Dark Tales is a collection of short stories written by horror storyteller Shirley Jackson – author of The Haunting of Hill House and The Lottery. While there aren’t many hard and fast connections between these stories, besides the overall atmosphere and themes of horror and gothic-type terror, this collection feels like an exercise in figuring out what terrifies people. The stories run from themes of paranoia to madness, gaslighting to more traditional ghost and apparition hauntings.
Now, I will say, if you haven’t read anything by Shirley Jackson I don’t recommend that you start here. The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in The Castle, and The Lottery are, in my opinion, much greater examples of her expertise in the genre. But as someone who has read those and already has a bias toward Shirley Jackson, this book felt like a fun and entertaining exploration into other topics and snippets of the other tools she has in her arsenal as a horror writer.
You could almost read this book as a guideline in writing exercises. Something like “Write a story around paranoia.” “Write a story through the eyes of a serial killer.” etc. And while I don’t think all of these stories were necessary knock-them-out-of-the-park masterpieces, I do think that a lot of them had elements of greatness about them.
Because they are all short stories and not a cohesive novel, I’m going to do a brief breakdown of my thoughts of each story. There are 17 of them, so I’ll stay relatively brief, but it’s still going to get a bit wordy.
Spoiler alert. Obviously.
The Possibility of Evil – 4/5
“Miss Strangeworth never concerned herself with facts; her letters all dealt with the more negotiable stuff of suspicion.”
This short story revolves around a woman who decided to offer a bunch of anonymous, unsolicited advice to her neighbors – we’re talking harsh and bluntly mean advice – who comes to pay a price for her actions after making a simple and unwitting mistake.
I think think this was a great story to start the book off with. It was short and concise while still driving home a point and, while for a moment you can’t help but chuckle at the savageness of the main character, there is an oddly satisfying and equally shocking sense of surprise at a person getting what they deserved for their cruelty.
Louisa, Please Come Home – 4.5/5
Louisa, Please Come Home is a story about Louisa who, feeling neglected at her home, formulates the perfect plot to run away. She leaves misleading clues, changes her hair and clothes, and almost hides in plain sight. After successfully disappearing for 3 years, she slips up and shows recognition to someone from her past, who brings her back home to face her parents (albeit with the ulterior motive of collecting the reward for finding her.)
Upon more introspection, Louisa decides reuniting with her family might be a good thing. Her parents and family, however, don’t recognize her. Not only does she not really look like the person they are looking for anymore, but she is just one in a string of people falsely claiming to be their daughter. With an exhausted sigh they send her away, despite her attempts to convince them she is indeed their daughter.
My favorite part of this story is how much it feels like an episode of the Twilight Zone. There is a weird, understated terror in considering what it would be like if you were unable to convince people that you were yourself that I think is relatively universal and, while this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I think it is effective in it’s story telling. The hopeless ending probably also contributed to that.
Paranoia – 4/5
Paranoia is a repetitive, but ultimately straight forward story about a man who, on his way home from work, discovers that he is being followed. Every attempt he makes to allude the man is unsuccessful, and by the time he gets home, feeling like he may have finally successfully lost the man tailing him, he comes to discover his wife might not be as innocent in the situation as he’d like her to be.
In this story, I think the use of repetition of visuals and descriptions adds to the feeling of paranoia one gets while reading this story. You get so used to seeing the “man in the light hat” that you start to expect him around every corner, feeling like you too might be catching on to what Mr. Beresford is feeling. The twist ending makes this story feel like a story you’d tell around a campfire and I think that might be it’s best quality.
The Honeymoon of Mrs. Smith – 2.5/5
“I’ve noticed,” Mrs. Smith said carefully, “that there’s a lot of unusual interest in use. I’ve never been on a honeymoon before, of course, so I can’t really tell whether it’s only that.”
The honeymoon of Mrs. Smith is about a woman planning to go away for a a weekend vacation with her new groom. She is running errands around town and catching whispers and implicating phrases from the people around her and, upon returning home, is cornered by her neighbor who expresses concern for her new relationship. Not only has she not known Mr. Smith long, she appears to be living now significantly lower than her means, and “it wasn’t two days before people began to think they recognized your husband from the pictures in the paper.”
