The Best Ghost Short Stories for the First Half of the Nineteenth Century by Andrew Barger

 Top 10 Ghost Stories for the First Half of the 19th Century.

The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Ghost Anthology

10. The Ghostly Visiter; or, The Mysterious Invalid (1833)

This anonymous ghost story was published in a "penny dreadful" magazine in 1833. It is one of the most chilling ghost stories in relation to an incapacitated person for this fifty year period in review.

9. The Tapestried Chamber (1827)

Sir Walter Scott was a leading proponent of supernatural tales in Europe. The Tapestried Chamber is the second oldest scary story on this countdown and contains moments of sheer terror.

8. Adventure of the German Student (1831)

Washington Irving is best known for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," but the "Adventure of the German Student" is as compact a fright as one will find in a little ghost story.

7. The Old Maid in the Winding Sheet (1837)

Nathaniel Hawthorne makes his only appearance in the Top 10 with a horror tale that is superbly written. It was also an Edgar Allan Poe favorite.

6. The Spectral Ship (1828)

Wilhelm Hauff died in his mid-twenties, yet still showed early promise that he could have been one of the all time great supernatural writers. "The Spectral Ship" leaves an indelible tang of horror.

5. A Night in a Haunted House (1848)

This anonymous ghost story is the longest of the Top 10 and will make a person think twice when they hear a thump coming up the stairs.

4. The Mask of the Red Death (1842)

"The Mask of the Red Death" is perhaps Edgar Allan Poe's finest ghost story. The writing and symbolism are unparalleled for this period in question.

3. A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family (1839)

Joseph Sheridan le Fanu was the early king of the short ghost story. He would later go on to publish "Green Tea" and other ghostly classics.

2. The Deaf and Dumb Girl (1839)

This is the third anonymous story in the Top 10 and the very best of the lot. It will make you think twice when you see a quiet girl with ashen skin sit next to you on a train.

1. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1819)

Washington Irving's most popular ghost story--and perhaps the most popular ghost short story of all time (assuming Dickens's "A Christmas Carole" is a novella)--is "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Although typically disfavored in a scary ghost story, it is one of the first to do it without losing the element of terror and it is the oldest in the Top 10, which gives the story high marks for originality and creativity. 

The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Ghost Anthology includes story introductions, author photos, annotations and a list of ghost stories consulted by Andrew Barger. Buy it tonight!

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A Website that Tracks Potential Ghosts in Hotels - RoomSpook.com

For those of you who are interested in paranormal, I wanted to let you know about a website that tracks hotel deaths. You can find it at RoomSpook.com and the site can tell you if a death has occurred in your hotel room. While most people try to avoid staying in a room where there has been a death, such as a suicide, others specifically want to stay in rooms where there might be paranormal activity. You know who you are.

The Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City has recorded the most hotel suicides, currently at 32, in the RoomSpook database. One of the earliest suicides happened on June 15, 1921. On that date Kirk Moore jumped from the hotel to his death. He landed on the 7th avenue sidewalk curb, just missing a taxi cab. He was to stand trial the next day on child molestation charges after being caught inviting children into his car. Moore left a note to his wife that said in part: "Something broke in my head and I feel myself going." He was 28 years old and a graduate of Princeton University.

But wait, there's more! "RoomSpook tracks many undesirable events that, unfortunately, happen in hotels. They include: accidents, accidental deaths, assaults, bed bugs, communicable diseases, deaths by natural causes, murders, rapes, shootings by police, and suicides." This is what the site says about its current markets:

"RoomSpook.com, which allows travelers to search for unwanted “events” for free in their hotel such as bed bugs, deaths and communicable diseases like Covid-19, now has data covering 450,000+ hotel rooms, 1,200+ hotels and 3,940+ events in Anaheim, Brooklyn, Lake Buena Vista, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York City, and Orlando. The company is rapidly expanding to other markets."

If you are interested in ghosts, or even ghost stories, this is the site for you. Boo!

#RoomSpook #HotelDeaths #HotelBedBugs #HotelSuicides #GhostStories #HotelDeathNewYork #HotelDeathOrlando #HotelDeathLasVegas #HotelDeathLosAngeles

Best Ghost Short Stories 1850-1899 Interview with Andrew Barger

 

Andrew Barger Interview

Best Ghost Short Stories 1850-1899 Anthology

http://andrewbarger.com/bestghostshortstories1850.html

Q1. You have edited the best ghost short stories for the first half of the 19th century and now you are finishing off the century with your new ghost stories anthology?

A1. In the fantasy genre I wanted to start with the first modern form of short stories in the English language, which really began the first half of the 19th century. I published  6a66le: The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849, Shifters: The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849, Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Short Stories 1800-1849, Middle Unearthed: The Best Fantasy Short Stories 1800-1849 and Phantasmal: The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849. Now I have moved on to the last half of the century with a collection of the best scary ghost stories.

