Victorian Horror

In a warning against the fickleness of youth and love, a young artist makes a promise he has no real desire to keep and from which he discovers there is no escape. 'The Cold Embrace' is taken from the second volume of the Victorian Anthologies Horror series, featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. Guaranteed to give you the shivers, each collection includes familiar and loved creepy tales as well as those less well-known. With music by Benedict Edwards.

The story takes place aboard a transatlantic ocean liner. A passenger named Brisbane is puzzled when the steward behaves oddly while taking his luggage to his stateroom, number 105. In the middle of the first night, Brisbane is further perplexed when his roommate suddenly leaps down from the upper berth and runs out of the cabin. In the morning, Brisbane learns that his roommate has gone overboard - and was the fourth consecutive occupant of the same upper berth to do so.

Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her uncle disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the Arctic but she doesn't know why or how. She and her husband are trying to make a name for themselves as paleontologists but, in 1850s' London, scientific success requires wealth and connections - neither of which they possess. But then Mary discovers some old family papers that allude to the truth behind her great-uncle's past, of his attempts to create a living being and the creature that ultimately killed him. Perhaps this idea will prove to be their salvation.

Richard Kramer, still nursing his injuries, is on his way to Germany with Lily Lefèvre to find his sister Anne and her children. Charlie Bentwith is struggling to overcome the trauma of recent events, and the enigmatic Dr. Westcott seems to be distracted by problems of his own. When a new threat arises from an unexpected source, the group of friends who had been bound together by Katherine's death are scattered and still reeling from their recent ordeal.

It is December 1888. Jack the Ripper has not killed for over a month and London is beginning to relax as Christmas approaches. When Katherine Kramer cuts herself on a strange book at a dinner party, she quickly falls ill. Her husband Richard is a professor of medicine, but even his efforts are futile as the mysterious illness blazes through her. As Katherine dies, she gives birth to something nightmarish. Something which should not exist. Something which spurs Richard to embark on a terrifying journey of discovery as he chases the answer to one question: who or what killed his wife?

In her aunt’s dusty Victorian mansion, Robin Wurmwood discovers an heirloom with an appetite—a dollhouse that doesn’t just collect dust but souls. When architectural scholar Robin inherits the pink monstrosity on Elm Street, the exquisite dollhouse inside seems like a quaint curiosity—until its porcelain occupants start rearranging themselves to mimic her every move. At night, childish voices whisper from empty rooms: “Play with us, Robin,” and “Won’t you join us for storytime?” These tiny terrors have already claimed two sets of sisters in this house, always leaving one ...

Sometimes monsters are not just monsters - they are reflections of ourselves, mirrors of our own darkness and light. But do monsters only exist as a figment of our imagination, or are they real? In this late 19th-century crime fiction horror novel, Henry Blackshaw, the owner of a derelict manor, hires private detective Stephen Moore to investigate a series of strange disappearances on his property. As the detective and his team ponder who may be responsible for the missing victims, confronted with chilling evidence that makes their blood run cold, they come to a terrifying conclusion... ...

In the shadowed halls of Blackthorn Manor, a place steeped in history and mystery, an ancient legacy of redemption unfolds. It is a tale that weaves its way through the very fabric of the manor's existence, beckoning those who dare to seek solace and transformation within its enigmatic walls. Within these thirty-five chapters, we delve into a realm of horror—a genre that serves as the canvas for the exploration of redemption's intricate dance. Each chapter presents a unique and original tale, written with the mastery of an award-winning author, unveiling the depths of darkness and the ...

Addressing the corpse of her husband, who has just been pronounced dead, a hysterical Mrs Arne prays that 'if there be a God in heaven, and if He ever answered a prayer, let Him...give you back to me'. Shortly afterward, an amazed doctor finds that the patient he had thought dead has somehow miraculously recovered. But as time goes by, it's clear that there is something unsettling about Edward Arne, something that frightens people, including his once-adoring wife.

