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CLASSIC HORROR BLOG

Critical Editions of Classic Ghost Stories & Weird Fiction

— from Mary Shelley to M. R. James —

Annotated & Illustrated

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REGULARLY UPDATED BLOG SERIES:

Macabre Masters: Discussions of major writers

Best-Of Collections: Lists of major writers' best stories

Two Minute Takes: Brief but deep analyses of a single tale

Spooky Spotlights: Studies of Gothic themes, tropes, or genres

10 Best Creepy Stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann (Other than The Nutcracker and The Sandman)

Jan 25, 2019
9 min

10 Best Creepy Stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann (Other than The Nutcracker and The Sandman)

He was the godfather of modern horror, weird fiction, and fantasy, an inestimable influence on Poe, Dickens, and Hawthorne, de Maupassant, Stevenson, and James, left his fingerprints on “Frankenstein,” “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” “Dracula,” and “The Turn of the Screw,” and inspired filmmakers from Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan to David Lynch and Fritz Lang (and films from “Dr. Caligari” and “Metropolis” to “The Matrix” and “Mulholland Drive”). Yet few horror fans have ever re

10 Best Ghost Stories by Washington Irving (Other Than Sleepy Hollow)

Jul 30, 2018
10 min

10 Best Ghost Stories by Washington Irving (Other Than Sleepy Hollow)

He was the greatest American writer of his time: mentor to Poe, Dickens, and Hawthorne, his country’s first professional author, and a writer of uniqely American ghost stories about growth, change, and identity. His was the complex personality of an existentially anxious, emotionally complex man disturbed by his fame and haunted by loneliness. These disquieting themes course through his Gothic tales – “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “Rip Van Winkle,” “The Devil and Tom Walker,

7 Best Horror Stories by Arthur Machen -- Not Including 'The Great God Pan'

May 16, 2018
6 min

7 Best Horror Stories by Arthur Machen -- Not Including 'The Great God Pan'

With only a few exceptions, Arthur Machen rarely reveled in gore, Gothic clichés, or moments of horror. He hosts no chattering skeletons, moldering corpses, or headless ghosts. Nor does he often turn to the more sophisticated horrors of Lovecraft, Hodgson, or Chambers whose shambling mutants, reeking zombies, and tentacled monstrosities shifted the direction of horror in the twentieth century. On two occasions – both in “The Three Imposters” – he indulged in the Gothic excess

Oldstyle Tales' Classic Horror Blog Voted #9 Among Literary Horror Bloggers

Apr 2, 2018
2 min

Oldstyle Tales' Classic Horror Blog Voted #9 Among Literary Horror Bloggers

A huge thanks to the Feedspot Blog for voting Oldstyle Tales' Classic Horror Blog the 9th best literary horror blog on the internet. Now, without invalidating the vox populi, I feel most sincerely that there are many bloggers out there with far edgier, hipper, more interesting content, but I know that our readers -- you, my dear friends -- appreciate the rather subdued tone of our courtly but self-deprecating personality. We solve a common problem: literary horror without con

7 Best Horror Stories by Robert W. Chambers... (Not Including the "King in Yellow" Mythos)

Sep 6, 2017
5 min

7 Best Horror Stories by Robert W. Chambers... (Not Including the "King in Yellow" Mythos)

Best known for his mind-blasting “King in Yellow” mythos – a series of five stories published in the eponymous 1895 anthology – Robert W. Chambers doesn’t get much more attention for his other weird fiction, ghost stories, and fantasy – and it’s a damn shame. Chambers excelled at creating an atmosphere of otherworldly dread, misanthropic cosmicism, and eldritch horror. His amphibious “Harbor Master” may have been the prototype for both the Creature of the Black Lagoon and Lov

7 Best Horror Stories by Bram Stoker (Not Including Dracula)

Jun 27, 2017
5 min

7 Best Horror Stories by Bram Stoker (Not Including Dracula)

Most famous for his monumental vampire novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker was hardly a one hit wonder: he was responsible for two other supernatural novels and around two dozen short stories and poems. Largely inspired by the gothic aesthetics of Edgar Allan Poe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, his stories are at times melancholy, mystical, gory, and gruesome, but always strange and haunting. In our annotated and illustrated edition of Stoker's short

F. Marion Crawford's 6 Best Horror Stories (Not Inlcuding "The Upper Berth")

May 16, 2017
6 min

F. Marion Crawford's 6 Best Horror Stories (Not Inlcuding "The Upper Berth")

F. Marion Crawford has probably the most “bang-for-your-buck” of any of the classic horror writers: his entire oeuvre consists of about a dozen stories of which five are well-seasoned masterpieces and two are underrated classics. While Crawford was made rich and famous during his lifetime – not unlike his contemporary Robert W. Chambers – for his cosmopolitan romances, today he is almost solely recollected for this handful of supernatural stories. Included among them are five

E. Nesbit's 12 Best Horror Stories (Not Including "Man-Size in Marble")

Jan 30, 2017
10 min

E. Nesbit's 12 Best Horror Stories (Not Including "Man-Size in Marble")

Most famous as a children's book writer who influenced J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, and P.L. Travers, Edith Nesbit has a second, darker reputation as the writer of some of the English language's most powerful supernatural horror. Nesbit’s writing is absolutely crisp, evocative, and touching, and her legacy as both a children’s writer and a master of horror is well deserved, if not far overdue. Her stories can best be described as raw – emotionally wringing, cruel, and richly iro

