Title: The Room in the Tower and Other Ghost Stories
Author: E. F. Benson
Genre: Gothic horror / Supernatural short stories
➤ Summary:
E. F. Benson’s The Room in the Tower and Other Ghost Stories is a chilling collection of supernatural tales that explore fear, death, and the unknown. The stories combine psychological tension with eerie atmosphere, showing how ordinary lives are invaded by mysterious and terrifying forces. The most famous story in the collection, The Room in the Tower, stands out as one of the best examples of English ghost fiction.
➤ The room in the tower:
The story begins with the narrator’s recurring nightmare. In the dream, he visits an old friend’s gloomy house and is always assigned to sleep in a dark, isolated room at the top of the tower. Each time the dream repeats, the faces of the people in the house grow older and darker, and the feeling of dread increases.
Years later, in real life, the narrator is invited to stay at a country house he’s never seen before. To his horror, it looks exactly like the one from his dreams. When his host offers him the room in the tower, he feels a deep fear but cannot refuse.
That night, he experiences a terrifying presence — the ghost of Mrs. Stone, a sinister woman connected to the house, appears beside his bed. Her pale, dead face and cold touch reveal that his dream has become real. The story ends with a shocking confrontation between the living and the dead, leaving the reader haunted by uncertainty and fear.
➤ Other stories in the collection:
The book also includes several other ghostly and supernatural tales, each exploring different kinds of horror:
The Dust-Cloud – A mysterious mist that brings death and madness.
The Confession of Charles Linkworth – A condemned man’s spirit seeking forgiveness after execution.
The Terror by Night – A horrifying entity that attacks its victims while they sleep.
The Other Bed – A ghostly encounter in an old inn that reveals a violent past.
Each story mixes the psychological fear of the unseen with classic Gothic elements — dark houses, restless spirits, and the feeling that evil hides beneath everyday life.
➤ Themes:
The main themes are dreams versus reality, haunted memory, guilt, and the persistence of evil. Benson suggests that the supernatural often reflects the hidden fears within the human mind.
➤ Tone and emotion:
The tone is eerie, suspenseful, and unsettling. Benson builds fear slowly through atmosphere rather than violence. Readers feel the cold dread of the unknown — a terror that lingers long after the story ends.
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