Melissa Edmundson
@melissae.bsky.social
PhD in Victorian lit. Editor/researcher/lecturer. Women’s ghost stories & the supernatural. Lots of posts about books. And ghosts. And Margery Lawrence.
Violet Hunt’s The Tiger Skin and Other Tales of the Uneasy out now with The British Library.
Violet Hunt’s The Tiger Skin and Other Tales of the Uneasy out now with The British Library.
It’s a great one!
October 29, 2025 at 8:19 PM
It’s a great one!
Shirley Jackson's "The Daemon Lover," from The Lottery (1949). An interesting twist on the demon lover motif.
October 29, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Shirley Jackson's "The Daemon Lover," from The Lottery (1949). An interesting twist on the demon lover motif.
Joan Aiken's “The Windscreen Weepers,” from The Windscreen Weepers and Other Tales of Horror and Suspense (1969). Artist colony, a demon lover, and a reincarnation of Coleridge. All in one story!
October 29, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Joan Aiken's “The Windscreen Weepers,” from The Windscreen Weepers and Other Tales of Horror and Suspense (1969). Artist colony, a demon lover, and a reincarnation of Coleridge. All in one story!
Frances Garfield's “The High Places,” from Weird Tales (April 1939). A woman takes an airplane flight and discovers the pilot is a former fiancé who has previously died in a crash.
October 29, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Frances Garfield's “The High Places,” from Weird Tales (April 1939). A woman takes an airplane flight and discovers the pilot is a former fiancé who has previously died in a crash.
Margery Lawrence’s “Robin’s Rath,” from Nights of the Round Table (1926). Demon Lover + Green Man! A woman who plans to "improve" the wooded area around an estate gets more than she bargains for after meeting a mysterious man in those woods. Spoiler: it doesn't end well for her.
October 29, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Margery Lawrence’s “Robin’s Rath,” from Nights of the Round Table (1926). Demon Lover + Green Man! A woman who plans to "improve" the wooded area around an estate gets more than she bargains for after meeting a mysterious man in those woods. Spoiler: it doesn't end well for her.
Christina Rossetti's "The Hour and the Ghost," from Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862). One of her most haunting ghost poems about a spectral visit from beyond the grave.
"Come with me, fair and false,
To our home, come home..."
"Come with me, fair and false,
To our home, come home..."
October 29, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Christina Rossetti's "The Hour and the Ghost," from Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862). One of her most haunting ghost poems about a spectral visit from beyond the grave.
"Come with me, fair and false,
To our home, come home..."
"Come with me, fair and false,
To our home, come home..."
Those illustrations are lovely (and the last one is macabre!). They served as an inspiration for the cover of my Handheld Press edition of Nesbit’s ghost stories. It’s so nice that you have original copies!
October 27, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Those illustrations are lovely (and the last one is macabre!). They served as an inspiration for the cover of my Handheld Press edition of Nesbit’s ghost stories. It’s so nice that you have original copies!
Sadly, I don’t own a copy of Shudders, but here’s my copy of Asquith’s The Ghost Book (1926).
October 25, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Sadly, I don’t own a copy of Shudders, but here’s my copy of Asquith’s The Ghost Book (1926).
Elizabeth Bowen's "Hand in Glove" is included in Asquith's SECOND GHOST BOOK (1952). Two sisters learn the hard way that when your aunt tells you to leave her clothes alone, she means it.
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Elizabeth Bowen's "Hand in Glove" is included in Asquith's SECOND GHOST BOOK (1952). Two sisters learn the hard way that when your aunt tells you to leave her clothes alone, she means it.
Lettice Galbraith's "In the Seance Room" appeared in her collection NEW GHOST STORIES (1893). A talented young doctor attends a seance and gets more than he bargained for when someone appears from his past.
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Lettice Galbraith's "In the Seance Room" appeared in her collection NEW GHOST STORIES (1893). A talented young doctor attends a seance and gets more than he bargained for when someone appears from his past.
B. M. Croker’s “If You See Her Face,” published in TO LET (1893). In this Anglo-Indian story a ghostly temple dancer enacts revenge on an oppressive British colonial official.
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
B. M. Croker’s “If You See Her Face,” published in TO LET (1893). In this Anglo-Indian story a ghostly temple dancer enacts revenge on an oppressive British colonial official.
Charlotte Riddell's "A Terrible Vengeance," from PRINCESS SUNSHINE AND OTHER STORIES (1889). A tale of love gone wrong and plenty of secrets are revealed. (Also an entry in the “disembodied feet enact revenge” subgenre).
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Charlotte Riddell's "A Terrible Vengeance," from PRINCESS SUNSHINE AND OTHER STORIES (1889). A tale of love gone wrong and plenty of secrets are revealed. (Also an entry in the “disembodied feet enact revenge” subgenre).