Cyclopaedia of Ghost Story Writers

The Cyclopaedia of Ghost Story Writers is an ever-expanding database of information (bibliographic and biographic) of authors who have written at least one published short story (generally less than 30,000 words) with the theme of haunting or another related aspect of the supernatural during the Georgian, Victorian or Edwardian period. The current definition of whether an author belongs within this period is vague but as a general rule no author born before about 1920 is included. For each author is given, if possible, some basic biographic information, followed by a list of known short stories by the author, most but not all of which are supernatural or specifically ghostly in nature, followed by known publications (and dates thereof) containing one or more of the named short stories. This information is in no way comprehensive or complete. As the amount of information on this database increases and the number of individual writers expands each will be given a separate page. Links will eventually be provided for individual writers' Web sites and/or on-line transcriptions. This database may be used for private research and non-commercial use with proper reference to the originator. Any other use must be explicitly authorised.

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A. J. Alan (pseudonym of Leslie Harrison Lambert)

A.J. Alan (Leslie Harrison Lambert) made his name as a radio broadcaster in the 1920's, always insisting on wearing evening dress for his performances. His broadcasts were frequently transcribed and formed the basis of his two collections.

My Adventure in Norfolk, The Hair, The Diver, The Dream
Good Evening, Everyone (1928)
A. J. Alan's Second Book (1933)
The Best of A. J. Alan

Grant Allen (1848-1899)

Canadian-born Grant Allen spent most of his career as a writer in Britain. He caused a stir in the late 1890s with his notorious works The Evolution of the Idea of God (1897) and The Woman Who Did (1895), the story of a woman who chooses the option of free love over that of the bondage of marriage.

Pallinghurst Barrow, Wolverden Tower
Strange Stories (1884)
Twelve Tales (1899)
Ivan Greet's Masterpiece (1893)

Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924)

Sabine Baring-Gould was born in Exeter on January 28th 1834. He was a member of an aristocratic family an was educated in Germany and France. He became the squire and parson of Lew Trenchard in Devon and wrote many of our best known hymns, including Onward, Christian Soldiers and Now the Day is Over. But he also wrote many books on biography, music, folklore and travel, including the travellogue which inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. He was also very interested in mythology and folk tales and collected country yarns from around the British Isles, particularly in Devon and the West Country. During his time he had more titles listed in the catalog of the British Museum than any other writer.

A Happy Release, H.P.
A Book of Ghosts (1904)

Nugent Barker (1888-1955)

Nugent Barker wrote many excellent short stories which were popular between the wars. His only collection is now very rare indeed.

Whessoe, The Curious Adventure of Mr. Bond, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Written With My Left Hand (1951)

Arthur Christopher Benson (1862-1925)

Arthur Christopher Benson was the eldest of the three Benson brothers (sons of Archbishop Edward White Benson) who all wrote excellent ghost stories. The collection Basil Netherby was published posthumously by his brother Edward. A. C. Benson is perhaps better known for writing the words of Land of Hope and Glory to Elgar's famous Pomp and Circumstance March.

The Uttermost Farthing, The Slype House
The Hill of Trouble and Other Stories (1903)
The Isles of Sunset (1905)
Basil Netherby (1926)

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940)

Edward Frederic Benson was the son of Edward White Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 to 1896. He wrote over 100 books, including the successful Mapp & Lucia novels. The publication of the society novel Dodo in 1893 caused something of a sensation by its apparent portrayal of a contemporary leader of fashion. However, E. F. Benson was best known in his time for his excellent ghost stories.

The Confession of Charles Linkworth, The Room in the Tower, How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery, Mrs. Amworth, The Man Who Went Too Far, The Dust- Cloud, Gavon's Eve, At Abdul Ali's Grave, The Shootings of Achnaleish, Caterpillars, The Cat, The Bus-Conductor, Between the Lights, Outside the Door, The Terror by Night, The Other Bed, The Thing in the Hall, The House with the Brick Kiln, “And the Dead Spake ---“, The Outcast, The Horror-Horn, Machaon, Negotium Perambulans, At the Farmhouse, Inscrutable Decrees, The Gardener, Mr Tilly's Séance, In the Tube, Roderick's Story, Reconciliation, The Face, Spinach, Bagnell Terrace, A Tale of an Empty House, Naboth's Vinyard, Expiation, Home Sweet Home, “And No Bird Sings”, The Corner House, Corstophine, The Temple, The Step, The Bed by the Window, James Lamp, The Dance, The Hanging of Alfred Wadham, Pirates, The Wishing-Well, The Bath-Chair, Monkeys, Christopher Comes Back, The Sanctuary, Thursday Evenings, The Psychical Mallards, The Clonmel Witch Burning
The Room in the Tower and Other Stories (1912)
Visible and Invisible (1923)
Spook Stories (1928)
More Spook Stories (1934)
The Horror Horn and Other Stories
The Collected Ghost Stories of E. F. Benson (1992)

Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914)

Robert Hugh Benson was the youngest of the three Benson brothers and wrote several novels and a small number of books on the supernatural from the Catholic viewpoint. He rose to the position of Monsignor in the Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster before becoming the private chamberlain to Pope Pius X in 1911. His book The Light Invisible (1903) contains a fictional account in 15 separate stories of a priest's supernatural experiences.

