Classic Ghost Stories
Episodes
The Sandman by E T A Hoffman
22 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ernst Theodor Amadeus HoffmanE T A Hoffman, as he is known, was born in 1776 in Konigsberg, East Prussia, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany of syphi...
Out of the Deep by Walter de la Mare
15 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Walter de la MareWalter de la Mare is most famous as a poet. He was born in 1873 in Charlton in south-east London not far from Greenwich. It was then ...
The Music of Erich Zann by H P Lovecraft
08 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Music of Erich Zann by H P Lovecraft. I recorded it ages ago and I can't believe I never posted this before!Support the showVisit us here: www.gho...
Thirteen At Table by Lord Dunsany
01 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron DunsanyEdward John Moreton Draw Plunkett, or Lord Dunsany was known to his friends as Eddie. Lord Dunsa...
The Crowd by Ray Bradbury
25 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A man in a car crash starts wondering how come the crowds gather so fast, and then he wonders why they all look so familiar. He researches the answer ...
SO311. The Man Whom The Trees Loved by Algernon Blackwood
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A tale of the New Forest in England where Mr and Mrs Bittacy settle after years abroad. A painter with a certain talent for painting trees awakens som...
S03010 The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 16-20
11 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Picture of Dorian Gray is now done. Hooray. That's it done. The commentary at the end is slightly nutty because I was tired and slightly manic. Ma...
S0309 The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 13-15
04 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Picture of Dorian Gray. Here's the latest. For those of you who are loving it, I hope you continue to enjoy this episode. For those of you who are...
S0308 The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 10-12
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Picture of Dorian Gray. I have had one of those Mandela Effect mind blips. I have thought and continued to write" A Portrait of Dorian Gray when ...
S0307 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Chapters 7-9
18 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian is rather unpleasant and comes home to see his portrait knows what he's done. More wit and malice from Oscar WildeS...
S0306 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Chapters 4-6
11 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Here's another hour of Dorian Gray in which Dorian is very excited, Lord Harry is languid, Basil the Painter disapproves, Sibyl Vane is ecstatic, her ...
S0305 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Chapters 1-3)
04 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The beautiful story of a beautiful man living a beautiful life that starts in a beautiful garden and ends this week at a rather splendid lunch with a ...
S0304 Beyond The Door by J. Paul Suter
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Beyond the Door is a story of a haunting. A man is haunted by visions of something coming out of the well in his cellar and by the scratching sounds i...
S0303 Number 13 by M R James
21 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Number 13 by M R JamesNumber 13 by M R James is a spooky story of a missing room and its missing inhabitant. Including old churches, musty documents, ...
S0302 The Earlier Service by Margaret Irwin
14 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Earlier Service by Margaret IrwinThe Earlier Service is a tale of what happens in a remote English church late at night. A Listener suggested I re...
S0301 The Fair Family by Tony Walker
07 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A timid man and his worried wife take a trip through Wales. The weather is awful and they worry they will be late for a Christening. That is the least...
S02E64 The Pleasure Pilgrims by Ella D'Arcy
31 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Pleasure Pilgrims by Ella D’ArcyThe Pleasure Pilgrims can be seen as a love story, a murder tale or a sort of Christmas Story (though it’s not...
S02E61 The Piano by Tony Walker
25 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A short Christmas Ghost story. A couple move into an old house, a house whose foundations go back centuries. Once in there they begin to suspect it's ...
S02E60 Surprise View by Tony Walker
24 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A man who has lost everything goes to a remote part of the country for Christmas. In that beautiful landscape it seems the air is full of spirits: bot...
S02E63 Thrawn Janet by Robert Louis Stevenson
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thrawn or Twisted Janet is a tale of devilish possession written in broad Scots. A chilling tale, if you can understand it. My commentary at the end h...
S02E62 Sir Gawain & The Green Knight
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sir Gawain & The Green KnightSir Gawain and The Green Knight is the original Christmas Ghost Story. Or technically a supernatural story set at Christm...
S02E59 Harry by Rosemary Timperley
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Harry by Rosemary TimperleyThank you to Steve Cuff for suggesting I read this story. Rosemary Timperley was born in 1920 in North London and died in ...
S02E58 Taig O'Kane and The Corpse by Douglas Hyde
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An Irish story told by Douglas Hyde, first president of Ireland and the craoibhinn aobhinn himself. I thought it was about time we did an Irish story ...
S02E57 Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo? by Gerald Kersh
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gerald KershFirstly, I need to thank Gavin Critchley who commissioned me to record this for his birthday in August and then very generously allowed me...
S02E56 The Beast of Blanchland by Rowan Bowman
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A man driving home on a winter's night thinks he sees a big cat stalking the moor. He crashes his car and then the weirdness really begins. An origina...
S02E55 The Haunting of Unit 409 by Tony Walker
31 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Haunting of Unit 409 is an original horror story by me, Tony Walker and will be part of my forthcoming More Cumbrian Ghost Stories collection. Thi...
S02E54 The Girl With The Hungry Eyes by Fritz Leiber
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The story of a female vampire, a femme fatale, a girl who just one day walks into a photographer's studio and wants to do some modelling.Get my audiob...
S02E53 Laura Silver Bell by J Sheridan Le Fanu
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A dark fairytale set in the wild moors of the North of England. A foolish girl falls in love with a tall, dark handsome stranger who stepped out of th...
