|
Post by dem bones on Mar 6, 2022 14:27:57 GMT
Alastair Gunn [ed.] - Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories: Volume 4 (Wimbourne, 2019) Front cover: Henry William Pickersgill, Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Back; Edward Portbury, The Ghost Laid. Alastair Gunn - Introduction
Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Gray Champion Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh Washington Irving - Guests from Gibbet-Island William Mudford - Ghost Gossips at Blakesley House Thomas Hood - The Grimsby Ghost John Yonge Akerman - The Miniature Bayle St. John - The Legend of the Weeping Chamber Dudley Costello - The Ghost of Pit Pond Fitz-James O’Brien - The Pot of Tulips Charles Dickens - The Ghost in the Bride’s Chamber George John Whyte-Melville - The Yellow Gown James Hain Friswell - The Ghost’s Forfeits Edward Bulwer-Lytton - The Haunted and the Haunters Thomas Wilkinson Speight - Experiences of Farthing Lodge John Berwick Harwood - The Painted Room at Blackston Manor Thomas Quiller Couch - The Spectral Coach of Blackadon Robert Stephen Hawker - The Botathen Ghost George Manville Fenn - The Ghosts at the Grange Tom Hood - The Shadow of a Shade George MacDonald - Uncle Cornelius, His Story Blurb: Twenty ghostly tales from the supernatural masters of the Victorian age.
Wimbourne Books presents the fourth in a series of rare or out-of-print ghost stories from Victorian authors. With an introduction by author Alastair Gunn, Volume 4 in the series spans the years 1835 to 1869 and includes stories from a wide range of male authors; English, Irish, Scottish and American. Includes tales by Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving.
Readers new to this genre will discover its pleasures; the Victorian quaintness, the sometimes shocking difference in social norms, the almost comical politeness and structured etiquette, the archaic and precise language, but mostly the Victorians’ skill at stoking our fears and trepidations, our insecurities and doubts. Even if you are already an aficionado of the ghostly tale there is much within these pages to interest you.
Wait until the dark of the stormy night arrives, lock the doors, shutter the windows, light the fire, sit with your back to the wall and bury yourself in the Victorian macabre. Try not to let the creaking floorboards, the distant howl of a dog, the chill breeze that caresses the candle, the shadows in the far recesses of your room, disturb your concentration. Yet more Victorian vileness. A men only volume. Some material familiar from previous ghost and/ or supernatural horror anthologies, as much again less so. This time Mr. Gunn's introduction incorporates; F. Anstey - The Decay of the British Ghost: ( Longman's Magazine, Jan. 1884). Author calls upon the supposedly nuetral SPR to stop making impossible demands on our traditional ghosts to "prove" their existence — "phantoms are not to be dealt with as an Old Bailey barrister treats a hostile witness." Magazine publishers could help restore morale by assuring the reader that ghosts are not just for the Christmas number but with us every day of the year. Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Gray Champion: ( New England Magazine, Jan. 1835). As Sir Edmund Andros, the tyrannical governor personally appointed by James II, prepares to set his troops against Boston civilians, an old Puritan steps out from the crowd. The ancient correctly forecasts that this night William of Orange will take the English throne, whereupon Andros and his men will be imprisoned, and unless they disperse he will predict far worse. "I have staid the march of a King myself ere now," adds the stranger - could it be he who took the axe to Charles I in 1649? So affected is the Governor by this uncanny being that he sheepishly withdraws his men. Thereupon the Gray Champion vanishes in thin air, until such times as New England is next threatened. Thomas Quiller Couch - The Spectral Coach of Blackadon: ( Popular Romances of the West of England, 1865). Reverend Dodge of Talland vicarage is begged by a neighbouring parish to exorcise their black clad ghost who has taken to driving a headless horse-drawn carriage across the moors. The merest glimpse of the phantom vehicle is enough to inflict instant lunacy. Dudley Costello - The Ghost of Pit Pond: ( Household Words, Oct. 1854). Two stories from the Wiltshire Downs. Accused of cheating his brother's impoverished widow, old Harry Pike dramatically called upon God, requesting that his soul never leave his body were he guilty of so heinous a crime. Everyone agreed that, only an innocent man would dare swear such an oath, and he went free. However, Pike's guilt drove him to suicide. Not even a stake through the heart could hold him in his grave. The once fresh water of the Pit Pond has been contaminated since Mr. Reeve committed suicide out of love for 'Miss' Emily Featherweight, daredevil circus equestrienne, who was abandoned by her husband to die, cruelly young, in dire poverty. An exorcism sets Reeve's troubled soul to rest but at cost of a precious source of drinking water.
|
|
|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Mar 6, 2022 14:35:56 GMT
Now wait a minute. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American. What is "Victorian" about him?