Father Stein's Tale, The Watcher
The Light Invisible (1903)
A Mirror of Shalott (1907)

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?)

Ambrose Bierce was a writer noted for his satirical stories during the American Civil War (e.g. Tales of Soldiers and Civilians 1891). Bierce also had a fascination with the occult and supernatural and was a competent author in this area. This interest also led him to write his much-respected Dictionary of Death. It is believed that Bierce mysteriously fled civilisation and travelled to Mexico. His eventual fate is unknown.

The Boarded Window, The Moonlit Road, Staley Fleming's Hallucination, The Secret of Macarger's Gulch, The Death of Halpin Frayser, One Summer Night, A Diagnosis of Death, Moxon's Master, A Tough Tussle, One of Twins, The Haunted Valley, A Jug of Syrup, A Resumed Identity, A Baby Tramp, The Night-Doings at `Deadman's', Beyond the Wall, A Psychological Shipwreck, The Middle Two of the Right Foot, John Mortonson's Funeral, The Realm of the Unreal, John Bartine's Watch, The Damned Thing, Haita the Shepherd, An Inhabitant of Carcosa, The Stranger
Can Such Things Be (1893)

Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951)

Algernon Blackwood was a prolific writer of weird fiction who had a serious interest in the supernatural and often explored the unseen forces of Nature in his tales. He is in fact one of the most famous fantasy writers of English literature but also wrote some first-class ghost stories. Blackwood led a varied life as a prospector, hotel manager, farmer and journalist and also broadcast many of his own stories.

A Haunted Island, The Willows, The Glamour of the Snow, The Woman's Ghost Story, The Decoy, Ancient Sorceries, The Empty House, Keeping His Promise, The Doll, Running Wolf, The Little Beggar, The Occupant of the Room, The Man Whom the Trees Loved, The Valley of the Beasts, The South Wind, The Man Who was Milligan, The Trod, The Terror of the Twins, The Deferred Appointment, Accessory Before the Fact, The House of the Past, The Tradition, The Touch of Pan, Entrance and Exit, The Pikestaffe Case, The Empty Sleeve, Violence, The Lost Valley, Chinese Magic, First Hate, The Olive, The Sacrifice, The Damned, Wayfarers, The Sea Fit, The Attic, The Heath Fire, The Return, The Transfer, Clairvoyance, The Golden Fly, Special Delivery, The Destruction of Smith, The Tryst, The Wings of Horus, Initiation, A Desert Episode, Transition, The Other Wing, The Dance of Death, a Psychical Invasion, The Old Man of Visions
The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories (1906)
The Listener (1907)
John Silence, Physician Extraordinary (1908)
Incredible Adventures (1914)
Day and Night Stories (1917)
The Dance of Death (1927)
Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural (1949)
Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre

Karen Blixen (1885-1962)

The Sailor-Boy's Tale
Winter's Tales

Henry Thomas Wishart Bousfield

Henry Thomas Wishart Bousfield was a popular author of bizarre and supernatural tales publishing in some of the 1930's most well-known magazines.

The God with Four Arms
The God with Four Arms and Other Stories (1939)

Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973)

Hand in Glove
The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen (1980)

Marjorie Bowen (1888-?)

Marjorie Bowen captured her public at an early age by publishing The Viper of Milan whilst still in her teens. Much interest was caused by the emergence of her name from behind the pseudonym of George Preedy.

The Crown Derby Plate, The Folding Doors
The Last Bouquet

Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915)

Mary Elizabeth Braddon was the Victorian era's most successful sensationalist novelist outselling both Dickens and Wilkie Collins. She wrote over eighty novels and many excellent ghost stories.

The Shadow in the Corner, The Cold Embrace, Eveline's Visitant, John Granger

Rhoda Broughton (1840-1920)

In the late Victorian period Rhoda Broughton, like Mary Elizabeth Braddon, was a national literary heroine. Her earlier novels had outraged and intrigued society. Also like Braddon, she was a competent ghost story writer.