12 Best Ghost Stories by Sheridan Le Fanu (Not Including "Carmilla" or "Green Tea&quo

Jan 9, 2017
10 min

12 Best Ghost Stories by Sheridan Le Fanu (Not Including "Carmilla" or "Green Tea&quo

J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Victorian master of shadowy terrors, is the undisputed prince of ghost story writers. While M. R. James may be their king, even Monty paid homage to his Irish inspiration, reviving Le Fanu’s reputation (by reprinting his stories in a 1923 anthology), and modelling many (if not most) of his more famous tales off of Le Fanu’s pattern. His ghost stories were chilling, and his ghosts were terrifyingly original – invasive, intrusive, aggressive: they left thei

7 Best Ghost Stories by Henry James (Not Including The Turn of the Screw)

May 26, 2016
9 min

7 Best Ghost Stories by Henry James (Not Including The Turn of the Screw)

The very first literary ghost story that I ever read was “The Turn of the Screw.” I had loads of books about hauntings, phantom hitchhikers, cryptozoology, and supernatural folklore, but Henry James was the first writer who engaged my intellect as well as my imagination. His most famous spook story followed a naïve (and possibly insane) young woman who was the governess to two children who were probably molested by their previous servants, and who may or may not be haunted by

7 Best Horror Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson (Not Including Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)

Nov 12, 2015
7 min

7 Best Horror Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson (Not Including Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)

To this day the name Stevenson resonates to some in the same way that Stoker and Shelley do – as the creator of one of literature’s most enduring monsters: he is to the literary werewolf what Stoker is to the Gothic vampire -- Shelley to the science fiction monster. But unlike the other members of the Three S’s club, Stevenson’s work has a strong footing in the world of high literature. Chesterton and Nabakov pored over his works and wrote enthusiastic criticism in his name.

12 Best Horror Stories by H. G. Wells (Not Including "The Invisible Man")

Oct 2, 2015
8 min

12 Best Horror Stories by H. G. Wells (Not Including "The Invisible Man")

H. G. Wells continues to be exulted as the grandsire of modern science fiction. Alongside Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe, he enjoys a very keen degree of respect in that genre. The pity is that he has not been nearly as well received by horror aficionados. Perhaps they view him as taken goods – the sci-fi folks have him and he’s their territory. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that the few horror stories that he is famous for dabble so deeply in science and technology. “The War

Algernon Blackwood's Best Horror Stories: Part Two - 7 Best Weird Tales

Apr 30, 2015
8 min

Algernon Blackwood's Best Horror Stories: Part Two - 7 Best Weird Tales

Last week we took a good look at seven of Algernon Blackwood’s best ghost stories (while unfortunately leaving out many contenders, so feel free to go back and comment on which stories you would pick!), and this week we look at seven of his best weird tales. In our anthology, The Willows, The Wendigo, and Other Horrors: The Best Weird Fiction and Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood, I divided his stories into three relatively distinct classes: ghost stories (occur typically

Algernon Blackwood’s Best Horror Stories: Part One – 7 Best Ghost Stories

Apr 23, 2015
7 min

Algernon Blackwood’s Best Horror Stories: Part One – 7 Best Ghost Stories

Widely known for his weird fiction, Algernon Blackwood was also a masterful writer of ghost stories – indeed, one of the best practitioners of the genre in the Edwardian Era. His tales are rich in emotion, psychological atmospheres, and spiritual energy, and rival the best entries of M. R. James, Oliver Onions, and Walter de la Mare with their keen approach to the mentality of fear and their luscious prose. While Blackwood’s weird tales are almost exclusively in and inspired

7 Best Horror Stories by W. W. Jacobs (Not Including "The Monkey's Paw")

Feb 25, 2015
6 min

7 Best Horror Stories by W. W. Jacobs (Not Including "The Monkey's Paw")

There is perhaps no more cursed writer of horror in the English canon than the elegant Edwardian, W. W. Jacobs. World renowned for one tale, “The Monkey’s Paw,” he is often classed alongside the three S’s (Stoker, Shelley, and Stevenson) as an unquestionable dean of the classic British supernatural tale. But little or nothing else about his fiction is commonly read or talked about. “Jerry Bundler” receives some attention, and a bit is given to “The Toll House” and “The Well,”

7 Best Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens (Not Including 'A Christmas Carol')

Nov 20, 2014
7 min

7 Best Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens (Not Including 'A Christmas Carol')

Dickens is widely renowned in popular culture as a writer of grade-A ghost stories. “Could you name some?” a person – not particularly given to the ghostly – might ask of a supernatural aficionado such as yourself. “Well, A Christmas Carol,” you are bound to say. You will likely be quick at mentioning “The Signal-Man,” and perhaps “To Be Taken With a Grain of Salt.” But that might (perhaps, I say, just perhaps) be where you stop. Here is a list of Dickens’ seven best ghost st

7 Brilliant Irish Horror Writers to Read on St. Patrick's Day

Mar 13, 2014
6 min

7 Brilliant Irish Horror Writers to Read on St. Patrick's Day

For centuries Ireland has fostered a culture swarming in mystery, magic, and the macabre: it gave us Samhain and jack-o-lanterns, Dracula and Carmilla, headless horsemen and banshees, and a rambling host of masterful literary minds whose supernatural fiction is still celebrated for being wildly imaginative and unsettling. Ireland has arguably contributed more to the Gothic sensibility than almost any other culture. Writing about one of Ireland's greatest supernatural authors,

12 Classic Christmas Ghost Stories (That You Can Read Right Now)

Dec 23, 2013
8 min

12 Classic Christmas Ghost Stories (That You Can Read Right Now)

"There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.." Or so the carol tells us. To most Americans, this snippet from the Andy Williams classic has remained an anachronistic -- even disturbing -- oddity. Who tells scary stories at Christmas? That's Halloween, right? But for centuries -- especially in Britain -- they have been part and parcel of the Season (though the oral tradition of spending windy, winter nights listening to grandma's gor

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