The Scary Short Stories Blog by award-winning author Andrew Barger where I discuss the scariest stories in the various supernatural genres. I emphasize classic scary short stories and provide insight into the origins of the stories and the authors behind them. Visit AndrewBarger.com to check out my books and to be scared.
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Ephemera on Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Scary Ghost Stories
Sunday, April 2, 2023
Edgar Allan Poe Vampire Story - A Few Thoughts
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Edgar Allan Poe was the undisputed king of the early scary short story. He was ten when John Polidori published the first vampire story ("The Vampyre") in the English language. That groundbreaking story was followed a few months later by "The Black Vampyre," which was published anonymously by Robert Sands, valedictorian of Columbia University. Both caused quite a stir in the literary community and among readers at large due to their depraved horror. Many people thought Lord Byron wrote Polidori's tale. Lord Byron had to make a statement in the papers that he was not the author. Both of these vintage vampire stories, with detailed background information, in The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849 They are a must read for vampire aficionados. The latter tale launched a vampire Wikipedia page on the story itself given its groundbreaking firsts in vampire lore.
Poe’s only passing references to vampires were in his poems. “Tamerlane” references a vampire-bat and “To Helen” calls out vampire-winged panels. Articles about the vampire motif in “The Fall of the House of Usher” have been disorganized and unconvincing. There is no hint that Roderick Usher was a vampire. Essays about a volitional vampire in “Morella” have . . . well . . . sucked.
Saturday, March 25, 2023
New Witch Story Anthology is On Sale Now - Witchcraft Classics: Best Witch Short Stories 1800-1849
Witchcraft Classics: Best Witch Short Stories 1800-1849
My latest scary anthology is now live and available for download or purchase.
Hardback or Paperback Book
Stories Revealed!
These are the great witch stories I picked for the anthology.
*The Hollow of the Three Hills (1830) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
*The Marvelous Legend of Tom Connor’s Cat (1847) by Samuel Lover
*The Witch Caprusche (1845) by Elizabeth Ellet
*The Brownie of the Black Haggs (1827) by James Hogg
*Lydia Ashbaugh, the Witch (1836) by William Darby
*Young Goodman Brown (1835) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
*Viy (1835) by Nikolai Gogol
Buy: Witchcraft Classics: Best Witch Short Stories 1800-1849 today!
#BestWitchStories #ClassicWitchStories #BestWitchShortStories #ClassicWitchShortStories #WitchBook #NewWitchBook #WitchAnthology #WitchCollection #GreatestWitchStories #GreatestWitchShortStories #WitchcraftStories
Monday, March 6, 2023
Short Biography on Edgar Allan Poe and His Scary Life
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore–
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of “never–never more!”
Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
And sparkling ever more,
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty
Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king.
In a kingdom by the sea;
I and my Annabel Lee;
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago;
In this kingdom by the sea.
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea,
William Heath Robinson (1872-1944), English cartoonist and illustrator, published the above short Poe biography in 1900. Below is the cover for Coffee with Poe: A Novel of Edgar Allan Poe's Life where I being Poe to life using his actual letters to his contemporaries and many loves.
Friday, March 3, 2023
New Scary Witch Book Cover Reveal - Witchcraft Classics: Best Witch Short Stories 1800-1849
Witchcraft Classics: Best Witch Short Stories 1800-1849
I am (witchy) excited to reveal the cover of the latest scary short story anthology that I have edited. This time I have explored, and uncovered, classic witch stories from the first half of the nineteenth century.In the coming days I will reveal the stories I picked for the collection. Click here to preorder this witch book that will be on sale on March 17, 2023!
#BestWitchStories #ClassicWitchStories #BestWitchShortStories #ClassicWitchShortStories #WitchBook #NewWitchBook #WitchAnthology #WitchCollection
Thursday, March 2, 2023
A Story of Werewolf by Catherine Crowe - Overview by Andrew Barger
Catherine Crowe arguably wrote the first werewolf short story by a female. It was republished in The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology for the first time nearly 175 years since its original publication. Crowe also wrote a few novels, with the Adventures of Susan Hopley being her most popular. Yet it is Crowe’s association with scary short stories for which she is remembered today.
Two years after “A Story of a Weir-Wolf” appeared in the May 16th, 1846 (vol. III) issue of James Hogg’s magazine Hogg’s Weekly Instructor, Crowe published a collection she titled “The Night-Side of Nature, or Ghosts and Ghost-seers.” It is a solid compilation of supernatural short stories from real life events. Unfortunately, her werewolf story that begins “on a fine bright summer’s morning” was not contained in “The Night-Side of Nature” and was apparently never re-published by Crowe after it appeared in Hogg’s Weekly Instructor. Thankfully the story will live on. Like any werewolf, it shapeshifted. Less than a decade later, the author had a terrible bought of insanity.