Poor Pretty Bobby
Tales for Xmas Eve (1873)

John Buchan (1875-1940)

Fullcircle
The Runagates Club (1928)

Thomas Burke (1886-1945)

The Hollow Man
Night-Pieces. Eighteen Tales (1935)

Alfred McLellan Burrage (1889-1956) (also known as Ex-Private X)

Alfred McLellan Burrage was a journalist, poet and short-story writer born in Middlesex. He also wrote under the pseudonym Ex-Private X but his published works are extremely difficult to find. He wrote the classic War is War, a passionate novel based on his personal experiences of trench warfare in the First World War. He was also one of the best writers of more traditional ghost stories.

Smee, One Who Saw, The Shadowy Escort, The Waxwork, The Running Tide
Some Ghost Stories (1927)
Someone in the Room (1931)
Between the Minute and the Hour (1967)

(Lord) Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)

The Haunted and the Haunters, The House and The Brain

Bernard Capes (1854-1918)

Towards the end of the Victorian era Bernard Capes was one of the more imaginative and explorative writers of mystery and supernatural fiction.

The Widow's Clock, A Ghost-Child, An Eddy on the Floor, The Moon Stricken, The Black Reaper
At A Winter's Fire (1899)
From Door to Door (1900)
Plots (1902)
Loaves and Fishes (1906)
Bag and Baggage (1913)
The Fabulists (1915)

Robert William Chambers (1865-1933)

Robert William Chambers was an American author who carried on the great tradition of supernatural and ghostly fiction began with Poe, O'Brien, Hawthorne and Bierce. His masterly The King in Yellow (1895) is a standard in the field.

A Pleasant Evening, The Bridal Pair
The King in Yellow (1895)
The Maker of Moans (1896)

Alfred Edgar Coppard (1878-1957)

Alfred Edgar Coppard was a short story writer and poet who came to publishing late in life. He wrote mostly about the country and his first editions are highly collectable. His ghost stories include The Tiger and Ahoy, Sailor Boy!

The Tiger, Ahoy, Sailor Boy!
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me (1921)
The Collected Tales of A. E. Coppard (1948)
Dunky Fitlow. Tales (1933)
Fearful Pleasures (1951)
Selected Stories (1972)

Frank Cowper (1849-1930)

Frank Cowper spent most of his life working on English canals or on boats working the North Sea and English Channel. He wrote several boat related collections but also produced some excellent ghost stories.

Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk

Ralph Adams Cram (1863-1942)

Ralph Adams Cram was trained as an architect and helped revived gothic influences in American architecture. He was also a successful author on various topics including a collection of supernatural tales.

Sister Maddelena, No. 252 Rue M. Le Prince
Black Spirits and White (1895)

Francis Marrion Crawford (1854-1909)

F. Marion Crawford achieved enormous world-wide popularity in the 1880's and 1890's with a long series of novels. However, he is best remembered for his collection of uncanny tales of the supernatural.

The Dead Smile, The Screaming Skull, Man Overboard, By the Waters of Paradise, For the Blood is the Life, The Upper Berth, The Doll's Ghost
Uncanny Tales (1911)

Catherine Crowe (1800?-1876)

Catherine Crowe was one of the earliest advocates of women's educational rights. She was also keenly interested in Spiritualism and the occult and her most famous book, The Night Side of Nature, contains a wealth of information on the subject. Most of her excellent ghost stories were based on actual events.

The Italian's Story
The Night Side of Nature
Ghost and Family Legends

Allan Cunningham

The Haunted Ships

Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe was the son of a London butcher. He was a preacher, soldier, traveller and journalist and produced some early classics of English literature including Robinson Crusoe.

The Ghost of Dorothy Dingley

Walter de la Mare (1873-1956)

Walter de la Mare started his career in a bank but turned his talents to writing, much of it otherworldly.

Seaton's Aunt, The Looking Glass, All Hallows, Mr Kempe, Bad Company
A Beginning and Other Stories (1955)

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

No introduction is required to the paragon of Victorian literature. However, it is perhaps not widely recognised that Dickens was almost solely responsible for formulating the Victorian's avid appetite for the traditional ghost story. This stemmed from his Christmas Carol (1843) and was promoted through his weekly magazine All the Year Round for which he wrote many excellent stories.

To Be Taken With a Grain of Salt, No. 1 Branch Line: The Signalman, The Bagman's Story, Telling Winter Stories, The Tale of the Bagman's Uncle, The Ghost in Master B.'s Room

Arthur Conan Doyle

Although Arthur Conan Doyle's popularity stemmed almost wholly from his Sherlock Holmes mysteries he had a life-long passion for the supernatural and eventually devoted his life to a study of spiritualism and the paranormal. With this interest it is not surprising to find he wrote some first class ghost stories.

The Brown Hand

(Lord) Dunsany (1878-?)

