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,”

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

While the weird tale and horror fiction existed in Britain long before the Edwardian Era (fl. 1895 - 1919), this period was certainly the zenith of supernatural fiction in the English-speaking world. Although the Victorians boasted a handful of truly excellent supernaturalists (Le Fanu, Riddell, Oliphant, Edwards, Broughton, etc.), the production of high-octane speculative fiction reached a high watermark during the years between Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and M. R. Ja

The Victorian Age brings with it a tremendous amount of associations, baggage, and stereotypes that make it one of the most colorful periods in British history (or at least filmable; I myself am partial to the Georgian period, the Enlightenment, and the Civil War -- but that's my cross to bear). The Victorians are known -- someties unfairly -- for their saccharine sentimentalism, sexual repression, and jingoistic nationalism, and -- more or less fairly -- for a great thirst f

"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

Famous for his charismatic whit, irony, and satire, Charles Dickens’ ghost stories often typified the Victorian supernatural aesthetic – chilling but charming – but his most famous short ghost story defied convention, shocked readers, and disturbs to this day. The reason for all of this may be the personal element involved: Dickens’ “The Signal-Man” is based on the most influential tragedy of his later life, a tragedy which weighed on him until he was committed to his grave.

Now, as to what the devil all of this means. The sign posts of Gothic fiction direct us to suspect several possibilities. There are several elements which bear examining, thirteen in particular. The solution I propose is that Ranford and Mrs. Brympton have had an affair during one of Brympton’s philandering escapades, the result of which was a pregnancy. There are several possibilities of what happened thereafter, two which I will iterate: 1 – the pregnancy was detected and,

Is Abortion the Underlying Issue in Edith Wharton’s “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell”? Edith Wharton has long been tied with Henry James – another East Coast socialite with strong ties to Mother England – both for their social backgrounds and for their Irvingian manner of storytelling, but their affinity for the psychological ghost tale – complete with vague, unsettling conclusions – is what drew me to Wharton’s “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell” (1902) last night. Aside from her monumental mas