The Mammoth Book of Haunted House Stories (Mammoth Books) Read online

  Peter Haining has written and edited a number of bestselling books on the supernatural, notably the widely acclaimed Ghosts: The Illustrated History (1975) and A Dictionary of Ghosts (1982), which has been translated into several languages including French, German, Russian and Japanese. A former journalist and publisher, he lives in a sixteenth-century timber frame house in Suffolk that is haunted by the ghost of a Napoleonic prisoner of war.

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  Constable & Robinson Ltd

  3 The Lanchesters

  162 Fulham Palace Road

  London W6 9ER

  www.constablerobinson.com

  First published in the UK by Robinson,

  an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2000

  This revised edition published by Robinson,

  an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2005

  Collection copyright © Peter Haining, 2000, 2005

  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in

  Publication Data is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978–1–84529–185–3

  ISBN 1–84529–185–9

  eISBN 978-1-78033-364-9

  Printed and bound in the EU

  3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4

  For my daughter

  GEMMA

  – who has lived in a haunted house all her life

  “When I was dead, my spirit turned

  To seek the much-frequented house.”

  Christina Rossetti, 1866

  “In general, ghosts are a plus point in marketing a house, either for sale or as a tourist attraction.”

  Daily Telegraph, 25 June 1994

  Contents

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  THE HAUNTED HOUSE

  by Elizabeth Albright and Ray Bradbury

  FOREWORD

  1 HAUNTED PLACES: Stories of Fact and Fiction

  THE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton

  AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF A HAUNTED HOUSE

  Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

  A CASE OF EAVESDROPPING

  Algernon Blackwood

  A HAUNTED HOUSE

  Virginia Woolf

  GHOST HUNT

  H. Russell Wakefield

  DARK WINNER

  William F. Nolan

  2 AVENGING SPIRITS: Tales of Dangerous Elementals

  THE OLD HOUSE IN VAUXHALL WALK

  Charlotte Riddell

  NO. 252 RUE M. LE PRINCE

  Ralph Adams Cram

  THE SOUTHWEST CHAMBER

  Mary Eleanor Freeman

  THE TOLL-HOUSE

  W. W. Jacobs

  FEET FOREMOST

  L. P. Hartley

  HAPPY HOUR

  Ian Watson

  3 SHADOWY CORNERS: Accounts of Restless Spirits

  THE ANKARDYNE PEW

  W. F. Harvey

  THE REAL AND THE COUNTERFEIT

  Louisa Baldwin

  A NIGHT AT A COTTAGE . . .

  Richard Hughes

  THE CONSIDERATE HOSTS

  Thorp McClusky

  THE GREY HOUSE

  Basil Copper

  WATCHING ME, WATCHING YOU

  Fay Weldon

  4 PHANTOM LOVERS: Sex and the Supernatural

  A SPIRIT ELOPEMENT

  Richard Dehan

  THE HOUSE OF DUST

  Herbert de Hamel

  THE KISSTRUCK BOGIE

  A. E. Coppard

  MR EDWARD

  Norah Lofts

  HOUSE OF THE HATCHET

  Robert Bloch

  NAPIER COURT

  Ramsey Campbell

  5 LITTLE TERRORS: Ghosts and Children

  LOST HEARTS

  M. R. James

  THE SHADOWY THIRD

  Ellen Glasgow

  A LITTLE GHOST

  Hugh Walpole

  THE PATTER OF TINY FEET

  Nigel Kneale

  UNINVITED GHOSTS

  Penelope Lively

  6 PSYCHIC PHENOMENA: Signs from the Other Side

  PLAYING WITH FIRE

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

  THE WHISTLING ROOM

  William Hope Hodgson

  BAGNELL TERRACE

  E. F. Benson

  THE COMPANION

  Joan Aiken

  THE GHOST HUNTER

  James Herbert

  COMPUTER SEAN
CE

  Ruth Rendell

  7 HOUSES OF HORROR: Terror Visions of the Stars

  IN LETTERS OF FIRE

  Gaston Leroux

  THE JUDGE’S HOUSE

  Bram Stoker

  THE STORM

  McKnight Malmar

  THE WAXWORK

  A. M. Burrage

  THE INEXPERIENCED GHOST

  H. G. Wells

  SOPHY MASON COMES BACK

  E. M. Delafield

  THE BOOGEYMAN

  Stephen King

  APPENDIX: Haunted House Novels: A Listing

  Acknowledgments

  Acknowledgment is made to the following authors, agents and publishers for permission to reprint the stories in this collection.

