FROM OUT OF THE SILENCE (1920) – HALLOWEEN READING

Halloween Month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with this look at some ghost stories from over a hundred years ago.

FROM OUT OF THE SILENCE: SEVEN STRANGE STORIES (full title) (1920) – Written by Lady Bessie Kyffin-Taylor. The stories are:

OUTSIDE THE HOUSE – A veteran of World War One (called the World War or the Great War at the time), who lost the use of a leg during the conflict, at last meets his fiancé’s relatives, the Falconer family. They are gracious hosts but aggressively warn the man to never leave the house after dark. Only at sunrise is it safe to venture out.

        Hearing odd, menacing sounds outside during the night, and intrigued by the way even the windows are blocked off after dark, the man disregards the warning and goes outside one night to investigate. While walking the eerie, moonlit grounds of the estate he learns why no one leaves the house at night.

SPOILER: An ancestor of the family gained their wealth as a mine owner but displayed the typical callousness of the time period toward worker safety. A group of miners died in a mining accident due to that negligence. Anyone on the grounds after dark gets seized by the ghosts of those laborers and dragged off to the subterranean site of their death.     

ROOM NUMBER TEN – A man visits friends in Scotland and spends the night. He sleeps in room number 10, which has two separate beds. As the night goes on, the visitor realizes he is not alone and that ghosts in the room reenact a long-ago murder.

        More ancestral shenanigans emerge as the identity of the ghostly nurse is revealed. 

TWO LITTLE RED SHOES – A daring woman enjoys exploring old, abandoned homes. Her latest excursion lands her in a place where children’s ghosts linger … but so does the presence of their abuser and murderer. Our spunky heroine tries to set things right.   

THE TWINS – Two male twins seem to house nothing but virtue in one of their souls and nothing but malevolence in the other. The evil twin tries to frame the good twin for a crime, but is found out and hanged. His ghost haunts the good twin and tries to ruin his marriage.

THE WIND IN THE WOODS – A supernatural wind in the forest drives a photographer to an isolated cottage. In one of the most overused tropes of ghost stories, the cottage is haunted by spirits who reenact an outrage from the past. This tale at least adds some nice touches as the photos taken by the main character catch the ghosts on film. But the spectral malefactor wants the photos destroyed to continue concealing their guilt.   

SYLVIA – A barely supernatural tale regarding the 19th Century abduction of a young girl by gypsies. Dull and not really much of a ghost story.

THE STAR INN – A traveling brother and sister stay at the title establishment. In the night they realize there are ghosts on the premises. The spirits of two long-ago lovers and their white cat haunt the inn and enter the room of the two siblings.

FOR MY REVIEW OF “THE GHOST PIRATES” (1909), A CHILLING TALE OF SPECTRAL PIRATES PREYING ON THE LIVING, CLICK HERE.

FOR MY REVIEW OF “THE GHOST GARDEN” (1918), ABOUT A FEMALE GHOST HAUNTING THE RUINS OF A VIRGINIA ESTATE CLICK HERE.

FOR MY REVIEW OF “THE DISCOVERY OF THE DEAD” (1910), A VERY, VERY UNIQUE GHOST STORY, CLICK HERE.

FOR MORE HALLOWEEN MATERIAL CLICK HERE.