A weekly podcast that reads out ghost stories, horror stories, and weird tales every week. Classic stories from the pens of the masters Occasionally, we feature...
On the sun-baked plains of Texas, cowpuncher Steve Brill, driven by crop failure and looming poverty, stumbles upon an ancient burial site shrouded in mystery.
His neighbor, Juan Lopez, speaks of dark secrets and dire warnings passed down through generations. But Brill, desperate for any chance to change his fortunes, dismisses the ominous tales. As dusk settles over the lonely prairie, something stirs in the depths of the earth – something that bridges the Old World and the New, something that hungers.
Robert E. Howard's "The Horror from the Mound" blends frontier grit with supernatural dread, challenging the limits of human courage against forces older than the West itself.
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1:10:24
The Chippendale Mirror by E F Benson
In E.F. Benson's "The Chippendale Mirror," an antique looking glass becomes the focal point of a chilling supernatural mystery.
As night falls, the mirror's surface darkens, offering glimpses of something beyond our world. A cat's eerie fascination with the glass hints at unseen forces at work.
When the boundary between past and present blurs, what consequences await those who peer too deeply into the ornate frame?
Our discussion delves into the intriguing parallels and departures between E.F. Benson's "The Chippendale Mirror" and classic Golden Age detective fiction. We explore how Benson weaves supernatural elements into a framework reminiscent of traditional mystery stories, creating a unique hybrid that challenges reader expectations. Additionally, we examine the significant role of Cyrus the cat in this tale, using it as a springboard to investigate the broader literary trope of cats as supernatural sensors in fiction. From their keen perception of the unseen to their symbolic resonance, we uncover why felines have long been favored as mystical intermediaries in ghostly narratives.
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51:24
Transition by Algernon Blackwood
On a bustling Christmas Eve, John Mudbury, an ordinary man with an ordinary family, has been Christmas shopping. Under his arms, he carries presents for his wife and three children.
As he starts his journey home, the familiar streets of London give way to increasingly strange encounters. Mudbury navigates an increasingly bewildering series of events, where the line between the familiar and the uncanny blurs.
With each step, the veil between worlds grows thinner until he arrives home with presents in hand and finds things very strange indeed.
Algernon Blackwood's "Transition: A Christmas Ghost Story With A Twist" masterfully blends the mundane with the supernatural.
A very sweet ghost story for Christmas
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35:03
The Vicar's Ghost by Lucy Farmer
A Humorous Victorian Ghost Story for Christmas
Set against the charming backdrop of Cornwall's picturesque villages and folklore-filled hedges, "The Vicar's Ghost" by Lucy Farmer weaves a tale of intrigue and whimsy. During a Christmas visit, Lucy, her son Charley, and Aunt Martha become embroiled in a series of mysterious events at the vicarage. Charley's sighting of an enigmatic clergyman leads to Aunt Martha revealing a local legend of a vicar who died many years ago and whose ghost is said to return each year, accompanied by eerie disturbances. As a winter storm brews, the story transforms into a light-hearted romp, reminiscent of a Victorian-era adventure, with the community rallying to solve the mystery.
Unraveling the tale, Lucy and her companions discover that apparitions might not be as supernatural as they seem, hinting at Victorian times being unexpectedly "progressive." The story unfolds with a blend of humor and suspense, reminiscent of a playful detective story. As secrets hidden as a silver sixpence in a Christmas pudding come to light, it becomes clear that truth is sometimes stranger—and more delightful—than fiction. The captivating conclusion leaves both the characters and readers pondering the charming complexities of reality and folklore.
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1:08:10
The Ghost of the Cross-Roads by Frederick Manley
On a stormy Christmas night in Ireland in 1843, a warm peat fire blazes inside Andy Sweeny's simple home while a fiddler plays jigs and reels for those gathered.
Suddenly, a piercing cry is heard from the darkness outside—a cry of anguish, a cry for help!
Against his wife's advice, Andy Sweeny opens the door. A stranger, breathless and pursued by shadows, stumbles across the threshold.
He falls to the floor, and as the party-goers help him up, he asks one haunting question: "Do you believe in ghosts?"
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A weekly podcast that reads out ghost stories, horror stories, and weird tales every week. Classic stories from the pens of the masters Occasionally, we feature living authors, but the majority are dead. Some perhaps are undead.
We go from cosy Edwardian ghost stories (E. F. Benson, Walter De La Mare) to Victorian supernatural mysteries (M. R. James, Elizabeth Gaskell, Bram Stoker, and Charles Dickens) to 20th-century Weird Tales (Robert Aickman, Fritz Lieber, Clark Ashton-Smith, and H. P. Lovecraft) and wander from the Gothic to the Odd, even to the Literary, and then back again.
Each episode is followed by Tony's take on the story, its author, its content and any literary considerations, which may be useful to students!
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