Q2. Did you include background information on each story in the collection like your other anthologies? 

A2. Yes. I can’t help it! I also include author photos, publication dates and a list of stories read at the end of the book. 

Q3. What are some of the differences in the ghost short stories from the first to the last half of the century?

A3. The writing is at a higher level and, for the most part, the character generation is better. Also, for the first time in the century women began publishing in the ghost story genre. Mary Braddon, Rhoda Broughton, Catherine Crowe, Amelia Edwards, Mary Anne Evans (aka George Eliot), Florence Marryat (daughter of horror story writer Captain Frederick Marryat), Mary Louise Molesworth, Rosa Mulholland, Edith Nesbit, and many other women stood out as fine ghost story writers of the Victorian age.

Q4. Are any of the ghost stories in the anthology comedic? There are some funny ghost stories out there.

A4. Absolutely not. I have never liked funny ghost stories. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the exception. I want to be frightened in a ghost story. Boo!

Q5. Who are some of the more famous authors in the anthology?

A5. Joseph Le Fanu, M. R. James, Charles Dickens, Francis Marion Crawford, Rosa Mulholland, Bram Stoker, Edith Nesbit, Robert Chambers and Edward Bulwer-Lytton all have stories in the collection.

Q6. Do you have a favorite?

A6. “The Haunted and the Haunters” by Bulwer-Lytton is the foremost thing of its kind and, surprisingly, the oldest in the ghost short story anthology. It’s based on a true story and I include the actual letter telling about the haunted house in question. A guy decided to stay in the haunted house, but only with a “brace of pistols.” You will have to read the scary story to learn what happened. 

Q7. Who were the most influential ghost short story writers in the back half of the 19th century?

A7. Certainly Joseph Le Fanu and M. R. James were first rate ghost short stories writers and the sheer number of stories they wrote in the genre exceeds nearly everyone else. When you look at it from the perspective of the author who supported others in the genre, Charles Dickens comes to the forefront. His “No. 1 Branch Line, The Signal Man” of 1866 sits firmly in the collection. As if his many ghost stories weren’t enough, Dickens fostered the literary careers of many talented supernatural authors by publishing them in his weekly magazine—All the Year Round, including Joseph Le Fanu, Wilkie Collins, Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Elizabeth Gaskell. M. R. James stood on the shoulders of Joseph Le Fanu and Fanu had his foundation in Charles Dickens.

Q8. Are there any stories by Henry James in the anthology?

A8. Henry James, on the other hand, was a proponent of the subtle ghost story. Enter the timid ghosts. As if filled by English sensibilities, they were rarely overt in their actions. They never jump out from behind the curtain and say “Boo!” Their presence was felt all the same yet in a more nuanced way than traditional ghost stories. James wrote cigar smoking, single malt scotch sipping tales. His “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes” (1868), “Sir Edmund Orme” (1892) and “The Friends of the Friends” (1896) are each well worth a read.

Q9. In Phantasmal: Best Ghost Short Stories 1800-1849 you gave an introduction titled “All Ghosts are Gray” where you drew attention to the lack of color in early ghost short stories. Does color play a role later in the century? 

A9. Yes.  Consider the color yellow, for instance. It morphed from the cheerful glow of flowering snapdragons and daffodils in the English countryside to one that forewarned of evil in Britain and the United States. It became a color to describe the sickly, instead of the happy. Yellow fever entered the vernacular and those outside of the African continent became fearful of the viral disease spread by female mosquitoes. This was especially true given the active slave trade in parts of America.

The color yellow soon became treated as a precursor to death thanks to writers in the supernatural community. By 1892, American Charlotte Perkins Gilman published her classic horror story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In it the sickly colored wallpaper has a terrible effect on the occupant of the room. Three years later, fellow American Robert Chambers published his collection of short stories The King in Yellow that begged the overriding question “Have you found the yellow sign?” It contained the haunting ghost story “The Yellow Sign” (1895) included in this anthology and his treatment of the color in The King in Yellow has evolved into what is now referred to as the yellow mythos in supernatural literature.

Q10. Last question, how did ghosts change from the first to the last part of the century in question?

A10. The ghosts streaming from the pen of Dickens were highly communicative with the living. They were no longer stagnate beings of the spirit world who moved silently among the darkling corners of haunted houses, but rather interacted with the sorry lot of the living in ways never before seen in literature. In Phantasmal: Best Ghost Short Stories 1800-1849 there is an excellent story that was published anonymously titled “The Deaf and Dumb Girl” that is a fine example of how ghosts started out being rather innocuous.

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Best Ghost Short Stories 1850-1899 by Andrew Barger is Published!

