Ghost Stories: stories of ghosts

In my reply to the good news that a two volume set by John Locke, entitled Ghost Stories, and devoted to the since long gone magazine Ghost Stories, was recently published, I was glad to mention a little booklet (it numbers 32 pages) that I bought a long time ago.

I think it is the first study in regards to Ghost Stories, and am happy to post its cover here.

The bibliographical elements are: James R. Seiger, Ghost Stories, stories of ghosts, 'Neglected Repository Of Supernatural Fiction', essay by Sam Moskowitz, index by James Seiger, 'The Apparition In The Prize Ring', story by Robert E. Howard, introduction by Glenn Lord, Opar Press, Evergreen, Colorado, May, 1973. 32 pages.

How did the magazine look like? See here for depictions of 21 full colour covers.

New R.R. Ryan website

R.R. Ryan

R.R. Ryan, author of such ominously sounding titles as Death of a Sadist, Freak Museum and The Subjugated Beast, has attained a cult status on the strength of his violent visions alone. But who was he, or she?

I had the honour of co-writing with James Doig the article 'Finding R.R. Ryan' on the identity of that mysterious British horror writer of the 1930's, R.R. Ryan in All Hallows: The Journal of the Ghost Story Society issue 37, 2004. At that time it was only known that the writer's name was a penname, but for whom? James finally solved that riddle and published his research results as 'R.R. Ryan Found', in All Hallows: The Journal of the Ghost Story Society issue 44 in 2008. James and I earned a small spot in Joshi's Supernatural Literature Of The World, An Encyclopedia with our first article. The honours in having solved the riddle that had led to much speculation, belong entirely to James.

But here's the fun part: there's a new and interesting website on R.R. Ryan that certainly merits a visit.

Wormwoodiana in Fortean Times

Fortean Times, issue 258

I am sure some of you know the venerable Fortean Times, which is, as it states, "the monthly magazine of news, reviews and research on strange phenomena and experiences, curiosities, prodigies and portents. It was founded by Bob Rickard in 1973 to continue the work of Charles Fort (1874 - 1932)."

I have a regular column in there entitled 'Blasts From The Past', where I share some of my research into the strange things that emerge when delving into the 19th and 20th century digital newspaper archives. One of my lines of research involves the Victorian bogeyman Spring-heeled Jack, and my contribution will appear in a study under the editorship of Mike Dash later this year.

James Doig, who also blogs here, was so kind as to alert me to what I have termed the Bendigo Spring-heeled Jack. This involved a ghost scare set in 19th century Bendigo, Australia and written about by none other than J.P. Quaine in 1939. I did some research and published the preliminary results in my column in issue 258 of Fortean Times which is currently on the newsstands. Since I also used quotes from materials posted here by James, I referenced these quotes, pointing to Wormwoodiana.

It's nice to see that there's no distinction between online and offline scholarship. These digital times certainly enhance the abilities of any researcher to delve even deeper into a topic or subject.

Blackwood's The Wave as reviewed in America

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, 24 February 1917

I'll keep this item brief: in 1917, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, a newspaper out of Brooklyn, New York, published a review of Algernon Blackwood's The Wave, An Egyptian Aftermath.

The reviewer concluded: "Anyone who has read Julius Le Vallon, John Silence, Ten Minute Stories, etc., by the same author, will be pleased to read The Wave, which is quite as good in its way as any of its predecessors."

Gruesome Cargoes: Horror fiction 1925-1937

Thanks to the internet, we can now share what we have managed to preserve of the unique art that adorned the dust wrappers of the 1920's - 1930's horror and supernatural books. In most cases these covers are but rarely seen, as dust wrappers from that period, gracing books that were not even considered decent literature or collectible, are much rarer than one would think.

There are some excellent sites doing their best in preserving, documenting and generously sharing the art of these dust wrappers. There is, for instance, the section on rare books on Robert Weinberg's site with a choice selection, there is the excellent supernatural fiction database of Tartarus Press, and there is the art gallery on Jessica Amanda Salmonson's website Violet Books.

Today I stumbled upon the blog Grueseome Cargoes that is an absolute must if like me, you want to actually see what those covers look like and immerse yourself in that unique flavour of that particular era (yes, I like to watch the Hercule Poirot tv adaptations as they so graceously permit me to savour something of the style and social conventions of that pre-world war II period). And since in my case many books that I have collected over the years lack these spellbinding dust wrappers, it is a feast for the eyes and quite an aha-erlebnis.

