Ten Great Early Ghost Stories by Women

by Lisa Morton
|
10 books
Whenever we think of women writing early spooky stories, most of us can come up with Mary Shelley, who published Frankenstein in 1818, but how many even serious horror readers know that women wrote some of the very best ghost stories from the nineteenth century? Right alongside their male peers, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Algernon Blackwood, and M. R. James, women authors were frightening readers with terrifying tales of unearthly beings.
Read more... Read less...

The Old Nurse's Story

Elizabeth Gaskell, 2015
During her life, Gaskell was most well-known for her social realism novels like North and South and her biography The Life of Charlotte Bronte, but she also wrote one of the greatest ghost stories of all time with “The Old Nurse’s Story,” about a young woman who travels to an isolated mansion that is, of course, haunted. The paperback version included as part of the “Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories” series (because the story was originally published in Great Britain at Christmas), has wonderful, evocative illustrations.

The Mammoth Book of Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories

Richard Dalby, 1995
“M. Anastasius by Dinah Mulock (1857). Although Mulock is little known today, Charles Dickens – who originally published this story under the title “A Ghost Story” in his magazine Household Words – called this “the best ghost story…that ever was written.” The story not only offers a unique take on ghosts – those who are most haunted by them can’t see them – but also remains surprisingly relevant in its examination of the power men exert over women.

The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories

Michael Cox, R. A. Gilbert, 2008
“The Phantom Coach” by Amelia B. Edwards (1864). This is a classic ghost story featuring the tried-and-true trope of the traveler who has lost his way and stumbles on ghostly happenings, but Edwards imbues her tales with suspense, wonder, and even a bit of gore.

What Did Miss Darrington See?

An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction
Jessica Amanda Salmonson, 1989
“Since I Died” by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1873). Phelps, like many of her peers, was an early feminist and also an ardent Spiritualist who firmly believed in the existence of life after death. This melancholy tale is one of the first told from the point of view of the ghost.

The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Mrs. J. H. Riddell

Volume 2-Including One Novel the Nun's Curse, and Two Short Stories Sandy The
J. H. Riddell, 2012
“Nutbush Farm” by Charlotte Riddell (1882). Any list of early ghost stories by women must include Charlotte Riddell, who wrote a number that are now considered among the finest from the time. “Nutbush Farm” is one of her longest, which means it has more chills packed in and spreads out in the telling of them as a young gentleman runs up against more than agricultural woes in trying his hand at farming. By the way, like many women of the time, Riddell often published as Mrs. J. H. Riddell, using her husband’s name.

Weird Woods

John Miller, 2021
“Man-Size in Marble” by Edith Nesbit (1887). Nesbit, who often wrote under the gender-neutral E. Nesbit, may be best known for her children’s fiction, but she was also a fine (and frequent) writer of chilling short stories. This one is based on an actual legend from Britain and happens to be set on Halloween.

The Face in the Glass and Other Gothic Tales

Mary Elizabeth Braddon, 2014
“Good Lady Ducayne” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1896). While not strictly a ghost story, “Good Lady Ducayne” was often classified as one simply because virtually every story with a supernatural angle published in the nineteenth century was called a “ghost story” before “horror” was an accepted genre label. Braddon remains one of the most contemporary-feeling of nineteenth-century writers since her tales are often written with a sense of humor and irreverence. This story, containing that trademark wit, is often classified as an early vampire tale.

Phantom Lover a and Other Dark Tales

V. Lee, 2020
“Marsyas in Flanders” by Vernon Lee (1900). Vernon Lee was the pen name of Violet Paget, a skilled writer who was also ahead of her time in being openly lesbian. This particular tale, about a clash between Christianity and ancient religions, reflects the author’s interest in Greek mythology.

Lost Ghosts

The Complete Weird Stories of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, 2017
“The Wind in the Rose-Bush” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1902). I know including a story from 1902 is cheating the nineteenth-century theme a little, but Wilkins Freeman is simply too good and too important an author not to include. This story, about guilt and a haunted garden, is one of her best.

Ghosts

Edith Wharton, 2021
“The Lady Maid’s Bell” by Edith Wharton (1902). As with the previous story, this is another tale from 1902, but – as with that one – it’s simply too fine not to include. Most readers know Edith Wharton as the author of such classic novels as The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, but she also wrote a number of genuinely unnerving ghost stories, like this one. Wharton’s ghost stories (like “The Lady Maid’s Bell”) often explore class, focusing on the interaction between servants and masters.