October is the month for ghosts. That's why I'm happy to announce my latest anthology: Best Ghost Short Stories 1850-1899: A Phantasmal Ghost Anthology is now published! It contains the best ghost stories from the last half of the 19th century. It includes shocking tales from popular American and Victorian authors.

Andrew Barger (that would be me), award-winning author and editor of Phantasmal: Best Ghost Short Stories 1800-1849 and The Divine Dantes trilogy, has researched the finest ghost stories for the last half of the nineteenth century and combined them in one haunting collection. He has added his familiar scholarly touch by annotating the stories, providing story background information, author photos and a list of ghost stories considered to settle on the most frightening and well-written tales.

Victorians: Victors of the Ghost Story (2016) by Andrew Barger - Andrew sets the stage for this haunting ghost anthology.

The Upper Berth (1886) by Francis Marion Crawford - You will never think of cruising on a ship the same way after reading "The Upper Berth."

In Kropfsberg Keep (1895) by Ralph Adams Cram - A gothic setting yields a nightmare for a couple of "ghost hunters."

Lost Hearts (1895) by M. R. James - This early M. R. James classic ghost story is one of his best.

The Familiar (1872) by Joseph Le Fanu - Ever feel like you are being watched?

The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly (1886) by Rosa Mulholland - You will never view an organ the same way again.

No. 1 Branch Line: The Signal Man (1865) by Charles Dickens - Are the nervous habits of a train tracks operator all in his mind?

Hurst of Hurstcote (1893) by Edith Nesbit - A moldering house and--of course--ghosts.

The Judge's House (1891) by Bram Stoker - The author of Dracula never disappoints.

The Yellow Sign (1895) by Robert Chambers - A painter sees someone watching him from a busy New York street.

The Haunted and the Haunters (1859) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton - The oldest and most haunting ghost short story in the anthology and one that H. P. Lovecraft deemed the best haunted house story ever.

I am deeply and horribly convinced, that there does exist beyond this a spiritual world--a system whose workings are generally in mercy hidden from us--a system which may be, and which is sometimes, partially and terribly revealed. 

"The Familiar" 1872 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Buy today at Amazon: Best Ghost Short Stories 1850-1899


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Best Scary Ghost Story 33 from 1800-1849 Posted

The next tale in my countdown of the Top 40 ghost stories for the first half of the nineteenth century is an anonymous story titled The Legend of Marseilles. This scary ghost story was first published in 1826 and was subsequently reprinted in a number of ghost anthologies. Without giving away too much, let's suffice it say that it proves not knowing when you are going to die is best.

Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849, 33rd Best Scary Story

I place The Death's Head in spot 33 of my countdown of the Top 40 ghost stories for the first half of the nineteenth century. Published anonymously in 1827, "The Death's Head"--this particular "species of phantasmagoria"--is perhaps the first short story that contains a talking skull. It also the only scary story in this countdown that involves ventriloquy. The scene where spirits are conjured is heart pounding horrific. I hope you enjoy it.   

The 38th Best Ghost Story 1800-1849

Let's get on with my countdown of the Top 40 best ghost stories published in the English language from 1800-1849. I am still early in the countdown, but some solid ghost stories have already made the list. The classic ghost story filling slot 38 is no exception. As you know from my last post it was published anonymously. If you like ghost stories on the sea, this is the ghost tale for you. Without giving any too much of the story, it centers around The Flying Dutchman--the infamous ghost ship that is doomed to continually round the Cape of Good Hope in a storm with Vanderdecken as its captain. I found the story in the May 1821 issue of Blackwood's. The awkward title of the story (Vanderdecken's Message Home; or, the Tenacity of Natural Affection) does not diminish the strong storyline and "creep factor." It is perhaps the first ghost story that focuses on the futility of the dead when trying to contact the living and deserves to be remembered. As late as 1860 horror author brothers, William and Robert Chambers, included this story in their collection titled: Shipwrecks and Tales of the Sea. Enjoy!

Website: AndrewBarger.com

The 39th Best Ghost Story 1800-1849

"In a lonely part of the bleak and rocky coast of Scotland, there dwelt a being who was designated by the few who knew and feared him, the Warlock Fisher." That is the tantalizing first sentence of The Phantom Hand that I have selected as the 39th best ghost story for the first half of the nineteenth century. It was first published anonymously in 1823 in The Citizen magazine. It enjoyed a six year publication history in various UK rags. Yes, my countdown of the best ghost stories from 1800-1849 is just starting. But all the ghost stories (even this early in the countdown) are solid and scary. Enjoy.

Website: AndrewBarger.com

Author of the 39th Best Ghost Story 1800-1849

Just like the like the author for the 40th best ghost story of 1800-1849, the next author is anonymous. I found a number of these stories in various magazines and periodicals of the day. This one comes from the Literary Magnet and I will post a free link to it in my next post. For now, enjoy the creepy illustration I found from the same time period.

Website: AndrewBarger.com