'Strange Stories : the ones that creep and whisper'

On the occasion of Halloween, The Guardian has just published a set of articles that relate some of the most scary stories. One of them portrays The Hospice by Robert Aickman.

Robert Aickman had a double life. Politician under daylight, he used to transform  into a horror stories writer at night. The Guardian compares him to "a respectable Jekyll who indulged his Hyde on the side". He wrote forty-eight "Strange stories" which were published in eight volumes, including one posthumous. The Hospice tells the story of a traveler who turns up in a Hospice in which strange things happen. Plain scenario. 

Robert Aickman

Actually, simplicity seems to be the key to our most awful fears. Just like A. Hitchcock did in his movies. 

Indeed, that slippery thing that makes the British mysteries so mysterious might be that genuine britishness. On a long rainy afternoon, telling horror stories must be one of the rare things you could be gasping for in order to escape your soul from the sullen weather. Far from the American display of blood and violence, British authors prefer to suggest and finally let the human brain set up its own tremendous horror. Observing the success of the Queen of the Crime (aka Dame Agatha Christie), it seems to be a very efficient way of telling stories. 

>> Read the article on the Guardian website

>> See the list of articles from the Halloween set

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Amélie Blandeau - Week 5 - 217 words