Ghost & horror fiction in 'The Sketch' post 1919

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A Company of Creeps

William Freeman - The Room With The Broken Window: (27 January 1930)
John Ratho - Traveller's Joy: (14 July 1937)
H. R. Wakefield - Damp Sheets: (30 October 1929)
All Moonshine: The Garden Ghost, drawn by Higgins (14 April 1926)
Sybil Vincent - The Colsford Road: (28 June 1933)
Warden Ledge - Phobos!: (7 September 1932)
The Crimes of Burke and Hare at the New Theatre (30 December 1931)
John Ratho - Snob Song: (15 December 1937)
Elliott O'Donnell - The Phantom of the Irish Bog: (1 December 1957), illustrations by Gus Tower.
Charles Birkin - The Stricken Heart: (24 January 1940)
Beauty and the Bull: Miss Mae Murray as Doris de Lisa in Fascination (6 December 1922)

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Tacked on the post-1939 pair to give the thing a Company of Creeps feel. John Ratho's Traveller's Joy is a rewrite of Birkin's Shelter, but then I'm pretty sure he borrowed it in the first place, maybe from the Grand Guignol? Snob Song is up there with the same author's better-known Lover's Leap. Warden Ledge provided a stoats-on-the-rampage classic for CCT's Keep on the Light. The Phantom of the Irish Bog is Elliott O'Donnell in fiction mode, not like that makes a lot of difference.

[montrose]

 A Lot of Thanks!

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A Lovely Sacrifice to the Sun at the New Oxford: Mlle Alice Delysia and M. Stowitts, 5 April 1922
Gordon Nicoll Here Begins ..., 2 Dec. 1932

Story notes;

W. Douglas Newton - Psychic: (7 June 1922). Jennifer can't help but wonder if her fiancee got up to anything during his months in the jungle. Dare she test her newly acquired gift for clairvoyance? Newton, a Sketch regular, is one of only five (I think) authors to have stories published in both a Creeps volume and a Not At Night.

Agatha Christie - The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb: (26 September 1923: Poirot Investigates, 1924). Hercules Poirot and the curse of the mummy's tomb.

Michael Arlen - The Ghoul of Golders Green: (1 December 1923). A toff-ripping fiend stalks the capital. Later exhumed by Peter's Haining and Cushing for Tales of a Monster Hunter.

Anon - A True Ghost Story: (26 December 1923). An Indian bungalow haunted by a drowned British plantation owner of sadistic bent.

H. R. Wakefield - Blind Man's Buff: (25 April 1928). A haunted manor house in the Chiltern hills, wisely avoided by local rustics after sundown. If soft London folk want to go nosing about the place, that's their lookout.

H. R. Wakefield - The Last to Leave: (30 January 1929). When a book publisher's premises collapse, its resident ghosts rescue Mr Arnott from the debris in gratitude for his deep affection for the property.

H. R. Wakefield - Damp Sheets: (30 October 1929). Robert badly needs for rich uncle to die so he can squander his fortune. Wife Agatha hits on a plan to help the old boy on his way.

William Freeman - The Room With The Broken Window: (27 January 1930). The whitewashed house is notoriously haunted by the ghost of an insane old woman prolific in murdering gullible gents.

E. M. Winch [Marjorie Bowen?] - The Skeleton in the Cupboard: (12 March 1930). The young woman showing them around the gloomy old house doesn't look so healthy. "Margaret Gabrielle Vere Campbell Long was best known as Marjorie Bowen, but also wrote under the names of Joseph Shearing, George R. Preedy, Robert Payne, and john Winch. She may also have written under the names Evelyn Winch, E. M. Winch and Bertha Winch ..." - Biographical Note, The Bishop of Hell & Other Stories, Wordsworth Editions, 2006)

Winifred F. Peck - All Hallows E'en: (28 October 1931). Grandma Vickie plans a traditional Black Country Old Souls night scare for the new folk at Heritage Hall.

Warden Ledge - Phobos!: (7 September 1932). The Ghost of a suicide haunts the bell tower.

Winifred F. Peck - The Improper Ghost: (19 April 1933). Bad enough that, thanks to that wretched Spiritualist woman, her South Ken residence should have acquired a ghost - Miss Susan Lisle simply refuses to be haunted by the spectre of a French baggage!

Sybil Vincent - The Colsford Road: (28 June 1933). A lethal phantom hearse haunts the Wiltshire downs.

