Ghost Stories of an Antiquary is a collection of Horror/Gothic stories first published in 1904 by British writer M.R. James. I have reviewed one other short story from the collection, “Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book.” Here is a link to that review.

James, who was a Medieval Scholar at Cambridge, began writing his “ghost stories” to share with friends and students as Christmas Eve entertainment. His work, though largely forgotten these day, broke with a number of 19th century Horror conventions and was very influential.

According to Wikipedia:

James perfected a method of story-telling which has since become known as Jamesian. The classic Jamesian tale usually includes the following elements:

1. a characterful setting in an English village, seaside town or country estate; an ancient town in France, Denmark or Sweden; or a venerable abbey or university
2. a nondescript and rather naive gentleman-scholar as protagonist (often of a reserved nature)
3. the discovery of an old book or other antiquarian object that somehow unlocks, calls down the wrath, or at least attracts the unwelcome attention of a supernatural menace, usually from beyond the grave

The stories in Ghost Stories of an Antiquary follow this Jamesian pattern, and are all quite excellent. The best among them is “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.”

“Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” tells the story of Parkins, a Cambridge professor, who goes on a golfing vacation in Burnstow. While there, he’s asked to investigate a ruined Templar church. During his exploration, Parkins discovers an ancient bronze whistle. Cleaning the whistle when back in his room causes unfortunate events.

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary is the perfect October book. I highly recommend it.

It is in the Public Domain and available at Gutenberg for download. Here is a link.