History Creator / MontagueRhodesJames

** Lady Ivie of "A Neighbour's Landmark" dies in her bed of natural causes after avoiding punishment for her crimes of forgery, but because of the theft of her neighbour's land, her ghost is cursed to haunt Betton Wood until the stolen land is restored to its rightful owners -- and since no one can discover who the rightful owner ''is'' (thanks once again to her theft) she's stuck there for eternity, with her screams essentially becoming a new landmark to replace the one she moved.

"The Ash Tree", "Count Magnus", "Lost Hearts", "The Mezzotint", "Number 13", "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad", and "A Warning to the Curious".

"The Ash Tree", "Lost Hearts", "The Mezzotint", "Number 13", "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad", and "A Warning to the Curious".

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His best-known tales include "Casting the Runes" (which was adapted into the 1957 film ''Film/NightOfTheDemon''), "Lost Hearts", "The Mezzotint", "Number 13", "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad", and "A Warning to the Curious".

His best-known tales include "Casting the Runes" (adapted into the 1957 film ''Film/NightOfTheDemon''), "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad", and "A Warning to the Curious".

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Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author and medievalist scholar from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known for his {{Ghost Stor|y}}ies (almost all of which involve, or are narrated by, a [[AuthorAvatar reclusive academic with antiquarian interests who works at one of the colleges of Cambridge]]), James remains popular in Britain, where a number of his stories have been adapted for Creator/TheBBC's ''Series/GhostStoriesForChristmas''.

Notable tales include "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad," "[[Film/NightoftheDemon Casting the Runes]]," and "A Warning to the Curious".

** The demon in "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" is described as "one of the awful bird-catching spiders of South America, translated into human form" in terms of appearance. [[spoiler:The protagonist initially confuses its hand upon his worktable for a large spider before [[OhCrap realizing what it belongs to.]]]]

** In "The Mezzotint", Mr. Green is disturbed enough by the idea of Gawdy's vengeance from beyond the grave that he offers whiskey to Mr. Williams, presumably to dull the horror of it all.

** Mr. Thomson in "Rats", when the thing he takes to be a scarecrow [[JumpScare gets up and starts shuffling towards him.]]

** "Rats" has the ghost/zombie of the former landlord who is kept locked up in one room of the in. Mr. Thomson unseals this can of morbid curiosity, but thankfully has the wherewithal to slam the door on the thing when it comes for him.

** The demon in "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" is compared to "one of the awful bird-catching spiders of South America" in terms of appearance, complete with dark hair covering its body. [[spoiler:The protagonist initially confuses its hand upon his worktable for a large spider before [[OhCrap realizing what it belongs to.]]]]

** Also in "The Diary of Mr. Poynter", when the protagonist touches something hairy that doesn't move, and immediately realizes that's ''not'' his dog he's petting.

** "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" has a demon that is poetically described as "one of the awful bird-catching spiders of South America, translated into human form and endowed with intelligence just less than human". It guards something beneath the church, and killed Canon Alberic when he took it.

* CuriosityKilledTheCast: Partially subverted. The scholar protagonists are too curious for their own good, but it's rarely fatal. Played tragically and horrifyingly straight with [[spoiler:Mr. Wraxall in "Count Magnus", Paxton in the quite literal "A Warning to the Curious", and Stanley Judkins in "Wailing Well"]].