Minor Hauntings
- Downloads：1786
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-11-24 09:51:32
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Jen Baker
- ISBN：0712353194
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
- Download
Summary
A cradle rocking itself in a dusty chamber; an echoing giggle from somewhere upstairs; the feeling of a small hand in yours in the wilderness of a misty moor。。。 From the haunting children of The Shining and The Grudge to Neil Gaiman's Coraline， the ghostly youth is still one of the most recognized and feared tropes of horror fiction and film。 In this spine-tingling new collection Jen Baker gathers the most chilling tales of hauntings by children， expertly paired with snippets of the folklore and urban legends which inspired them。 Truly lost stories return for the first time since their original publication along with nail-biting encounters from masters of the ghost story such as Elizabeth Gaskell， M。 R。 James and Frances Hodgson Burnett。
Reviews
George
，
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 skipped thru a few of these because they were really dull — I think I just don’t like ye olde worldy writing （anything before 1900）。 Way preferred the stories towards the end， specifically the little red shoes one。 I want to explore abandoned houses and ~accidentally~ kill child abusers
Alwynne
，
The wronged innocents in this collection are quite a stark contrast to the fiendish children I’m used to from years of devouring horror movies: The Omen’s demonic Damien; budding mass murderer Michael Myers; or the possessed offspring in Sinister or The Prodigy。 Most of these tales date from a time when child mortality in the West was high， yet the child ghosts that stalk these pages are more likely to have been created by murderous adults。 Child victims killed for their inheritance or because t The wronged innocents in this collection are quite a stark contrast to the fiendish children I’m used to from years of devouring horror movies: The Omen’s demonic Damien; budding mass murderer Michael Myers; or the possessed offspring in Sinister or The Prodigy。 Most of these tales date from a time when child mortality in the West was high， yet the child ghosts that stalk these pages are more likely to have been created by murderous adults。 Child victims killed for their inheritance or because they were inconvenient， or sometimes fodder for outlandish schemes as in M。 R。 James’s chilling “Lost Hearts”。 The stories are more eerie or unsettling than horrific with the exception， perhaps， of Bessie Kyffin-Taylor’s surprisingly sadistic “Two Little Red Shoes”。 There are some pieces that fall flat like the opening “The Dead Daughter” far too sentimental to be even vaguely scary。 Some entries like Ellen Glasgow’s memorable account of manipulative doctors and gas-lit wives have strong feminist themes that reminded me of The Yellow Wallpaper and The Awakening; while Elizabeth Gaskell’s “The Old Nurse’s Story” and F。 Marion Crawford “The Doll’s Ghost” supply large doses of old-fashioned gothic， perfect fireside tales for wintry nights。 The collection’s edited by Jen Baker who researches spectral children in literature， it comes with an introduction， notes， author details and it’s interspersed with snippets from myth and folklore about child spirits。 。。。more
elsreads
，
2。5 **
Carmen Tudor
，
A great selection of haunting tales featuring kids。 The familiar 'The Old Nurse's Story' and 'Walnut-Tree House' do find a space， but they could hardly have been left out。 And although many authors are well known， I haven't encountered most of the stories before。While all thirteen tales are excellent， standouts for me include 'The Ghost of Little Jacques' for its unusual protag and setting; 'Two Little Red Shoes' because I'm easily taken in by the pathos engendered by children's shoes， as well a A great selection of haunting tales featuring kids。 The familiar 'The Old Nurse's Story' and 'Walnut-Tree House' do find a space， but they could hardly have been left out。 And although many authors are well known， I haven't encountered most of the stories before。While all thirteen tales are excellent， standouts for me include 'The Ghost of Little Jacques' for its unusual protag and setting; 'Two Little Red Shoes' because I'm easily taken in by the pathos engendered by children's shoes， as well as abandoned houses; 'The Lost Ghost'; 'The Doll's Ghost'; and 'Was It an Illusion？: A Parson's Story'。Highly recommended。 Thank you， Dr Jen Baker。 I've been waiting years for such a collection。 。。。more
Nancy Oakes
，
full post here: http://www。oddlyweirdfiction。com/2021。。。On to yet another fine volume in the British Library Tales of the Weird Series， and it's somewhat unique in that the stories all center around the spirits or spectral imprints of dead children。 Jen Baker， the editor who put all of these terrific stories together here， reveals in her introduction that most of the tales included here "ask whether children who do not have a good and peaceful death will definitely go to heaven; what the consequ full post here: http://www。oddlyweirdfiction。com/2021。。。On to yet another fine volume in the British Library Tales of the Weird Series， and it's somewhat unique in that the stories all center around the spirits or spectral imprints of dead children。 Jen Baker， the editor who put all of these terrific stories together here， reveals in her introduction that most of the tales included here "ask whether children who do not have a good and peaceful death will definitely go to heaven; what the consequences might be if no glory awaits to compensate the child's suffering"while also asking "what if the child is angry or even vengeful for their treatment in life and the fate to which they have been consigned？" These stories， as Baker also explains， "revive， appropriate， and often merge domestic folkloric and literary traditions where the spirit of a wronged child would passively wander and bewail its fate with the darker traditions of non-Anglophone cultures， in which such spirits would terrorise and sometimes kill those who wronged them or even passers-by。"In between each story there are brief "snippets" of other literary works in various forms that "illustrate the sense of historical and cultural debt，" all of which may send you on a quest to read the original source material once you've finished reading this book。 At least that happened with me -- my geek self is easily sent down that kind of tangential rabbit hole where I'm happy to linger a while。 Of the thirteen tales in this book， I've previously read quite a few， but let me just say that it is never a waste of time to reread them。 Once again I find myself a happy reader; I knew the British Library Tales of the Weird series was going to be great after the first book I read and I have yet to be disappointed; Minor Hauntings continues that streak。 Very highly recommended。 。。。more
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Minor Hauntings
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Minor Hauntings&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft
The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Minor Hauntings&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0