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The Fourteenth Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

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Throughout the 1970s, Fontana published a remarkable skein of ghost story collections, piloted by R. Aikman and later by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, no mean supernatural authors themselves. Some of the paperbacks in this series, which winds its way up to the "20th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories" are now collectors' items.

R. Chetwynd-Hayes has assembled an anthology of 17 ghost stories for this fourteenth book, and there are some fine examples of the supernatural art, most particularly "The St Christopher Medallion" by James Turner and "Madame Crowl's Ghost" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

These are the 17 stories in the 14th Fontana Book:

"Fall in at the Double" by L.P. Hartley-- Leslie Poles Hartley (1895 - 1972) was a British writer of novels and short stories who used the uncanny, the diabolical, and the supernatural in his works, just for the satisfaction of making his reader's flesh creep. He combined the psychological with the demonic in a way that was surpassed only by that greatest of all supernatural writers, M. R. James. In this story, a man nearly drowns in the river below his house, and afterward is haunted by another drowning victim.

"The Man on the Ground" by Robert E. Howard--Two cowboys are caught up in a deadly feud.

"Round the Fire" by Mrs. Crowe--This story resembles "The Red Room" by H.G. Wells. A beleaguered traveler stops for the night at a castle and asks to stay in its most haunted room.

"The St Christopher Medallion" by James Turner--Two classmates who died while in school are now haunting a man who has dropped his own son off at the school. What are they trying to tell him?

"Melody in a Minor Key" by Mary Williams--A woman who hears a strange melody whenever she's in danger marries a man who might be after her fortune.

"One Who Saw" by A.M. Burrage--A veiled woman weeps in the garden of a French hotel. Will the visiting Englishman ever see her face?

"Never, Never Leave Me" by Terry Tapp--A graphic tale of diphtheria and its aftermath.

"Thirteen at Table" by Lord Dunsany--A long fox hunt leaves the hunter asking to stay overnight at a neglected country house. He and his host are the only living beings at the dinner table, so the hunter decides to entertain his ghostly companions with tales of his hunt.

"The Ghost of Dorothy Dingley" by Daniel Defoe--A student is daily accosted on his way to school by the ghost of an old woman.

"Masks and Voices" by Rosemary Timperley--A woman murders her sadistic husband, and flees to the South American jungle, but can't seem to escape his accusations.

"The Late Arrivals" by K.B. Hill--One of those days when nothing went right in the computer room (Been there. Done that.)

"The Doll's Ghost" by F. Marion Crawford--An old dollmaker is reunited with his daughter with the aid of one of this series' strangest ghosts. It's difficult to believe this delicate tale of the supernatural was written by the same author who gave us one of the most terrifying ghost stories of all, i.e. "The Upper Berth."

"The Sutor of Selkirk" by Anonymous--A gossipy cobbler tries to cheat a most unusual customer, with terrifying results.

"The Three Sisters" by William Wymark Jacobs--Three sisters live together, and when the oldest dies she promises to come for her siblings when it is their turn to depart this Earth.

"Siren Song" by Barbara Joan Eyre--A jolly seaside vacation begins to turn sour, even before the narrator learns that the previous occupant of their vacation caravan committed suicide.

"Madam Crowl's Ghost" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu--This author was M.R. James' favorite supernatural writer. This tale is in dialect and a bit hard to read but is easily the most frightening in this book. A young girl tells of her experiences with a senile old woman, both before and after her death.

"The Sad Ghost" by R. Chetwynd-Hayes--The editor of this anthology adds his own ironic tale to the mixture. Grandma's cottage is haunted by the ghost of a young man who died of unrequited love. Unfortunately, her granddaughter is suffering from the same ailment, and the old woman is afraid the two might unduly influence each other. There's a twist at story's end that you might miss if you don't read carefully.