Classic Ghost Stories
LeFanu, J. S. Sir Dominick Sarsfield.	
Dickens, C. The story of the bagman's uncle.	
Jacobs, W. W. The monkey's paw.	
Scott, W., Sir. Wandering Willie's tale.	
Stoker, B. Dracula's guest.	
Oliphant, M. The open door.	
Shelley, M. The mortal immortal.	
Hawthorne, N. [Dr. Heidegger's Experiment](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455515W)
Dickens, C. No. 1 branch line, the signalman.	
Scott, W., Sir. The tapestried chamber.	
Edwards, A. B. The phantom coach.	
Collins, W. The dream woman.	
Defoe, D. The apparition of Mrs. Veal.	
Stoker, B. The judge's house.	
Marryat, F. The werewolf.	
Maupassant, G. de. The horla.	
Crawford, F. M. The upper berth.	
Bulwer-Lytton, E., Sir. The haunted and the haunters.
American Ghost stories, English Ghost stories, Supernatural, Fiction, Paranormal fiction
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Charles Dickens, W. W. Jacobs, Sir Walter Scott, Bram Stoker, Margaret Oliphant, Mary Shelley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edwards, Amelia Ann Blanford, Wilkie Collins, Daniel Defoe, Frederick Marryat, Guy de Maupassant, Marion Crawford, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873), best known as Sheridan Le Fanu, was an Irish writer of Gothic tales, mystery novels, and horror fiction. He was a leading ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. M. R. James described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories". Three of his best-known works are *Uncle Silas*, *Carmilla*, and *The House by the Churchyard*.

**Source**: [Sheridan Le Fanu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_Le_Fanu) on Wikipedia. || Charles Dickens, was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most iconic characters, with the theme of social reform running throughout his work. The continuing popularity of his novels and short stories is such that they have never gone out of print. ([Source][1].)

[1]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens || William Wymark Jacobs
Born in Wapping, Middlesex, England, UK || Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, was a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet, popular throughout Europe during his time. Scott has been said to be particularly associated with Toryism, though several passages in Tales of a Grandfather display a liberal, progressive and Unionist outlook on Scotland's history.

Scott was the first English-language author to have a truly international career in his lifetime, with many contemporary readers in Europe, Australia, and North America. His novels and poetry are still read, and many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Lady of The Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor.

([Source][1])


  [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Scott || A Scottish novelist and historical writer, who usually wrote as Mrs. Oliphant. Her fictional works encompass "domestic realism, the historical novel and tales of the supernatural" (<a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Oliphant>Wikipedia</a>). || Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher  William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. ([Source][1].)

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley || Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.

Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.

Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce. || Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (7 June 1831 – 15 April 1892), also known as Amelia B. Edwards, was an English novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist. Her literary successes included the ghost story The Phantom Coach (1864), the novels Barbara's History (1864) and Lord Brackenbury (1880), and the travelogue of Egypt A Thousand Miles up the Nile (1877). She also edited a poetry anthology published in 1878.

In 1882, she co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund. She gained the nickname "Godmother of Egyptology" for her contribution. -Wikipedia || William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright and short story writer best known for *The Woman in White* (1859) and *The Moonstone* (1868). The last has been called the first modern English detective novel. Born to the family of a painter, William Collins, in London, he grew up in Italy and France, learning French and Italian. He began work as a clerk for a tea merchant. After his first novel, Antonina, appeared in 1850, he met Charles Dickens, who became a close friend and mentor. Some of Collins's works appeared first in Dickens's journals *All the Year Round* and *Household Words* and they collaborated on drama and fiction. Collins achieved financial stability and an international following with his best known works in the 1860s, but began suffering from gout. Taking opium for the pain grew into an addiction. In the 1870s and 1880s his writing quality declined with his health. Collins was critical of the institution of marriage: he split his time between Caroline Graves and his common-law wife Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children.

**Source**: [Wilkie Collins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkie_Collins) on Wikipedia. || Daniel Defoe, born Daniel Foe, was an English writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain, and is even referred to by some as among the founders of the English novel. A prolific and versatile writer, he wrote more than 500 books, pamphlets, and journals on various topics (including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology and the supernatural). He was also a pioneer of economic journalism. ([Source][1])