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Mar 6, 2022 18:45:08 GMT
Now wait a minute. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American. What is "Victorian" about him? There's at least a couple of other Americans in there. I've noticed Americans often use "Victorian" to describe buildings - though they can be a bit shaky on actual dates, so that it means anything pre-1920 or so.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Mar 6, 2022 19:17:25 GMT
Now wait a minute. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American. What is "Victorian" about him? There's at least a couple of other Americans in there. I've noticed Americans often use "Victorian" to describe buildings - though they can be a bit shaky on actual dates, so that it means anything pre-1920 or so. Dumb question, I know, but what was the era of the Victorian Age called in America? I can think of a few labels, but don't know how valid they are. Gilded Age?
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Mar 6, 2022 19:29:58 GMT
There's at least a couple of other Americans in there. I've noticed Americans often use "Victorian" to describe buildings - though they can be a bit shaky on actual dates, so that it means anything pre-1920 or so. Dumb question, I know, but what was the era of the Victorian Age called in America? I can think of a few labels, but don't know how valid they are. Gilded Age? I don't know - how are these eras labelled in the rest of Europe (assuming they got rid of their own monarchies long ago)? And do other countries that still have monarchies even use a similar system for naming time periods? I am no monarchist myself, but it does work as a convenient way of dividing history into meaningful periods.
|
|
enoch
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 117
|
Post by enoch on Mar 6, 2022 20:48:21 GMT
There's at least a couple of other Americans in there. I've noticed Americans often use "Victorian" to describe buildings - though they can be a bit shaky on actual dates, so that it means anything pre-1920 or so. Dumb question, I know, but what was the era of the Victorian Age called in America? I can think of a few labels, but don't know how valid they are. Gilded Age?
Believe it or not, it's pretty much called "the Victorian Age," though if one meant a more particular time period it would probably be referred to by a more specific name -- Civil War, Gilded Age, "Gay Nineties," etc. I would say simply referring to it as "the Nineteenth Century" would be more common; after all, Victoria's reign and the Nineteenth Century largely coincided. "Victorian" is considered to be an architectural style here (actually, several different styles, the most archetypal being the so-called "Queen Anne" of the 1880s-early 1900s).*
Now, so far as I know, Victorian literature strictly means English literature written by British subjects during Victoria's reign. I find it a little weird that Americans would be included in a book called "Victorian Ghost Stories," but I get the meaning.
*Don't ask me to explain why they're called "Queen Anne" as they have literally NOTHING to do with Queen Anne.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Mar 7, 2022 3:54:13 GMT
And it must be said--"Ghost gossips at Blakesley House" has to be one of the greatest titles in the annals of literature. Though I doubt the tale lives up to such a glorious beginning.
H.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Mar 7, 2022 8:22:00 GMT
Believe it or not, it's pretty much called "the Victorian Age," though if one meant a more particular time period it would probably be referred to by a more specific name -- Civil War, Gilded Age, "Gay Nineties," etc. I would say simply referring to it as "the Nineteenth Century" would be more common; after all, Victoria's reign and the Nineteenth Century largely coincided. "Victorian" is considered to be an architectural style here (actually, several different styles, the most archetypal being the so-called "Queen Anne" of the 1880s-early 1900s).*
Now, so far as I know, Victorian literature strictly means English literature written by British subjects during Victoria's reign. I find it a little weird that Americans would be included in a book called "Victorian Ghost Stories," but I get the meaning.
*Don't ask me to explain why they're called "Queen Anne" as they have literally NOTHING to do with Queen Anne.