“Mrs Crowe has gone stark mad–and stark naked–on the spirit-rapping imposition. She was found t’other day in the street, clothed only in her chastity, a pocket-handkerchief and a visiting card. She had been informed, it appeared, by the spirits, that if she went out in that trim she would be invisible. She is now in a mad-house and, I fear, hopelessly insane. One of the curious manifestations of her disorder is that she can bear nothing black. There is a terrific business to be done, even when they are obliged to put coals on her fire.”In 1876—four years after Crowe’s death—William Forster produced a play called “The Weirwolf: A Tragedy” that he made clear was “from a story by Mrs. Crowe” in the printed script. This appears to be the first werewolf play taken from a werewolf story written by a female.
Sunday, December 18, 2022
The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton, Scary Short Story by Charles Dickens
When people think of Charles "Boz" Dickens (1812-1870) around Christmastime, they obviously think of "A Christmas Carol." It was published to much fanfare on December 14, 1843. Yet it is relatively unknown that seven years prior, Dickens published another scary ghost story for Christmas. The scary story was first published in 1836 and later appeared as Chapter 29 in The Pickwick Papers. The ghost story is both funny and horrific in parts, reminiscent of A Christmas Carol in this regard.
Friday, November 25, 2022
The Ghostly Visiter; or, The Mysterious Invalid - A Scary Short Story from 1833
On February 27, 1833 a horrific ghost story was published by the title The Ghostly Visiter; or, The Mysterious Invalid. The scary story was printed anonymously in The Penny Story-Teller, a British pulp magazine that came out every Wednesday.
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Best Vampire Short Stories 1800-1849 Anthology Interview with Andrew Barger
Q1. Why did you focus on the first half of the 19th century for your first vampire anthology?
A1. I knew the first vampire short story written in the English language was "The Vampyre" by John Polidori. He published it in 1819. There was obviously fresh dirt, so to speak, for this period and I started digging. I wanted to start from the beginning just as I did with The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849,The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849 and The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849.
Q2. Did you unearth anything of note in vampire lore?
A2. Yes. I was surprised to find the first vampire short story penned by an American that has remained buried for nearly two centuries. It was published only months after Polidori's tale. It was titled "The Black Vampyre" and was published under a pseudonym by a Columbia University Law School graduate. In the book I demonstrate who the actual author was as background to the story. From my research it is also the first short story to advocate freedom for black slaves and to contain a child vampire.
Q3. That is substantial. So you include background information on each story in the collection?
A3. Also author photos, publication dates and a list of stories read at the end of the book. In the print version I include annotations like I did with the other books.
Q4. You stated that in your estimation Edgar Allan Poe wrote one third of the best horror stories for the fifty years in question. Did Edgar Allan Poe write any vampire stories?
Q5. Who are some of the more famous authors in the vampire anthology?
A5. I mentioned John Polidori, Lord Byron's traveling doctor. Alexander Dumas, Joseph le Fanu and Théophile Gautier all have stories in the collection.
Q6. Do you have a favorite?
A6. "Clarimonde" by Gautier is the foremost thing of its kind. Of course Gautier had the advantage of all the great stories that came before his.
Q7. The strangest name has to be "Pepopukin in Corsica." How did you come across it?
A7. It was published in an old magazine in 1826. It is just the third vampire story originally published in the English language. It has not been republished since. The author was not given, only the initials A.Y. I was able to learn that it was Arthur Young who wrote a number of travel books based in France. "Pepopukin in Corsica" is the first vampire story to include poetry.
Q8. Didn't Polidori write "The Vampyre" in response to a bet by Mary Shelley?
A8. There's a story within a story on that one. Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and John Polidori challenged one another to write a ghost story. Mary ultimately wrote Prometheus Unbound (that we know now as Frankenstein) and Lord Byron penned a fragment of a vampire story that he never finished. Polidori used the outline and wrote "The Vampyre." It is little known that Polidori put Lord Byron in "The Vampyre" after they had had a falling out. Lord Byron is the vampire himself. He called him Lord Ruthven in the story. I lay out the many similarities between Lord Byron and Lord Ruthven in the background. It's fascinating stuff.
Q9. Another popular vampire story is "Wake Not the Dead."
A9. It was first published in English in 1823 and miss-attributed to Ludwig Tieck. Ernst Raupach is the true author.
Q10. Did you unearth any misconceptions in doing your research?
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Edgar Allan Poe Werewolf Story?
1831 The Man-Wolf by Leitch Ritche (1800-1865)
1846 A Story of a Weir-Wolf by Catherine Crowe (1790-1872)
1828 The Wehr-Wolf: A Legend of the Limousin by Richard Thomson (1794-1865)
1839 The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains by Captain Frederick Marryat (1792-1848)
1838 Hugues the Wer-Wolf: A Kentish Legend of the Middle Ages by Sutherland Menzies [Mrs. Elizabeth Stone] (1806-1883)
#WerewolfStories #BestWerewolfStories #LycanStories #VintageWerewolf #WerewolfTales #VictorianWerewolfStories #PoeWerewolfStory