Length41h 26m

About this audiobook

The Big Book of Spooky Tales gathers a capacious canon of horror classicism, tracing fear from antique marvel and Gothic inheritance to Victorian sensation, fin-de-siècle decadence, and early modern weird fiction. Its stories range from spectral visitations and cursed houses to psychological unease, uncanny doubles, and the terror of the ordinary. Particularly vivid episodes of haunting, inherited guilt, and supernatural ambiguity reveal how the anthology's varied forms—tale, confession, antiquarian ghost story, and atmospheric sketch—made horror a durable literary mode. The contributors form an unusually broad, transnational constellation: American, British, French, and other European writers whose careers intersect with Romanticism, realism, Gothic revival, imperial encounter, and the emergence of popular magazine fiction. Alongside a classical voice, the volume situates later supernatural writing within a long history of testimony, folklore, and moral speculation. Collectively, these authors demonstrate horror's capacity to register cultural anxieties concerning modernity, domesticity, death, colonial contact, and the limits of rational explanation. This anthology is especially rewarding for readers seeking both an introduction to horror's major traditions and a rich comparative field for study. Its single volume invites sustained attention to changing narrative techniques and recurrent fears, while the juxtaposition of distinctive voices fosters a lively dialogue between the Gothic past and the modern imagination.

Audiobook details

Rating★★★★ 3.8 (93)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreHorror, General Fiction
Length41 hrs 26 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateDec 21, 2023
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1King Arthur: 10 Books of Tales & Myths about the Legendary King of Camelot
2The Big Book of Spooky Tales - Horror Classics Anthology
3Ghost Stories
4Thrawn Janet (Robert Louis Stevenson)
5The Horla (Guy de Maupassant)
Show all chapters
6To Sura: A Letter (Pliny the Younger)
7The Beast with Five Fingers (William F. Harvey)
8I
9II
10III
11IV
12Number 13 (Montague Rhodes James)
13Joseph: A Story (Katherine Rickford)
14Sister Maddelena (Ralph Adams Cram)
15The Man Who Went Too Far (E.F. Benson)
16The Phantom Rickshaw (Rudyard Kipling)
17The Apparition of Mrs. Veal (Daniel Defoe)
18THE PREFACE
19A RELATION OF THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL
20TO THE READER
21Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book (M. R. James)
22The Haunted and the Haunters (Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton)
23The Silent Woman (Leopold Kompert)
24The Rival Ghosts (Brander Matthews)
25The Damned Thing (Ambrose Bierce)
26I ONE DOES NOT ALWAYS EAT WHAT IS ON THE TABLE
27II WHAT MAY HAPPEN IN A FIELD OF WILD OATS
28III A MAN THOUGH NAKED MAY BE IN RAGS
29IV AN EXPLANATION FROM THE TOMB
30The Interval (Vincent O'Sullivan)
31Dey Ain't No Ghosts (Ellis Parker Butler)
32The Banshees of Ireland
33THE GIANT GHOST
34SOME FAMOUS GHOSTS OF THE NATIONAL CAPITOL
35A GENUINE GHOST
36THE BAGGAGEMAN'S GHOST
37DRUMMERS SEE A SPECTER
38DR. FUNK SEES THE SPIRIT OF BEECHER
39MYSTERY OF THE COINS
40MR. BEECHER APPEASED
41MARYLAND GHOSTS
42THE GHOST OF PEG ALLEY'S POINT
43AN APPARITION AND DEATH
44AN IDIOT GHOST WITH BRASS BUTTONS
45A MODEL GHOST STORY
46A GHOST THAT WILL NOT DOWN
47TOM CYPHER'S PHANTOM ENGINE
48GHOSTS IN CONNECTICUT
49THE SPOOK OF DIAMOND ISLAND
50THE GHOST'S FULL HOUSE
Die denkwürdigen Erlebnisse des Artur Gordon PymEdgar Allan Poe7h 8m3.6 (73.5K)$1 · $0.00
LIGEIAEdgar Allan Poe2h 12m4.0 (9K)$1 · $0.00
The Complete Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe (Illustrated Edition)Edgar Allan Poe55h 6m4.5 (18.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Journal of Julius RodmanEdgar Allan Poe2h 55m$7 · $0.00
Six Creepy StoriesEdgar Allan Poe1h 59m$10 · $0.00
Del Brivido e di Altri RaccontiEdgar Allan Poe2h 10m$3 · $0.00
Eureka: A Prose PoemEdgar Allan Poe4h 32m4.0 (3.3K)$10 · $0.00
The Murders in the Rue MorgueEdgar Allan Poe1h 33m4.0 (58.3K)$6 · $0.00
Aventuras de Arturo Gordon PymEdgar Allan Poe8h 4m$12 · $0.00
Cuentos Clásicos del Norte, Primera SerieEdgar Allan Poe8h 25m$10 · $0.00
Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe1h 18m$12 · $0.00
Unheimliches für die dunkle Jahreszeit:Edgar Allan Poe, Edward Lytton-Bulwer, Alexander Puschkin, Fjodor Dostojewski, Gustave Flaubert, H. G. Wells, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Nikolai Gogol, Theodor Storm, Stefan Zweig17h 17m$24 · $0.00