Thanks all. Interesting. This is a period which used to be not so popular by contemporary writers, at least not before Policital Correctness revived the Historicals, especially in Crime fiction. I remember some Michael McDowell, some John R. Maxim and of course Caleb Carr, all before 2000. There may be others, sure will be, but I never stumbled upon them. I always found it a bit difficult to get Victorian England in tune with the Wild West. Richard Laymon notwithstanding :-)
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 7, 2022 11:37:46 GMT
Might be wrong, but it seems that for the purpose of this series, the editor has included stories which appeared in English periodicals during Victoria's reign, regardless of author's country of origin. That Victorian Ghost Stories is arguably a snappier series title than Nineteenth Century Ghost Stories possibly has some bearing. James Hain Friswell - The Ghost’s Forfeits: ( Ghost Stories and Phantom Fancies, 1858). Christmas day at Coldblow house. With his grasping relatives and other interested parties gathered for the will reading, the late Mr. Podgmore steps out of his portrait to humiliate them all - bar two young lovers, who begin a new year the richer. Tom Hood - The Shadow of a Shade: ( Frozen In: The Bow Bells Annual, Dec. 1869). When Arctic explorer George Mason, plunges to his death while hunting polar bear across an iceberg, ship's surgeon Vincent Grieve, solitary witness to the tragedy, returns to England, there to propose to Lettie, his dead friend's fiancee. Mason's portrait, which has ever unnerved Grieve — "It is one of those unpleasant pictures where the eyes follow you about the room. I have an inherited horror of such pictures" — determines that the murderer shall not escape justice. One of four stories familiar from Michael Cox & R. A. Gilbert's Victorian Ghost Stories: An Oxford Anthology (1991). Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh: ( Dublin University Magazine, March 1838). "They closed the ghastly eyes of the corpse, and leaving it to the care of those who seem to consider it a privilege of their age and sex to gloat over the revolting spectacle of death in all its stages, they returned to Lady Ardagh, now a widow." Sir Robert's uncanny luck at the race track has revived the much plundered family coffers, but at terrible price. In his desperation to cut corners, Ardagh struck a Faustian pact and is now in thrall to a despised 'valet.' Jacque — 'Jack the Devil' to the servants — has been an ever present at the castle since Sir Robert wed Miss Emily, the most beautiful woman in Dublin, who is not best pleased to play second fiddle to a horrible, hunched fellow with misshapen legs. When this Jacque disappears in a storm one night, it seems cause for celebration, but Sir Robert falls into miserable depression. His mood casts a pall of gloom across the entire household, which lasts until the Devil returns to call in the debt.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 8, 2022 18:45:26 GMT
Ian McCaig The Ghost in the Bride’s Chamber (from the Mary Danby edited Ghost Stories,1984). William Mudford - Ghost Gossips at Blakesley House: ( Bentley's Miscellany, Jan. 1841). Ebenezer Carleton on how his uncle was tasked by a ghost to recover a deed from the false bottom of a chest, thereby delivering the dead man's grandson from destitution. Fortunately for us, Mr. Carliel tops this insipid offering with the case of Martha, THE SCREAMING WOMAN, who spent twenty years a prisoner in the private madhouse of corrupt and sadistic Dr. —. Martha was committed by her husband who insisted the doctor be unsparing of the lash, this being the only language the poor woman responded favourably to. Eventually Martha's nightly screams caused concern to the couple living in a nearby cottage, who alerted the authorities. On the eve of an inspection of the asylum, Martha 'escaped,' somehow tearing her chains from the wall, to die of a slashed throat in the grounds. The Doctor escaped sanction. To this day, Martha's shrieking ghost haunts an upper room of the cottage, the pale, bloodless face pressed flat against a window — as Carliel can attest! George Manville Fenn - The Ghosts at the Grange: ( Christmas Penny Readings: Original Sketches of the Season, 1867). A party of six investigate the alleged haunting at an Elizabethan mansion in a Hertfordshire village, where a murderer and his victim are said to return nightly to reenactment the drama. Bit mundane, this one. Charles Dickens - The Ghost in the Bride’s Chamber: ( The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, Household Words, 1857). Ellen, orphaned at eleven, is raised by an ogre of a guardian with designs on claiming her inheritance. No sooner has the girl reached twenty-one, he insists they marry and she sign over her fortune. Ellen, knowing no better, does as she's told. Still he wants rid of her. Rather than risk all by murdering his bride, the fiend instead chants the word "Die!" at her, over and over, day in day out, until eventually she complies. Free - and rich - at last! This is the life! Not for long! Unknown to the guardian - and us - a youth has been keeping watch on the house from up a tree, has done ever since he first set eyes on the sad girl at the window and fell in love on the spot. The young man confronts the very merry widower as a cold blooded murderer in all but name. The accused hurls a bill-hook after him. It embeds in the back of the boy's skull, killing him instantly! His plans in ruins, the guardian buries the boys corpse beneath a tree. It would now be too risky to sell the house, but he should be safe provided he prohibit access to the garden. But .... Been years since I last read this and, dubious attempt at rationalising Mr. Goodchild's experience notwithstanding — still think it's among Dickens' most effective ghost stories.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Mar 8, 2022 20:27:40 GMT
Ian McCaig The Ghost in the Bride’s Chamber (from the Mary Danby edited Ghost Stories,1984). Creepy illustration.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 10, 2022 10:06:58 GMT
... and faithful to a scene in the story. Can't say today's batch did much for me. Thomas Hood - The Grimsby Ghost: ( New Monthly Magazine, Aug. 1842). The widow Mullins, thrifty Swivel Street shop owner, dies while attempting to scrawl an urgent message for low-wattage daughter, Mary. Night after night her ghost appears, but a spectral equivalent of lockjaw prevents communication. What dire confession is she so desperate to impart? I'll not spoil the great surprise. Bayle St. John - The Legend of the Weeping Chamber: ( Household Words, Dec. 1851). Folksy Beyrout fable. Halil falls in love with the Sultan's intended bride and she him. The youth is exiled in chains, illicit lover Miriam imprisoned in a dungeon. Several years later, a near miraculous reunion. Supernatural element provided by sealed room which floods whenever a death in the family is iminent. Fitz-James O’Brien - The Pot of Tulips: ( Harpers New monthly Magazine, Nov. 1855: Richard Dalby [ed.], Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories 2). A New York villa, haunted by the contrite spirit of Flemish businessman, Mr. Van Koeren, who cannot rest until he has obtained the forgiveness of the faithful wife he so cruelly wronged. Hidden treasure recovered, rightful heiress and daughter delivered from poverty, narrator wed ....
