Paul Finch - Terror Tales of Northwest England

[dem]

" .... Also out that way is Knowsley, where the Viscount pub be­came increasingly vulgar as letters were filched from its name, while figures mana­ged to hide behind saplings planted beneath the flyover by the library." - Ramsey Campbell, Meet My Shadows, Ghost Story Society Newsletter #7, March 1991).

Ramsey Campbell - Root Cause: (George R. R. Martin [ed.], Night Visions III, 1986). Appalled at the escalating local crime rate, Brian, a well-meaning Librarian, reports a number of undesirables to the police, including a mother pimping her 13-year-old daughter, and a trio of teenage dog-torturers. The latter respond by hurling an iron bar thrown through the library window. Brian discovers that the overpass is built on a Druid sacrificial site - might this explain his neighbours' capacity for anti-social behaviour? Now a bus-load of schoolkids are heading straight for the dreaded spot ...

I first read Root Cause on a night-bus to work circa 2000, the same 15 route as hosted the frightening on-bus attack during final series of Luther.

Peter Bell - Only Sleeping: "You're not afraid of a few old graves, are you? There's worse things to worry about than ghosts - you'll learn!" Distraught at the death of her child, Mrs. Dennison, a boarder at Sunny Bank guest house, throws herself down the steps at Port Jack, breaking her neck. The local vicar, a Manx traditionalist, refuses to grant Christian burial to a suicide, so the poor woman is laid to unrest in unconsecrated ground. Consequently her ghost stalks young Robert who, on a previous vacation, she had 'adopted' as a surrogate little boy. As 'Jamesian' as you'd expect, with terrific climax. References "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" and "Seaton's Aunt" (among others?)

Edward Pearce - A Weekend Break: Friends Eileen and Viv, each blessed/ cursed with second sight, house-sit a sixteenth century Cheshire property for the weekend. Bethlehem Hall is haunted by a sallow, evil-reeking abomination in a granny nightdress, possibly non-malevolent but no less frightening for that.

[Swampirella]

Nov 22, 2019 8:01:25 GMT dem said:

" .... Also out that way is Knowsley, where the Viscount pub be­came increasingly vulgar as letters were filched from its name, while figures mana­ged to hide behind saplings planted beneath the flyover by the library." - Ramsey Campbell, Meet My Shadows, Ghost Story Society Newsletter #7, March 1991).

Ramsey Campbell - Root Cause: (George R. R. Martin [ed.], Night Visions III, 1986). Appalled at the escalating local crime rate, Brian, a well-meaning Librarian, reports a number of undesirables to the police, including a mother pimping her 13-year-old daughter, and a trio of teenage dog-torturers. The latter respond by hurling an iron bar thrown through the library window. Brian discovers that the overpass is built on a Druid sacrificial site - might this explain his neighbours' capacity for anti-social behaviour? Now a bus-load of schoolkids are heading straight for the dreaded spot ...

I first read Root Cause on a night-bus to work circa 2000, the same 15 route as hosted the frightening on-bus attack during final series of Luther.

Peter Bell - Only Sleeping: "You're not afraid of a few old graves, are you? There's worse things to worry about than ghosts - you'll learn!" Distraught at the death of her child, Mrs. Dennison, a boarder at Sunny Bank guest house, throws herself down the steps at Port Jack, breaking her neck. The local vicar, a Manx traditionalist, refuses to grant Christian burial to a suicide, so the poor woman is laid to unrest in unconsecrated ground. Consequently her ghost stalks young Robert who, on a previous vacation, she had 'adopted' as a surrogate little boy. As 'Jamesian' as you'd expect, with terrific climax. References "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" and "Seaton's Aunt" (among others?)

Edward Pearce - A Weekend Break: Friends Eileen and Viv, each blessed/ cursed with second sight, house-sit a sixteenth century Cheshire property for the weekend. Bethlehem Hall is haunted by a sallow, evil-reeking abomination in a granny nightdress, possibly non-malevolent but no less frightening for that.

