Robert Westall’s Ghost Stories

Antique Dust

I started this collection of short stories knowing nothing about it or its author. I honestly had no idea how much I was going to love it.

This is about 8 ghost stories in the tradition of M.R. James. The narrator is an antiques dealer who keeps coming across haunted antiques. There’s a Satanic clock, some very creepy dolls, and a pervert in an abandoned church. The narrator here is a bit more worldly than James’ guys.

I read a similar collection of Jamesian ghost stories a few months years ago. A.N.L. Munby’s The Alabaster Hand was enjoyable enough, but I didn’t find it scary. Some of the stories in Antique Dust are quite creepy though, the first two especially. You should definitely read this book.

I wrote the above in December of 2022. It didn’t feel like quite enough for a post, so I decided to read more Robert Westall. I didn’t go near him again for well over a year, but I’ve been dipping in and out of his horror fiction for the last few months, and I have thoroughly enjoyed pretty much everything I read by him.

After Antique Dust, I read 2 “best of” collections, Demons and Shadows and Shades of Darkness. Both were phenomenal. These books came out in 1993, but they were reissued in 1999, and while both editions of Demons and Shadows are the same, the newer edition of Shades of Darkness swapped out 2 stories. I managed to track down copies of both editions.

The Best of Robert Westall, Volume 1: Demons and Shadows

Rachel and the Angel	Girl sees biblically accurate angel. Must find a good soul or there’ll be another Sodom situation.
Graveyard Shift	Starts off with ghosts appearing to cemetery worker, but things get dark when paedo vampire appears.
A Walk on the Wild Side	School headmaster’s cat brings home a kitten. The kitten falls in love with him but then kills robbers in his house and might be a shapeshifter. Some actually scary passages. So, so god damn good.
The Making of Me	Sentimental story about shellshocked angry grandad. Nothing spooky
The Night Out	Biker boys have fun. Not scary
The Woolworth Spectacles	From Antique Dust
A Nose Against the Glass	Long, kinda boring story, about antique dealer who sees pesky child’s face in his window
Gifts from the Sea	Boy goes to granny’s to avoid blitz. Finds cool stuff on beach then a corpse
The Creatures in the House	Weird vampire creature drains women of their minds. One such woman leaves her haunted house to niece, but niece lets a bunch of cats in who fuck creature up. Good story.
The Death of Wizards	Boy saves old man’s life, but old man is wizard. Pays boy back by giving him intimate knowledge of everything around him. Doesn’t want this after trip to supermarket
The Last Day of Miss Dorinda Molyneaux	From Antique Dust

The Best of Robert Westall, Volume 2: Shades of Darkness

Woman and Home	Kid skips school. Goes into weird house that’s actually a ghost’s trap. Good.
St. Austin Friars	Priest moves to new rectory in Muncaster. Seems as though the town is inhabited by vampires
The Haunting of Chas McGill	Boy moves to old schoolhouse in countryside during the blitz and meets the ghost of a soldier who deserted first world war.
In Camera	People find roll of film in antique camera. Contains pictures of a corpse. They track down a man from the pictures.
Fifty-Fafty	Sentimental autobiographical story about author’s family.
The Cats	Old man becomes unwell. His wife starts seeing ghostly cats in their house.
The Boys Toilets	There’s a ghost in the jacks. Excellent story.
Portland Bill (1999)	From Antique Dust
The Bus (1999)	Guy gets on a time travelling bus. Very racist man on board. Wouldn’t get published today. Odd that this was added to later edition of the book.
The Red House Clock (1994)	Excellent story about boy who fixes dead neighbour’s clock to get revenge on landlord
The Call (1994)	Samaritan phone operators get a scary call on xmas night.
The Cat Spartan	Kid inherits his grandad’s cat and house, much to his mother’s dismay
Blackham’s Wimpy	WW2 bomber becomes haunted by a German pilot it shot down.

The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral

Next up, I read The Stones of Muncaster Cathredal. It’s an excellent tale, and the Valancourt edition has an extra short story thrown in for good measure. This book is well worth a read.

The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral	Something in the tower of a Cathedral is luring children to their deaths. Nothing to do with the other story set in Muncaster.
Brangwyn Gardens	A lad takes a room and finds a woman’s diary.

Spectral Shadows

This is a collection of 3 novellas. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Blackham’s Wimpy	I read this in Shades of Darkness.
The Wheatstone Pond	A pond is drained and old toy boats start showing up. Another mysterious box holding something stinky also shows up. These items are somehow linked to a mysterious house nearby, and it’s up the local antique dealer to solve the mystery. There’s good suspense here, but ultimately, there’s too many threads to the story and it gets a bit silly. Still an enjoyable read. This is definitely not children’s fiction. The protagonist has rape fantasies.
Yaxley’s Cat	A woman rents a cottage for herself and 2 kids. Previous owner was a witch. She finds his stuff. Good.

Honestly, every book I read by Westall was excellent. He wrote books for kids, and it seems like his stuff is labelled as kid’s fiction, or young adult fiction, but in sincerity, these ghost stories are top notch. I think older kids would certainly enjoy them, but they’re not toned down in any fashion. If you like good old fashioned ghost stories in the vein of M.R. James, I don’t think I’ve read anything as good as Robert Westall. Any of these books would be a good starting point, all of them perfect for bedtime reading.