"From Ghaisttes, Ghoulies and long-leggity

Beasties and Things that go

Bump in the night—

"Good Lord, deliver us!"

Join Edwyrdian Tales for two tales from one of Britain’s best writers of the supernatural, Mr Oliver Onions…

Rooum

And

Benlian

Taken from his ghost stories collection “Widdershins” these tales demonstrate Oliver Onions absolute mastery of the weird and unnerving. To travel Widdershins means to go in a direction contrary to the course of the sun, in other words to turn anticlockwise, a considerably unlucky thing to do in many folk legends.

In “Rooum” a curious engineer is pursued by a mysterious entity he doesn’t understand. Whatever it is that follows him can’t be seen, but it can be felt as it passes through him. Each time it catches Rooum the passing through is getting worse and worse. Is it a process of osmosis? Can one man’s molecules pass through another? What makes this invisible figure pursue Mr Rooum night after night? And what on earth can be done to stop it?

In “Benlian” obsession in the life of an artist is put under the microscope. A painter of miniatures becomes fixated with a fellow artist, Mr Benlian who sculpts in stone. Benlian’s preoccupying passion is a single sculpture, his life’s work, a piece of art he describes as “A God.” Benlian is driven, utterly obsessed with putting himself into his work… Quite literally it seems.

“"an asylum, Mr. Benlian," i thought as i crossed the yard, "is the place for you" you see, i didn't know him then, and that he wasn't to be judged as an ordinary man is. Just you wait till you see . And straight away, i found myself vowing that i'd have nothing more to do with him. I found myself resolving that, as if i were making up my mind not to smoke or drink-and (i don't know why) with a similar sense that i was depriving myself of something.”