Table of contents - "Terror Tales of the Scottish Highlands" edited by Paul Finch

I’ve talked extensively before about one of my favorite series of anthologies, edited by Paul Finch and published by Gray Friar Press, and it is time now to salute the eighth entry in the “Terror Tales” collections. “Terror Tales” is an excellent series travelling across the British Isles in search of old and new frightening stories, new by publishing fresh tales based on the folklore of a specific area and old by mixing these modern works of fiction with some of the spooky legends of the respective region. It is a concept that appealed greatly to me from the start and each volume published so far proved to be a delight, every single one offering a bounty of fine short stories, great legends and impressive writers. And after travelling through the Lake District, the Cotswolds, East Anglia, London, the Seaside, Wales and Yorkshire Paul Finch’s series of anthologies reaches now the Scottish Highlands, again with a promise of chilling delights. I am glad to see the “Terror Tales” anthologies going strong and I am even happier to hear that the editor and publisher intend to go further in their search and reinterpretation of horror folklore, even beyond the borders of the United Kingdom, with other short story collections of the same kind.

The Scottish Highlands, picturesque home to grand mountains and plunging glens. But also a land of bitterness, betrayal and blood-feud, where phantom pipers lament callous slaughters, evil spirits haunt crag and loch, and ancient monsters roam the fogbound moors…

The Black Wolf of Badenoch
The deformed horror at Glamis
The witch coven of Auldearn
The faceless giant of Ben Macdui
The shrieking voices on Skye
The feathered fiend of Glen Etive
The headless killer at Arisaig

And many more chilling tales by William Meikle, Helen Grant, Barbara Roden, Carole Johnstone, DP Watt and other award-winning masters and mistresses of the macabre…

“Skye’s Skary Places” by Ian Hunter

Phantoms in the Mist

“The Dove” by Helen Grant

Prey of the Fin-Folk

“Strone House” by Barbara Roden

The Well of Heads

“Face Down in the Earth” by Tom Johnstone

The Vanishing

“The Dreaming God Is Singing Where She Lies” by William Meikle

The Curse of Scotland

“The Housekeeper” by Rosie Seymour

From Out the Hollow Hills

“The Executioner” by Peter Bell

Saurians of the Deep

“You Must Be Cold” by John Whitbourn

Glamis Castle

“The Fellow Travellers” by Sheila Hodgson

Daemonologie

“Shelleycoat” by Graeme Hurry

Evil Monsters

“The Other House, the Other Voice” by Craig Herbertson

The Mull Plane Mystery

“Myself / Thyself” by D.P. Watt

The Bauchan

“Broken Spectres” by Carl Barker

The Big Grey Man

“Jack Knife” by Gary Fry

Tristicloke the Wolf

“The Foul Mass at Tongue House” by Johnny Mains

The Drummer of Cortachy

“There You’ll Be” by Carole Johnstone