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

'Classic Ghost Stories' is filled with creepy stories to chill, thrill and send shivers down the spine

This is a book to be read by a blazing fire on a winter's night, with the curtains drawn close and the doors securely locked. The unquiet souls of the dead, both as fictional creations and as 'real' apparitions, roam the pages of this haunting selection of ghost stories by Rex Collings. Some of these stories are classics while others are lesser-known gems unearthed from this vintage era of tales of the supernatural. There are stories from distant lands - 'Fisher's Ghost' by John Lang is set in Australia and 'A Ghostly Manifestation' by 'A Clergyman' is set in Calcutta. In this selection, Sir Walter Scott (a Victorian in spirit if not in fact), keeps company with Edgar Allen Poe, Sheridan Le Fanu and other illustrious masters of the genre.

Following their acclaimed Ghost Stories and Weird Women, award-winning anthologists Leslie S. Klinger and Lisa Morton present a new eclectic anthology of ghosty tales certain to haunt the reader long past the closing page. In Haunted Tales, the reader will enjoy discovering masterpieces like Algernon Blackwood’s terrifying “The Kit-Bag,” Oscar Wilde’s delightful “The Canterville Ghost,” and F. Marion Crawford’s horrific “The Screaming Skull,” as well as lesser-known gems by some of literature’s greatest voices, including Virginia Woolf’s “A Haunted House,” H. G. Wells’s “The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost,” and Rudyard Kipling’s “They.” Haunted Tales also resurrects some wonders that have been woefully neglected, including Dinah Mulock’s “M. Anastasius” (which Charles Dickens called “the best ghost story ever written”); E. F. Benson’s “The Bus-Conductor” (the source of one of the most iconic lines in horror); and E. and H. Heron’s “The Story of the Spaniards, Hammersmith” (the debut adventure of Flaxman Lowe, fiction’s first psychic detective). Whether the stories are familiar or overlooked, all are sure to surprise and astonish the reader long past the closing of this book’s cover.

As the winter nights draw in and you settle in front of a cosy fire, it's the perfect time for a dash of the supernatural...embrace the gloom with spine-chillers from Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells, Edith Wharton and many more Do you believe in ghosts? Ghosts, spirits, spectres or spooks, we have always felt the presence of someone - or something - hovering in the darkest corners of our imaginations. The great writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, from Elizabeth Gaskell to Rudyard Kipling, also produced some of the most influential ghost stories ever written, defining the genre for generations of writers to follow. Gathered in this thrilling collection are some of the most iconic Victorian ghost stories, from Charles Dickens's 'The Signalman' to M.R. James's 'A Warning to the Curious', alongside more unexpected contributions from masters of the form such as J.S. Le Fanu and H.G. Wells. You may think you don't believe in ghosts, but these stories will haunt you nonetheless.

An inspired selection of ghost stories chosen for their literary style, psychological complexity, and enduring power to electrify both the imagination and the senses. Includes H. P. Lovecraft's essay, "On the Supernatural in Poetry."