J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1

In Short

This volume presents two foundational ghost stories from a master of Victorian suspense. In the first, a painter’s apprentice loses his beloved to a sinister, spectral suitor; in the second, two medical students find their new residence occupied by a malevolent presence tied to a suicide. Known for his ability to evoke "shapeless terror" rather than mere shock, the author anchors his uncanny visions in the mundane details of daily life. These stories endure because they treat fear as a psychological weight, turning familiar rooms into inescapable traps of dread.

The Story

In Schalken the Painter, a young artist, Godfrey Schalken, falls in love with Rose Velderkaust, the niece of his master, Gerard Douw. Their budding romance is interrupted by a grotesque, wealthy stranger named Vanderhausen, who arrives at the studio with a mysterious casket of gold and a cold, commanding presence. Despite the girl’s instinctive repulsion, Douw is swayed by the promise of wealth and signs a contract binding his niece to the stranger in marriage. The wedding takes place, but the husband quickly whisks Rose away to Rotterdam, where he vanishes with her. Months later, Rose appears at her uncle’s door, gaunt and terrified, pleading for protection against her husband. She begs to be kept safe, claiming that the dead and living cannot be one. Despite Douw and Schalken’s vigilance, Rose is snatched away in the night from a locked room; all that remains is the sound of a closing door and the sight of water disturbed in the canal below. Years later, Schalken sees the spectral form of his lost love in a church, apparently caught in the eternal grasp of her husband, confirming the horror of her fate.

The second narrative, An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street, follows two medical students, Richard and his cousin Tom, who move into an old, unoccupied house to save money. The house soon reveals its dark history: it was once the site where a judge named Horrocks committed suicide by hanging himself over the banisters. Richard is plagued by recurring, vivid nightmares of an old man in a crimson cap, a face that eventually begins appearing in the physical world—first as a portrait glued to the window, then as a bloated, malicious rat that stalks him. Tom, initially a skeptic, eventually admits to his own harrowing encounters, including a vision of the judge pacing the rooms. The hauntings escalate, recalling the tragic fates of previous tenants who were either driven to insanity or met violent ends at the same spot where the judge took his life. Realizing the house is a vortex of residual trauma and death, the students finally flee. The story concludes with the house’s eventual destruction by fire—a fitting end for a structure that served as a gateway for the damned.

How It Unfolds

The unwanted visitor In the artist’s studio, a strange, silent man interrupts a lesson, demanding an audience with the master and offering a fortune to secure a bride. The tension mounts as the stranger exhibits an uncanny ability to read the unspoken thoughts of those around him.

The cold transaction A contract is signed in the dead of night, and Rose is effectively sold to the repulsive stranger. The reader watches as her uncle’s greed overrides his better judgment, setting the stage for the tragedy to follow.

The return of the victim Months later, Rose arrives home in a state of mortal famine and extreme agitation, begging for the presence of a minister. Her eventual disappearance from a locked room, accompanied by a final, unearthly shriek, leaves the mystery of her fate entirely unresolved.

The move to Aungier Street Two medical students settle into a vacant, historic house, unaware of the structural and spiritual blight that awaits them. The narrative transitions from their scholarly routine into an atmosphere of suffocating dread.

The manifestation of the judge Richard and Tom are subjected to increasingly visceral hauntings, ranging from apparitions of a crimson-clad old man to a rat that seems to share his human malice. The horror is localized to the house’s architecture, specifically the staircase where the former owner ended his life.

The abandonment of the site After learning the house’s grim history through their servant, the students flee, leaving the building to its eventual destruction. The aftermath confirms that some places are too saturated with suffering to ever be a home for the living.

The People

Godfrey Schalken is a dedicated, ambitious painter whose love for Rose is his primary vulnerability; he ultimately loses his happiness to the spectral forces he cannot comprehend or defeat. Rose Velderkaust is a bright, young woman whose intuition serves as the first line of defense against the supernatural, yet she is rendered helpless by her guardian’s greed. Gerard Douw acts as the cautionary figure, a man of stature who sacrifices his own peace and his niece’s safety for the allure of gold. In the second tale, Richard is the introspective, nervous narrator, a man who openly confesses his "superstitious weakness" and serves as the primary witness to the house’s shifting, predatory nature. His cousin Tom Ludlow, initially a bastion of scientific skepticism, serves as the story’s tragic anchor; his transition from a rationalist to a man shattered by direct, inexplicable experience proves that no amount of logic can protect one from the reach of the departed.

In Its Own Voice

Describing the portrait that haunts his dreams, the narrator of the second story notes:

The picture thus mysteriously glued to the window-panes, was the portrait of an old man, in a crimson flowered silk dressing-gown, the folds of which I could now describe, with a countenance embodying a strange mixture of intellect, sensuality, and power, but withal sinister and full of malignant omen.

Reflecting on the finality of the tragedy in the first tale, the narrator writes:

"Oh that the holy man were here," she said; "he can deliver me: the dead and the living can never be one: God has forbidden it."

What It's Really About

These stories probe the fragility of the boundary between the living and the dead, suggesting that the past is never truly buried. The author argues that human greed and moral failure create gaps in reality through which darker forces can enter. By tethering supernatural horror to the domestic—marriages, houses, and family heirlooms—he explores the idea that our most private spaces are often where we are most vulnerable to the consequences of previous generations’ sins. The overarching theme is the futility of human reason when confronted with the absolute, indifferent power of the inexplicable.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate slow-burning, atmospheric gothic fiction will find much to admire here. The author possesses a rare gift for describing the "curious management of light" and shadow, which gives his prose a painterly quality that enhances the sense of unease. Reading these tales feels like sitting by a dying fire; they are intimate, cold, and designed to make the reader feel like a witness to something forbidden.

However, modern readers should be prepared for the dense, nineteenth-century prose style. The author expects a high degree of patience, often taking his time to build a foundation of mundane social interaction before the uncanny takes hold. The stories also reflect the period’s specific, sometimes rigid, social attitudes, particularly regarding the role of women and the treatment of servants, which may feel jarring or regressive. There is no modern pacing here; instead, there is a commitment to the "mollia tempora fandi"—the quiet, receptive times when the mind is most open to being unsettled. If you are willing to surrender to the author’s deliberate, steady cadence, you will be rewarded with a lingering, visceral sense of dread that remains long after the book is closed. It is a quintessential experience for anyone interested in the roots of the modern ghost story.