John Ratho - Traveller's Joy: (14 July 1937). A young traveller provided a night's shelter by a farmer and his wife thinks his lucks in when the gorgeous Señora slips into the barn after dark ....

John Ratho - Dining Alone: (18 August 1937). Sat at his favourite table, he sizes up tonight's clientele.

John Ratho - Snob Song: (15 December 1937). A gypsy woman assures a Hooray Henry that he'll soon to be granted his heart's desire ....

Charles Birkin - The Stricken Heart: (24 January 1940). Unlike several fellow "mourners" at "Poor Hilda's" funeral, Elizabeth Penvill is visibly upset by the occasion.

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Is the Queen of Sheba to be Mary Queen of Scots. Miss Betty Blythe (8 February 1922)
"Loveliest Time of All": Fay Compton and Leon Quartermaine in J. M. Barrie's Mary Rose (17 Nov 1920)

H. R. Wakefield - The Red Hand: (2 January 1929). "What fantastic kink had made him the best-known ghost story writer in the world? Certainly he knew authors of such tales were seldom over-credulous, usually were temperamentally disinclined to review the regurgitations of mediums, weave fantasies with ectoplasm, or join Conan Doyle in a romp with under-vitamined pantomime fairies. Yet none of them shared his unswerving, contemptuous disbelief in the possible existence of the spirits he called up."

Mr. Rhodes is tempted from self-imposed retirement to write his 101st and final supernatural tale.

W. Douglas Newton - The Pooka: (25 October 1922). Squire Blain-Emery is appalled to discover an Undine — a frightfully attractive, NAKED Undine — basking in his woodland pool. And who or what in bally H — is this "Pooka" she's forever babbling about?

George R. Preedy (Marjorie Bowen) - Crab-apple Harvest: (24 December 1930). Kratz, Silesia. An old woman gives the last of her strength to hauling a rat-infested coffin from a hometown now occupied by enemy soldiers. God grant they don't demand to see what lies beneath a blanket of rats within.

Edwin Baird - Pass the Bacon: (17 January 1923). Neither bribery or the threat of murder can deter a journalist from breaking a corruption story in tomorrows Morning Star. Suspense story from shortly-to-be initial Weird Tales editor, reprinted from Ace-High Magazine for June 1922.

W. Douglas Newton - Camera!: (4 January 1933). After two years starving in abject poverty, an aspiring actress lands her big break, Debora Vaughan's cadaverous appearance ideally suited for the female lead in "Sally Who Starved." A delighted Debora promises to do justice to the part if it kills her.

Ursula Bloom - Thirteen: (6 September 1939). The bride insists it is her lucky number, hence thirteen bridesmaids and a Friday wedding. "No good will come of it, you mark my words ..."

Barbara Euphan Todd - The Lass from Kinkirk: (13 December 1932). A train compartment haunted by the ghost of a young woman who stabbed dead cheating fiancée and his lover before leaping beneath the wheels. Tonight's the tenth anniversary — or is it?

Marjorie Bowen - Ann Mellor's Lover: (25 December 1922). A clairvoyant bookseller recalls a past life in mid-eighteenth century London and a true love thwarted by the hangman's rope.

Winifred Duke - Waiter: (July 12, 1933). Adulterers Phillis and Alan plan a romantic weekend in Paris. A variation on The Dufferin Curse/ The Bus Conductor, & co.

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Here Begins ... Painting by Gordon Nicolls (2 December 1932)
H. R. Wakefield - Blind Man's Buff: (April 25, 1928).
W. Douglas Newton - Psychic: (7 June 1922).
Winifred Duke - Waiter: (July 12, 1933
"A Lovely Sacrifice to the Sun at the New Oxford." Mlle Alice Delysia and M. Stowitts. (5 April 1922)
E. M. Winch - The Skeleton in the Cupboard: (12 March 1930).
"Loveliest Time of All": Fay Compton and Leon Quartermaine in J. M. Barrie's Mary Rose (17 Nov 1920)
Anon - A True Ghost Story: (26 December 1923).
W. Douglas Newton - The Pooka: (25 October 1922).
"Putting it across the Ghost" Illustration by Will Owen (1 December 1921)
Winifred F. Peck - All Hallows E'en: (28 October 1931).
Barbara Euphan Todd - The Lass from Kinkirk: (13 December 1932).
The Queen of Sheba to be Mary Queen of Scots. Miss Betty Blythe (8 February 1922)
W. Douglas Newton - Camera!: (4 January 1933).
H. R. Wakefield - Blind Man's Buff: (25 April 1928).
Ursula Bloom - Thirteen: (6 September 1939).
H. R. Wakefield - The Red Hand: (2 January 1929).

