The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories is a collection of supernatural tales by Algernon Blackwood, first published in 1906. These stories explore haunted places, eerie atmospheres, and psychological terror, showcasing Blackwood's skill at evoking dread. For listeners who enjoy classic ghost stories, this collection offers a chilling and atmospheric experience.
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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
THE EMPTY HOUSE AND OTHER GHOST STORIES BY ALGERNON BLACKWOOD AUTHOR OF "JOHN SILENCE" "THE LOST VALLEY" ETC. LONDON EVELEIGH NASH COMPANY LIMITED 1916 First Printed 1906 Uniform Edition 1915 Reprinted 1916 CONTENTS THE EMPTY HOUSE 1 A HAUNTED ISLAND 32
A CASE OF EAVESDROPPING
63
KEEPING HIS PROMISE
91
WITH INTENT TO STEAL
119
THE WOOD OF THE DEAD
161
SMITH: AN EPISODE IN A LODGING-HOUSE
186
A SUSPICIOUS GIFT
218
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A PRIVATE SECRETARY IN
NEW YORK
239
SKELETON LAKE: AN EPISODE IN CAMP
301
THE EMPTY HOUSE
Certain houses, like certain persons, manage somehow to proclaim at once their character for evil. In the case of the latter, no particular feature need betray them; they may boast an open countenance and an ingenuous smile; and yet a little of their company leaves the unalterable conviction that there is something radically amiss with their being: that they are evil. Willy nilly, they seem to communicate an atmosphere of secret and wicked thoughts which makes those in their immediate neighbourhood shrink from them as from a thing diseased.
And, perhaps, with houses the same principle is operative, and it is the aroma of evil deeds committed under a particular roof, long after the actual doers have passed away, that makes the gooseflesh come and the hair rise. Something of the original passion of the evil-doer, and of the horror felt by his victim, enters the heart of the innocent watcher, and he becomes suddenly conscious of tingling nerves, creeping skin, and a chilling of the blood. He is terror-stricken without apparent cause.
There was manifestly nothing in the external appearance of this
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