Scottish Ghost Stories

O‘Donnell, Elliott, 1872-1965Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 269K words
Chapters: 27

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Scottish Ghost Stories by Elliott O'DonnellAuthor: O'Donnell, Elliott, 1872-1965,Language: English, Class: BF: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Psychology, Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Release Date: Dec 7, 2006

Editor's review

Compiled by Elliott O'Donnell, Scottish Ghost Stories is an entry point into the British folk tradition of supernatural narrative. The author, who lived from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, collected ghostly reports from many regions over the years; this book gathers hauntings said to occur in castles, wilds, and old houses across Scotland. Its value lies not in shocks or scares but in preserving an oral tradition: the tales are often told in a relayer's voice, naming places, witnesses, and the origins of the report, so readers can see how folk narrative is recorded, shaped, and passed on. The prose carries traces of late Victorian and Edwardian English, unhurried in pace, building atmosphere through setting and what is left unsaid rather than gore. It suits readers approaching folklore, English literature, or the Gothic tradition, and general readers who want a few eerie tales for a short night reading. Because the original is a public-domain electronic text with limited edition information, expect a source text rather than a contemporary horror novel. Watch for the geographical clues and social background in the stories; that is where the real interest of such texts lies.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in British folklore and ghost stories
Students and researchers of English literature, the Gothic tradition, or folklore
People who want a few atmospheric tales for bedtime, without strong shocks
Readers who collect public-domain English texts, practice translation, or study the language

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking the pace and strong scares of modern horror fiction
Readers who need a Chinese translation or annotated guide and are not used to English originals
Folklorists expecting systematic scholarship and detailed source references

Reading tips

Read by region, starting with chapters set in places you know, to build a sense of geography.
For each tale, note who the narrator is and where the report comes from, and observe how oral tradition is put into writing.
When you meet archaic expressions, read through for the plot first rather than looking up every word; return to the language details after finishing.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English? Is it hard to read?

The book is in the English original, as a public-domain e-book. The language carries a late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century English style, with long sentences and some archaic vocabulary. General readers can follow the plots; skipping unfamiliar words will not prevent understanding. If you want to study the language closely, read slowly with a dictionary.

Are the stories records of real events or literary creations?

Most come from folk reports and retellings. The author presents himself as a recorder, but the text has been shaped in writing and cannot be treated as strict factual record. It is better read as folk narrative, with attention to how tales circulated and how atmosphere is built, rather than to verifying whether they are true.

Is it better read in one sitting or in several?

It is better in short sessions. The tales are relatively independent and not long; reading one or two at a time keeps them fresh, while continuous reading can tire because the narrative patterns are similar. Night reading can suit the atmosphere, but do not read too many before sleep.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

O‘Donnell, Elliott, 1872-1965 Author

Elliott O’Donnell (1872–1965) was a British writer known for his works on ghosts, hauntings and the supernatural. Ten of his books are held in this collection, including Twenty Years’ Experience as a Ghost Hunter, Werwolves, Byways of Ghost-Land, Animal Ghosts; Or, Animal Hauntings and the Hereafter, Scottish Ghost Stories, The Sorcery Club, The Banshee and Haunted Places in England. His writing draws largely on local ghost lore and haunted-place legends, and also treats folkloric figures such as werewolves and the banshee, in a reportorial style that emphasises atmosphere and the retelling of tales. Public information about him is limited and few biographical details are known, but his works show a sustained interest in collecting and presenting ghost stories from Britain and Europe, making him one of the more active writers of supernatural popular literature in the early twentieth-century English-speaking world.