There’s lot of speculation that she might have married a murderer who is out to get her savings and insurance and story concludes with a pretty ambiguous ending regarding whether or not she makes it through the weekend.
While I was all in into the idea of this story – marrying a murderer and everyone sees the train coming down the tracks, except the main character – the ending left me a bit confused. I’m not opposed to an ambiguous ending by any means, but this left me with more questions than answers. Honestly, it almost felt like an unfinished or unedited story.
The Story We Used to Tell – 4.5/5
The Story We Used to Tell is a story about two women, friends since childhood, get together again after the death of a spouse, and are reminiscing about stories of their past. As they chat, conversation switches to discussing a picture on the wall in the childhood bedroom they are staying in. The picture is of the house they are currently in, before current renovations, and they joke about how her grandfather’s spirit is likely wandering around in the photo, plotting renovations (as he had with the house in his life.)
When one of the women goes missing the following morning, her friend discovers she’s been captured in the picture and fails in her attempt to free her, resulting in her too being absorbed into the photo. While life goes on in the real world, the friends must find a way to deal with the other people long-since trapped in the photo and work out their escape.
Between the imagery and the haunting and claustrophobic idea of being stuck in the photo, entirely at the whim of someone else entering the room and attempting to rescue you, while being slowly driven mad by your situation, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. This is the kind of story that would make a fantastic movie and I love the idea of time shifting differently for two things happening concurrently. This one is in contention for my favorite story in this collection.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – 2/5
This story tells of Miss Matt, a single woman bordering on being a spinster, whose routine afternoon is interrupted when a neighbor’s child shows up at her door wanting to use her record player. While they begin to listen to records of the child’s father playing piano, the child gets distracted by a souvenir doll on display in Miss Matt’s living room and tries to convince Miss Matt to give her the doll.
When Miss Matt refuses to give her the doll, the child breaks the doll. In return, Miss Matt breaks one of the child’s father’s records. The child runs home upset, while Miss Matt devises a plan to explain the situation away by blaming the child and threatening to sue for the damages the child did to her irreplaceable doll. Then, instead of dealing with the situation, she leaves her apartment. (Though for how long is entirely unexplained.)
This was a story that, in my notes, I wrote: “This story felt unfinished, or else I just didn’t get it.” Judging by the name, I think they might have been some exercise in subverting expectations in roles of an archetypal story, but that might be reading too much into it. I can’t tell if we are supposed to feel like Miss Matt is able to out manipulate the child or that the child is the “Sorcerer” and Miss Matt is in some way her “apprentice.” But in my opinion, this was one of the weaker stories in the book and, like The Honeymoon of Mrs. Smith, it left me with more questions than answers in a less than satisfying way.
In general, if a story leaves me with more questions than answers, I don’t mind the feeling of “Oh man, what if this happened? Or that!?” but to be left scratching my head, and feeling like I just didn’t get it, doesn’t feel like a tell-tale sign of a good story to me.
Jack The Ripper – 3/5
This story was a sympathetic look at Jack the Ripper. It outlines a man walking by a passed out, drunk woman outside a bar and trying to help her. He addresses concern with the bartender, gets a taxi and brings her to the address he finds in her purse, puts her to bed and then, presumably, murders her. Afterward he goes he goes home, puts away the trophy picture he took of her, lies to his wife about where he’s been, and takes a bath.
This story felt like a writing exercise – one of those play out the other side of the situation type deals. While I actually really enjoyed the style of this story and thought it was well written, it just didn’t draw me in and keep my attention as well as some of the others in this collection. Cool style, definitely interesting, probably not her strongest work.
The Beautiful Stranger – 3/5
The Beautiful Stanger is a story about a woman who picks her husband up at the train station after an extended business trip and can’t shake the feeling that, despite this person might look like her husband, it’s not really the man she married. (Even to the point that her youngest child screams when he holds her.) But he’s not angry and abusive like her husband was, so she’s not upset with the change. To me, the confusing part of this story comes when the ending hits. Happy with this new replacement of a husband she has, the woman goes out to buy him a gift and gets lost trying to get home.
