Book Review: "The Complete Ghost Stories" by M.R James

M.R James is perhaps one of my favourite short story writers purely for the fact that many of them are pretty bloody terrifying and have scared the pants off me in the past. There are certain stories in here where I have said to myself that I would never read again because when I read them the first time in my teens, I was really quite frightened. However, I have read them since then and I can confirm: still frightened. I'm actually working on a list of the scariest stuff I've ever read and if it has come out already by the time this review is released then I've done well there. If it hasn't, well then you might have to wait a bit longer for it.

In his most famous story, Professor Parkins is the cynical academic star of Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad and he travels to a country town in England to have a bit of a holiday. Don't be fooled though, M.R James definitely creates an odd sense of dread through the entire story. While exploring the ruins of a Templar, he discovers an old bronze whistle bearing a Latin inscription: "Who is this who is coming?" Curious, Parkins cleans the whistle and, alone in his room that night, decides to blow it. After sounding the whistle, strange things start to happen.

He experiences eerie dreams of a figure running towards him across a vast beach, and increasingly feels watched and haunted. Sheets in his room appear to move on their own. The tension escalates when, one night, something truly unnatural takes shape in the empty bed beside his, seemingly formed out of the bedding itself. Honestly, this is something that might seem quite predictable and just a bit odd, but it has a horrifying sense of dread throughout.

Another story is The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral in which a manuscript is found by Dr. Black, who is cataloguing documents in Barchester Cathedral’s library. He uncovers the journal of Archdeacon Haynes, a scholarly and morally upright clergyman who rose to his position under suspicious circumstances. These involve his predecessor, Archdeacon Pulteney, dying suddenly after a fall down the stairs.

Haynes’s journal reveals his increasing paranoia and dread following his promotion. He becomes convinced that something is watching him and haunting him. The source of his terror seems linked to the cathedral’s ornate choir stalls, particularly a carved figure of Death, which begins to loom larger and more threatening in his imagination. He hears disembodied whispering, sees shadowy figures, and senses a persistent presence in his home and study. Gradually, it becomes clear that Haynes is being punished (possibly by supernatural forces connected to the cathedral) for his role in hastening Pulteney’s death.

I'm not going to say much more about the plot because I think I'll spoil it for you. But if this isn't classic M.R James then I don't know what is. It's filled with a terrifying creeping atmosphere that really does make the reader as uncomfortable as physically possible. I mean, isn't that simply the thing he did best?

It also includes the very first ghost story M.R James ever wrote, Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook is about an English scholar, Dennistoun, who visits the ancient French town of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges in search of material for a book on church architecture. There, he’s shown around the cathedral by a nervous verger and eventually offered an old scrapbook that once belonged to a long-dead canon named Alberic.

The scrapbook is a strange, ominous object, a jumble of theological texts and grotesque images. One drawing in particular, depicting a demonic, hairy creature crouching over a body, unsettles Dennistoun. Despite his unease, he purchases the book and returns to his lodgings. That night, however, the true horror unfolds: Dennistoun is visited by the monstrous figure from the drawing. The demonic entity is linked to Alberic’s unwise delving into dark lore and emerges from the shadows, an embodiment of the book’s cursed nature.

M.R James' antiquarian horror is often dismissed by those who enjoy contemporary stuff but honestly, there is so much great atmosphere in this one that if you think that this is the first ghost story he ever wrote, you know he was meant to write them. I mean, The Ash Tree has not been included in this review and for good reason. I was so terrified when I read that for the first time as a teen that I almost skipped over it entirely when reading this book. I would rather not be retraumatised.