Now this is really truly on my to-buy list; it sounds as wonderful as the others in this series.

[dem]

Christopher Harman - Wet Jenny: Urblough. Derek Gurdew, former cop turned private investigator, is hired by Miss Anita Shaw to investigate the disappearance of her infant son. Anita left Alex watching Finding Nemo while she took a bath. A muffled croak, and he was gone! Gurdew interviews Len Luft, tour guide, local historian and author of Bricks & Water: Urblough's Canal Past, which includes an entry on late 'nineteenth century child-abductor, 'Wet Jenny,' a bedraggled lunatic ever sat by the tow-path droning an appalling lullaby. Could it be that the bogey-woman never went away?

Simon Bestwick - Below: Almost reads like a companion piece to The Drain. Cateaton Street, Shudehill. Thirteen-year-old's Martyn Barrett and our narrator, 'Stubsy,' bunk off school to go check out a second hand bookshop. When, inevitably, Martyn steals a girlie mag, the shopkeeper gives chase. The boys hide in a derelict shop, only for the floorboards to give way. Dropped amidst a network of filthy tunnels, they make for the light, emerging on what appears to be a subterranean workhouse floor. And that's when things get seriously scary-peculiar.

The Vengeance of Bannister Doll: Preston. "A battered, bloody wreck, grinning dementedly" stalks drunken lads after throwing out time at the pub. 'Doll' Bannister was whipped to death by her father for falling pregnant out of wedlock. Not sure I should be mentioning her as merely to do so brings ill-fortune.

Of the new stories, my absolute picks to date are Wet Jenny. Tight Straws and Wire Mesh, Only Sleeping and Old Huey, but there have been none I disliked. Still have Anna Taborska and Paul Finch to go.

[dem]

Non-fiction/ "Non -fiction" interlude #4

Finally for Terror Tales of Northwest England;

The Horror at the Gatehouse: a terrifying entity menaces students working on a country estate near Preston during the sweltering summer of 1976.

A Vision of His Own Destruction: Sad death of Richard Nixon, a fifteenth century Nostradamus cum village idiot hybrid.


Anna Taborska - Formby Point: A meandering, macabre travelogue taking in what appears to be a wildlife massacre in the woods, a phantom shipwreck embedded in the mudflats of Mad Wharf, and the ghost of a drowned sailor inadvertently luring modern day protagonist Pete out onto the treacherous sands. Also incorporates a fleeting sport-is-horror episode involving a career ending assault and the subsequent suicide of a promising Premiership footballer.

Paul Finch - The Upper Tier: "The only 'uns exposed to its power are those it don't want here. And whoever they are, they're usually the first to know."

Wing Commander Max Rawlins investigates alleged supernatural goings on Haigh Hall, Wigan, "the Borley Rectory of the North." Along for the ride (in more ways than one), his wife Brenda and assistant Guy Denton, who Rawlins met when they were POW's in Colditz. A genuine paranormal researcher, Rawlins feels tarnished by association with Harry Price, and desperate to re-establish credibility to the field.

Fred Jowett, Haigh Hall's suitably lugubrious caretaker, begrudgingly provides a guided tour. Much to Rawlins fury, Jowett insists the upper tier is out of bounds, leading him to a locked door atop a stairwell to prove it. No matter. They've a week to batter it open. Jowett, who spent his first wedding anniversary on the Somme, need not fear the phenomena, but the same cannot be said for the Rawlins party. Exploring the cellar, Brenda disturbs a shelf, dislodging a plump spider and Lady Adela Bradshain's terrifying diary for 1746 when a lethal cocktail of sectarianism and voodoo triggered a night of butchery.

Even when Denton forces open the door to the upper floor, the trio may have emerged unscathed had not Harry Price seen fit to inform Rawlins of his wife's infidelity ....

A superb haunted house tour de force to see out a splendid selection. Trust me, the (much better than a) ghost is worth the wait!

[Paul Finch]

Glad you enjoyed, Kev. Excellent round-up, as always.

[Truegho]

I am a North West horror author, and am very interested in sampling this series.