What's Inside
This collection gathers twenty-five narratives of the supernatural, moving from the grim psychological terror of a hidden corpse in The Black Cat to the lighter absurdity of a man haunted by a phantom toe after eating too much sauerkraut. The volume covers diverse geographies, including a haunted schooner in the U.S. Coast Survey, a violent labor dispute turned supernatural in a small-town saloon, and a mysterious woman watching a lawyer from a ground-floor window. The pieces vary between first-hand accounts of skeptical doctors, tales told by travel-worn drummers at the Buckstown Inn, and translations of French dining-room gossip.
Works & figures
- Walter Stedman
A laborer accused of murdering his employer's daughter. (in “The Vengeance of a Tree”)
- Rodney Green
A drummer sharing yarns about a dirty Arkansas inn. (in “Ghost of Buckstown Inn”)
- Virgil Hoyt
An adventurous photographer's assistant who speaks Indian dialects. (in “The Dead Woman’s Photograph”)
- George Carson
A former varsity athlete mentioned in a doctor's startling story. (in “A Fight with a Ghost”)
- Eagre
A haunted 140-foot schooner in the United States Coast Survey. (in “A Misfit Ghost”)
- Wicked Count
A wicked Spanish count who fought a fatal, midnight duel against an Austrian prince in his own stone-floored patio. (in “The Ghost of the Count”)
What it's really about
- Skepticism
- Characters frequently dismiss ghosts as dreams or indigestion.
- Guilt
- Secret crimes are exposed by supernatural intervention.
Why it's memorable
- A hidden cat yowling from behind a brick wall to alert the police.
- A photographer finding a dead woman's face on a plate he just developed.
Where to start
Begin with The Black Cat for a study in psychological collapse, or A Phantom Toe if you prefer supernatural events blamed on a heavy dinner.
For your book club
- Is the supernatural a manifestation of a guilty conscience?
- How does the setting of a remote inn or ship enhance the ghost story?