Victorian Ghost Stories

Every Creepmas at least one person mentions the series of Valancourt Books containing Victorian Christmas ghost stories, but I don't recall anyone giving them an actual review.  I did read some of the reviews on book sites, but they seemed more from Victorian era enthusiast, rather than Creepmas fans.  This year I decided to find out if this collection was really all that.  

My library doesn't carry these books, neither online or brick and mortar.  If I knew they were the most awesome books ever, I would buy them.  But I do so hate to buy a dud, when the best you can do is donate it, so someone else can experience disappointment at a reduced price.   

So I cheated.  Except for "The Haunted Rock: A Legend of Port Guerron Cove", I found every story for free online.  I haven't given detailed reviews so as not to give anything of the stories away, but merely an opinion of whether I enjoyed them or not and deem them suitable for Creepmas. 

One of my favorite resources for this project was gutenberg.org.  They have a vast selection, some in multiple formats if you prefer kindle or audio.  

The stories contained in the first volume of the Valancourt books are as follows: 

1. "The Tapestried Chamber" by Sir Walter Scott

2. "The Old Nurse's Story," by Elizabeth Gaskell
3. "Horror: A True Tale," by John Berwood Harwick
4. "Bring Me a Light!" by Anonymous
5. "Old Hooker's Ghost," by Anonymous
6. "The Ghost's Summons," by Ada Buisson
7. "Jack Layford's Friend," by Anonymous
8. "How Peter Parley Laid a Ghost," by Anyonymous
9. "A Mysterious Visitor," by Ellen Wood
10. "The Haunted Rock," by W.W. Fenn
11. "The Lady's Walk," by Margaret Oliphant
12. "The Captain of the Pole-Star," by Arthur Conan Doyle
13. "The Doll's Ghost," by F. Marion Crawford


The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott - This was a good story, but not great.  It would have needed to build suspense and flesh out the scary bits to be truly effective. Although I could see where a great orator could give the illusion of both with the material at hand.

The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell - I really liked this one, both the plot of the story and the nurse's delivery of it are well done.  There's one little plot point I would have liked addressed, but it can easily be overlooked.   Overall I would consider this a perfect Creepmas tale.

I also read her other stories in the collection Curious, If True: Strange Tales and enjoyed them all. Some have a supernatural element and some are merely the evil that men do, but all are worth reading.

Horror: A True Tale by John Berwick Harwood - The format of this is visually atrocious, it could really benefit from being broken up into smaller paragraphs. There's an audio version on youtube. Otherwise I really enjoyed the story, well written and very suspenseful.  The build up was fantastic, sadly the ending was a bit of a letdown.  I think if it was a slightly different story it would have been excellent, but I don't want to give anything away. 

Bring Me A Light! by Jane Margaret Hooper - Proper ghost story, with proper ghosts doing proper haunting.  There's a quite tragic event that led to the hauntings, but the overall story isn't scary.  I still enjoyed it very much.

Old Hooker's Ghost or Christmas Gambols at Huntingfield Hall - As a story, it was a pleasant read, even though entirely predictable. As a Creepmas story, it was disappointing.

The Ghost's Summons by Ada Buisson - I found this one to be rather meh.   Sorry Ada.

Jack Layford's Friend - Warning Spoiler Alert.  But not much of one, it's pretty apparent early on what's going on in the story.  But even though the surprises aren't all that surprising, it could have been a rather enjoyable Christmas mystery. What ruined it for me was the introduction of the villainess, who is described as a "n-word" who has "...managed to get some of the dye out of her hands and face."  Even without the racism, her character is immediately diminished because her looks aren't pleasing to a male guest. I assume the author was trying to convey the man's intuition that something is off about her, but using dark skin and homeliness to foreshadow evil intent is an antiquated trope that has not aged well.

How Peter Parley Laid a Ghost  - This one too was a mystery rather than a ghost story.  Not scary in the least, more of a cautionary tale about foolishness.

A Mysterious Visitor by Ellen Henry Wood - Not a Christmastime story, but a proper old-fashioned ghost story.

The Lady's Walk by Margaret Oliphant - At around 200 pages it's much longer than any of the other stories.   There is a ghost, but it's a friendly spirit and this story is more about the living.  It's not a Creepmas story if you are looking for scares, but a very enjoyable read if you appreciate a good haunting.

The Captain of the Pole-Star by Arthur Conan Doyle - I'm disappointed to have to say I found this to be a very blah ghost story.  I felt more uneasiness for the crew concerning the weather conditions of their voyage.

On the plus side it reminded me of how much I do like Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". For a treat here it is read by Ian McKellen  or the brilliant rendition by Iron Maiden.  In 8th grade I snuck out to see Maiden in concert, got grounded forever, and didn't learn my lesson because I would make the same choice all over again. Then in high school when we read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" my English teacher also had us listen to Maiden's version.  For that and other reasons, he was pretty much the coolest English teacher ever.  But I digress...

The Doll's Ghost by F. Marion Crawford - The crux of this story was terrifying, but I do wonder if it would have been less so if I wasn't a parent.   As it was, my heart was in my throat until the end.  Although I would consider this an excellent story, I still wouldn't choose it for Creepmas.

In summary, I enjoyed most of the stories. Very few of them were scary, but at least half were good ghost stories. Of the scarier ones, none were on par with the eerie, spine tingling I enjoy from stories such as Smee.

I gather the Valancourt books also give a short intro about each author and when the stories were originally published, so I missed out on that, but even with that addition I think overall I would have been disappointed if I had purchased this one for my collection.

I'd love to hear other opinions if anyone has read these. I'm especially curious to find out what "The Haunted Rock" was all about.