Showing results by author "Oliver Onions" in All Categories

The Beckoning Fair One stands as the most renowned and widely anthologized work of British author Oliver Onions. This haunting novella, part of the 1911 collection Widdershins, delves into the eerie and the unknown. A contemporary reviewer from The Athenaeum described it as a successful ghost story that weaves together imagination, horror, and an enigmatic atmosphere. The titular Fair One teeters on the edge of reality, leaving both the protagonist, Oleron, and the reader questioning his sanity. Set against the backdrop of a crumbling old house that may harbor its own sinister intentions, the ...

A man, a house, a ghost, and a murder. This whimsical tale that leads lyrically to a terrible undoing is consistently rated one of the best ghost stories ever written. The twist at the end is wholly unexpected and the listener is left guessing whether, Paul Oleron, a failing novelist is the victim of an evil succubus that haunts his house and his dreams, or he is guilty of a terrible betrayal.

At first blush, Widdershins is a conventional haunted house story involving an unsuccessful writer who moves into an empty house in hope that isolation will help his failing creativity. His sensitivity and imagination are enhanced by his seclusion, but his art, his only friend, and his sanity are all destroyed in the process. It can be interpreted as narrating the gradual possession of the protagonist by a mysterious, possessive feminine spirit, or as a realistic description of a psychotic outbreak culminating in catatonia and murder, told from the psychotic subject’s view.