  “The Haunted House” © 2000 by Elizabeth Albright and Ray Bradbury. First published in this volume and reprinted by permission of the authors.

  “A Case of Eavesdropping” © 1900 by Algernon Blackwood. Originally published in Pall Mall Magazine, December 1900. Reprinted by permission of A. P. Watt Ltd.

  “A Haunted House” © 1921 by Virginia Woolf. Originally published in Monday or Tuesday, Hogarth Press. Reprinted by permission of the Virginia Woolf Estate.

  “Ghost Hunt” © 1948 by H. Russell Wakefield. Originally published in Weird Tales, 1948. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown and the Estate of H. Russell Wakefield.

  “Dark Winner” © 1976 by Stuart David Schiff. Originally published in Whispers edited by Stuart David Schiff. Reprinted by permission of William F. Nolan.

  “The Toll-House” © 1907 by W. W. Jacobs. Originally published in The Strand, 1907. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of W. W. Jacobs.

  “Feet Foremost” © 1948 by L. P. Hartley. Originally published in The Travelling Grave & Other Stories, 1948. Reprinted by permission of Hamish Hamilton Ltd.

  “Happy Hour” © 1900 by Ian Watson. First published in Wheels of Fear edited by Kathryn Cramer. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Ankardyne Pew” © 1928 by W. F. Harvey. First published in The Beast With Five Fingers, 1928. Reprinted by permission of Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

  “A Night at a Cottage” © 1926 by Richard Hughes. First published in A Moment in Time, 1926. Reprinted by permission of David Higham Associates.

  “The Grey House” © 1967 by Basil Copper. First published in Not After Nightfall, 1967. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Watching Me, Watching You” © 1980 by Fay Weldon. Commissioned television play in the Leap in the Dark series, BBC Bristol 1980, produced by Michael Courcher, directed by Colin Godman. First published in Woman’s Own in January 1981 and became the title story of Watching Me, Watching You, 1981. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown.

  “The Kisstruck Bogie” © 1946 by A. E. Coppard. First published in Fearful Pleasures, 1946. Reprinted by permission of David Higham Associates.

  “Mr Edward” © 1947 by Norah Lofts. First published in At Close of Eve, 1947. Reprinted by permission of Hutchinson Ltd.

  “House of the Hatchet” © 1941 by Robert Bloch. First published in Weird Tales, 1941. Reprinted by permission of A. M. Heath Ltd.

  “Napier Court” © 1971 by Ramsey Campbell. First published in Dark Things edited by August Derleth, 1971. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Lost Hearts” © 1895 by M. R. James. First published in Pall Mall Magazine, 1895. Reprinted by permission of the M. R. James Estate.

  “A Little Ghost” © 1922 by Hugh Walpole. First published in Red Book Magazine, 1922. Reprinted by permission of Rupert Hart Davis Ltd.

  “The Patter of Tiny Feet” © 1949 by Nigel Kneale. First published in Tomato Cain, 1949. Reprinted by permission of The Agency.

  “Uninvited Ghosts” © 1984 by Penelope Lively. First published in Uninvited Ghosts, 1981. Reprinted by permission of David Higham Associates.

  “Bagnell Terrace” © 1928 by E. F. Benson. First published in Spook Stories, 1928. Reprinted by permission of A. P. Watt Ltd.

  “The Companion” © 1978 by Joan Aiken. First published in John Creasey’s Crime Collection edited by Herbert Harris, 1978. Reprinted by permission of A. M. Heath Ltd.

  “The Ghost Hunter” © 1988 by James Herbert. First published in Haunted, 1988. Reprinted by permission of the author and David Higham Associates.

  “Computer Seance” © 1997 by Ruth Rendell. First published in The Oldie, 1997. Reprinted by permission of Peters, Fraser & Dunlop.

  “The Storm” © 1944 by McKnight Malmar. First published in Good Housekeeping, February, 1944. Reprinted by permission of Willis King Agency.

  “The Waxwork” © 1931 by A. M. Burrage. First published in Someone in the Room, 1931. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of A. M. Burrage.

