The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories: Volume 3 — Alastair Gunn

Twenty ghost stories from the supernatural masters of the Victorian age. Wimbourne Books presents the third in a series of rare or out-of-print ghost stories from Victorian authors. With an introduction by author Alastair Gunn, Volume 3 in the series contains stories published anonymously in America and Britain between 1839 and 1896. Most of these tales are here anthologised for the very first time. 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 snowy night, 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.Includes the stories; The Deaf and Dumb Girl (1839) - The Picture Bedroom (1840) - It Is No Fiction (1844) - Mabel (1849) - The Bright Room of Cranmore (1850) - Fisher's Ghost (1853) - The Ghost at Heatherbell Abbey (1862) - The Tale of a Gas-light Ghost (1867) - Pichon & Sons, of the Croix Rousse (1868) - Haunted (1868) - The Ghost at Laburnum Villa (1870) - The Sergeant's Ghost Story (1873) - The Bryansfort Spectre (1874) - Twelve O'clock, Noon (1877) - The Story of Clifford House (1878) - The Ghost in the Bank of England (1879) - The Carved Mantelpiece of Granton Hall (1882) - The Invisible Hand (1884) - The Old Lady in Black (1894) - Seen By the Coppice (1896).