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[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

According to Goodreads E.M. Winch was Evelyn M. Winch, who was born in New Zealand and brought up in Scotland. Her books were popular between the wars, she commited suicide in 1939 as World War II approached. The novels seem to be mystery and romance.

[dem]

Oct 28, 2023 19:43:43 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

According to Goodreads E.M. Winch was Evelyn M. Winch, who was born in New Zealand and brought up in Scotland. Her books were popular between the wars, she commited suicide in 1939 as World War II approached. The novels seem to be mystery and romance.

Thanks (checks to see who she is today) Ms. Switzler. To do us justice, we did kind of wonder at the 'Bowen'-Winch claim when we included the latter's outstanding Conte cruel, A La Tartare on our Advent Calendar.

Dec 23, 2010 7:19:38 GMT dem said:

Dec 22, 2010 21:30:39 GMT jamesdoig said:

Sounds like Evelyn M. Winch was the writing name of Marie Elspeth Agnes Winch (though Elspeth is sometimes given as Elizabeth) - whose dates are 1895-1939, which would explain why nothing came out after 1939. She wrote ten novels in a hurry in the 1930s, and wrote for popular magazines like The Passing Show and The Detective Magazine. Much of this come from fictionmags www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/0start.htm#TOC, which is a handy resource. Oddly enough there's a novella by her in the Nat Lib of Australia, from the Australian Woman's Weekly dated 194?

What throws a spanner in the works is a 1943 article in an Australian newspaper (Adelaide Advertiser) about G.M. Long (ie Gabrielle Margaret Vere Campbell), who was of course Marjorie Bowen, George R. Preedy, John Winch etc. To quote: "In addition to these there are some "doubtfuls"'—books by Evelyn Winch, Edgar Winch. E. M Winch, and Berta Winch, that are believed to have been written by the same prolific author." Go figure.

Many thanks for that juicy tit-bit, James. Not sure what to make of the speculation that 'Marjorie Bowen' and Mrs. Winch were one and the same person! à la Tartare is unpleasant enough for Bowen at her cruellest (Kecksies in particular, The Folding Doors and some of the The Bishop of Hell stories to an only slightly lesser degree), and it wouldn't have been beyond her to create a back story for her pen-name - "Mrs Winch was born in Auckland, New Zealand, 1895 ...", etc. - but, my spidey sense tells me that Marie Elspeth Agnes Winch was a flesh and blood entity in her own right.

At least we have it from 'Marjorie Bowen' herself that she was also George Preedy and Robert Paye.

The Sketch 2 February 1931

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

If she was famous in the 1930s then her suicide should be in the newspapers of the time (hints).

[dem]

Oct 29, 2023 11:51:35 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

If she was famous in the 1930s then her suicide should be in the newspapers of the time (hints).

WOMAN NOVELIST'S SUICIDE
Obsession Daughter Would be Taken Away

A woman novelist's obsession that her small daughter would be taken away from her was referred to at an inquest at Maidstone, Kent, to-day on Mrs. Marie Elspeth Agnes Winch, aged 43, of the Crofts, West Farleigh, near Maidstone.

Mrs. Winch, better known as Evelyn Winch, author of "The Girl and a Flat" and many other novels and short stories, was found shot at her home on Tuesday morning.

A verdict of "Suicide while the balance of mind" was disturbed was recorded.

Her husband, Lieut.-Col. A. B. Winch, said that one particular type of book hit the market and his wife had been writing heavily for the past six or seven years. She wrote in the evening and frequently stayed up until 4.30 or 5 a.m., and this had a considerable effect upon her health and nerves.

UPSET BY CRISIS

The September crisis had upset her and she was also obsessed by an extraordinary fear that her little girl was going to be taken away from her.
Col. Winch said that this state of mind continued up to this week, but after a long conversation with her married daughter, she came to the conclusion that she was wrong in her ideas.

His wife then made up her mind that the world was right and that as she was wrong, she would have to go into a mental home. She was trying to repress her obsession and to turn the other way. She tried to do everything at once. She was a very heavy smoker, and had attempted to give up this habit. She had also started to drive a car again after not having done so for four or five years. He thought that the strain of overcoming this obsession was too much for her.