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 12, 2022 9:28:27 GMT
Two from Tenants at Will, the Chambers Journal 'Extra Double Christmas Number' for Dec. 1864.
Thomas Wilkinson Speight - Experiences of Farthing Lodge: City clerk William Appleford and wife Jemima inherit a house in Wimperley Street from an aunt, which, unable to let, they've little option but to move in themselves. The property has long remained empty on account of its dismal reputation. The couple and their serving maid establish that the haunting occurs in the Green Room on the fifteenth of each month. Herr Bernhardt, friendly neighbour, volunteers to spend an evening therein with his daughter Anna, a reluctant psychic. Ghost is that of a girl who drank poisoned wine on learning of her beloved Edouard's treachery.
John Berwick Harwood - The Painted Room at Blackston Manor: The Berkley family host a seventy-strong house party at their Gloucestershire mansion to celebrate Christmas. Among those invited, self described "wealthy Old Maid," Miss Chilworth, who has long doted on the host, Arthur Berkley (her nephew), and daughters, Lucy and Jane. Miss Chilworth is less fond of Arthur's wife ("her family were nobodies in the country, and, worse still, she did not bring him a sixpence") but does her best to remain civil.
Despite young Lucy's objections, Miss Chilworth is allocated "the Painted room," which, grand though it be, has sometimes proved troublesome to guests. This, happily, is one such occasion. Late on Christmas Eve, the "Wicked Sheriff," who reputedly murdered his wife in this very room, materialises in a chair. Miss Chilworth believing herself the victim of a cruel prank perpetrated by her naughty nephews and their actor friend, Captain Spurrier, storms off back to Kent the following day. Thereafter she breaks off all contact with Arthur and disinherits the girls!
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 25, 2022 6:55:40 GMT
George MacDonald - Uncle Cornelius, His Story: ( St. Paul's, Jan. 1869: Michael Cox & R. A. Gilbert [eds.] Victorian Ghost Stories: An Anthology, 1991). Lewton Grange, Yorkshire. Ghost is that of a parsimonious old woman sat at a bureau, toiling over an accounts book for all eternity. Letitia, her great-granddaughter, has inherited the family stinginess and is doomed to a similar fate. Cornelius Heywood, who believes himself in love with her, has cause to be thankful for a narrow escape. George John Whyte-Melville - The Yellow Gown: ( Frazer's Magazine, October 1858). West Country 1660's, in the years immediately following the restoration of the monarchy. The Red Earl, a staunch and tyrannical Royalist, forbids his sister, Lady Alice, from continuing any further association with her lover, Frank Marston, a Puritan, whose prospects are so grim he is already resigned to leaving for the continent. The Earl instead insists Alice wed his friend, Sir Altamont, whom she detests. Red Earl. one of the country's finest swordsmen, provokes Marston to duel. Just as her brother has gained the upper hand, Alice pulls her shawl down over his head, and Frank instinctively strikes a killer blow. Alas, realising Marston will not receive a fair trial, Alice insists they must never meet again. As related by Mr. Growles, a poet-loathing lawyer of Lincolns Inn Fields, via a history told him by a modern day descendent of Lady Alice who, from the original's haunted portrait, might be her reincarnation. The yellow silk gown far from incidental to haunting, as depiction on canvas periodically bleeds.
|
|