Prior to the ending of this story, I was really into what it was trying to do. It felt like an uncanny valley, kind of body snatchers-esque story. I enjoyed that she couldn’t quite prove that this man wasn’t her husband and she didn’t really let it bother her much since it appeared to be an upgrade. The ending, however, kind of spoiled this story for me because forced me to rework what I thought was going on in the story.
She tells the taxi her address and as she steps out of the taxi she doesn’t recognize where she is. Why? I’m not sure. It made me wonder if perhaps the entire story were actually a commentary on mental illness or that perhaps the story was incomplete or unfinished in some way.
All She Said Was Yes – 5/5
All She Said Was Yes is a story about a woman who, after the unexpected death of her neighbors, takes in their daughter and tries to help get her situated during he grieving process until the daughter can be moved in with her aunt. On top of that, she’s a bit resentful that this untimely tragedy has put a damper on her vacation plans.
Receiving the news that the Lanson’s have died in a tragic accident, the main character is left with the burden of informing Vicky Lanson, (who’d stayed home while her parents went out) of the bad news. Much to the main character’s surprise and shock, Vicky doesn’t have any reaction other than “Yes.”
While the main character grapples with whether or not Vicky is in shock, Vicky stoically declares that she told them this was going to happen and because she warned them, she’s not particularly upset.
After mic-dropping some hard truth premonitions to people attending her parent’s funeral, Vicky makes the main character promise to stay away from boats before Vicky heads off to live with her aunt.
Happy to be rid of Vicky, who she still can’t really make heads or tails of, the main character goes ahead and reschedules her vacation plans. This time, instead of a trip to Maine, she books a cruise.
I loved this story. Between the creepy, almost emotionless girl with her premonitions, and the main character who’s really just trying and failing to be a supportive, helpful adult in the situation, I loved the dynamic. The story had twinges of creepy, and I could so vividly imagine the entire thing. And the blatant disregard for the warnings of the child, at the end, felt so realistic. I thought this one was very well done.
What a Thought – 4/5
“I don’t want to kill my husband, Margaret said to herself. I never dreamed of killing him. I want him to live. Stop it, stop it.”
What a Thought is a story about a woman dealing with intrusive thoughts about killing her husband, leading to her eventually following through with them.
This story is short and to the point, so there’s not a ton to tell about it. That being said, this story also felt like an exercise in internal monologue and the exploration of intrusive thoughts. This story was relatable in that we all have random, sometimes unpleasant, thoughts that pop into our head at the most inexplicable of times, but also terrifying in that she decided to act on them. It was a well written example of short form horror.
The Bus – 3/5
Miss Harper is a grumpy old lady who, as a last resort, has to take the bus home from a short vacation she took. Full of disdain for the trip, she takes a sleeping pill and boards the bus, settling in for the hours long ride home. She is awaken abruptly when the driver tells her she is at her destination and tells her to get off. (It is the location her ticket is for and he isn’t going to drive her any further.)
Standing in the rain at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere, she knows she’s not in her hometown. Unsure of what to do next or where to go, she flags down the nearest vehicle and is taken to a roadhouse. The bus only runs through once a day, so Miss Harper rents a room for the night that uses up all her money except what she will need for her ticket home.
Noting how similar the roadhouse looks to a house she grew up in, Miss Harper retires to her room and makes a mental note about how similar it is to her childhood bedroom – the only real difference being that the closet is on the wrong side of the room.
As she begins to fall asleep, a rattling keeps her awake and she discovers the closet is filled with toys from her childhood that have come to life. In the midst of her fright, she is woken up from her dream, only to find the bus driver informing her that it’s her stop and she needs to get off — at the same dark, middle of nowhere crossroads as before.
This story gives off lots of Groundhog’s Day vibes and, at one point, I even wrote a note that in a lot of ways this feels like a death rattle of a story a la An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce. It’s ambiguous as to what might be a dream and what’s real life and that confusion lends a lot to the creepiness of the story.
