Here’s just the thing to put you in the right mood on this Halloween eve: Victorian ghost stories. A number of fine examples are available online, in their entirety. So as I worry over last-minute preparations for the trick-or-treaters preparing to descend upon my front door (I had a whole 20 last year--whatever happened to children in my Seattle neighborhood?), I’m also trying to figure out which spooky and forgotten yarn to print out and take with me to the living room couch. Will it be Bram Stoker’s “The Judge’s House,” or maybe H.G. Wells’ “The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost,” or perhaps Wilkie Collins’ “Miss Jéromette and the Clergyman”?Those prudish Victorians might’ve done everything they could to conceal the human body, lest the baring of skin lead to temptation; but they sure knew how to scare the pants off a reader.
READ MORE: “Halloween Historical Horrorama,” by Miriam Burstein (The Little Professor).
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