Book Review
Title: Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror (Tales of Terror Book 1) by Chris Priestley
Genre: Children’s, Horror
Rating: 5 Stars
So I remember reading both Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror and Tales of Terror from the Black Ship as a child and scaring the pants of myself more than once and I wanted to revisit this series as an adult to see if I still love it. As this is a collection of stories bound together each paragraph will be relating to a specific story. Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror begins with us being introduced to Edgar who is seen as a strange child and because of this he begins spending a lot of time with his uncle to hear the numerous stories his uncle had. Edgar does notice that his uncle’s house and the land surrounding are very strange but he doesn’t pay much attention to it, one this trip his uncle beings telling him a story about a tree that he fears is too scary for Edgar but he insists that his uncle tell it so he does.
The first story Climb Not was interesting as it takes something as ordinary and mundane as a tree and makes it menacing and dark. We are introduced to Joseph whose parents recently bought a house and on the grounds is an ancient elm tree. After receiving a pocket watch from his father, Joseph’s dad leaves for London, to cheer him up his mother suggests they take their dog, Jess for a walk. On the walk Jess investigates the tree but something spooks her so badly she runs away and doesn’t return. After Jess runs away Joseph becomes seized by a desire to climb the tree but is warned by the groundkeeper not to, after he learns that the groundkeepers doesn’t work on Thursdays Joseph climbs the tree despite the warnings craved into the bark. The first few times nothing happens but each time Joseph climbs higher, eventually her reaches the top on day and notices bracelets, brooches and other jewellery seemingly hammered into the top of the tree. Being a curious child, Joseph removes a brooch but this causes something to climb the tree we don’t know what but we soon learn that Joseph’s body was discovered at the bottom of the tree and that his pocket watch is embedded at the top. This story obviously scares Edgar but he denies it and asks his uncle for more but not before his uncle presents him with a doll and asks his opinion on mediums and seances which might relate to the next story.
The next story The Un-Door was an interesting one as we are introduced to Harriet and Maud who are con women. These two use the mother, daughter trick and conduct fake séances in order to steal from the clients while they are distracted. However, during this one séance Harriet is looking around for items to steal but when she tries to enter one room she is warned against it by Olivia. Harriet assumes that Olivia is the client’s daughter and thinks nothing of it until Maud acts strangely during the séance angering Harriet. After the client convinces them to stay a while until Maud is feeling better when Harriet tells her the story Olivia told her of the Un-Door. This spooks the client as she has a sister named Olivia who became obsessed with a doll’s house before going mad and dying. She explains that Harriet saw her sister who died at the age of 12 spooking both women, however, Harriet still sceptical tries to enter the room once more and this time the door opens trapping her inside the doll’s house as a little doll and the way she cries out is the exact same way Maud did at the séance. Edgar is even more freaked out by this as he is struggling to process the fact that his uncle isn’t making these stories up and that the doll might really be Harriet but he once again dismisses this.
The Demon Bench End was another interesting story but this one didn’t have the finality of the other stories. We are introduced to Thomas Haynes who comes across a tinker one day and takes from him a demon shaped bench end which turns out to be a mysterious relic. The tinker informs Thomas that he can’t sell it, give it away or throw it away it has to be taken from him but someone else and that the demon will whisper all kinds of things to him. As Thomas is still a young boy he is more prone to believing the demon about whatever it mentions and very quickly it leads Thomas to kill his pet cat and set off after the tinker with the same axe but it is left up to us to determine whether Thomas actually went through with killing the tinker and what happened to him afterwards. This story disturbs Edgar the most so far and he is coming to realise that his uncle is more than what he seems and that the shifting shadows and noises in the house might not be as innocent as he first believed.
Offerings was a strange tale with a lot left up to the imagination again but I really enjoyed it. We are introduced to Robert Sackville as his father takes over the vicarage of Great Whitcot in Suffolk. On the day they move in they are greeted with many offerings from the local villagers explained by the town doctor, Arthur Trewain. Arthur explains to Robert’s parents about the demise of the previous vicar and the sorcery he supposedly dabbled in. However, Robert isn’t interested in these tales as he has made friends with a strange boy and begins showing the oddest behaviours. When his mother finally notices he has been killing small animals she sees the boy as a cat and when she strikes Robert the boy kills her and Robert shows no sign it has affected him almost like he is being controlled by whatever the thing is. By name Edgar is coming around to the idea that demon and all sorts of paranormal creatures are real but continues to ask for more of his uncle’s stories.
Winter Pruning was a story that gave me chills because of its implications. We are introduced to Simon Hawkins who after moving with his mother ends up meeting a blind woman known only as Old Mother Tallow. He learns from his mother that Old Mother Tallow is rumoured to be a witch but it can’t be the same one that terrified both her and Simon’s grandmother when they were children. Simon doesn’t believe the rumours about Old Mother Tallow kidnapping and eating children so he returns to her garden although this time he decides to sneak inside the house which Old Mother Tallow allows until he tries to steal some money from her. After being knocked unconscious Simon comes around and realises he has been trapped inside the apple tree he saw Old Mother Tallow pruning and she is going to essentially torture him to teach him a lesson. This story really gets to Edgar but when he uncle suggests sending him home he begs for another story and his uncle gives in especially since Edgar is coming to realise that the object in his uncle’s study all come from one of his tales.