The lone crossroad and roadhouse also give off a mix of Supernatural and Texas Chainsaw Massacre type settings, with imagery that feels all too familiar in the horror movie genre. Overall, I didn’t dislike this story, I just didn’t love it. While it was likely published before a lot of these things were common horror tropes, this one just felt very basic and predictable compared to her other works.
Family Treasures – 2/5
Family Treasures is a story on the shorter side about Anne who, after her mother’s death, returns to her sorority house-type dormitory and begins stealing items from her housemates. As people begin casting suspicions amongst one another, none of them suspect her and she eventually brings the situation to a head by reporting the thefts (she herself committed) to the house-mother.
A full search of the house ensues and secrets are revealed about each housemate as closets are turned out, drawers are emptied, and diaries are read. Offering to be searched first, before room searching devolved into tearing apart people’s spaces, Anne manages to keep the stolen items hidden and, at the end of the night, after all chaos and mistrust has been sown amongst the housemates, she packs her things (stolen goods included) and leaves.
While this story seems to lack all of the traditional horror elements that Jackson so seamless tends to weave into her stories, it was an interesting exposition on how people react in high pressure situations and under accusation of others. It wasn’t the dark, creepy story I was hoping to hear, but it did explore the darker side of the human condition and had notes of revenge seeking interspersed throughout. Personally, it’s not a story I’d include in a collection called Dark Tales and I didn’t super love it.
A Visit – 4/5
A Visit is a story about Margaret who visits her school friend, Carla, at Carla’s family estate in the countryside. The house is eccentrically filled with mosaics and tapestries, and pictures of the house itself in all kinds of different weather and backdrops, made by the generations of women who have lived in the house.
Carla is excited about the anticipation of her brother coming home as he brings fun and joy to the home. The brother arrives home with a friend and as she and Carla spend time with him and his companion, it starts to become obvious that Margaret is maybe a bit of an odd duck.
After exploring the grounds and meeting a great aunt, also named Margaret, living in a tower on the grounds, events begin to unfold that raise lots of doubts about who is real, who is a ghost, and the impact the images throughout the house have on the family.
This is perhaps the longest story in this collection and likely the most polished. Between vivid settings, an unreliable narrator, a few twists that are well foreshadowed and a bit of ambiguity at the end, this story is very much in the same vein of Jackson’s more notable works. Honestly, it’s a bit surprising to me that this story doesn’t have the same acclaim as her other short story, The Lottery.
The Good Wife – 4/5
The Good Wife is a story about Benjamin who appears to be caring for his bedridden wife. In reality, he is keeping his wife as a prisoner in her own home because he is upset about the alleged affair she is having with a man named Ferguson. The wife, however, denies the affair and even goes so far as to claim she doesn’t know anyone with that name, though Benjamin has letters from Ferguson, ones plotting to help her escape the home, as proof.
At the end, as the husband sits down to write a letter and signs it “Ferguson” it becomes evident that the entire affair was made up by the husband to keep his husband trapped at home.
This story addressed gaslighting in a realistic and frightening way. The woman, who is basically giving up hope at a normal life because of something her husband is trying to convince her she did (while fabricating all the evidence himself) is heartbreaking and tragic. This was certainly a story where the horror is how terrible people can be and I think it works effectively in that regard.
The Man in the Woods – 2.5/5
This story starts off as a tale about a man, Christopher, who has been walking for what seems like forever (with almost Forrest Gump vibes) and finds himself at a fairytale-esque cottage in the depths of the woods. In the cottage lives a pair of women and an old man. They welcome Christopher in, and though they behave strangely, he accepts their hospitality.
There’s a description of his tour of the creepy cottage, with emphasis on how to tend the rose garden out front and as the woman prepare a feast, the next day, the old man sharpens a ceremonial blade and heads out into the forest behind the cabin. Christopher is prompted to follow and the story ends with him in the woods and the voice of the old man asking “Who is he dares enter these my woods?”
I’m tempted to give this story more stars because the setting and imagery are vivid and some of the details presented (a room full of old documents that the old man doesn’t know how to make heads or tales of, or the fact that the women are only allowed in the kitchen and front hall) make this story feel like there’s a lot more going on under the surface, but I feel like, ultimately, this story was disjointed and didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
It definitely had a large dose of the creepy and intriguing factors and reminded me a lot of the original, more gruesome versions of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, but by the time the end came around, I felt like I wasn’t entire sure what was going on in the worst kind of way. I wanted a lot more clarification on this story than the text provided. My exact notes: “Well, I can’t say I disliked this story, I just didn’t like the ending.”
