Anonymous
This page incluces listings for works whose authors are unknown as well as for works that have a significand history of unknown or uncertain authorship attribution.
"The Bride of the Isles" (57K)
This anonymous tale was based on the play The Vampyre, or The Bride of the Isles by J. R. Planché, which was in turn based on Polidori's The Vampyre.
"Can a Blind Man See a Ghost?" [1887] (10K) [Gaslight]
English and Scottish Popular Ballads.
Supernaturalist selections from Francis J. Child's famous collection.
"Extracts from Gosschen's Diary".
The infamous Gothic tale of lust, murder, and madness (among its more mentionable vices) is anonymous no longer: this work can be blamed on
John Wilson, the Scottish writer and critic associated with
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. (14K)
"The Magician and the Favourite"
The Mysterious Spaniard; or, the Ruins of St. Luke's Abbey
An anonymous Gothic chapbook from 1807, featuring a ruined abbey, mysterious midnight doings, and the villainous Illuminati... (100K)
"The Mysterious Stranger
Before Dracula, before Carmilla, there was... The Mysterious Stranger. Published in 1860, this short story contains elements that prefigure both LeFanu's and Stoker's more famous tales.
"The Prisoner of Glenbeague"
An obscure tale destined to become a cannibal classic, and in its use of the madness & imprisonment motifs it makes a nice companion piece to
"Extracts from Gosschen's Diary".
"Quite a Lost Art"
An anonymous Gothic spoof from Charles Dickens' magazine All the Year Round [1868] (27K) [Dick Collins]
"Some Remarks on the Use of the Preternatural in Works of Fiction".
An 1818 essay (published anonymously but in fact by
John Wilson, mentioned above) arguing for a restrained supernaturalist aesthetic, with brief remarks on
Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, and Scott.
"The Story of Clifford House" [1878]
A classic Victorian haunted-house story.
Supernaturalist folksongs and ballads at The Digital Tradition.
Varney the Vampire
Attributed largely to James Malcolm Rhymer (the most likely author, according to some),
Thomas Peckett Prest, and others, there's enough uncertainty regarding the authorship of the work to justify this work's inclusion on the "Anonymous" page. [Humphrey Liu]
This site includes, among other
Varney goodies, an
Introduction to
Varney and the C19 publishing phenomenon of the "penny dreadfuls," those inexpensive books of horror and titillation of which
Varney is a classic example. (10K) [Michael Holmes]
"Anonymous Authors."