Read Witchcraft Classics: Best Witch Short Stories 1800-1849 for the Holidays

 

"Then with the agility of a cat she sprang on his shoulders, struck him in the side with a broom, and he began to run like a race-horse, carrying her on his shoulders." Nikolai Gogol, Viy

Witchcraft Classics: Best Witch Short Stories 1800-1849

The cradle of modern witch short stories began in the first half of the 19th century. This anthology unearths the very best of these stories. Andrew Barger, a leading voice in the Gothic literature space, searched forgotten magazines, newspapers, journals and scholarly articles, to uncover the best witch stories written in the English language over one hundred years after the horrific events of the Salem Witch Trials. They had a lasting effect in both the U.S. and Europe, as these publications reflect from the many authors who penned witch stories in this genre. Andrew includes in his introduction to the collection, actual text from the Salem Witch Trials.

The classic witch stories he has uncovered are unmatched. One is a humorous tale that stands, in the grand Irish tradition of great storytelling, shoulder to shoulder with Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1819) and Charles Dickens’s “The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton” (1836), possessing that rare combination of humor and horror that is so difficult to find. It is published for the first time in over a century and a half.

What Andrew calls America's "first great witch short story" is also published for the first time in nearly two hundred years. As readers have come to expect, he includes his scholarly touch to the anthology by providing introductions to each story and a foreword titled "Hags! Hags! Hags!" There are also illustrations for each story. Last, Andrew provides a list of stories considered at the end of the anthology. Read these witchcraft classics tonight!

The Hollow of the Three Hills (1830) by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Marvelous Legend of Tom Connor’s Cat (1847) by Samuel Lover

The Witch Caprusche (1845) by Elizabeth Ellet

The Brownie of the Black Haggs (1827) by James Hogg

Lydia Ashbaugh, the Witch (1836) by William Darby

Young Goodman Brown (1835) by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Viy (1835) by Nikolai Gogol

Read the best classic witch stories for the holidays! Best Witch Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Witch Story Anthology - ANDREW BARGER

#bestwitchstories #witchshortstories #witchstories #witchcraftstories #witchtales #witchcrafttales #bestwitchshortstories

Lydia Ashbaugh the Witch - America's First Great Witch Short Story

 

Lydia Ashbaugh the Witch

by William Darby

America's first great witch story.

--Andrew Barger

Available for preorder on Amazon Kindle now (Launching on Friday) is "Lydia Ashbaugh the Witch." It is a fantastic witch short story that I found when editing Witchcraft Classic: Best Witch Short Stories 1800-1849. 

This classic American witch story of 1836 is the sorrowful tale of how Lydia Ashbaugh became a witch. Set in the beautiful mountains of Pennsylvania, its storyline and plot twists place it in high regard. I give a length introduction at the start of the book, including about the author who published under a penname.

“Lydia Ashbaugh” was originally published in the Saturday Evening Post and shortly thereafter in Atkinson’s Casket. It appeared the year after Nathaniel Hawthorne published "Young Goodman Brown," and excels in every category over Hawthorne's most famous witch short story. Read "Lydia Ashbaugh" tonight.

#LydiaAshbaugh #witchstories #bestwitchstories #bestwitchshortstories #witchtales #classicwitchstory #williamdarby

The Spadena House, or The Witch's House, of Beverly Hills

 

Spadena House - Beverly Hills, California

The Spadena House, commonly referred to as The Witch's House, is a whimsical house in Beverly Hills, California. The house was built in 1921 by Hollywood art director Harry Oliver, who designed it to look like a cottage straight out of a fairy tale. It certainly looks like a house filled with scary witch stories. The house was originally built on a movie studio lot in Culver City, but it was later moved to its current location in Beverly Hills.

The house is known for its distinctive, storybook-style architecture, which features a steeply-pitched roof with crooked chimneys, a lopsided chimney, and a tiny, arched front door. The exterior of the house is made of stucco, which has been painted to look like dark wood, and it is surrounded by a whimsical garden featuring stone toadstools, a fake moat, and a collection of gnarled trees.

Over the years, the Spadena House has gained a reputation as one of the most famous and recognizable landmarks in Beverly Hills. In the 1960s, it was briefly used as a set for the television show "Bewitched" which helped to solidify its status as a cultural icon. Is there witchcraft going on inside?

Today, the Spadena House is privately owned and is not open to the public. However, it remains a popular tourist attraction, and visitors can often be seen taking pictures of the house and its unique features.

#witchhouse #beverlyhillswitchhouse #witchstories #wherewitchesdwell