Home – 5/5
Ethel and Jim have just moved into the Sanderson house in town, a house with a reputation. One rainy day, while Ethel is in town, she keeps getting into conversations with townsfolk – the grocer, the owner of the hardware store, etc. – about how they were surprised she took the main road from the house into town (as opposed to a back, less direct, route) on “a day like today.”
Thinking they are referring to how muddy the road gets in the rain and not having had trouble navigating it herself, she pays the conversations no mind. On her way home, she stops to pick up a woman and child who are poorly dressed for the rain on the main road home. They want to go to the Sanderson place and, assuming they are confused and referring to other properties that had once all been part of the Sanderson estate (not thinking they meant her house) she drives them up the hill to the house and expects them to go on their way. As she parks and gets out of the car, the people have disappeared.
She tells her husband about the odd occurrence, emphasizing that after the drenched woman and boy disappeared, there wasn’t even any sign that they had been in the car. The man reveals that he’s heard stories in town about a woman who stole a child from the house (they currently live in) some 60 years prior and now people think they see them on the side of the main road on rainy days. He says the townsfolk don’t like to talk about it.
Having survived the encounter, Ethel is anxious to go into town the next morning and brag about her experience. When she gets in the car, the woman and child are back in her backseat and dealing with them causes her to swerve off the road, almost ending up in the creek. When she regains control, the ghosts are gone and once she gets to town, she can’t bring herself to talk about it – just as the other townfolk don’t talk about.
This is probably my favorite story in the entire collection. Not only does it have the horror elements I love – a person who doesn’t heed warnings, a secret of past indiscretions, apparitions, and a backstory that people are too traumatized to speak of – but it felt like a complete story in it’s own. It didn’t leave a lot of questions let unanswered but also alluded to what felt like a much bigger story. This felt like a polished piece and it reminded me of all the things I love about Shirley Jackson’s novellas.
The Summer People – 4/5
The Summer People is the final story in this collection of short stories and tells the story of a husband and a wife, now empty nesters, deciding to stay at their summer lake cottage past labor day. They always head home labor day weekend and regret that they don’t stay slightly longer as the weather is usually still nice, and this year they decided to actually go through with that.
However, as they buy more provisions at the story for their extended stay, it becomes obvious from their conversations with other townsfolk that “Summer People” don’t usually stay past labor day. Despite finding this odd, the couple goes ahead with their plan.
Things start to get odd when, running low on oil as they normally do at the end of the season, they discover the oil man won’t deliver after labor day. Then they get a letter from their son that they both decide doesn’t really sound like it was written by their son. As they carry on and the oil that heats, lights, and allows them to cook in their cottage starts to dwindle, they find their car tampered with and their phone lines cut, cutting them off from the rest of the world.
I actually liked this story quite a bit. There’s a bit at the ending that I found a bit anti-climactic, but overall this was another story that felt so vivid, I could almost imagine it as a movie in my head – something Shirley Jackson seems to have a knack for. I think it was a solid ending to the collection and really ended the story with a reminder that Jackson has perfected her craft.
The Wrap-Up
While there was definitely a lot to unpack in this book, I will say that, ultimately, it was a pleasure to read. In that they were short stories, even the stories I didn’t love didn’t seem to drag on and I found myself wanting more by the time I got to the end.
As I stated in my intro, I might not recommend this book to someone as their first foray into Jackson’s work. Because some of the stories are a bit hit or miss, I don’t think it’s the best showcase of her writing style and craft. That being said, it was solid and enjoyable. I think fans of her work and people who are interested in the craft of horror writing can take a lot out of this book.
However, the high points in this book were great and I’m planning to add a hard copy of this collection to my shelves. I can see myself re-reading and drawing inspiration from the stories, which to me is really an indicator of a good book.
So, 4 stars. I would absolutely return to this book more than once.
