The Ghost Stories of E. Nesbit

A Turn-of-the-Century Writer’s Realist Tales of Spectral Phenomenon

Sep 6, 2009

E. Nesbit, English author of 1906's The Railway Children, wrote speculative ghost stories that focus on the psychological effects and implications of fearsome sights

Waxworks, walking statues, and oaths that come true; fiscal straits, petty phobias, and disagreements between friends; all these elements combine in E. Nesbit’s ghost stories to create works as easy to relate to as they are chilling.

E. Nesbit the Author

Edith Nesbit was born in 1856 in London. Her childhood was unhappy: her father died when she was four, and her sister was often ill. When the household settled in Kent in 1871, however, things began to brighten up. Nesbit’s rich memories from this period would provide inspiration for her many children’s stories, of which 1906’s The Railway Children is most famous.

Nesbit would marry twice, and enjoy a bohemian adult existence. She co-founded the Fabian Society, a Socialist movement, and was published often in literary magazines. She was very social, engaging in dialogues both political and literary, and entertained the likes of George Bernard Shaw in her home. Unfortunately, her smoking habit would lead to lung cancer and, in 1924, her early death from this disease.

Nesbit’s ghost stories are notable for their “magical realism”: supernatural occurrences are examined with their concrete portents firmly in mind. Nesbit is not so much interested in ghosts as in characters' reactions to unexpected phenomena, especially when they come to deal with that odd thing, fear.

“Man-Size in Marble”

In this story, which bears some similarities to Edith Wharton’s “Afterward”, a newlywed couple move in to a small country cottage, the kind that can be kept up by one servant. Mrs. Dorman, this servant, is quickly beloved by them for her neat ways and grasp of local culture.

So when she insists on abandoning her post just before Halloween, the husband insists on finding out her reasons. Eventually she reveals that the statues in the nearby church are no patient monuments – every Halloween they go walking “in their marble”.

The husband already knows that the statues represent fierce marauders who had once warranted “the vengeance of heaven”, and that their ancestral home used to occupy the same property as the couple’s. But he finds Mrs. Dorman’s story hard to believe, and, convinced that she will return to her post after the supposed “danger” is past, he entertains no anxiety.

But when he happens to leave his wife alone at All Saint’s Eve, he’ll have a heavy price to pay for his scepticism…

The couple’s relationship takes the forefront in this famous story, where the tensions of married existence come startlingly to life.

“John Charrington’s Wedding”

Geoffrey is taken aback when a friend, John Charrington, managed to engage the most well-regarded girl in the county. Everyone is suspicious as to her really loving him, but when John passes the couple in a graveyard and sees their expressions, he can doubt no longer. He also overhears John’s impassioned oath: “My dear,” he exclaims, “I believe I should come back from the dead if you wanted me!”

Geoffrey and John happen to take the same train to the city two days before the wedding. They part ways, and when Geoffrey comes home to vehement questions as to John’s whereabouts, he can offer no answers.

John relieves anxieties by sending a note with apologies, and plans to meet Geoffrey at the station the day of the wedding. John never arrives, and so Geoffrey runs off to the church to apologize for him. It turns out no apologies are in order: John made it to the wedding in rather an unexpected way…

John Charrington was always a definite sort of person: E. Nesbit takes the resolve of man to its extreme in this haunting story.

“The Power of Darkness”

Edward is hopelessly afraid of the dark - and his friend, Vincent, is the only person in the world who knows. They happen to be competing for the affections of one lady, Rose, and she winds up being the prize of a wager they strike between them: if Edward can spend a full night alone in the wax museum, Vincent will never speak to Rose again.

Circumstance has it that Edward visits the wax museum earlier than he told Vincent he would, and Vincent visits the wax museum the same night in order to rig up a sort of prank. But the darkness of that night affects the two men in ways surprisingly distinct, and each, the next morning, will be left forever changed.

Nesbit’s grasp of atmosphere is at its best here, in a story that questions what it is to be truly courageous.