(from the archives)
I always like to look for ghost stories in October. Here's a start.
I
happened upon an article in "Ploughshares" discussing the ghost stories
of Muriel Spark and I happened to have this collection (above) which
had a number of the mentioned stories in it. I found them oddly
appealing although more as pieces of writing than satisfying ghost
stories.
"The Leafsweeper" has the odd premise of being about a man whose obsession was putting an end to the celebration of Christmas. When enough people were bored and tired with his ranting about it, he was put in an asylum where he rakes leaves. In the house where he formerly ranted, another ghostly figure takes his place at Christmas time although he does not rant and rave about Christmas. The story ends with the two figures becoming one. One has to wonder what the man does when there are no leaves to rake.
"The House of the Famous Poet" was even stranger. A woman living in the house of a famous poet is on a train ride when a soldier sells her "an abstract funeral" to cover the costs of his fare. The story ends with a bombing where people in the house of the famous poet die thus requiring a real funeral.
And finally "The Executor." A woman's uncle dies and leaves her his house and estate. She turns over his literary work to a foundation, holding back a novel about a witch with a chapter left for completion. As she works to complete it, little notes turn up each day, chastising her for not finishing the work and making disturbing accusations. The Foundation notifies her that they were in receipt of the final chapter and wanted the rest of it.
None of these were satisfying to me as ghost stories but as I said, I enjoyed them anyway. Sometimes the conceit is more interesting than a satisfying conclusion. I always like Spark's writing and these were stories from a quirky mind. The best kind, I think.
What is your favorite ghost short story?
I haven't read Sparks' short stories, Patti, although I know I should. This collection looks interesting. Quirky, even strange, as you say, but intriguing.
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DeleteAlso try THE GO-AWAY BIRD, the first collection of Spark's I read, about half a century ago.
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DeleteIn my early reading of ghost stories, among the favorites that I still find at very least great fun are Henry Cecil's "Proof", C. B. Gilford's "The Forgiving Ghost", Joan Aiken's "The Windscreen Weepers" (in a sense at least), Jorge Luis Borges' "The Other Death" (in an even more remote sense), and "Laura" by Saki come to mind, though I didn't segregate ghost stories too much from other horror at that time, nor since. My favorite novel in this arena remains THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Jackson (who has great short stories in the mode), with, among more recent items that might be said to be "adjacent" such as Octavia Butler's KINDRED.
ReplyDeleteHere's anthology I missed that is about half made up of stories I've read and liked, which augurs well for the other half: https://archive.org/details/triumphofnightta0000unse/page/n9/mode/2up TRIUMPH OF THE NIGHT edited by Robert Phillips and its contents can be pulled up at this address: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?332273 Pity it has no William Kotzwinkle nor Robert Aickman...nor Lisa Tuttle nor Jane Yolen nor Kit Reed.
DeleteAnd I'll probably get some more sleep, now, but this post taps into the early reading: https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2017/10/my-halloween-and-beyond-early-key.html
ReplyDeleteI know I read Spark's Collected Short Stories so I probably did read all of these, though they are not all familiar. Most of the ghost stories I like are novels (like the Shirley Jackson that Todd mentioned), but some M. R. James and Stephen King stories would be in there. It's hard to come up with titles offhand.
ReplyDeleteGeorge reviewed the John Mortimer-edited anthology, GREAT LAW & ORDER STORIES, a couple of months ago, and since my library didn't have it I bought a copy (nice first edition) online for $3.99. I had already read a number of the stories, by not only Mortimer but Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, P. D. James. I've reread most of them along with the new (to me) ones. One I had read was originally published in France in 1946, George Simenon's "The Evidence of the Altar-Boy." In this one, Maigret has been seconded to the Flying Squad in a provincial town for 6 months (Madame Maigret came along, as she could not bear the thought of him eating in restaurants for months) to clean up their act. A 12 year old boy tells the police he witnessed a murdered man and another running away, but (as on so many television shows these days), when they get there, there is no body and no evidence of a crime. Only one person believes him, Maigret, and he sets out to prove it happened. He does a nice job with the small town atmosphere and, of course, Maigret solves the case, with the help of several pipefuls of his favorite tobacco.
I'm fond of Shirley Jackson's ghost stories, but the ghost story that haunts me is Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion changes more than the New Englland weather. Today, it's a tossup between "The Mezzotint" by M. R. James, "The Beckoniong Fair One' by Oliver Onions", "A Romance of Certain Old Clothes" by Henry James, and "Larroes Catch Meddlers" by Manly Wade Wellman
ReplyDeleteAnd even there, Larroes might be argued a more corporeal threat than ghosts per se tend to be...
DeleteBecause Glen does read ghost stories, and has for years and years, I asked him if he had a favorite ghost story. His favorite short story is "How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery" by E.F. Benson. He has it in THE TALE OF AN EMPTY HOUSE AND OTHER GHOST STORIES by E.F. Benson.
ReplyDeleteBenson is a lifelong favorite, and has been so decades before I'd heard of Mapp and Lucia...he and two of his brothers all published horror fiction, and I first encountered E. F. through an anthology featuring his "Caterpillars"...
DeleteI have a post for today...I'm a bit under the weather, hence slow posting... https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2025/10/ssw-july-1943-weird-tales-unknown.html
ReplyDeleteI do not remember reading anything by Muriel Spark, although I may have at some time in the past. I do plan to read THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE in the next few weeks for my Classics Club list.
ReplyDeleteI asked Glen if he had any short stories by Spark, and he did not have any collections by her, but he did find one story in THE LITERARY GHOST, edited by Larry Dark: "The Portobello Road." So will try that one, and he may find more in some of his anthologies.
"The Portobello Road" is fine, and almost inarguaby her most famous ghost story...
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