The Haunted House of 1859: Paranormal Parlor, A Weiser Books Collection

Charles Dickens · Elizabeth Gaskell · Varla Ventura

Nov 2012 · Weiser Books

About this ebook

Varla Ventura, Coast to Coast favorite, Weird News blogger on Huffington Post, and author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces Weiser Books’ new Collection of forgotten occult classics. Paranormal Parlor is an eerie assemblage of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s sixth sense for tales of the weird and unusual.

In the 1859 Christmas edition of his regular publication, All Year Round, Charles Dickens solicited his favorite authors to take up residence in his Haunted House. With an introductory story by Dickens (The Mortals in the House) each author writes from the point of view of the ghost residing in a room.

On the Twelfth Night of Christmas, a night believed to hold supernatural powers, the ghost begin to speak. Adelaide Anne Procter, who was Queen Victoria’s favorite poet, delivers the tale of “The Ghost in the Picture Room” entirely in rhyming verse. Wilkie Collins, a lifelong friend of Dickens and a well known author and playwright, delights with his nautical story of “The Ghost in the Cupboard Room.” And Elizabeth Gaskell, in the longest of the stories in the collection, paints a vivid portrait of the ghost of a judge in “The Ghost in the Garden Room.”

For any lover of Dickens, Gaskell, or even just a good ghost story, this unique collection will warm the heart and chill the bones.

About the author

(1812-1870) A famed English novelist and the most notable author of the Victorian period, Dickens enjoyed more fame and distinction than any author before him. His stories and novels remain popular and have never gone out of print to this day. Dickens helped popularize the serialization of novels, and as such, his writing is characterized by cliffhangers and dramatic touches; although the 18th century gothic style was already being parodied, Dickens enjoyed and used this literary device to great effect. He is best known for his novels Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol.
Varla Ventura is the author of Fairies, Pookas and Changelings; Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires and Other Creatures of the Night; Among the Mermaids; The Book of the Bizarre; and Beyond Bizarre. She can often be found lurking about the deep dark woods and lakes of Minnesota on the hunt for mushrooms, magical herbs, and the elusive little men of legend. Visit her at www.varlaventura.net.