13) “The Frontier Guards” by H. Russell Wakefield
Plot:
While playing golf, James Brinton asks his old friend William Lander about a charming little cottage they pass by.
Lander concedes that it’s charming on the outside, but it’s haunted by whole pack of ghosts who are lethal to those who rent it.
Over dinner, Lander gives his friend the particulars. The cottage, Pailton, has been rented five times in the last twelve years. Each time, someone died.
“It should be razed to the ground,” he concludes.
He has never set foot in the building.
Skeptic Brinton doesn’t believe in ghosts, but he’d like to see one. Would his old friend allow him to visit the cottage?
Lander won’t let him go alone. He’s a psychic and sees ghosts all the time. He recites a list of warnings, asking, “Still want to go?” Brinton accedes to each condition. The men agree to go after their round of golf the next day.
What could go wrong?
Thoughts:
This short tale is a set-up for two guys exploring a haunted house, where there are sure to be ghosts with bad attitudes who have killed innocent people before.
Lander gives Brinton (…and the reader) the history of the house, due warning that regular time and space don’t work there. He agrees to take his friend if only to show him ghosts are real, and then they can leave.
On the one hand, this is atmospheric with real danger for the characters. On the other, the reader is almost waiting for Brinton to take off screaming through the woods while Lander stands locking the door. “Yep. Told ya, pal.”
How serious is this? On the last page, the author pulls off an ending that lets you know. Unfortunately, it’s a little confusing. I had to read it a couple of times before it sank in. But it’s cool. It works.
audio version: via HorrorBabble: here.
Bio: H. Russell Wakefield (1888 or 1890-1964) was an English short-story writer, novelist, publisher, and civil servant chiefly remembered today for his ghost stories. He served with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in France and the Balkans during WWI. M. R. James and Algernon Blackwood influenced his supernatural work. His short story collections include Imagine a Man in a Box (1931), A Ghostly Company (1935), and Strayers from Sheol (1961). He also wrote non-fiction and a few mystery novels.
Title: “The Frontier Guards”
Author: H. Russell Wakefield (1888 or 1890-1964)
First published: November 25, 1929
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 
I have read it twice and still don’t get it, can you explain?
The trick is that time and space don’t work in the cottage. The literary device is known as “distortion.” It doesn’t make sense. Did they enter the cottage at all? Who are the frontier guards? Was their trip an illusion? Is that why “Willie” (which is not the character’s name, as I recall) can’t find the keyhole? Both Brinton and Lander are confused. It’s meant to confuse the reader, too. So if you don’t get it, well, you’re not alone. And that’s by design.
I hope this is helpful.