Gruesome Cargoes is meant, as its mission statement reads, and I quote, to be a "celebration of Christine Campbell Thomson’s Not At Night Anthologies (1925 – 1936)... Gruesome Cargoes is also a celebration of Charles Lloyd Birkin’s Creeps series (1932 -1936)... similar obsessions to the above but with added unhealthy cannibalism and leprosy fixations."

Recommended! Now we can only dream of the day where we can actually buy or print, through the net, these covers in full colour high resolutions, to restore those books that we have that lack their jackets. It is already common practice, so let's hope that some enterprising collector starts such an undertaking one of these days... or should I say, nights?

Montague Rhodes James as reviewed in America, 1920

One of the masters of the British supernatural tradition, Montague Rhodes James, needs no further introduction. I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled across the following review of 'a new set of ghost stories' in a 1920 American newspaper when searching for some local ghost stories.

So, here's the review and in true Jamesion vein, the reviewer has done his (or her) best to suggest rather than to fully expose, some of the most horrible scenes in James's oeuvre.

The review appeared in the May 30, 1920 edition of the Kansas City Star, published in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a reprint of a review that had been published in the Living Age, as the review indicates.

The Wind in the Rose Bush

Ever since having read the collection of ghost stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman published by Arkham House in 1974, entitled Collected Ghost Stories, with an introduction by none other than Edward Wagenknecht, I have cherished fond memories of her strange and wonderful tales.

So it is with a certain nostalgia that I share this review published on 18 March 1903 in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of her most famous collection The Wind in the Rose Bush here, and I heartily agree with the reviewer who wrote more than a century ago that "The Wind in the Rose Bush' is a collection of ghost stories of a peculiarly creepy sort... they are nerve chilling in their originality."

That title alone, the wind in the rose bush, it evokes a deep yearning to a different time and place, where one could sit outside ones house at night when all the world was at rest, and one could hear the soft rustling of the wind in a rose bush nearby... It reads almost like a Haiku. Now who has the luxury of such a simple, but oh so beautiful thing these days? I know I don't.

13 Spook Stories

In 1941 the landmark collection 13 Spookverhalen (13 Spook Stories) was published in the Netherlands. Landmark, as before that time to my knowledge no other collection had appeared in the Netherlands, devoted to supernatural and ghost stories and including translations of short stories by E.F. Benson. M.R. James, H.R. Wakefield, W.F. Harvey, E. Nesbit and W.W. Jacobs. Also included were short stories by H.G. Wells, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Edith Wharton and others, thirteen tales in all.

E.F. Bensons 'Caterpillars' and M.R. James 'Casting the Runes' were found in this collection. In 1941 the Netherlands were occupied by Nazi Germany; one would think the Dutch had more realistic horrors on their minds than this splendid collection of supernatural tales. But perhaps the publication of this collection was a subtle act of literary resistance, as in the collection all the featured authors were English.

The design on the dustwrapper and the quite nice interior black and white illustrations were drawn by J.M. Prange.

Seven Phantoms

Theo
Another peculiar title in the small, pre second world war list of Dutch language supernatural stories, is Zeven Fantomen (Seven Phantoms) by Dutch author Ben van Eijsselsteijn (1898 - 1973).

I once inspected an early edition of Gustav Meyrink's Der Golem that had belonged to Van Eijsselsteijn.

If mentioned at all these days, Zeven Fantomen is a curiosity as its contents - short stories in the Poe/Hoffman vein - are original in theme but unfortunately quite forgettable in execution. Zeven Fantomen was published in 1934 and it is chiefly remembered owing to its striking cover design and its very effective interior black and white illustrations. These were drawn by artist Hein von Essen (1886 - 1974) who was a friend of Van Eijsselsteijn.

Before and after midnight

The Dutch fantastic literature tradition is virtually nonexistent. Instead of an influx of Edwardian and Victorian ghost story influences, the Dutch opted for a no less dark subject; that of the 19th century grave poetry, earmarked by an all pervading melancholy, ennui and sorrow.

Although never establishing itself firmly, the Dutch supernatural tradition took off in the 1920's with F. Bordewijk's three collections of his short stories (published in 1919, 1923 and 1924), entitled Fantastische Vertellingen, with in one particular gruesome short story, 'Talamon of Ye Old Bowe' a nightmarish description of an abandoned house where a woman sits with her bare legs in a tub, filled with maggots.

As to collections of supernatural stories translated in the Dutch language, two can be considered pioneers: 13 Spookverhalen, published in 1941, and Voor En Na Middernacht, published in 1949.

