In the Mist and Other Uncanny Encounters by Elizabeth Walter

I don't have many Arkham House books at the moment but have been trying to collect them lately. Many are out of my price range but there are still quite a few that I can afford. I've been trying to pick up as many as I can by female writers. I think it's important to note that, while the genres of sci-fi, fantasy and weird fiction are primarily written by male authors, females do exist and should not be overlooked.
In the Mist and Other Uncanny Encounters by Elizabeth Walter was published by Arkham House in 1979. According to the Wikipedia entry, there were 4,053 published. The book was meant to be a "best of" compilation of Walter's work up until that time.
The stories included are "The Concrete Captain", "The Sin Eater", "In the Mist", "Come and Get Me", "The Island of Regrets", "The Hare", and "Davy Jones's Tale". My favorite was probably "Come and Get Me" but I also really enjoyed "The Sin Eater" and "The Island of Regrets". Overall, the stories are all good with a few of them being stronger than others. If you're a fan of traditional ghost stories then you will like this book. If you're also a fan of stories involving the sea or ports then you will love this book.
One thing I enjoy about reading books like this is that I sometimes discover a part of history that I was previously unaware of. In this case, I learned about the custom of sin eating. A sin eater is a person that absolves a deceased person of their sins by eating food that is symbolically "charged" with them. The sins are believed to be transferred to the sin eater and allows the dead to rest in peace. However, the sin eater would then need to live with the burden of the newly acquired sins.
I'm sure there are many different customs/rites involved but the method used in "In the Mist" involved a plate of food being passed over the deceased to the sin eater. This ritual was believed to transfer the sins into the food so they could be consumed. As you can probably imagine, sin eaters were typically pariahs of their community. They were avoided except for when they were sought out for their trade. I do not know if this custom still exists anywhere in the world but it may. If anyone knows and/or has a story related to sin eating, I would love to hear it.