Book Review: "Eerie East Anglia" ed. by Edward Parnell

Full Title = Eerie East Anglia: Fearful Tales of Field and Fen by Edward Parnell

I have been trying to catch up on one of my favourite series of books ever - The British Library's Tales of the Weird. As you can probably tell, I have been a bit here and there about it, hyping up anthologies like Out of the Past in my head only to be kind of disappointed. I thought that perhaps, I needed to get back on the folk horror wagon and delve deeper into my favourite subgenre and so, I sought out some writings on fields, weird coastal ghosts and remote places with haunting backstories. And so, I found this lovely anthology. Let's take a look...

The book opens with one of the most famous ghost stories ever written: Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad by MR James. Professor Parkins, an academic on holiday at a seaside hotel, discovers an ancient whistle while exploring the ruins of a Templar preceptory. The whistle bears an inscription warning against its use, but Parkins blows it out of curiosity. Strange occurrences follow, including unnerving dreams and the sense of being watched. A mysterious figure seems to pursue him, appearing as a spectral form draped in bedsheets. Parkins is skeptical of the supernatural, attributing the events to his imagination, but his experiences intensify when the entity physically manifests in his hotel room, leaving him terrified. With the intervention of a colleague, the haunting ceases, but the professor is left deeply shaken.

Another story I liked was called The Dust-Cloud by EF Benson and it is about a young man named Jim who encounters a mysterious dust cloud while driving through the English countryside. The cloud appears to behave unnaturally, following his car and obscuring his vision. Despite the seemingly mundane phenomenon, the situation takes a sinister turn as Jim senses a malevolent force within the cloud, which he later associates with a local legend of a cursed woman who haunts the area. The narrative delves into Jim’s growing unease and his attempts to rationalise the eerie events. However, the climax reveals the true nature of the dust cloud, as it takes on a spectral form, embodying the malevolence of the curse.

In Frederick Cowles’ The House on the Marsh, the narrator, seeking solitude, rents an isolated house surrounded by bleak marshland. The house, rumoured to be cursed, has a dark history involving the mysterious disappearance of its previous occupants. Despite warnings from locals, the narrator is undeterred, initially enjoying the tranquillity. However, eerie phenomena soon begin to disturb his peace: strange noises, ghostly apparitions, and an oppressive atmosphere of dread. As the narrator investigates, he uncovers the house’s sinister secrets, including its connection to a vengeful spirit trapped within its walls. The haunting intensifies, culminating in a chilling encounter with the supernatural force, which nearly claims the narrator’s life. Ultimately, he escapes but is left traumatised, vowing never to return.

The final story I will refer to in this review is called Dr Matthew's Ghost Story by Penelope Fitzgerald. This is a story in which Dr Matthew describes an unsettling experience from his time as a junior doctor in a rural hospital. While on duty, he encountered the ghost of a recently deceased patient, a woman who had died suddenly and tragically. The apparition appeared at the foot of his bed, staring intently at him before vanishing. Though initially dismissive of supernatural ideas, Dr Matthew could not rationalise what he saw. The story is told with restrained detail, reflecting the narrator’s scepticism and the peculiar discomfort of hearing a rational man confess to an inexplicable event.

All in all, this was a much stronger anthology than the one I read previously. I feel that not only was this set of stories investigating the idea of folk horror and how the classic ghost story is best fitted to the subgenre, but it also explores the frailty of logic. There are many stories in which the main character has no words, is left speechless or has a restraint in explaining what they saw or encountered. This is sometimes by the nature of the ghost itself being to a rational mind, implausible, or it is by the very idea that whatever caused the speechlessness put the character into a state of absolute trauma.