While we will return to 13 Spookverhalen some other time, Voor En Na Middernacht was a particularly beautiful production for such a relatively unknown genre in the Netherlands. A Large sized hardcover volume with gold on the back and blind stamped motif on the front, it was printed on quality paper with haunting interior illustrations by Dutch artist Eppo Doeve who also drew the dustwrapper with its design spanning the frontside, the back and the backside of the wrapper. The collection features tales by August Derleth, H.P. Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, Henry Russell Wakefield, W.W. Jacobs, Saki, John Collier, Francis Marion Crawford, Ambrose Bierce, Edgar Allan Poe and the like.

The collection was assembled by Amsterdam bookseller Jessurun Lobo, and even today, dustwrappered copies are scarce. This collection saw a number of reprints, but never again such opulent production standards.

Devil's Drums and Veils Of Fear

My knowledge of Vivian Meik, author of the two horror story collections Devil's Drums (1933) and Veils Of Fear (1934) went, until today, no further than an entry on pages 362-363 of Shadows in The Attic: A Guide to British Supernatural Fiction 1820 - 1950 (review here), the entry found on the online Guide to Supernatural Fiction, and having read the two volumes mentioned above.

Meik (1894 - 1955), it turns out, led a fascinating life, at one time returning to the United States with as "One outstanding feature... when he arrived in the US was that he was missing his left eye", according to the very detailed online biography with a wealth of other details The Complete Vivian Meik.

Meik, who died in California, not only wrote the horror story collections mentioned above, but also The People of the Leaves (1931), reviewed in one entry on the Complete Vivian Meik as "...an absorbing account of the obscure Juang or Patuas (meaning people of the leaves or leaf-wearers) tribe located in Orissa. How he fell in love with this extremely shy, withdrawn people makes for fascinating reading..."

A view that was not shared by this contemporary review, published in 1931 in Texas state newspaper San Antonio Express that I found.

The Water Wolf

Who today remembers Leon Lewis (1833 - 1920)? A prolific Dime Novel author in the 1860's and 1870's, he penned novels as The Silver Ship, The Web Of Fate, The Reef Spider and many others, serialized in publications as The New York Weekly and New York Ledger.

While researching something else I found this advert for his novel The Water Wolf: or The Demon Of The Bermudas, published in an 1866 New York state newspaper, the Roman Citizen. The advert also provides some insight into the plotlines and characters in Lewis' story and makes for some interesting reading.

To appreciate this form of literature since long gone, spend some time at Albert Johannsen's site The House of Beadle & Adams and its Dime and Nickel Novels, the story of a vanished literature.

Karl Hanns Strobl, a dark prince of German horror

Due to all kinds of causes, the German language supernatural tradition is somewhat underrepresented. In the case of Austrian writer Karl Hanns Strobl (1877 - 1946) it is not difficult to see why.

In 1917, Strobl's anthology of horror tales with the remarkable title Lemuria was published in Germany. The horrible blackness and almost pathological nature of its interior illustrations closely connected to the fate of the German nation, embroidled in the onslaught of the First World War. Lemuria struck a chord in the German psyche and was reprinted well till after the Great War. German horror writer Hanns Heinz Ewers (wo later wrote the National-Socialist anthem Horst Wessel Lied), published Lemuria in a series titled Gallerie der Phantasten (Gallery of the Fantasts) published by Georg Muller Verlag in Munich.

Strobl was also the editor of Der Orchideengarten (Garden of Orchids), the world's first magazine devoted solely to the supernatural that debuted in 1919, four years before Weird Tales saw the light of day.

During the First World War Strobl was a messenger. After the war, he developed a strong sympathy for the Nationalsocialist cause. In 1938 Strobl worked in an important position in the Ostgau, leading a department of Goebbel's Reichsschrifttumskammer. This lead to his arrest by the Soviet troops in 1945. Strobl was forced to work at road construction for a while. He was released due to age and poor health. He died a year later in a home for the elderly near Vienna. At the time of his death, the Allied forces had prohibited his works to be published. Where once his books commanded multiple reprints and Strobl formed with Gustav Meyrink and Hanns Heinz Ewers the three dark princes of the German horror and supernatural tale, he died totally impoverished.

Poe's Rival

Writes the Encylopedia Brittanica on Algernon Blackwood: "...operating a hotel, mining in the Alaskan goldfields, and working as a newspaper reporter in New York City, experiences that he recalled in Episodes Before Thirty (1923), Blackwood returned to England in 1899. Seven years later he published his first book of short stories..."

A contemporary review of Blackwood's Episodes Before Thirty that was published the next year, gives a much better insight in the trials and tribulations that Blackwood encountered during his early career as a writer. 'Poe's Rival in Mystery Tales Starved on New York Papers' was the headline of the review in the Auburn, New York newspaper The Auburn Citizen of Episodes Before Thirty in its April, 11, 1924 edition.