Lord Dunsany was a famous soldier, cricketer, huntsman and writer who wrote some excellent supernatural tales.

The Two Bottles of Relish, A Large Diamond

Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards (1831-1892)

Amelia Edwards is best remembered for her book A Thousand Miles Up the Nile and for her connections with the institution of the Egypt Exploration Fund. She wrote widely on travel but produced some of the Victorian era's best ghost stories.

The Phantom Coach, The North Mail, The New Pass

Monsieur Maurice (1873)

William Faulkner

Dry September
Collected Stories of William Faulkner (1930)

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935)

Joseph Smith Fletcher was a prolific writer of detective and adventure stories but wrote mainly press articles on agriculture. He started writing fiction shortly after joining the Leeds Mercury.

The Charing Cross Mystery, The Green Room, The Wild Oat, The Other Sense

E. M. Forster (1879-1970)

The Story of A Panic, The Story of the Siren
Collected Stories of E. M. Forster

Lettice Galbraith

The Trainer's Ghost
New Ghost Stories (1897)

Tom Gallon (1866-1914)

Tom Gallon, after a series of badly paid jobs took to the roads of England in pursuit of inspiration before settling in London. He eventually gained popularity with his Dickensian style tales of London low-life.

The House That was Lost
Comethup (1899)
The Kingdom of Hate (1899)
The Charity Ghost (1902)

Elizabeth Gaskell

The Old Nurses's Story

Theo Gift (1847-1923) (pseudonym of Dora Havers)

Dora Havers was a great friend of Edith Nesbit and wrote several good ghost stories under this male pseudonym.

Dog or Demon
Not for the Night-time (1889)

James Grant (1822-?)

James Grant was of the same family of Sir Walter Scott and was the son of a military captain.

The Phantom Regiment

Arthur Gray (1852-1940)

The True History of Anthony Ffryar
Tedious Brief Tales of Granta and Gramarye (1919)

Leslie Poles Hartley (1895-1972)

Leslie Poles Hartley was a well-known reviewer and contributor to periodicals. His stories include A Visitor From Down Under and The Thought.

A Visitor From Down Under, The Thought, The Travelling Grave, The White Wand, Apples, A Summons, A Tonic, A Condition of Release, Witheling End, Mr. Blandfoot's Picture, The Price of the Absolute, A Rewarding Experience, W.S., The Two Vaynes, Monkshood Manor, Up the Garden Path, Hilda's Letter
Night Fears and Other Stories (1924)
The Killing Bottle and Other Stories (1932)
The Travelling Grave and Other Stories (1951)
The White Wand and Other Stories (1954)

Alexander Harvey

Alexander Harvey was a Belgian born American author and editor of several journals.

The Forbidden Floor

William Fryer Harvey (1885-1937)

William Fryer Harvey was a Quaker doctor who was awarded the Albert Medal for Gallantry for his service in the First World War. He wrote several traditional ghost stories and was also an excellent writer of weird psychological horror fiction.

The Clock, Across the Moors, Miss Cornelius, August Heat, The Beast with Five Fingers
Midnight House (1910)
The Beast with Five Fingers and Other Midnight Tales (1928)
Moods and Tenses (1933)

John Berwick Harwood (1828-1886?)

John Berwick Harwood contributed many (usually anonymous) stories and articles, some of them about his experiences in China, to Blackwoods and the Cornhill Magazine. He wrote about twenty novels and several Christmas horror tales.

Horror: A True Tale, The Underground Ghost, The Painted Room at Blackston Manor
Major Peter (1866)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Hawthorne is remembered chiefly for his novels and short stories about Puritan New England, including The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. His supernatural short stories were highly regarded by Longfellow and Poe.

The Gray Champion, The Christmas Banquet, Sunday at Home, The Wedding Knell, The Minister's Black Veil, The May-Pole of Merry-Mount, The Gentle Boy, Mr Higginbotham's Catastrophe, Little Annie's Ramble, Wakefield, A Rill from the Town Pump, The Great Carbuncle, The Prophetic Pictures, Davis Swan, Sights from a Steeple, The Hollow of the Three Hills, The Toll-Gatherer's Day, The Vision of the Fountain, Fancy's Show Box, Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
Twice-Told Tales (1837)

Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904)

Lafcadio Hearn settled in Japan in 1890 after living for twenty years in America. He was very interested in the myths and legend of the East, particularly India, China and Japan and these often formed the basis of his many supernatural stories.

Yuki-Onna
Some Chinese Ghosts (1887)
In Ghostly Japan (1899)
Kotto (1902)
Kwaidan (1904)
Fantastics (1914)

O. Henry (1862-1910)

O. Henry was the writing name of William Sydney Porter. He was instrumental in defining the form of the modern English short story.

