Seven Supernatural Short Stories by Female Writers
I’ve enjoyed reading these seven supernatural short stories written by women. You’ll find some familiar names among the authors, but there are a couple of writers here who are perhaps less well-known these days; namely, Louisa Baldwin and Elizabeth Bowen. Like many stories described as supernatural, most of these examples can be enjoyed as simple “ghost” stories or interpreted less literally.
“The Revenant” by Kate Mosse
There’s something about the woman who walks along the path through Fishourne Marshes that is vaguely familiar. The narrator wonders whether she might strike up a conversation with her. That is until, one day, she realises who the woman is.
“Printer’s Devil Court” by Susan Hill
Hugh Meredith and the three other young doctors are enjoying an evening’s conversation at their rooms in Printer’s Devil Court. When two of the friends bring up the subject of raising the dead, however, Hugh becomes concerned about what they’re up to. Eventually he finds out and the events he witnesses and their consequences haunt him until his dying day.
“The Story We Used to Tell” by Shirley Jackson
A woman is visiting her recently widowed friend when the widow goes missing. Has she committed suicide? The widow’s lawyer believes so, but her friend does not. She turns her attention to the strange picture that hangs in her missing friend’s bedroom.
“Don’t Look Now” by Daphne du Maurier
John and Laura are on holiday in Venice trying to overcome their grief after losing their daughter to meningitis. There they come across a pair of middle-aged sisters, one of whom tells Laura she can see her dead daughter. But that isn’t all: the medium believes John is in danger. He gives the warning no credence, but then a strange series of events unfold.
“The Lady’s Maid’s Bell” by Edith Wharton
Alice Hartley takes up a position as Lady’s Maid to Mrs Brympton. She likes her work, but there is something unsettling about the house. There’s a locked room and a pale, lurking figure who is not one of the servants. And Mrs Brympton resolutely refuses to use the Lady’s Maid’s bell; instead, she sends a maid to summon Alice.
And then one night, the bell rings.
“The Weird of the Walfords” by Louisa Baldwin (often referred to as Mrs Alfred Baldwin)
The last of the line of Walford Squires has had enough of the old oak family bedstead upon which generations of his family have died and been laid out before burial. He wants to be done with “the huge hearse-like thing”, but he soon wishes he hadn’t turned his back on family tradition.
“The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen
Mrs Drover makes an unplanned visit to her old house in London to collect some items left behind when the family fled the bombing raids of WW2. She finds a mysterious letter, unstamped and dated that day. It refers to a promise she made many years before and informs her “You must expect me, therefore, at the hour arranged.” Has Mrs Drover’s past come back to haunt her?