Selected Stories (1988) won the Bram Stoker
Award for a short story collection.
The Beckoning Fair One Oliver Onions
(1911)
British writer Oliver ONIONSwrote several earnest
contemporary novels before discovering supernatu-
ral fiction, and while he remained active in both
areas for the remainder of his career, it is for his
short ghost stories that he is best known. The Beck-
oning Fair One,which is considered by some critics
to be the best ghost story ever written, is a novella
that uses very subtle devices to create a chilling at-
mosphere, allowing the reader to watch the grad-
ual change in the protagonist’s personality.
Paul Oleron is a marginally popular writer who
is halfway through writing what will probably be his
most financially successful novel. On an impulse he
rents a portion of an abandoned house, a place his
close friend Elsie Bengough instinctively dislikes.
Shortly after moving in, Oleron discovers window
seats that have been nailed closed, inside one of
which is the cover for a harp. After the initial
move, he expects to resume work on his book,
spurred on by his dwindling funds, but a pervasive
lethargy prevents him from doing any further work,
and at times he feels that the existing manuscript is
worthless and must be discarded despite Elsie’s in-
sistence that it is the best he has ever written. This
situation may well have influenced the character of
Stephen KING’s protagonist in THE SHINING(1977).
It is soon clear to the reader that something
in the house wishes to keep Oleron for itself. Not
only does he feel disinclined to go out, but Elsie is
driven away by a series of unlikely accidents.
Oleron’s feelings toward her become generally cal-
lous and unfriendly, although at other times he
realizes that he is being unfair. The creepy atmo-
sphere continues to build, without any obvious
menace manifesting itself. Oleron wakens one
morning humming an unfamiliar tune, later iden-
tified as “The Beckoning Fair One,” which was
traditionally sung to the accompaniment of a
harp. As in all houses, there are many strange
noises at night, but he is frightened at one point
by the unmistakable sound of a woman brushing
her hair, even though he is alone.
Eventually Oleron is driven to inquire into the
house’s history. He discovers that the last tenant,
an unmarried man who seldom went outdoors, was
found starved to death, even though he was not
poor. Determined to find the ghost, he becomes
progressively more obsessed after observing a comb
moving as though held by a human hand while
cutting himself off from almost all external con-
tact. His gradual psychological decline continues
even when there are no overt signs of a supernatu-
ral presence in the house, for the haunting is now
as much in his mind as in the physical building.
Concerned for Oleron’s well being, Elsie enters the
house while Oleron is lying in bed, lost in a dream
state and slowly starving to death. He is vaguely
aware of her presence but loses consciousness, and
an indefinite period of time passes before the au-
thorities break in to discover a nearly comatose
Oleron and Elsie’s dead body.
As is the case with most of the best supernatu-
ral fiction, the true horrors take place inside the
protagonist’s mind. His slow submission to the
wiles of the ghostly spirit, who is never identified
or actually seen, is relentless and convincing and
has an air of inevitability that draws the reader on
even though it is clear that the destination is going
to be an unpleasant one.Bellairs, John(1938–1991)
John Bellairs was one of several writers of chil-
dren’s fantasy adventures who also enjoyed a fol-
lowing among adult readers, thanks to his
unusual imagery and clever sense of humor. His
first fantasy novel was The Pedant and the Shuffly
(1968), an undistinguished but pleasant work
about a battle against an evil magician. The Face
in the Frost(1969) was much more successful, a
wryly humorous alternate world historical fantasy.
A rash of strange occurrences, including the ap-
pearance of a face during an unseasonable frost,
alerts Roger Bacon to the presence of a villainous
magician, whom he defeats only by reaching into
our reality for the solution. The novel was quite
well received, and Bellairs might have gone on to
a successful career as an adult fantasist but in-
stead turned to children’s fiction for the balance
of his life.20 The Beckoning Fair One