Unheimliche GeschichtenEdgar Allan Poe6h 19m4.4 (3.8K)$10 · $0.00
Masterpieces of Mystery (Vol. 1-4)Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Algernon Blackwood, Montague Rhodes James, Guy de Maupassant, William F. Harvey, Ralph Adams Cram, Robert Louis Stevenson, Wilbur Daniel Steele, Pliny the Younger, Arthur B. Reeve, Wilkie Collins, Anna Katherine Green, Anton Chekhov, Théopile Gautier, Mark Twain, Lafcadio Hearn, E. F. Benson, Arthur Machen, Brander Matthews, Cleveland Moffett, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Villiers de l'Isle Adam, William Archer, Fitz-James O'Brien, Florence Marryat, Chester Bailey Fernando, Mary E. Hanshew, Thomas W. Hanshew27h 44m$1.99 · $0.00
Phantastische Erzählungen: Ein SammelbandEdgar Allan Poe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Franz Kafka, Nikolai Gogol, Fjodor M. Dostojewski, A. K. Tolstoi, Washington Irving, Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, Iwan Sergejewitsch Turgenew, Prosper Mérimée, Octave Mirbeau, Rudyard Kipling, Jodocus Temme, Jakob Elias Poritzky154h 45m$1 · $0.00
El escarabajo de oroEdgar Allan Poe1h 45m$1.99 · $0.00
El gato negroEdgar Allan Poe39m4.3 (96.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Mysteries for Holiday FeelsEdgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Robert Barr, E. W. Hornung, John Kendrick Bangs, Melville Davisson Post, Edgar Wallace, Victor L. Whitechurch, Anna Katharine Green, G. K. Chesterton, Ellis Parker Butler, Maurice Leblanc, R. Austin Freeman, A. E. W. Mason, Mary Roberts Rinehart346h 43m$1.99 · $0.00
Famous Detectives On Christmas Duty - Ultimate Murder Mysteries for HolidaysEdgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Grace Livingston Hill, E. W. Hornung, John Kendrick Bangs, Melville Davisson Post, Edgar Wallace, Victor L. Whitechurch383h 16m$1.99 · $0.00
THE RAVEN (Illustrated Edition)Edgar Allan Poe11h 42m4.4 (190.7K)$1.99 · $0.00
Dark of NightJonathan Maberry, Rachael Lavin4h 59m4.4 (3.8K)$20 · $0.00
The Renegade HunterLynsay Sands10h 7m4.4 (17.3K)$29 · $0.00
Lost GodsBrom14h 50m4.4 (18.5K)$33 · $0.00
The AccusedJana DeLeon6h 32m4.4 (3.9K)$12 · $0.00
Corpus HermeticumHermes Trismegistus3h 43m4.4 (8.6K)$7 · $0.00
LambChristopher Moore15h 22m4.3 (211.3K)$33 · $0.00
CARMILLA (Gothic Classic) (Annotated)Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu4h 2m4.4 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
The ExorcistWilliam Peter Blatty12h 52m4.3 (285.9K)$8 · $0.00
Lost ValleyWalt Browning7h 47m4.3 (5.4K)$20 · $0.00
Twice TemptedJeaniene Frost8h 17m4.3 (54.8K)$26 · $0.00
Scared to BreatheKerena Swan10h 56m4.4 (1.7K)$13.60 · $0.00
1984George Orwell12h 18m4.3 (6M)$25 · $0.00
The Best Tales of Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe5h 19m4.4 (2.2K)$1 · $0.00
Hollywood DeadRichard Kadrey9h 22m4.3 (5.5K)$29 · $0.00
Frankenstein (The Uncensored 1818 Edition) (Annotated)Mary Shelley9h 25m4.3 (1.7M)$3 · $0.00
A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens3h 11m4.3 (1.1M)$1.20 · $0.00
The Collected Ghost StoriesM. R. James18h 30m4.3 (12.1K)$2 · $0.00
Jane Eyre (Annotated)Charlotte Brontë22h 44m4.2 (2.4M)$2 · $0.00
The Chance of a Lifetime (Musaicum Romance Classics)Grace Livingston Hill8h 27m4.3 (862)$1 · $0.00
Heat 2Michael Mann, Meg Gardiner18h 39m4.3 (20.9K)$40 · $0.00
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
The Ghost by the Billabong (The Matilda Saga, #5)Jackie French14h 58m4.6 (773)$33 · $0.00
Cast in BloodMichelle Sagara16h 35m4.6 (607)$33 · $0.00
The Captain Blood Trilogy (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini29h 20m4.6 (1K)$3 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The George Orwell CollectionGeorge Orwell24h 46m4.5 (14.4K)$12 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 38m4.5 (9.2K)$2 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
When God Calls the HeartBrian Bird, Michelle Cox3h 24m4.6 (439)$10 · $0.00
Five Little IndiansMichelle Good10h 34m4.5 (64.5K)$29 · $0.00
Lolth's WarriorR. A. Salvatore13h 20m4.6 (2.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers29h 49m4.5 (58K)$8 · $0.00
Going PostalTerry Pratchett11h 23m4.5 (189.9K)$29 · $0.00
Glen AffricKarine Giebel22h 51m4.5 (3.2K)$46 · $0.00
The Book Of NegroesLawrence Hill15h 45m4.5 (107.3K)$33 · $0.00
Anne of Green GablesL. M. Montgomery11h 1m4.5 (1.2M)$2.30 · $0.00