The Furnished Room, Roads of Destiny

Robert Hitchens (1864-1950)

How Love Came to Professor Guildea

William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918)

William Hope Hodgson was a contemporary of M. R. James and Algernon Blackwood, a son of an Essex clergyman who ran away from home at an early age and became a sea-farer. In 1899 he gave up a life on the seas and forever despised the brutality he had encountered during this period of his life. He opened a gymnasium in Blackburn called the W. H. Hodgson School for Physical Culture where he taught his passion of body-building. His first publications were articles on body-building illustrated with photographs of himself and he used photographs he had taken whilst at sea for lectures about tropical storms. His first short story, A Tropical Horror was published in 1905. At the beginning of the First World War Hodgson was living in the south of France. He returned to England and joined the Royal Artillery. A horsing accident in 1916 resulted in his discharge but he enlisted again only to be killed by a shell at Ypres, Belgium in 1918. Almost all of his writings were produced in the eleven year period prior to his death. Hodgson is perhaps best known as the creator of Carnacki the legendary occult detective appearing in a series of short stories in The Idler magazine. Although most of Hodgson's writing concerns the sea and is better classified as horror literature, he wrote some excellent ghostly tales.

The Horse of the Invisible, A Tropical Horror, The Whistling Room, The Derelict, The Gateway of the Monster, The Voice in the Night
The House on the Borderland (1908)
The Night Land (1912)
Deep Waters
Carnacki, the Ghost Finder (1913)

James Hogg (1770-1835)

James Hogg became a shepherd in Ettrick Forest and wrote many ballads, songs and prose which placed him alongside Byron and Scott for repute. He collected many supernatural tales of Scotland.

The Mysterious Bride, Mary Burnet, The Expedition to Hell

Washington Irving (1783-1859)

Washington Irving was the famous author of Rip van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow who was a younger friend of Sir Walter Scott. Scott is believed to have encouraged Irving to explore supernatural fiction.

The Spectre Bridegroom, The Devil and Tom Walker, Governor Manco and the Soldier, The Tale of the German Student
The Alhambra (1832)

William Wymark Jacobs (1863-1943)

William Wymark Jacobs wrote about Wapping wharves and the hands on tramp steamers, the rustic characters who foregather at the Cauliflower Inn and the supernatural. His stories include The Monkey's Paw (who many regard as the most gruesome ghost story ever written) and His Brother's Keeper.

The Monkey's Paw, His Brother's Keeper, Jerry Bundler, The Three Sisters
The Lady of the Barge (1902)

Henry James (1843-1916)

This famous author wrote more than a dozen excellent ghost stories.

The Romance of Certain Old Clothes, The Jolly Corner
A Passionate Pilgrim (1875)
Stories Revived (1885)

Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936)

Montague Rhodes James was a well-educated mediaevalist who became Provost of King's College Cambridge in 1905 and was then Vice-Chancellor of the University from 1913 to 1915. He published a number of memorable works and is widely regarded as having developed the modern ghost story. His first collection was highly influential.

The Rose Garden, Lost Hearts, Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad, The Treasure of Abbott Thomas, Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book, The Mezzotint, The Ash- tree, Number 13, Count Magnus, A School Story, The Tractate Middoth, Casting the Runes, The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, Martin's Close, Mr Humphreys and his Inheritance, The Residence at Whitminster, The Diary of Mr. Poynter, An Episode of Cathedral History, The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance, Two Doctors, The Haunted Doll's House, The Uncommon Prayer-Book, A Neighbour's Landmark, A View From a Hill, A Warning to the Curious, An Evening's Entertainment, There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard, Rats, After Dark in the Playing Fields, Wailing Well, Stories I have Tried to Write
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904)
More Ghost Stories (1911)
A Thin Ghost and Others (1919)
A Warning to the Curious (1925)
Collected Ghost Stories (1931)
Complete Ghost Stories of M. R. James (1984)

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Kipling's association with India and his many famous works hardly need introduction. Kipling turned his hand to many forms of literature including the fantastic and supernatural for which he had a particular liking.

By Word of Mouth

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873)

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was an Anglo-Irish journalist, great-nephew of the dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan and publisher of several periodicals in Dublin. He was one of the first to develop the ghost story into a recognisable genre. His tale Schalken the Painter is often quoted as the best ghost story of the 19th century.

