Gespensterbuch
German ghost-story collection that inspired Frankenstein and Der Freischütz.
The *Gespensterbuch* (German for "Ghost Book" or "Book of Spectres") is an eight-volume anthology of German ghost stories by August Apel and Friedrich Laun, released between 1810 and 1818. The later four volumes (five through eight) also carried the alternate title *Wunderbuch* ("Book of Wonders"). After Apel’s death in 1812, the later volumes included contributions from his friends Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué and Carl Borromäus von Miltitz. Laun, Fouqué, Miltitz, and Caroline de la Motte Fouqué later continued the series with another ghost-story collection, *Aus der Geisterwelt* ("From the Spirit-World"), published in 1819.
The project began after Laun spent a week at Apel’s family estate in Ermlitz, near Schkopau. There, they heard tales of ghosts that had appeared around dusk, dating back to when a high court operated nearby. These stories so struck Apel and Laun that, back in Leipzig, they recounted them to friends over tea. The sessions proved so popular that they began holding occasional *Gespensterthee* ("ghost tea") evenings, where ghost stories were told, eventually inspiring the two to write the *Gespensterbuch*.
Apel and Laun included stories both with and without ghosts, as well as tales where the supernatural presence was left ambiguous—an innovation later expanded by other authors. To add variety to the first volume, they included two comic fairy tales: "König Pfau" (Apel’s retelling of Madame d’Aulnoy’s "La Princesse Rosette") and "Das Ideal" (an original by Laun). These were poorly received, so no fairy tales appeared in later volumes. The first volume also featured "Der Freischütz," Apel’s story of a hunter who makes a pact with the devil.
- Type
- Literary collection
- Authors
- August Apel and Friedrich Laun
- Publication years
- 1810–1818
- Volumes
- 8 (or 8 parts in 4 volumes)
- Language
- German
- Also published as
- Wunderbuch (volumes 5–8)
- Known for
- Inspiring Frankenstein, The Vampyre, and Der Freischütz
Lore & Background
According to Friedrich Laun's memoirs, the collection originated after Laun stayed a week at Apel's family estate at Ermlitz, near Schkopau. Ghost stories told there at dusk, from the time a high court was nearby, made such an impression that upon returning to Leipzig the two recounted them over tea. This led to regular Gespensterthee ('ghost tea') evenings, which prompted Apel and Laun to write the Gespensterbuch. The first volume included two comic fairy tales—'König Pfau' and 'Das Ideal'—but negative response led them to omit fairy tales from later volumes. The first volume also contained 'Der Freischütz', a story by Apel about a hunter making a pact with the devil.
Reader's Guide
The Gespensterbuch holds a significant place in literary history primarily through its indirect influence on two landmark works of Gothic fiction. In June 1816, Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont read Fantasmagoriana (1812), a French anthology that included five stories from the Gespensterbuch. Inspired by this reading, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, and Polidori wrote The Vampyre. Two Gespensterbuch stories in particular—'Die Todtenbraut' and 'Die schwarze Kammer'—influenced Frankenstein, with the former possibly inspiring the death of Frankenstein's wife Elizabeth, and the latter resembling Mary Shelley's dream of a haunting figure. Another story, 'Die Verwandtschaft mit der Geisterwelt', may have inspired the Astarte scene in Byron's Manfred. Additionally, the first tale in the collection, 'Der Freischütz', formed the basis for Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischütz (1821), though in the opera the final bullet is deflected rather than killing the protagonist's fiancée. The collection also saw numerous English translations in the 1820s, contributing to the British interest in German Romanticist literature.
Did You Know?
- The first volume of Gespensterbuch was published in 1810 by G. J. Göschen in Leipzig with a coloured frontispiece; very few copies survived, leading many sources to assume publication began in 1811.
- Five stories from the Gespensterbuch were translated into French for the anthology Fantasmagoriana (1812), which directly inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John Polidori's The Vampyre.
- The story 'Der Freischütz' from the first volume was adapted into Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischütz (1821), though the opera changed the ending so the final bullet does not kill the protagonist's fiancée.
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