  [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoe || Guy de Maupassant, né le 5 août 1850 au château de Miromesnil près de Tourville-sur-Arques (France) et mort le 6 juillet 1893 dans le 16e arrondissement de Paris, est un écrivain et journaliste littéraire français. Lié à Gustave Flaubert et à Émile Zola, Maupassant a marqué la littérature française par ses six romans, dont *Une vie* en 1883, *Bel-Ami* en 1885, *Pierre et Jean* en 1887-1888, et surtout par ses nouvelles (parfois intitulées contes) comme *Boule de Suif* en 1880, les *Contes de la bécasse* (1883) ou Le Horla (1887). Ces œuvres retiennent l’attention par leur force réaliste, la présence importante du fantastique et par le pessimisme qui s’en dégage le plus souvent, mais aussi par la maîtrise stylistique. La carrière littéraire de Maupassant se limite à une décennie — de 1880 à 1890 — avant qu’il ne sombre peu à peu dans la folie et ne meure peu avant l'âge de 43 ans. Reconnu de son vivant, il conserve un renom de premier plan, renouvelé encore par les nombreuses adaptations cinématographiques de ses œuvres.


----------


(Henry René Albert) Guy De Maupassant is generally considered to be the greatest French writer of short stories. One account says the location of his birth was the Château de Miromesnil, in Dieppe, though this is not certain. His paternal ancestors were of the minor aristocracy, and his maternal grandfather, Paul Le Poittevin, was Gustave Flaubert's godfather. His parents separated when he was 11 years old. 

Maupassant was gifted with a photographic memory, which aided him in recollecting events and characters for his stories. As a teenager, Maupassant was shown, by the poet Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909), a mummified hand. He used this haunting image in his early short story La Main Ecorchée (1875). In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at age 20, he volunteered to serve in the army during Franco-Prussian War. After his return to Paris, Maupassant joined the literary circle of Gustave Flaubert, who introduced him to some of the leading writers of his day, including Emile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, and Henry James. Flaubert saw Maupassant regularly and schooled him in the craft of being a writer. 

From 1872 to 1880, Maupassant worked as a civil servant, first at the ministry of maritime affairs, then at the ministry of education. Toward the end of this time, Maupassant published his first poetry, Des Vers (1880). Later the same year he published his short story masterpiece, "Boule de Suif" (Ball of Fat) in the anthology Soirées de Medan (1880), edited by Emile Zola. The story, set during the Franco-Prussian War, is about passengers on a coach, one of whom is a well-known prostitute, nicknamed 'Boule de Suif.' The story later inspired director John Ford's Western film Stagecoach (1945). 

During the 1880s Maupassant created some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. In tone, his tales were marked by precision of style and a range of expression. Although his stories range from moving drama to sometimes bizarre comedy, it is his macabre horror stories that have received much attention. 

Among Maupassant's best known books is Une Vie (A Woman's Life, 1883), about the frustrating existence of a Norman wife, Bel-Ami (1885), which depicts an unscrupulous journalist. Pierre et Jean (1888) was a psychological study of two brothers. The novel was thought to be immoral, according to the classic definition, because the hero succeeds by doing wrong. Maupassant's most upsetting horror story, "Le Horla" (1887) (not to be confused with another of Maupassant's stories called "The Trip of Le Horla", which is about a hot air balloon), was about vampire-like ghouls, madness and suicide. 

Maupassant had suffered from syphilis since his 20's, which caused him neurological and mental problem in his later years, and which undoubtedly accounts for his shortened lifespan. Some critics have alleged that Maupassant's developing illness can be seen through a growing preocuppation with mental illness in his stories. However, the theme of mental illness is present even in his first collection, La Maison Tellier (1881), published at the height of his health. Maupassant's horror fiction consists of some 39 stories, only a tenth of his total work. A recurring theme in these is madness: "A Queer Night in Paris" is a paranoid nightmare: its narrator feels compelled to walk the streets. In "Who Knows?" the subject suffers from delusions about the furniture in his house. "Diary of a Madman" is a story about a judge, who commits murder, just for the experience, and condemns an innocent man to death for the crime. "The Inn" has many similarities with Stephen King's novel The Shining. His story, "The Hand," based on his teenage recollection, has inspired later authors and movie directors. Maupassant's writing is sometimes compared with that of Edgar Allen Poe. 

On January 2, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat and was committed to the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris, where he died next year. Maupassant's style has been imitated by countless writers, and his influence can be seen on such masters of the short story as W. Somerset Maugham and O. Henry.

[Source][1]


  [1]: http://www.classicallibrary.org/maupassant/index.htm || An English politician, poet, playwright, and prolific novelist. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling novels which earned him a considerable fortune. 

He coined the phrases "*the great unwashed*", "*pursuit of the almighty dollar*", "*the pen is mightier than the sword*", and that famous opening line, "*it was a dark and stormy night*."