Schalken the Painter, Carmilla, Green Tea, Squire Toby's Will, Mr Justice Harbottle, The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh, The Familiar, Madam Crowl's Ghost, The Haunted Baronet, An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street, The Dead Sexton, Ghost Stories of the Tiled House, The White Cat of Drumgunniol, An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House, Sir Dominick's Bargain, Ultor de Lacy
Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery (1851)
Chronicles of Golden Friars (1871)
The Purcell Papers (1880)
In a Glass Darkly (1872)
The Watcher and Other Weird Stories (1894)
Madam Crowl's Ghost and Other Stories (1923)

Vernon Lee (1856-1935) (pseudonym of Violet Paget)

A Wicked Voice

Leslie Allin Lewis (1899-1961)

Squadron Leader L. A. Lewis flew with the RAF in both world wars and became one of the most popular writers of the macabre between the wars.

Haunted Air
Tales of the Grotesque (1934)

H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)

Pickman's Model, The Dunwich Horror, The Music of Erich Zann, The Rats in the Walls

Arthur Machen (1863-1947)

Arthur Machen (born Arthur Llewellyn Jones) was born in Caerleon, Wales. He worked as a journalist and Shakespearian actor and was a member of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn along with Blackwood, Yeats and Crowley. His stories, which are often influenced by Stevenson, mainly concentrate on the supernatural.

The Great God Pan, The Great Return, The Inmost Light, The Novel of the White Powder, The Novel of the Black Seal
The Great God Pan and the Inmost Light (1894)
The Three Imposters (1895)
The House of Souls (1906)
The Hill of Dreams (1907)
The Shining Pyramid (1924)
Children of the Pool (1936)
The Cosy Room (1936)
The Green Round (1936)
Tales of Horror and the Supernatural (1948)

Richard Henry Malden (1879-1951)

R. H. Malden was the Chaplain to King George V, Canon of Ripon Cathedral and Dean of Wells. He wrote several theological books and a collection of supernatural tales devoted to his friend M. R. James.

The Coxwain of the Lifeboat
Nine Ghosts (1943)

Richard Marsh (1857-1915) (pseudonym of Richard Bernard Heldmann)

This is the author of the great rival of Stoker's Dracula entitled The Beetle (1897) Marsh wrote many supernatural and weird stories for popular magazines.

A Set of Chessmen
Both Sides of the Veil (1901)

Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)

During his lifetime Guy de Maupassant was a leading figure of French literature and a recognised genius of the short story or which he wrote over three hundred. His principle inspiration for his weird tales was madness; something he experienced himself towards the end of his life.

Who Knows?, Le Horla, Was it a Dream?, On the River, The Hostelry, Was He Mad?, He?, The Phantom Hag
Miss Harriet and Other Stories

Richard Middleton (1882-1911)

On the Brighton Road, The Ghost Ship
The Ghost Ship and Other Stories (1912)

John Cecil Moore (1907-1967)

John Cecil Moore was one of Britain's most popular and successful country writers with novels such as Portrait of Elmbury (1945) and Brensham Village (1946).

Things, Decay

William Chambers Morrow (1853-1923)

W. C. Morrow was an American writer based in San Francisco. An Original Revenge
The Ape, The Idiot & Other People (1897)

Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock (1843-1934)

Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock was better known under his alter-ego “Dick Donovan”, author of more than fifty mystery and detective novels. His best horror and ghost stories were published in two volumes.

A Ghost from the Sea
Stories Weird and Wonderful (1889) (Muddock)
Tales of Terror (1899) (Dick Donovan)

Dinah Maria Mulock (1826-1887)

Dinah Maria Mulock was a prolific writer of novels, fairy tales, essays poems and short stories and is perhaps best remembered for her novel John Halifax – Gentleman (1856). She put aside her Civil List Pension for authors less fortunate than herself.

M. Anastasius
Nothing New (1857)

Alan Noel Latimer Munby (1913-1974)

Alan Noel Latimer Munby was Librarian of King's College Cambridge from 1947 to 1974. Stories in The Alabaster Hand were written when he was a prisoner of war at Eichstatt in Upper Franconia. His stories include An Encounter in the Mist.

The Alabaster Hand, An Encounter in the Mist
The Alabaster Hand and Other Ghost Stories (1949)

Edith Nesbit (1858-1924)

Edith Nesbit is best remembered for her children's classics The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Railway Children (1906) and Five Children and It (1902). She also wrote some excellent ghost stories which were collected in Grim Tales (1893).

Man-Size in Marble, The Ebony Frame, John Charrington's Wedding, The Shadow
Grim Tales (1893)
Fear (1910)

Amyas Northcote (1864-1923)

Amyas Northcote was the seventh son of the First Earl of Iddesleigh (the Chancellor of the Exchequer under Disraeli) and was for several years a Justice of the Peace in Buckinghamshire. He produced articles on all manner of subjects for popular magazines but only wrote one book, a collection of supernatural stories.