  “The Inexperienced Ghost” © 1902 by H. G. Wells. First published in The Strand, March, 1902. Reprinted by permission of A. P. Watt Ltd.

  “Sophie Mason Comes Back” © 1930 by E. M. Delafield. First published in Time and Tide, July 1930. Reprinted by permission of PFD Ltd.

  “The Boogeyman” © 1973 by Stephen King. First published in Cavalier, March 1973. Reprinted by permission of Ralph M. Vicinanza Ltd.

  Every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material. The editor would be pleased to hear from anyone if they believe there has been an inadvertent transgression of copyright.

  The Haunted House

  By Elizabeth Albright and Ray Bradbury

  This little tale was written to mark Hallowe’en 1999: the last of the twentieth century, but surely not the last to be celebrated. It marks the first appearance in print for eight-year-old Elizabeth and is Ray Bradbury’s first collaboration in a career that spans sixty years. Where one writer finished and the other began is a secret – just like the enduring mystery of haunted houses . . .

  Once there was a haunted house where ghosts and goblins lived.

  Also The Headless Horseman – Ichabod’s ghost – and eerie Jack O’Lanterns.

  On the night of Hallowe’en, five kids went to the house.

  They had never seen it before.

  One of the kids said, “Let’s go to the door.”

  Another kid said, “No! It looks like it is haunted.”

  The kid who wanted to go in said, “Whoever is with me, say ‘I’”

  No-one said “I” because they were all scared.

  The brave kid said, “Fine. I’ll go by myself.”

  So he went to the door.

  It opened slowly, but no-one was there.

  “I’m here” said a voice, “but you can’t see me!”

  “Who are you?” the kids cried.

  “I am the man from that famous poem,

  ‘Last, night I saw upon the stair

  A little man who wasn’t there

  He wasn’t there again today,

  My Gosh, I wish he’d go away.’ ”

  “So you were never here?” the kids cried.

  “Never and never will be!” said the voice.

  “Nice to meet you!” said the kids.

  “Even if we really didn’t!” said the voice.

  “Goodbye!” said the kids.

  “Hello,” said the voice.

  And the door shut.

  Foreword

  I Live In A Haunted House

  The first sensation was of woodsmoke. A curiously acrid but unmistakable smell that became apparent for a few days in the upper rooms of the house and was experienced by each member of the family. The smoke, which seemed to have no identifiable source and was smelled rather than ever being seen, occurred at a time of the year when there was no longer the need for a fire to be lit in the house. For a while, there seemed to be no logical explanation of the phenomenon – until the night when something quite extraordinary happened to my wife.

  Peyton House, where we live, is a sixteenth-century, three-storey timber-frame building which stands in the middle of the picturesque little village of Boxford in Suffolk. It was once the grace-and-favour home of the
chief stewards to the Peyton family, the local landowners who lived about a mile away in their Elizabethan manor house, Peyton Hall. For the last twenty years, though, Peyton House has been home to me, my wife Philippa and our three children, Richard, Sean and Gemma. What has happened to us there would seem to have no other explanation than yet another instance of the supernatural at work.

  We had been living in the house for a while before we became fully aware of the manifestation that is repeated each year. This realisation came about because of what occurred late one spring evening. It was on a night during the first week of June and Philippa was sitting reading in our bedroom, a high-ceilinged room at the front of the house. On the rear wall of this room there is an interior window which looks out on to the landing. Philippa was engrossed in her book when she was suddenly aware out of the corner of her eye of someone going past the window. She looked up and caught sight of a figure with long hair passing by. A moment later and it was gone.

  Philippa’s first reaction was that it must have been Gemma going along the landing to the bathroom. Then she realised that our daughter was not in the house. Indeed, the whole place was deserted because everyone else had gone out, too. Curiously, though, this realisation did not make her feel afraid. Only the strong conviction that the figure – whoever or whatever it was – was quite benign.

  It was to be some months later, and as a result of making a number of enquiries in Boxford, that an explanation for my wife’s experience was forthcoming. Tales of a strange visitant in Peyton House were, it seemed, known to a number of the older residents in the village whose parents and grandparents had once worked as servants in the house. Several of these men and women had even lived for a time in the attic rooms. All told of experiencing the ethereal smell, and a few had even seen the long-haired wraith. And all at precisely the same time of year. Even stranger, not one of them had felt there was anything of which to be afraid.