Scottish Tales of Terror

by James Hogg, Sacheverell Sitwell, Robert Louis Stevenson, et al.

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0006139574
• ISBN13: 9780006139577
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: Fontana
• Weight: 0.13 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Bogles, Grave Robbers, and Phantom Pipers

"Scottish Tales of Terror" is more ghoulish than ghostly--lots of dead bodies, one courtesy of a taxidermist, many cannibalized, others newly dug from the grave. Some of the stories are told in dialect, which may add flavor for some of us while sending others back to the bookcase for easier bedtime reading. They should persevere though, for one of the stories, "Wandering Willie's Tale" by Sir Walter Scott is especially fiendish.A couple of the stories, "The Horns of the Bull" and "Shona and the Water Horse" are more fantastic than horrible. Many more are decidedly gruesome - you might be able to hold down a story or two at bedtime, but I wouldn't recommend reading some of them at the dinner table, especially not "Brown God in the Beginning" or "Sawney Bean and his Family". This book will definitely give you a flavour of Scotland that is not to be found in the tour guides.All of the "Scottish Tales of Terror" are well-written and well (although fiendishly) chosen. Some of them are definitely not for the weak of stomach. The editor, Angus Campbell, describes one story, "The Brownie of the Black Haggs" as "seasoned with mystery, flavoured by terror, it is a fitting dessert to a gruesome feast."A gruesome, Scottish feast, indeed.