The Downs
In Ghostly Company (1922)

Fitz-James O'Brien (1828-1862)

Fitz-James O'Brien was an Irish-born son of a lawyer who emigrated to America in 1852 and immediately became recognised as a leading writer of horror stories in the decade following the death of Edgar Allan Poe.

The Pot of Tulips, The Diamond Lens, The Wondersmith, What Was It?, The Lost Room, From Hand to Mouth

Margaret Oliphant

The Library Window, The Open Door

George Oliver Onions (1873-1961)

George Oliver Onions was a Yorkshireman who wrote many excellent ghost stories and was married to the famous novelist Berta Ruck. He is perhaps best known for the lengthy story The Beckoning Fair One, considered by many to be the best ghost story ever written. It is an excellent tale of a gradual possession by a mysterious feminine power. Certainly his ghost stories are better than average. Another excellent story by Onions is The Rope in the Rafters based on the actual experience of his son Arthur. One night whilst staying in a lodging house he suddenly became aware of a presence in his room, could hear deep breathing and smelt damp earth.

The Beckoning Fair One, The Rope in the Rafters, Phantas, Rooum, Benlian, Io, The Accident, The Cigarette Case, The Rocker, Hic Jacet
Widdershins (1911)
Ghosts in Daylight (1924)
Collected Ghost Stories (1935)
Bells rung Backwards (1953)

Vincent O'Sullivan (1868-1940)

Vincent O'Sullivan is remembered chiefly for his study of the 1890s literary scene entitled Aspects of Wilde (1936). He also wrote many poems, articles and some excellent ghost stories which are found in rare collections.

The Burned House
A Book of Bargains (1896)
A Dissertation Upon Second Fiddles (1902)

Barry Pain (1864-1928) (pseudonym of Eric Odell)

Barry Pain was a pseudonym for Eric Odell. He is perhaps best known for his humorous books such as those in the Eliza series which describe the home life of a Surbiton clerk's family. His stories include The Green Light and Rose Rose.

The Green Light, Rose Rose
Stories in the Dark (1901)
Stories in Grey (1911)

Thomas Nelson Page (1853-1922)

Thomas Nelson Page was an American writer, lawyer and diplomat best known for his stories about Virginia. During the First World War he served as US Ambassador to Italy.

The Spectre in the Cart
Bred in the Bone (1904)

Carl Douglas Pamely

The Unfinished Masterpiece
Tales of Mystery and Terror (1926)

Clive Pemberton

Clive Pemberton was an Edwardian journalist who wrote a number of mystery stories.

A Dead Man's Bargain
The Weird o'it (1906)

Alice Perrin (1867-1934)

Alice Perrin was a very popular author who spent many years in India and wrote several novels and collections based on experiences there.

Caulfield's Crime, In the Next Room, Chunia, Ayah, The Bead Necklace, Footsteps in the Dust, Powers of Darkness, The Sistrum
East of Suez (1901)
Red Records (1906)

James Platt (1861-1910)

James Platt was a highly respected scholar who became fluent in every European language by the age of twenty-five and studied little known African tongues. He produced some of the best etymological studies to date. His six excellent supernatural stories are collected in Tales of the Supernatural (1894).

The Witches Sabbath
Tales of the Supernatural (1894)

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

No introduction could do justice to Poe, the archetypal American master of the pathological mystery and the macabre tale. His works influenced many of the writers who followed him.

The Masque of the Red Death, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, Ligeia Metzengerstein

(Sir) Authur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944)

Arthur Quiller-Couch, who often went under the signature “Q” was an academic who became Professor of English Literature at Cambridge in 1912 and edited, among other works, the Oxford Book of English Verse. He wrote prolifically and many of his tales are of a supernatural vein.

The Seventh Man, The Roll-call of the Reef, The Monkey-Flower, The Czarina's Violet, Old Aeson, A Pair of Hands, “Once Aboard the Lugger”, The Bridals of Ysselmonde, The Conspiracy Aboard the “Midas”, The Paupers, Our Lady of Gwithian, Phoebus on Halzaphron, Pipes in Arcady, John and the Ghosts, The Two Householders, The Small People, Psyche, The Magic Shadow, Oceanus
Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts
Wandering Heath. Stories, Studies and Sketches (1895)
The White Wolf and other Fireside Tales

Lennox Robinson (1886-1958)

Lennox Robinson was one of Ireland's leading playwrights (The Lost Leader 1918, The Whiteheaded Boy 1920) with a long association with Dublin's Abbey Theatre. He also wrote short stories, biographies and novels.

