the border. It seems straightforward, but can he trust his contact, the enigmatic Anna? When first they meet, she is having it off in the fields with Franz Bauer, a peasant from the local village. The following day, Bauer's body is found in the woods. His throat has been slit. Ackermann is interviewed by the police as the last person to have seen him alive.

At their next rendezvous, Anna blithely admits to the murder, claiming she had no option as Bauer "saw her changing." Despite himself, Ackermann is utterly enchanted by the woman to the point of volunteering sensitive information about his work. Loose tongues cost lives in this game and should HQ learn of so alarming a lapse he's done for - it might be for the best that he put a bullet through his head right now. But duty compels him to complete his mission and he simply must see Anna one last time.

How does the hare fit into all this? To reveal would be spoiler too cruel.

In the Mist: As selected by R. Chetwynd-Hayes for 10th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories. Inexplicable occurrences have no business intruding on the ordered lives of Ralph and Mary Hesketh, a determinedly "normal" middle class couple from leafy Surrey. Lost in thick fog while driving across the Yorkshire Moors, Ralph stops to pick up a hitch-hiker, a pleasant looking young man in battered flying-kit. Ralph has a deep affinity for the air-force having been stationed at neighbouring Pickering during WWII. The passenger, who hints at having been shot down, requests a lift back to his base at RAF Hillingdale, which, the Heskeths are later to learn, fell into disuse twenty-five years ago. Honestly! Do a fellow a chap a good turn and he laughs behind your back!

About half-way through the collection and just finished "The Hare". "Wonderful" doesn't do it justice; also loved "The New House". It's a pleasure to re-read some of the stories for the third time, such as "The Mist"....

[helrunar]

Glad you are enjoying the tales, Swampi. Her work is just so unusual and perceptively written. I read "The Street of the Jews" last, and it haunted me for a few days afterwards, though perhaps not in the way Vault residents would typically expect.

It seemed very pertinent to what is happening in the US today--how certain attitudes, especially certain forms of hate, persist, and give the lie to the idea that "the leaders" are somehow to blame for things that happen in history. Even by Elizabeth's standards, this was an unusually sharp tale--razor edged to the point where you might bleed as you turn the pages--even electronically.

H.