Showing results by author "E. F. Benson" in All Categories

Hugh and Margaret Grainger have rented a lovely old house near an excellent golf course. At the bottom of the garden is a strange, well-kept, but untenented thatched cottage. A visitor to the Graingers has a strange and overwhelming presentiment on passing the cottage that the house is actually not empty. Indeed, on several occasions he seems to see a light in the cottage. And one evening he thinks he sees a figure entering the house. But every attempt to investigate confirms that the cottage is abandoned.

‘The Bath-Chair’ tells the story of the Faraday siblings. Edmund is a shrewd businessman, priding himself on his impeccable health. His spinster sister, Alice, lives with him performing all domestic duties and despises him. When Edmund starts seeing a lame figure who looks startlingly like himself and his own health starts mysteriously declining, Alice revels in plotting his downfall.

When Philip Hope discovers that his wife, Sybil, is having an affair with his secretary, Julian, he takes great delight in thwarting their affections. Just as Philip dismisses his secretary, though, he falls from a cliff, and Julian doesn’t save him. Now free to be together, Sybil and Julian return to the place Philip died, but it becomes clear that Philip is not finished with them yet as he haunts their honeymoon.

A positive spin on the supernatural, ‘Pirates’ sees ageing industrialist Peter Graham return to his former family home in Cornwall after more than 40 years. The ghosts of the house represent happy memories of his childhood.

An early exploration of electronic voice phenomena, ‘Billy Comes Through’ sees a widowed writer recall the curious phenomena that her and her husband experienced over the years with their wireless radio, during a power cut.

Thomas Oulton has worked for a London banking house for 30 years and is widely respected by his colleagues, so when he seemingly disappears with a client’s money, everyone is shocked, none more so than his manager, Louis Carrington. When a friend comes to spend the weekend with Louis and his family at their Surrey home, a series of strange phenomena leads the narrator to discover what’s happened to Oulton.

Concerned for their recently widowed friend Harry, Vincent and Tom join him in Egypt for a boat trip along the Nile. Whilst the widower seems determined to forget his late wife, he recreates their honeymoon voyage, and their evening games of cards soon attract an unsettling presence.

'A Winter Morning' is a dark story of longing and regret. It sees a widower, mourning both his wife and son, recall his son’s final moments and contemplate life and death.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost stories. 'Royal Visitors' is a humorous story set at Trinity College, Cambridge, and tells the story of a revenge prank by the undergraduate nicknamed 'The Babe' on his tutor, Mr. Stewart, who at short notice had withdrawn a lunch invitation to dine with visiting foreign royals.

E.F. Benson (1867-1940) is probably best known today for his sparkling, comic Lucia novels. In his own day, it was his ghost stories that were his most popular works. "Mrs Amworth", with its theme of vampirism, exemplifies Benson's fine literary style and his ability to create the most frightening of supernatural and macabre tales.

E.F. Benson (1867-1940) is probably best known today for his sparkling, comic "Lucia" novels. In his own day it was his ghost stories which were his most popular works. At the Farmhouse exemplifies Benson's fine literary style and his ability to create the most frightening of supernatural and macabre tales.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost and horror stories. 'Mrs. Amworth' is arguably Benson's most famous story...and certainly one of the most terrifying. It tells the story of a mysterious outbreak of vampirism in the heart of a quiet English village.

A colourful palette of short stories featuring artists and their love of paintings. "Rose Rose" by Barry Pain, "The Cat" by E. F. Benson, "The Model Millionaire" by Oscar Wilde, "A Queer Night in Paris" by Guy de Maupassant, "Portrait of a Lady" by Jerome K. Jerome, "Miss Harriet" by Guy de Maupassant, "The Oval Portrait" by Edgar Allan Poe, "My Adventure at Chislehurst" by A. J. Alan, "The Stalled Ox" by Saki, "The Room in the Tower" by E. F. Benson.

A terrifying and macabre collection of anatomically inspired stories by the masters of gruseome fiction.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867 - 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer, best known as the true master of the gothic ghost story. "The Step" tells the bizarre and terrifying tale of a British money-lender in Alexandria who is aware of uncanny footsteps following him as he walks home from his club at nights. Initially he ignores the footsteps... then he plucks up courage to challenge the invisible follower...

Edward Frederic Benson (1867 - 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known as the true master of the gothic occult story. "The Face" tells the story of a woman, Hester, who has a strange recurring nightmare. The night before the nightmare she dreams of walking a path across fields, over wooden stiles, through a wind-blown wood, to a grey stone church at the top of the cliff.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost and horror stories. "At the Farmhouse" tells the story of a landscape painter, who after twenty years of hideous marriage to an abusive and drunken local woman who is rumoured to be a witch, sets off to murder her.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost and horror stories.The Thing in the Hall is one of the creepiest supernatural tales ever told. Two old friends live next door to one another. One, Louis Fielder dies unexpectedly in horrific and mysterious circumstances.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost stories. Bagnell Terrace is the tale of a very strange but highly desirable house. The narrator who lives on the same street, has always coveted it because of its fine square front room, and when the property is unexpectedly offered for sale, he jumps at the chance to buy it.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his masterly and uncanny ghost stories. The Terror by Night describes a strange and uncanny haunting which is simultaneously experienced by multiple different witnesses in entirely separate ways...each of them receiving a part of the whole picture, but none able to understand its import individually. When the various pieces are put together, the meaning is terrifying.