A grisly murder leaves a haunted estate without an heir, and a powerful medium scrambles to find answers from beyond the grave. Determined to escape the nightmarish memories of her childhood, heiress and psychic Maribeth Sommerset pursues the adventurous life of a psychic investigator, beginning with a murder, and the spirits who hover behind at the haunted Chateau Swansea.

Extracts from a diary report first-hand the uncovering of a tomb and the nightly wanderings of the vampire previously encased within. Attempts to lay her to rest are about as successful as you might expect.... The Tomb of Sarah is taken from the Victorian Anthologies series featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. Guaranteed to give you the shivers, each collection includes familiar and loved creepy tales as well as those less well-known. With music by Benedict Edwards.

It is the winter of 1893, and in London the snow is falling. It is falling as Gideon Bliss seeks shelter in a Soho church, where he finds Angie Tatton lying before the altar. His onetime love is at death's door, murmuring about brightness and black air and about those she calls the Spiriters. In the morning she is gone. The snow is falling as a seamstress climbs onto a ledge above Mayfair, a mysterious message stitched into her own skin.

Even if the years weigh heavily on their shoulders, the Caskey family now enjoy wealth way beyond their wildest dreams. Parties, lavish receptions and social gatherings give a rhythm to their existence, their days spent in carefree abandonment. But the past is not forgotten and a dark presence looms over Perdido, its inhabitants and its rivers. The time of reckoning has come.

Traumatised by dreams and visions about the unassuming chest under the window in her bedroom, Catherine Lestrange demands it be opened; but what is found inside has the power to change her future as well as her reveal her past. 'Catherine’s Quest' is taken from the second volume of the Victorian Anthologies Horror series, featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. Guaranteed to give you the shivers, each collection includes familiar and loved creepy tales as well as those less well-known.

Perdido, 1928. Torn apart by the continuing tensions between Mary-Love and her daughter-in-law Elinor, the Caskey family must also confront other crises. As the economy plummets and relationships sour, something sinister is prowling the darkest recesses of the Caskey household. Patient, implacable, waiting to catch its next victim in its deadly web…

In the year 1843, embittered Afghan War veteran John Sparrowhawk is released from the debtors’ prison by the beautiful and enigmatic Miss Evangeline. Penniless and alone in the world, he takes employment with his mysterious benefactor, agreeing to stand guard over a house in Bloomsbury for the duration of that December. The task sounds simple, but in fact is anything but.

The story concerns the attempts by a prince and his followers to shield themselves from a terrible plague which is devastating the surrounding area and to carry on living lives of pleasure. Their attempts ultimately prove futile. The Red Death is the name of the infectious disease which causes people to die within 30 minutes. Those who are infected bleed profusely from their skin, especially their faces, before they die. Some six months after the arrival of Prince Prospero's guests, a masked ball is held for them.

In The Wedding Knell, Mrs Dabney (a woman who married and was widowed twice) is going to be marrying Mr Ellenwood, a 65-year-old who had been attracted to Dabney in the past. When Mrs. Dabney enters the church for the wedding, the bell let out a deep knell, usually reserved for funerals. The bell continued to ring until the groom arrived. The groom arrived with a funeral precession, and claimed that Mrs Dabney's youth was given to other husbands, and he was forced to live an unhappy life because he couldn't have her.

Little might be thought of the purchase of a skeleton for use in a lab, but a prudent scientist would check its provenance - the departed wearer of those bones may yet have a score to settle. 'The Man of Science' is taken from the second volume of the Victorian Anthologies Horror series, featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. Guaranteed to give you the shivers, each collection includes familiar and loved creepy tales as well as those less well-known.

A well-known and often told tale of murder and grave robbing in Victorian Edinburgh, supposedly in the interests of science. With the desecration of the bodies, a worthy comeuppance follows. 'The Body Snatcher' is taken from the second volume of the Victorian Anthologies Horror series, featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. Guaranteed to give you the shivers, each collection includes familiar and loved creepy tales as well as those less well-known. With music by Benedict Edwards.