Story summary
Samenvatting van De beste spookverhalen
- 8 min. leestijd
- 10 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A ghost in a riding dress knocks at noon, talks about books and silk gowns, then walks away.
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De beste spookverhalen in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 5 h 15 min4 h 10 min fast, 6 h 15 min slow
- Lengte
- 74.600 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
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De beste spookverhalen in short
The book is a tour of fear in many forms. De Foe makes a ghost believable through gossip and witnesses. James and Bulwer-Lytton set a scholar and a skeptic against objects and rooms that carry old crimes.
What De beste spookverhalen is about
What does a ghost say when it knocks at your door at noon? In the first tale of this collection, she talks about books, discusses her silk gown, and asks for a cup of tea before she walks away down the street.
The Best Ghost Stories gathers tales and reports from about two centuries, edited by J. L. French with an introduction by Arthur B. Reeve. De Foe, M. R. James, Kipling, Bierce and others each give a story, and between them sit a chapter on Irish banshees and newspaper accounts of American hauntings. Some tales chill, some comfort, and one makes a joke of it all.
Voor wie is het?. You will love this book if you enjoy a story told by firelight, from quiet unease to open dread. It suits readers of haunted houses, odd mysteries and true-seeming reports.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A ghost visits an old friend at noon
Daniel De Foe opens the collection with a visit at noon on September 8, 1705, in Canterbury. Mrs. Bargrave sits alone, sewing and brooding over an unhappy life, when someone knocks. Outside stands her old friend Mrs. Veal, dressed for riding. They have not met for two and a half years.
They talk for nearly two hours about the books they read together in poorer days. The visitor comforts her friend with words about heaven and the purpose of suffering. She also asks her to write to her brother about some rings and a purse of gold.
The story is told like a legal statement, with each witness vouching for the next. Mrs. Bargrave admires the gown and is told it is silk that has been cleaned. A neighbor who helped make that very gown hears the description and cries out. Ordinary details make the strangest claim believable.
- 2Begin gratis met lezen
A bargain scrapbook carries a dangerous drawing
M. R. James sets his tale in the spring of 1883 in St. Bertrand de Comminges, a fading town in the Pyrenees.
- 3Begin gratis met lezen
A skeptic spends one night in a haunted house
Edward Bulwer-Lytton begins with a friend who fled a furnished London house after two nights.
- 4Begin gratis met lezen
A bride flees her wedding and seeks a rabbi
Leopold Kompert's tale begins with a noisy wedding feast in a Jewish street in old central Europe.
- 5Begin gratis met lezen
The Irish wailing spirit warns of coming death
The chapter on banshees treats the Irish spirit as a family omen.
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A man who chases joy grows young again
E. F. Benson's tale begins in St. Faith's, a village in the New Forest, where people fear the woods after dark.
- 7Begin gratis met lezen
A woman meets a ghost who begs for love
Algernon Blackwood's tale is told by a woman in a dark corner of a studio.
- 8Begin gratis met lezen
A dead woman's rickshaw follows her former lover
Rudyard Kipling's tale is set among the English of Simla, India.
- 9Begin gratis met lezen
Unseen forces strike a hunter and a widow
Ambrose Bierce's The Damned Thing opens at an inquest in a cabin, where a coroner reads from a diary beside a dead man's body.
- 10Begin gratis met lezen
Comic ghosts and newspaper hauntings close the book
Brander Matthews sets The Rival Ghosts on an ocean liner, where Uncle Larry claims that America makes ghosts with a sense of humor.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Mrs. Bargrave A cheerful, honest woman in Canterbury whose old friend Mrs. Veal calls on her at noon with a strange list of requests.
- Dennistoun An English scholar and collector who buys an old scrapbook in the Pyrenees and wants only to take it safely home to Cambridge.
- Veile A beautiful bride who flees her own wedding and seeks help from the young rabbi, hoping to be told what to do.
- Frank Halton A painter who gave up his career to live among birds and rivers, and who wants to meet the spirit of Nature itself.
- Darcy A successful portrait painter recovering from typhoid, who visits his friend Frank and tries to explain his amazing youth.
- Jack Pansay A civil servant in Simla who has tired of his lover and wants only to be left alone with his new fiancée.
- Eliphalet Duncan A shrewd New York lawyer who owns a haunted house and a secret title, and must clear his house of ghosts to win his bride.
- Mose A small, frightened boy who must walk past three burial grounds on Halloween night to bring home a pumpkin.
How it ends (spoiler)
Many tales end in loss. Dennistoun survives the demon's attack, and the drawing is burned. Veile speaks at last in the synagogue and dies at that moment. Frank Halton dies in his garden, marked by hoof prints. Pansay dies still followed by the rickshaw. The Count in the banshee tale dies within hours. In The Rival Ghosts, the two spirits marry and Duncan weds Kitty. Mose decides he fears the ghosts that do not exist.
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Vragen over De beste spookverhalen
What is The Best Ghost Stories about?
It collects ghost tales by writers such as De Foe, M. R. James, Kipling, Benson and Bierce, plus a chapter on Irish banshees and newspaper reports of American hauntings. The ghosts range from sorrowful to menacing to comic.
Who wrote the stories in The Best Ghost Stories?
Many authors contribute. J. L. French is the editor, and the stories come from Daniel De Foe, M. R. James, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Leopold Kompert, E. F. Benson, Algernon Blackwood, Rudyard Kipling, Brander Matthews, Ambrose Bierce, Vincent O'Sullivan and Ellis Parker Butler.
What is a banshee?
A banshee is an Irish spirit whose wailing is said to warn a family that someone is about to die. The chapter describes her as young or old, and tells how she follows families even abroad.
Is The Apparition of Mrs. Veal a true story?
It is presented as a true account, passed through several witnesses who vouch for its reliability. The editor adds that De Foe wrote it to help a publisher with unsold copies of a book on death, which the ghost praises.
Is The Best Ghost Stories easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that each tale stands alone and can be enjoyed in one sitting. The language is clear and often chatty, and the newspaper pieces are short, so you can read in small portions.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
The Best Ghost Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-best-ghost-stories.
The best ghost stories. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-best-ghost-stories
The Best Ghost Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-best-ghost-stories.
@book{anonymous2026best,
title = {The Best Ghost Stories},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-best-ghost-stories}
}
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