Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT INFO
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series
INTRODUCTION, by Shawn M. Garrett
A TALE OF A GAS-LIT GHOST, by Anonymous
DOG OR DEMON? by Theo Gift
THE STORY OF MEDHANS LEA, by E. Heron & H. Heron
HOW FEAR DEPARTED FROM THE LONG GALLERY, by E. F. Benson
ON THE BRIGHTON ROAD, by Richard Middleton
THE NEW PASS, by Amelia B. Edwards
THE VIOLET CAR, by E. Nesbit
KENTUCKY’S GHOST, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward
THE SHIP THAT SAW A GHOST, by Frank Norris
CHRISTMAS EVE ON A HAUNTED HULK, by Frank Cowper
YUKI-ONNA, by Lafcadio Hearn
THE ADVENTURE OF THE GERMAN STUDENT, by Washington Irving
FULLCIRCLE, by John Buchan
THE GHOST IN THE CAP’N BROWN HOUSE, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
THE STRANGER, by Ambrose Bierce
THE SOUTHWEST CHAMBER, by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
THE READJUSTMENT, by Mary Austin
EVELINE’S VISITANT, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
SIR EDMUND ORME, by Henry James
THE HAUNTED DRAGOON, by Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
THE PICTURE ON THE WALL, by Katharine Tynan
THE BANSHEE’S WARNING, by Charlotte Riddell
THE SERPENT’S HEAD, by Lady Dilke
THE DEAD MAN OF VARLEY GRANGE, by Anonymous
THE SCREAMING SKULL, by F. Marion Crawford
COPYRIGHT INFO
The Fifth Ghost Story MEGAPACK™ is copyright © 2015 by Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
* * * *
The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
This volume was edited by Wildside staffer Shawn M. Garrett, who also wrote his own intro. (He’s a great reader and scholar of classic horror fiction.) Please skip ahead to his intro to find out more about this volume. He is also assembling The Sixth Ghost Story MEGAPACK™—so look for that volume shortly!
—John Betancourt
Publisher, Wildside Press LLC
www.wildsidepress.com
ABOUT THE SERIES
Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK™ ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”
The MEGAPACK™ ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)
RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?
Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK™ ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).
Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.
TYPOS
Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.
If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at wildsidepress@yahoo.com or use the message boards above.
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OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY
The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany MEGAPACK™”)
The Wildside Book of Fantasy
The Wildside Book of Science Fiction
Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries
INTRODUCTION, by Shawn M. Garrett
Here, for your enjoyment, please find a selection of 25 ghost stories. As the ghost story is a sub-genre that overlaps many others genres, not every one will be a horror story intended to scare or chill—but some certainly will, and we hope the variety will allow for the frightening ghosts to “hide in plain sight” as it were, mixing in unobtrusively with their literary brethren until they chose to unexpectedly turn the cold touch of the grave on the reader.
For ghosts can be many things—representatives of the personal dead, certainly, as well as symbols for death itself. They can stand in for unresolved conflicts, guilty memories and lost chances, as well as strike the more sentimental chords of grieving and personal loss. Ghosts, in fact, are one of the most malleable literary genre creatures that exist—for even longer than the vampire, they have dwelt in the human mind and cultures, manifesting whenever a figure of otherness is required in the telling of a tale. And so, here, you will find a myriad of ghosts, malevolent and benign, gothic and modern.