Contains 51 supposedly true, classic American ghost stories from newspapers, journals, and magazines.

A masterful collection of ghost stories that have been overlooked by contemporary readers—including tales by celebrated authors such as Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton—presented with insightful annotations by acclaimed horror anthologists Leslie S. Klinger and Lisa Morton. The ghost story has long been a staple of world literature, but many of the genre's greatest tales have been forgotten, overshadowed in many cases by their authors' bestselling work in other genres. In this spine-tingling anthology, little known stories from literary titans like Charles Dickens and Edith Wharton are collected alongside overlooked works from masters of horror fiction like Edgar Allan Poe and M. R. James. Acclaimed anthologists Leslie S. Klinger (The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes) and Lisa Morton (Ghosts: A Haunted History) set these stories in historical context and trace the literary significance of ghosts in fiction over almost two hundred years—from a traditional English ballad first printed in 1724 through the Christmas-themed ghost stories of the Victorian era and up to the science fiction–tinged tales of the early twentieth century. In bringing these masterful tales back from the dead, Ghost Stories will enlighten and frighten both longtime fans and new readers of the genre. Including stories by: Ambrose Bierce, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Olivia Howard Dunbar, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, M. R. James, Arthur Machen, Georgia Wood Pangborn, Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Walter Scott, Frank Stockton, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton.

There's nothing like a good ghost story to give you a frisson of fear on a dark winter's night. Gathered in this haunting collection are twenty-seven of the very best of their genre by British and American masters. As well as contributions from established names, you will also find forgotten gems by unjustly neglected writers who deserve an opportunity to find a new readership. Among these is The Spectre of Tappington, taken from The Ingoldsby Legends which appeared in serial form in the 1830s and were immensely popular with Victorian readers. Their author, Thomas Ingoldsby, was in fact an English clergyman, Richard Barham, who, unlike most of the writers in this compilation, put pen to paper out of pure enjoyment rather than necessity. The name Edith Nesbit is better known to modern readers than Thomas Ingoldsby, although probably not in the context of adult fiction. Famous as a writer of children's fiction (most notably The Railway Children), she also had a talent for ghost stories, as you will discover when you come to Man-Size in Marble. So settle back and enjoy myriad journeys through the highways and byways of one of literature's most rewarding genres. Included here are: The Moonlit Road by Ambrose Bierce Miss Jéromette and the Clergyman by Wilkie Collins The Captain of the Pole-star by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton by Charles Dickens The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy The Hollow of the Three Hills by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Furnished Room by O. Henry The Haunted Mill by Jerome K. Jerome A Ghost by Guy de Maupassant The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allan Poe The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson The Devil's Wage by W. M. Thackeray The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

Contains 51 supposedly true, classic American ghost stories from newspapers, journals, and magazines.

American history mixes with legend in four classic ghost tales for Step 4 early readers: a Cape Cod ghost horse that leads ships away from danger; a portrait that protests being moved within Virginia’s Shirley Plantation museum; a Colorado miner who continued to look for love even after his bones were dumped down an outhouse hole; and a one-handed California sea captain whose ghost is still said to prowl Stinson Beach. Step 4 Readers use challenging vocabulary and short paragraphs to tell exciting stories. For newly independent readers who read simple sentences with confidence.

Downer brings together stories from newspapers, journals and magazines--none of which were written as fictitious--that tell of phantoms and ghosts from across the nation.