You may also like

Coast to Coast GhostsLeslie Rule5h 7m4.0 (1.3K)$15
The Ghost OrchidCarol Goodman11h 48m3.8 (4.8K)$23
Complete Short Stories of E. F. Benson: 70+ Classic, Ghost, Spook, Supernatural, Mystery and Other TalesE. F. Benson41h 37m4.1 (1.6K)$1 · $0.00
The Lost StradivariusJohn Meade Falkner5h 12m3.7 (1.6K)$0.60 · $0.00
World's Greatest Horror StoriesMark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, M. R. James, F. Harvey, E. M. Delafield, H.P. Lovecraft, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Franz Kafka, Charles Dickens, William Hope Hodgson, Algernon Blackwood, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Arthur Conan Doyle, Margaret Oliphant, Walter de la Mare, Achmed Abdullah, Eleanor Scott, Harriet Prescott Spofford, E. F. Benson, Fitz-James O'Brien, E. T. A. Hoffmann48h 43m4.2 (434)$35 · $0.00
Was it a ghost? The murders in Bussey's woodHenry Johnson Brent3h 14m3.8 (21)$1 · $0.00
Spooky Christmas: 30+ Supernatural & Eerie TalesCharles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, George MacDonald, Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, John Kendrick Bangs, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Grant Allen, Saki, Fergus Hume, William Douglas O'Connor, Florence Marryat, Catherine Crowe, James Bowker, J. M. Barrie, E. F. Benson, Jerome K. Jerome, M. R. James, Sabine Baring-Gould, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Frank R. Stockton, Louisa M. Alcott, Leonard Kip, Lucie E. Jackson, Katherine Rickford, Bithia Mary Croker, Catherine L. Pirkis43h 47m4.0 (19)$1 · $0.00
The Curse of the Undead - 20 Ghost Novel ClassicsH. P. Lovecraft, Francis Marion Crawford, Henry James, Horace Walpole, Gaston Leroux, Emily Brontë, Ann Ward Radcliffe, Frederick Marryat, Frederic Henry Balfour, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, William De Morgan, John Meade Falkner, Wilkie Collins, Charles Willing Beale, Duchess, Paul Dickey, Charles Goddard, Eliza Parsons, Richard Marsh, William Hope Hodgson207h 9m4.1 (11)$1.99
Oh! The Weather Outside Is FrightfulFitz-James O'Brien, Lettice Galbraith, A. M. Burrage, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Riddell, Edith Stewart Drewry, Edith Nesbit, Algernon Blackwood, various authors5h 8m3.9 (194)$20
Spook Stories – Ultimate Collection: 25 Supernatural, Mystery, Ghost and Haunting Tales (Annotated)E.F. Benson16h 1m$2 · $0.00
Australian Ghost StoriesJames Phelps7h 24m3.9 (369)$24 · $0.00
VOICES IN MY HEADMaria May5h 26m4.3 (17) Only with Ultra
Visible and InvisibleE. F. Benson7h 44m3.8 (49)$2 · $0.00
The Birthing HouseChristopher Ransom10h 58m2.7 (4.8K)$21
Four Classic Horror StoriesEdith Wharton, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson2h 15m$15
MERRY EERIE CHRISTMAS - Ghost Stories, Supernatural Mysteries & Gothic HorrorsRobert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, M. R. James, Thomas Hardy, Saki, Sabine Baring-Gould, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Fergus Hume, John Kendrick Bangs, Jerome K. Jerome, Leonard Kip, Catherine Crowe, Lucie E. Jackson, William Douglas O'Connor, Frank R. Stockton, James Bowker, Grant Allen, Louisa M. Alcott, Florence Marryat, Katherine Rickford, J. M. Barrie, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, George MacDonald, Bithia Mary Croker, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Catherine L. Pirkis, E. F. Benson, Algernon Blackwood44h 34m3.7 (30)$1.99 · $0.00
Spook Stories - Complete Collection: 25 Supernatural, Mystery, Ghost and Haunting Tales (Annotated)E. F. Benson16h 6m$2 · $0.00
Macabre Mansion Presents … A Christmas Carol, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and The Fall of the House of UsherKevin Herren3h 17m4.2 (33)$14
For the Blood Is the Life and Other StoriesF. Marion Crawford7h 46m3.8 (95)$2 · $0.00
Masterpieces of Mystery in Four Volumes: Ghost StoriesJoseph Lewis French6h 29m3.4 (65)$2.30