Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849, 33rd Best Scary Story

I place The Death's Head in spot 33 of my countdown of the Top 40 ghost stories for the first half of the nineteenth century. Published anonymously in 1827, "The Death's Head"--this particular "species of phantasmagoria"--is perhaps the first short story that contains a talking skull. It also the only scary story in this countdown that involves ventriloquy. The scene where spirits are conjured is heart pounding horrific. I hope you enjoy it.   

Top 10 Horror Movies That Changed the Genre

From time to time I've been known to pause my countdown of the best horror stories (and in this case the best ghost stories) to post various nuggets that may be of interest to my excellent blog readers. Today is one of those times. A list of the Top 10 horror movies that changed the genre has bee posted: http://www.collegedegree.com/library/college-life/10-Horror-Movies-That-Changed-the-Genre

I generally agree with the list and think it is well thought out. "Nosferatu" and "The Amityville Horror" are two others that come to mind. Enjoy! 

Best Horror Stories 1800-1849 ebook Price Dropped to $.99 for a Limited Time

I am in a horrific mood of late and as a result have just dropped the price of The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology to $.99 on: Best Horror Stories on Kindle Enjoy!

Best Ghost Stories 1800-1850 Scary Story 34 of the Countdown

It's time to get back to my countdown of the Top 40 scary ghost stories from 1800-1849. Some of you may be wondering when Edgar Allan Poe will make in appearance in the countdown. Well, you do not have to wait any longer. At spot 34 in the countdown is Poe's best ghost story--Ligeia. The tale was first published in the September 1838 issue of the American Museum. In two volumes of the Broadway Journal that Poe gave to Sarah Helen Whitman, one of his fiancés, he noted a reference to “Ligeia” and “To Helen”: The poem which I sent you contained all the events of a dream which occurred to me soon after I knew you. Ligeia was also suggest by a dream. Observe the eyes in both tale & poem. 

Poe gained ownership of the Broadway Journal for a three-month period (Oct. 25, 1845 – Jan. 3, 1846). It closed given financial troubles. As Poe proved time and time again throughout his life, he was a great literary artist and poor businessman. “Ligeia” is Poe at the height of his gothic powers. The narrator indulges in opium, the beautiful Ligeia dabbles in alchemy and her room is shaped like a pentagon. Best of all for our countdown, this tale ends in ghostly twist. Poe thought highly of it. You will be surprised to hear me say that (omitting one or two of my first efforts) I do not consider any one of my stories better than another. There is a vast variety of kinds and, in degree of value, these kinds vary–but each tale is equally good of its kind. The loftiest kind is that of the highest imagination– and, for this reason only, “Ligeia” may be called my best tale. In my view it was Edgar Allan Poe's best ghost story and perhaps his only ghost story. I argue that "Morella" is not a ghost story and neither is the creature in "The Masque of the Red Death," but rather a monster foretelling doom.

  

See the full gallery on Posterous

Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849 Countdown - Scary Story 35 Link

As the author of the fictional Edgar Allan Poe biography Coffee with Poe and editor of Edgar Allan Poe Annotated Short Stories and Poems, I am sometimes asked if Poe had a favorite ghost story. Truth be told, Poe was quiet clear on his favorite ghost story--or at least his favorite by an American, which I believe is a dig at Charles Dickens and his bias toward British literature. It is by William Gilmore Simms and is titled: Murder Will Out. I don't, however, agree with Poe since I have placed it in spot 35 in my Top 40 countdown of the scariest ghost stories from 1800-1849. This is what Poe had to say about it in his review (published posthumously in 1850) of Simm's collection of short stories: "The Wigwam and the Cabin."

     All the tales in this collection have merit, and the first has merit of a very peculiar kind. “Grayling, or Murder will Out,” is the title. The story was well received in England, but on this fact no opinion can be safely based. “The Athenæum,” we believe, or some other of the London weekly critical journals, having its attention called (no doubt through personal influence) to Carey & Hart’s beautiful annual “The Gift,” found it convenient, in the course of its notice, to speak at length of some one particular article, and “Murder Will Out” probably arrested the attention of the sub-editor who was employed in so trivial a task as the patting on the head an American book — arrested his attention first from its title, (murder being a taking theme with a cockney,) and secondly, from its details of southern forest scenery. Large quotations were made, as a matter of course, and very ample commendation bestowed — the whole criticism proving nothing, in our opinion, but that the critic had not read a single syllable of the story. The critique, however, had at least the good effect of calling American attention to the fact that an American might possibly do a decent thing, (provided the possibility were first admitted by the British sub-editors,) and the result was first, that many persons read, and secondly, that all persons admired the “excellent story in ‘The Gift’ that had actually been called ‘readable’ by one of the English newspapers.”

Now had “Murder Will Out” been a much worse story than was ever written by Professor Ingraham, still, under the circumstances, we patriotic and independent Americans would have declared it inimitable; but, by some species of odd accident, it happened to deserve all that the British sub-sub had condescended to say of it, on the strength of a guess as to what it was all about. It is really an admirable tale, nobly conceived and skilfully carried into execution — the best ghost-story ever written by an American — for we presume that this is the ultimate extent of commendation to which we, as an humble American, dare go.

The other stories of the volume do credit to the author’s abilities, and display their peculiarities in a strong light, but there is no one of them so good as “Murder Will Out.”

Connect with Me Online:

 

Website: AndrewBarger.com

 

Blog: www.scary-short-stories.blogspot.com

 

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/Andrew-Bargers-Official-Facebook-Page/

 

Fan me on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1362598.Andrew_Barger

Follow me on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/andrewbarger

William Gilmore Simms - Author of the 35th Best Ghost Story 18000-1849

William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870) is little read today, but was known in the first half of the nineteenth century as the leading novelist of the Southern United States. His novels include the all but forgotten "The Vision of Cortez" (1829), "The Tricolor" (1830), and "Atlantis, a Story of the Sea" (1852). But he penned an excellent ghost story that Edgar Allan Poe called "the best ghost story ever written by an American. . . ." Tomorrow I will post a link to it as I continue counting down the Top 40 scary ghost stories from 1800-1849.