Thursday 25 November 2010

The Season of Ghosts and Things That Go Bump in the Night

As we head into the depth of long nights and wintry landscapes, there is no better time to immerse oneself in the works of the masters of the dark arts of horror and ghost stories.

Here's one of my favorites, one of many spine chillers by Montague Rhodes James, this particular tale "A Warning to the Curious" is one of a generally superb series of adaptations of the great man's work by the BBC.



Part 2:





Part 3:



Part 4:



and finally courtsey of Mr. Ghost Watching's excellent YouTube channel we have the denouement:



And while we're on the subject of short, sharp shockers of the literary kind, the redoubtable Johnny Mains has managed to persuade the publishing powers that be to re-release that great paperback classic The First Pan Book of Horror Stories, a book that first appeared in 1959. The stories still hold up remarkably well today and one can only hope that more of this series appear. So if you're stuck for Christmas gift ideas then this book would make a pretty good stocking filler.

3 comments:

  1. I used to have those books, and the stories were often enough to give me sleepless nights. I'd buy the whole series - especially if they release them for IPAD :)

    (Sorry Peter, that's my positively final iPad gloat!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. No - go for it Dave but just add the three Not At Night Arrow paperbacks to the queue for the luster of the IPad experience.

    Loved those books as much as the Pan Horror Books.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah yes, the Not At Night books were excellently chilling. I seem to remember photographic covers, mid-70s style, with a skull held up against a black background? For atmosphere, though, nothing can beat the Pan Horror cover paintings - in fact, Peter, there could be a good post in those?

    I also recommend The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories and an eerie anthology called Black Water, edited by Alberto Manguel.

    ReplyDelete