Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror

This book contains horror stories that would have been a “penny dreadful” printed in chapters for a penny and “shilling shockers” which were similar. Unfortunately the original penny dreadfuls such as the original story about “spring-heeled Jack” is not included which is disappointing.

Frankenstein (or the modern prometheus) by Mary Shelley: So far the letters in the story as correspondence is boring to read, I hate that gothic horror is something long and drawn out to get to the point. Hopefully the rest of the rest of the story will be worth reading. The inspiration for plot of the story was a result of Mary having a nightgmare and losing her baby.

The adventure of the German student by Washington Irving: I prefer the film novelization of Sleepy Hollow in comparision to the original text, it was a little bit bland and disappointing. A German student in Paris is obsessed and dreams about a unknown woman, then he goes to the site of public executions he meets the woman from his dreams. Gottfried talks to woman and agress to help her, but then after leaving his apartment, he finds her dead.

The Wehr-Wolf: A legend of the limousin by Richard Thompson: The small village in Paris is plagued by werewolves, so a group of people decide to hunt them and kill them. I really liked this story, I didn't k ow there are many different names historically for werewoles.

The pit and the pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe: One of my favourite short stories, I really like Doug Bradley's narration of this story. A man is a prisoner of the Spanish inquisition, but it it's explained why he is being tortured. The era or year the imprisoned man is being tortured by the Spanish Inquisition is never mentioned, so it's a bit confusing how he was captured or why he is a prisoner.

Sawney Beane: The man eater by Charles Whitehead: He was a man that lived in a cave, along with the help of a woman they robbed and killed innocent people. Due to a lack of food or money, they chose to cannibalise their victims, they would be quartered, the limbs would be salted and the flesh would be dried to consume. Sawney Beane had eight sons, six daughters, eighteen grandson and fourteen granddaughters all were the result of incest. Unused or unwanted limbs were thrown into the nearby tide to the dismay of local residents. Men, women and children were ambushed and killed. The king arrived with an entourage of men with bloodhounds in seatch of the cannibals and they wrre shocked by what they saw in the cave in which the family lived. Dismembered limbs, piles of clothing and money that belonged to the victims, this was the main reason they were not given a trial in court instead the men were hanged and the women were burnt to death.

Aurelia; or, The tale of a ghoul by E.T.A. Hoffman: A count that lives in a very extensively refurbished and designed home, is visited by a distant relative and her daughter Aurelia. Aurelia's mother has remarried, but the man has sinister intentions and after bgeating the Baroness, he is arrested.

Wake not the dead!; or, The bride of the grave by Johann Ludwig Tieck: The way this written was really annoying, it was very long winded to get to the point. A man resurrects his dead wife with the help of a sorcerer using necromancy, but it makes her become a blood-thirsty fiend, she feeds on her husbands children till they die, so he decides to kill her.

The dream woman by Wilkie Collins: This is a short ghost story about a woman.

A night in the grave; or The devil's receipt by Anonymous: I can't even understand this due to the way it is written, I would have difficulty reading/understanding it due to how it is written, so I won't bother reading it!

The case of Lady Sannox by Arthur Conan Doyle: I'mnot sure why this was included, becsuse it wasn't a horror story,

The diary of a madman by Guy De Maupassant: This storu is about a madman's journal who has thedesire to kill. He killed a bird, fisherman and a young boy but he was never discovered to be a murderer or never convicted of murder.

George Dobson's expedition to hell by James Hogg: This is a good story, but it is not explained why Goerge goes to hell, the devilish coachman is definitely creepy.

The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson I will write a seperate review for this.

The apparition of Lord Tyrone to Lady Beresford by Anonymous: This story is about a woman that sees the apparition of a man she knew, he spoke to her and proved to her that he was real and not a hallucination or her imagination.

Lost in a pyramid; or The mummy's curse by Louisa May Alcott: This story is about a professor that is obsessed with searching through Egyptian tombs of forgotten pharaohs. The professor, fell and broke his leg, so he told his wife to break up a sarcophagus to use as firewood so their guide Jumal would see the smoke rising and he would be able to find them, since they were lost. Unfortunately due to disturbing the timbo of a sorceress, burning her corpse on the fire and removing her possessions from her tomb, they had been cursed by planting red seeds on an unknown ancint and deadly poisonous plant. The professor's wife became obsessed with it and worn it, it was too late when the professor discovered the truth about the plant.

In Kopfsburg Keep by Ralph Adams Cram: This story is about a count that murdered his guests in the keep then hanged himself, while wearing his great-great-grandfather's suit of armour. Rupert and Otto have arrived at the keep to prove to themselves that it is really haunted, they want tangible proof, that any haunting that may occur is real and unexplanable.

The Buried Alive by John Galt: This has always been one of mybiggest fears, to be buried alive, reading this story is very creepy and unsettling. The poor man in the story is buried alive, then dug up by gracerobbers to be dissected, then a galvanic machine is used which revives him! An hour later he is alive and well

The Dualists; or The death-doom of the double-born by Bram Stoker: Two children, have been stealing cutlery and play fighting with it.

The executioner by William Godwin: A story about revenge which dragged on far too long.

The string of pearls; or Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of fleet street by James Malcolm Rymer: This js Sweeny Todd (who was never a real person only fictional)
I will buy my own copy of this book and read the rest of the stories in my own time, but otherwise i read all the stories except one because i couldn't understand how to pronounce certain words due to how it was written so it was annoying to try and read it. I was a little disappointed. because I was expecting the stories from the Victorian era that would have been in the real historical “penny dreadfuls” “spring-heeled Jack” and other legends but instead it is just a collection of random short stories that aren't connected to eachother. Hopefully someone who have the idea to write about superstitions of the Victorian era sothen the legends would be included. I liked somne of the stories and hated the other half of the stories, I find it hard to be patient if the plot of a short story is a slow prgressing plot if nothing interesting is happening or the characters are very dull, self centered etc..