Yuletide Frights - Victorian Nightmares for the Holiday Season!
This book is available for purchase from Shadow House Publishing on November 20th, 2020!
Yuletide Frights is an anthology that is put together with careful thought and precision. William Simmons has a passion and a knack for picking unnerving stories and arranging them in a beautifully sinister display. I felt like I was walking up a stairwell and observing these Victorian ghost stories with an increasing level of fear and nervousness that was clearly planned for me. I felt the winter chill of the Yuletide season settling in my bones and the shadows growing darker around me every time I picked up this book. Sometimes I could even hear a church bell tolling in the distance, which I could attribute to madness or total immersion. I shall choose immersion for my own sake. The introduction by William Simmons was a perfect appetizer to this incredible meal of a book and I will share two quotes where he summed up the book flawlessly: “While the Church claimed that their Messiah had been born at Christmas it was the Pagan spirits who owned the Yuletide” and “This is a collection of truly unnerving ghost stories, intended to frighten not coddle.”
All these stories were new to me even though some of the authors are particularly well-known. That made this book extra-special. I felt that only a few stories were filler between other greater ones. Every story was enjoyable, but there were some that stood out the most to me for which I will provide some brief notes:
A Christmas Tree by Charles Dickens: “The doll’s face was immoveable, but I was not afraid of Her. Perhaps that fixed and set change coming over a real face, infused into my quickened heart some remote suggestion and dread of the universal change that is to come on every face, and make it still?” Begins with a unique look at the dark side of every decoration on and around a Christmas tree and ends with the ghosts of people passed peering through the boughs. Very memorable.
The Phantom Coach or The North Mail by Amelia B. Edwards: a very creepy tale. There was an interesting encounter with a scholar who commented on how people of all sorts everywhere in the world have had ghostly encounters and still say they’re not real due to the lack of science. This commentary is a prelude to the spectral meeting that befalls the main character later, which was quite unnerving.
The Oxford Ghost by James Hain Friswell: a devilish dinner guest with quite the penchant for fiery alcohol disturbs a mild-mannered narrator. Very nearly a psychedelic tale due to the imagery presented. Quite good.
The Old Nurse’s Story by Elizabeth Gaskell: a person can be haunted by a ghost or a guilty conscience. It is very stirring and a rare occasion when one experiences both, like in this story.
The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance by M.R. James: I loved this story. The imagery was dark and terrifying. I always found Punch and Judy to be exceptionally disturbing puppets but putting them into an evil and sentient light made this story even more frightening to me.
Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk by Frank Cowper: “Nothing broke the monotony of the wide-stretching mere; the whole scene gave me the impression of a straight line of interminable length, with a speck in the center of it. That speck was myself.” I really liked this story. It had a Lovecraftian tone to it and it put me on the edge of my seat. It has a unique setting where a man gets stranded on an abandoned hulk and must try to sleep there overnight until help comes to find him. You don’t get to see the horror, but you certainly get to feel it.
Wolverden Tower by Grant Allen: a fantastic story. It was magical, alluring, and mystifying. The best part is the ambiguity of the spirits present – were they good or evil? Are good and evil just preconceptions of the living? This was enthralling and tantalizing. A real treat to experience.
The Real and the Counterfeit by Louisa Baldwin: written in a way that is quite funny yet becomes scary by the end. A prank gone wrong makes this story relatable to those who enjoy frightening others for sport. It makes a believer out of an unbeliever and is somehow goofy as well as somber.
The Christmas Banquet by Nathaniel Hawthorne: wowie! Now there’s a real creeper of a story. A weird and unique premise. A man who passes away has mandated that his stewards gather the most miserable people they can find at a Christmas Banquet each year. These unhappy visitors compare their problems and complain about who has the worst lot in life and often accuse a guest who keeps coming back each year of not actually being miserable at all. I felt my eyes widen from the upsetting implications that are revealed by the end.
The Kit-Bag by Algernon Blackwood: “‘There’s no one here at any rate; that’s quite clear!” he exclaimed aloud. Yet at the time he uttered them he knew perfectly well that his words were not true and that he did not believe them himself.”’ I found this line hilarious because everyone has done this at some point when they were alone and startled. However, this became an intensely horrifying story that I don’t want to spoil any details of. Suffice it to say it should end up on your favorites list.
I sincerely could not choose a favorite story because so many were vying for my affections. I loved, loved, loved this book and so many stories within its pages will stay with me forever. I cannot recommend that you read this enough, especially during the Yuletide season and its frigid winter nights.
A huge thank you to William Simmons for providing me a copy for review.
Don’t want to miss anything on the site? Sign up for our newsletter HERE
Want more spooky reads? Just search below.
