Most stories in The Weird Tales of Dorothy K. Haynes drift more towards the downright disturbing than the “weird” or “uncanny”. Scottish author Dorothy K. Haynes (1918–1987) offers little in the way of chummy ghost stories round the fire.
There are 26 short stories on offer, a number drawn from horror anthology paperbacks. Five had never been published before this collection appeared in 2024.
Edited by Craig Lamont, with a foreword by Johnny Mains, the book belongs to the British Library’s Tales of the Weird series. Most of these stories are harrowing and bleak.
Childhood without innocence
Haynes seemed to be swimming in the post-Second World War misanthropic current. It is not surprising that Mervyn Peake illustrated eight of the stories.
The human capacity to inflict harm on others and to wallow in self-torment is beyond doubt. Perhaps the fact that Haynes was placed in an orphanage aged 10 made her so keen to disavow the notion of childhood innocence.
Her most famous short story, Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch, features a girl accused of causing death. Dorothy Dean also portrays a delinquent girl who veers towards madness, with tragic results.
The orphanage-set tale Up, Like a Good Girl! sees death making another appearance.
Fairyland and Scotland’s harsher history
Among the highlights must be The Bean-Nighe, set in rural Scotland, with an apparition on a blasted heath. A prime slice of Celtic weird.
The Celtic theme continues with Changeling, in which a child visits Fairyland with the help of a witch who lives on a gargoyle. In No Such Person, an old woman has to wrestle with a cemetery angel.
The Boorees, about the sort of presences that only a child can detect in a home, has been called “Bat Chimney Demon Horror”. The Man in the Wall follows a similar theme.
The severe side of Scotland’s history is explored in Scots Wha Ha’e, when an English couple receive an unwelcome visit from the ghost of William Wallace. In The Head, a community punishment is dealt out.
Modern urbanisation is dealt with in Barleyriggs, where the inhabitants face a harrowing time in a new house with all mod cons. Don’t Look in My Window also shows suburban comfort wrecked.
Three tales involve a time slip: Oblige Me with a Loaf, Help the Railway Mission and Those Lights and Violins.
Overall, quite a hard-hitting collection of well-crafted, bleak short stories. Not for sensitive readers.
Also read Michael Bully’s review of Circles of Stone, another collection in the Tales of the Weird series.