The Gilt Frame introduces us to the sisters, Christina and Agnes who are spoilt young girls although Christina is far worse than Agnes. When their mother arrives home from an action one day with a picture Christina is angry that she used the money on that rather than spending it on her. However, later that night she hears a voice coming from the painting as it begins to speak to her and offers her three wishes but they all come with a cost. Christina’s first wish is for the maid, Eva to leave her alone which actually meant getting her deported. The second was for them to be rich which involved the death of her grandmother and the final wish of having her own room involves the death of her sister. However, after Agnes death the police turn up wanting to take Christina away and it is here her mother reveals there is no picture but the item was a mirror all along. Now, Christina remembers getting Eva deported as well as murdering her grandmother and sister which was a haunting image to be left with. Edgar is getting more and more scared and his uncle seems to notice this but he continues on with the stories because of Edgar’s insistence even though it seems to be doing more harm than good right now.
In the story Jinn we are introduced to Francis Weybridge and his father, Arthur Weybridge as they are touring the Ottoman Empire for Arthur’s job as a tour guide writer and illustrator after Francis got suspended from school for beating up his bully so badly that they feared he would lose his eyesight in one eye. Francis on the whole is finding the trip really boring apart from witnessing the body of a boy being carted off in one village and Francis asks his father to return to the village and he agrees. While his father is sketching Francis notices a group of children throwing stones at a young girl and moves to stop them when the girl flees. Francis chases her claiming he doesn’t want to hurt her and when she eventually stops he tries to talk to her but the girl attacks him. During this time his father hears whispers of Jinn or spirits and notices his son chasing a girl and runs after him. By the time he catches up the girl has killed Francis and fled changing forms as she does so it is impossible to chase her down. Edgar thinks on how sad this was especially since Arthur gave up his only passion in drawing after Francis’ death as he blamed himself when his uncle presents him with a new story.
A Ghost Story was one of my favourite stories by far as it mirrors some real life murders. We are introduced to Victoria Harcourt at a family wedding and she is being forced to socialise with cousins that dislike her particularly Emily. Emily has been telling the story of a man named Bartholomew Garnet who used to live in the house that was hanged for murder when she suggests they play hide and seek indoors because of the rain. Left alone Victoria bumps into a young girl, Margaret soaked from the rain and suggests they join the game and Margaret agrees. They hide together in a blanket chest and wait to be found, the other girls don’t look in the chest but when Emily continues her story Victoria stays in the chest as she wants to scare them. As Emily tells the tale of Bartholomew and how he married Charlotte for her money but the adoptive daughter found out about his affair so he killed her until she began haunting him until he confessed. Victoria realises that Margaret is the girl he killed and she bursts from the chest screaming and it seems to have driven her mad to have seen, touched and talked to a ghost. At this point Edgar’s uncle is urging him to leave now the fog has lifted while it is still light but a telescope catches Edgar’s attention and he wants to know the story behind it.
The Path is simply the tragic tale of Matthew Harter. Matthew wants to leave his rural home and sail the seas just like his grandfather did and when he sets about leaving without telling his parents he decides to take the mountain pass rather than the road because he has travelled it many times before but he is unaware a big storm is blowing in. As he walks the path Matthew spots someone following him using his grandfather’s brass telescope he sees it is someone badly beaten and when the person catches up with him he sees that it is himself seconds before he falls to his death. After this story Edgar’s uncle insists he leaves as he wouldn’t like the house after dark and warns him to tarry in the woods but some boys approach Edgar before his uncle comes and shoos them off. Uncle Montague decides to walk Edgar part of the way home and along the way he will tell Edgar is own story.
The final story belongs to Uncle Montague as we learn he was a teacher with a gambling addiction which led him to steal from his student and directly resulted in the suicide of William Collins. Even after this Montague didn’t change his way and he was cursed for it as an old whistle summoned the ghosts of children to him who told him tales he was compelled to tell to others and they something brought him gifts. Edgar realises that the children in the woods are all dead and Montague has been telling him their stories. Obviously Edgar leaves shaken up and doesn’t know if he is going to return again. We also get a bonus story, the story of Diana Partington. Diana was a young girl that loved to ice skate and one day she skates with a boy until the ice gives way beneath them but before they go under Diana realises she has been dead for a while, nearly three years in fact and she drew the boy in. We get to see Edgar’s return to Montague’s house but now the children linger in the study with them but this time Montague asks Edgar to pick an object he is drawn to and he will tell the story and Edgar picks a ship in a bottle which Montague refers to as the Black Ship. Overall, Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror were just as creepy as they were when I was a child and it solidly earnt its rating.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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