He had given her a revolver when they travelled in Africa together, and recently she had been carrying it.

— Cambridge Daily News 25 May 1939

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

A sad story. She seems very obscure. Only a short story can be found on Internet Archive, Buttons in The Third Omnibus of Crime by Dorothy Sayers.

[dem]

Lendon Second Hand Romance - The Man who bought a Haunted Car, 5 September 1928
A Danse Greque in a Benda Mask - A Greenwich Folly Girl, 21 December 1921

Gillian Oliver - The Man in the French Express: (11 March 1931). His despised gift is the unfailing ability to identify those to die in two days time.

D. L. Murray - The Old Highlander: (1 December 1939). A Gothic romance. The gloomy ghost of Bonnie Prince Charlie haunts Morvencraig village.

"Tanjong" - A Birdie: (3 August 1938). The golf ball that dripped blood; a love-triangle ends in murder on the links.

Olga A. Rosmanith - The Horoscope: (12 May 1937). Ginny, jilted and facing destitution, consults the unerringly clairvoyant Professor Endicot to find out if it's worth her sticking around.

Barbara Cartland - Strange Salvation: (15 September 1937). Sara's Russian Prince owes his life to a stash of dirty postcards.

Barbara Euphan Todd - The Vengeance of Vespervigilus: (1 July 1931). Professor Salmondson's cautionary tale of a tomb-looter crushed by an angry God.

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A. Calbet, The Bird of Eblis, 25 November 1927
R. A. Stone, The Witching Hour, 20 January 1926

A Danse Greque in a Benda Mask - A Greenwich Folly Girl (21 December 1921)
Gillian Oliver - The Man in the French Express: (11 March 1931)
Second Hand Romance - The Man who bought a Haunted Car; Illustration by Lendon (5 September 1928)
H. R. Wakefield - The Last to Leave: (30 January 1929)
Olga A. Rosmanith - The Horoscope: (12 May 1937)
"Tanjong" - A Birdie: (3 August 1938).
Mosquito and others: New Benda Masks (21 December 1921)
D. L. Murray - The Old Highlander: Illustrated by Stephen Spurrier, RBA (1 Dec. 1939).
Barbara Euphan Todd - The Vengeance of Vespervigilus: (1 July 1931)
Condor Hat worn by the fascinating Spanish dancer Mdlle Trini (21 December 1921)

Mixed bag, essentially a mop up of stories leftover from previous samplers, supernatural horror opener The Man in the French Express being personal pick of the bunch. After which, the law of diminishing returns. Wakefield story of choice would have been Day-dream in Macedon (2 April 1930) but the BNL copy lacks the opening page. The Old Highlander .... goes on a bit.

A. Calbet, The Bird of Eblis, 25 November 1927

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[andydecker]

Always surprised about the quality of the artwork.

Is it known how much they paid for stories and/or illustrations? I guess it must have been decent considering they published stories by Agatha Christie.

[dem]

Nov 10, 2023 10:04:20 GMT andydecker said:

Always surprised about the quality of the artwork.

Is it known how much they paid for stories and/or illustrations? I guess it must have been decent considering they published stories by Agatha Christie.

No idea what the rates were for illustrators - pretty generous if the following from contemporary publication The Bystander for Feb 1912 is an indication.

TO AUTHORS

THE BYSTANDER is willing to consider stories belonging to either of the two following classes:-

(a) Stories of from 2,500 to 3,500 words in length of dramatic interest. Novelty of idea specially welcomed. A brief résumé of the plot must accompany each story.

(b) Comedy stories of about 1,000 to 1,250 words. A minimum payment of three guineas will be made for such of these as are selected for publication.

Each manuscript must be accompanied by a stamped and addressed envelope.

[andydecker]

Nov 11, 2023 11:21:09 GMT dem said:

No idea what the rates were for illustrators - pretty generous if the following from contemporary publication The Bystander for Feb 1912 is an indication.

TO AUTHORS

THE BYSTANDER is willing to consider stories belonging to either of the two following classes:-

(a) Stories of from 2,500 to 3,500 words in length of dramatic interest. Novelty of idea specially welcomed. A brief résumé of the plot must accompany each story.

(b) Comedy stories of about 1,000 to 1,250 words. A minimum payment of three guineas will be made for such of these as are selected for publication.

Each manuscript must be accompanied by a stamped and addressed envelope.

Thanks. This is indeed more than the pulps paid.