10 h 59 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a house holds more than memories—and the dead refuse to stay quiet?
Great Ghost Stories, gathered by Joseph Lewis French, brings together supernatural tales of haunted houses, vampires, witches and restless presences. There is no single path through this collection. Each short story introduces its own setting, its own narrator and another reason to glance over your shoulder.
The haunted house brings memory and dread close to home. Vampires and witches draw on older fears from folklore. Across these tales, fear grows slowly, often through what remains unsaid. A glimpse, a sound or a rumour leaves room for your imagination to supply what you cannot quite see.
What you’ll discover
- Houses heavy with memory Enter haunted spaces where the familiar idea of home becomes a source of dread.
- Older fears take shape Meet vampires and witches whose roots reach into folklore beyond the ghost story.
- The power of suggestion Discover how a glimpse or rumour can leave your imagination working in the dark.
- A different dread each time Move between separate tales, each with its own narrator, setting and unsettling mood.
- Room for fear to grow Take one story at a time and let its atmosphere linger before the next.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy candlelit shivers, haunted houses, vampires and curses, and anyone who likes a tale that can be finished in one sitting and still follows them to bed.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A skeptic sleeps in a haunted London house
- Two instruments stay locked by a secret word
- A father learns his son has a mission
- A mirror and a sketch lead to hidden crimes
- A brother's letter casts a shadow over Skye
- A railway passenger whom nobody else sees
- Curses fall on those who break an oath
- Desire and guilt haunt a priest and an archdeacon
- What the invisible and the unseen have in common
Who’s who
- Colonel MortimerA Scottish father in The Open Door who must help his sick son by facing a crying voice at a ruin.
- William TalliferA trumpeter of the hussars, hurt in a shipwreck, who forms a close bond with a drummer boy.
- Rhoda BrookA worn milkmaid in The Withered Arm who dreams of her rival, the farmer's young bride.
- RomualdA young priest in Clarimonde who sees a beautiful woman at the moment of his ordination.
- William LangfordA traveler in The Four-Fifteen Express who shares a compartment with a man the guard says was never there.
- Archdeacon HaynesA diligent churchman in The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral who begins to hear whispers in his own house.
- James AchannaA young islander in Green Branches who moves to Skye to be near the girl he loves.
- Dr. HammondA scientific friend in What Was It? who helps the narrator study a creature that cannot be seen.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Great Ghost Stories
A skeptic spends a night in a London house where no lodger has ever stayed more than three days.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A man locks himself into a London house where no lodger stays more than three days. A drummer boy and a trumpeter form a friendship after two shipwrecks.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A skeptic sleeps in a haunted London house
The book opens with The House and the Brain by Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton. A narrator hears of a furnished house near Oxford Street that no lodger has ever kept for more than three days. He asks the owner for the keys, and the owner hands them over gladly.
He brings a fearless young servant, a bold bull terrier and a volume of Macaulay to keep his mind steady. Small marvels come first. Child-sized footprints form on a damp yard, a chair glides across a room, and a door locks the two men into a bare chamber. A pale light leads them to an attic, where the narrator finds two old letters from a sailor. Later his watch slides off the table and the candles shrink.
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What is Great Ghost Stories about?
It is a collection of twelve supernatural tales, including haunted houses, a werewolf, a ghostly roll call, a vampire-like lover and an invisible creature. Each story has its own setting and writer.
Which authors are in Great Ghost Stories?
They include Edward Bulwer-Lytton, A. T. Quiller-Couch, Margaret Oliphant, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Erckmann-Chatrian, Fiona Macleod, Amelia B. Edwards, H. B. Marryatt, Thomas Hardy, Théophile Gautier, M. R. James and Fitz-James O'Brien.
Are the stories in this book true?
They are presented as stories, though some narrators insist that their strange experiences are real. Some, like The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, pretend to be found papers, and others claim to be eyewitness accounts.
The author
Joseph Lewis French
American editor and anthologist
Joseph Lewis French (1858–1936) was an American writer and editor who lived in the United States. He wrote fiction and poetry and selected stories for collections. Great Ghost Stories was published in 1918. The words “Selected by” indicate his work as an editor; they are not part of his name.
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