The Face
Eight Short Stories (1919)

Lionel Thomas Caswell Rolt (1910-1974)

Bosworth Summit Pound
Sleep No More, Twelve Stories of the Supernatural (1948)

Saki (1870-1916) (pseudonym of H. H. Munro)

``Saki'' was the writing name chosen by the Scottish satirist H. H. Munro. He was a contributor to the Morning Post for which he wrote many articles. His many stories vary in emotion from humorous, ironic to grim.

Gabriel-Ernest, The Music on the Hill, Laura

(Sir) Walter Scott (1771-1832)

Walter Scott was stimulated to write whilst still a lawyer and produced many classic works including Ivanhoe. He produced some of the best examples of Georgian gothic tales.

The Tapestried Chamber, Wandering Willie's Tale
The Keepsake (1829)

Mary Sinclair (1863-1946)

The Victim
Uncanny Stories (1923)

A. E. D. Smith

A. E. D. Smith was a civil servant who, during the first World War, served in the Dardanelles, Egypt and the Balkans. He later wrote short stories for several magazines.

The Coat
Powers of Darkness (1934)

(Lady) Eleanor Smith

No Ships Pass

Herbert Stephen (1857-1932)

Herbert Stephen was a barrister and Clerk of Assize but also wrote several short stories in the tradition of Dickens.

No. 11 Welham Square

Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902)

Frank Stockton was an American novelist who made his name with the comedy novel Rudder Grange (1879). He worked on several magazines and newspapers and produced a large number of novels. He also wrote many excellent short stories some of which are of a supernatural flavour.

The Bishop's Ghost and the Printer's Baby, The Philosophy of Relative Existences, The Lady, or the Tiger?
The Lady, or the Tiger? (1884), The Bee Man of Orn (1887)
The Chosen Few (1895)
A Story-teller's Pack (1897)
John Gayther's Garden (1902)
The Magic Egg and Other Stories (1907)

Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker had an unequalled influence on the horror genre with the publication of his novel Dracula. But Stoker also wrote some of the best supernatural and ghost stories of the closing decade of the nineteenth century.

The Judges House, The Castle of the King, The Secret of the Growing Gold, The Squaw, The Burial of the Rats, The Dualitists
Dracula's Guest, and Other Weird Stories (1914)

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)

This is the author of the famous anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).

The Ghost in the Mill, The Ghost in the Cap'n Brown House
Oldtown Fireside Stories (1871)

Edmund Gill Swain (1861-1938)

Bone to His Bone
The Stoneground Ghost Tales (1912)

Allen Upward (1863-1926)

Allen Upward as a prolific best-selling author of mysteries, novels and short stories at the turn of the century.

The Story of the Green House, Wallington

Herbert Russell Wakefield (1888-1964)

Herbert Russell Wakefield wrote most of his stories between 1928 and 1935. His tales include Old Man's Beard and Blind Man's Buff.

Old Man's Beard, Blind Man's Buff, The Frontier Guards
They Walk at Night (1928)
Old Man's Beard. Fifteen Disturbing Tales (1929)
Ghost Stories

(Sir) Hugh Walpole (1884-1941)

Hugh Seymour Walpole was the son of the Bishop of Edinburgh and wrote a series of distinguished and popular novels, among the best known are Mr Maradick at Forty and The Cathedral. His ghost stories include Major Wilbraham and The Little Ghost.

Major Wilbraham, The Little Ghost
The Silver Thorn
All Souls Night (1933)

Evelyn Waugh

The Man Who Liked Dickens
A Handful of Dust (1934)

H. G. Wells (1866-1946)

H. G. Wells, author of classics such as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, wrote a number of excellent macabre tales.

The Sea-Raiders, The Inexperienced Ghost, The Red Room
The Plattner Story and Others (1899)
The Short Stories of H. G. Wells (1927)

Edith Wharton (1862-1937)

Edith Wharton, a friend of Henry James, had a distinguished career as one of America's leading novelists. She also wrote a large number of ghost stories.

Afterward, Mr Jones, The Triumph of Night
Certain People (1930)
The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton

Edward Lucas White (1866-1934)

Mary Eleanor Wilkins (1852-1930)

Mary E. Wilkins was a highly acclaimed American author who wrote about life in New England. The American Academy of Arts awarded her the Howells medal for fiction in 1926. Apart from her many popular novels she wrote over 200 short stories of which the best are her supernatural tales.

The Lost Ghost, The Hall Bedroom
The Wind in the Rose-Bush and Other Stories of the Supernatural (1903)

William J. Wintle (1861-1934)

William J. Wintle was a prolific journalist who wrote on many subjects. Whilst staying at the Priory on Caldy Island he told ghostly tales to the novitiates and these formed the basis of his Ghost Gleams (1921).

The Ghost of the ``Blue Dragon''
Ghost Gleams (1921)

© 1997-2002 Alastair G. Gunn.