Does anyone remember this book of horror stories?

[CosmopolitanPlease]

In the 1970s/80s my dad had a compilation of horror stories that I used to read (inappropriately as I was about ten!). This is what I remember;

It was one male author who I think was a well known name
One story was about a young girl who met a priest walking down a country lane, something sexual happened between them then he was overcome with guilt and bludgeoned her to death with a rock
Another story was about a woman who was burned at the stake for witchcraft. Much description of veins and eyeballs popping gruesomely.
I think there was a story about a large snake squeezing a woman to death?
The blurb on the back included 'he flayed his girl alive!'

Does anyone recognise it please? I don't want to read it again, just curious to confirm that it was as grim as I remember!

I've remembered another detail - the woman who was burned at the stake vomited dead bees, I think.

I've googled so much and come up with nothing, I hope someone can help!

F me! What was it then??!!!
Bumping

I need to know too now. Sounds amazing/ awful LOL
Bump.

I FOUND IT!

Google kept suggesting Pan Horror Stories books so I started reading through the blurbs (none of the covers rang a bell) and when I got to the ninth I struck gold!

I don't know whether to buy a copy. It was quite disturbing and dh works nights 😂

That sounds like Graham Masterton

I was going to suggest Pan Horror. They're all really disturbing!

He's not mentioned as one of the authors. I was wrong about it being a single well-known author, I think I was getting mixed up with James Herbert, whose books my dad also had.

Could it be a Roald Dahl anthology? My dad had one and I used to sneakily read it as a kid amd some of the stories you've mentioned sound similar

www.scoopwhoop.com/books/adult-novels-by-roald-dahl/

It's the bees I was thinking of!

Sounds like a Nick Cave album 😆

@blackberrybat I remember seeing the Dahl bees story as an episode of Tales of the Unexpected with Tim West called Royal Jelly, it was quite terrifying for a young child!

@thesunwillout 😂

You've found it! Was going to add Pan Horror. Read under my covers with a torch!

Yep, Pan horror stories were great fun as a teen

I had a similar thing recently trying to recall a short story (Pan again) where a man woke up on the rim of a huge chimney, with a note pinned to his shirt explaining that he was part of an experiment to find out whether people were more likely to jump outwards (to certain but painless death) or inwards into the unknown. To help him decide, a sharp blade would rise up from the rim in ten minutes or so... Always stuck with me.

Ah I read the 14th book in rather similar circumstances! Glad you have found it!

I had that one! I think the same collection had one with a guy tricked into jumping into a swimming pool of acid and a person having their mouth sewn up so they couldn't scream, then put in a coffin for cremation.

Lol, it's a wonder we didn't all grow up to be psychopaths from reading this stuff!

After scaring myself silly over my dad's horror books I would decompress by reading my mom's Jackie Collins or flicking through Hollywood Babylon with its photos of actual dead bodies of film stars.

Ha, I'm another one who read these in primary school! I remember drawing a picture based on one story, can't remember whether I had to explain myself :)

I've just found a wonderful website that has description of all the stories in each volume:
pandaemonian.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-ninth-pan-book-of-horror-stories.html
Now that's public service!

I was going to suggest one of the Pan series too.

Thanks to @StellaAndCrow s link to that absolutely brilliant and hilarious blog I am able to say that it was the Fifth book in the series that I terrified myself with as a teen.

Does anyone remember the old taxidermist who lived in the woods? He killed, stuffed and dressed frogs in old fashioned ‘dandy/ball gowns. Think he was waiting to catch the largest frog but they caught him and killed him. Seem to remember they somehow stuffed him.
I was very young and avidly read my older sisters books.
Strangely I can’t face reading horror books or watch horror films now.

And they young boy who caught and pinned moths. Ended up suffocated by a pinned ‘special’ moth eventually.