SO2E52 The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the Backwoods, they do Bad Things. or "Be A Sport, Tessie!"My reading and analysis of The Lottery by Shirley JacksonJackson's 1948 masterpiece of n...
S02E51 The Pomegranate Seed by Edith Wharton
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Get a great discount on my Horror Stories For Halloween audiobook & ebook bundlehttps://spirit.ghostpod.org/horror-stories-for-halloween (https://spir...
S0250 Dragoon by DeWayne Hayes
25 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Towards the end of the American Civil War in north west Arkansas, an old woman is faced with a dilemma. Her son is dead after falling in battle, and h...
S02E49 The Night Wire by H F Arnold
18 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Well after midnight in a newsroom high up above the city, a strange story comes tip-tapping in down the night wire. John Morgan, the night wire expert...
The First Sheaf by H R Wakefield
11 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The First Sheaf is a folk horror story set in the backwaters of rural England. A new vicar goes to a rural parish that has suffered a terrible drought...
S02E48 The Reluctant Bride by Iqbal Hussain
11 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In rural Pakistan, a rickshaw driver stops by a Peepal Tree and a beautiful bride steps out from the shadows. Of course, at first he thinks she must b...
The Shining Pyramid by Arthur Machen
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over in the Wild West of Wales, (despite him calling it England, the village is Croes y Ceiliog after all), strange signs appear, a girl disappears an...
S02E47 W S By L P Hartley
04 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In which a writer starts to receive mysterious and increasingly menacing postcards from an apparent stranger. He asks his friends what to do. He goes ...
S02E46 The Lodgers by Joan Aiken
28 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Joan AikenJoan Delano Aiken was the daughter of Conrad Aiken, whose story Mr Arcularis we read out on The Classic Ghost Stories Podcast. Her elder sis...
S02E45 The Amorous Ghost by Enid Bagnold
21 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Edith BagnoldEdith Bagnold, later Lady Jones was born in 1889 in Rochester, Kent and died in 1981 in London . She was most famous for her novel *Natio...
S02E44 The Door In The Wall by H. G. Wells
14 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
H G WellsHerbert George Wells was born in 1866 in Bromley, Kent just outside London. He Died aged 79 at his grand house in Regent’s Park in London.H...
S02E43 The Grey Woman by Elizabeth Gaskell Part Three.
07 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Grey Woman Part 3In which Anna and Amante go on the run, meet some good souls, some bad ones and accomplish miracles with corks and home-made waln...
S02E42 The Grey Woman by Mrs Gaskell Part Two
31 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Brief NotesTrusty Amanate is someone she can talk to.The expedition by candlelight through the castle passagesThe withheld lettersShe is a prisonerAnn...
S02E41 The Grey Woman by Elizabeth Gaskell Part One
24 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Grey Woman by Mrs Elizabeth GaskellElizabeth GaskellElizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell was born in London in 1810 and died in the country in Hampshire in ...
S02E40 The Lost Tragedy by Denis Mackail
17 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A comic ghost story from Edwardian London–perfect to relax to and not scary at all.The Lost Tragedy by Denis MackailDenis Mackail was born in 1892 ...
S02E39 Oke of Oakhurst by Vernon Lee (Part 3)
10 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Oke of Oakhurst Part 3How awful Alice Oke is. Though the narrator praises her as a wonderful woman she seems wholly unpleasant to me, and though Willi...
S02E38 Oke of Oakhurst Part 2
03 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Oke of Oakhurst by Vernon Lee Part 2So the story develops. It begins by our painter narrator noting the strange fascination Alice Oke has for her name...
S02E37 Oke of Oakhurst by Vernon Lee
26 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Oke of Oakhurst by Vernon LeeVernon LeeDespite sounding so masculine, Vernon Lee was actually a woman called Violet Paget, born in France in 1856 and ...
S02E36 Minuke by Nigel Kneale
19 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Minuke by Nigel KnealeNigel KnealeNigel Kneale was born in Barrow in Furness in 1922, which was then part of Lancashire “North of the Sands”, and ...
A Dog in Dürer’s Etching “The Knight, Death and the Devil” by Marco Nevi
12 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A Dog in Dürer’s Etching “The Knight, Death and the Devil”Albrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was born in Nuremberg, a Free Imperial City of the Hol...
S02E35 Green Tea by J Sheridan Le Fanu
05 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Joseph Sheridan Le FanuLe Fanu was an Irish writer born in Dublin in 1814 and who died in Dublin in 1873. In his time he was the leading writer of gh...
Chimes At Midnight by Paula Readman
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A gothic story of a wronged bride who returns from beyond the grave to right the injustice visited upon her. Written by Paula Readman an award-winning...
S01E34 The Sandwalker by Fergus Hume
22 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fergus HumeFergus Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire in England in 1865. He died in Essex in 1932. His given first name was Ferguson, which was...
S01E33 Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
08 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nathaniel HawthorneHawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachussetts. He died in Plymouth New Hampshire. One of his ancestors was John Hathorne who ...
The Owl by Anatole Le Braz
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the cleaned up audio of a Youtube Video I did. The audio isn't as good as when I do the podcast purely as an audio project. The video of me re...
S02E32 Pickman's Model by H P Lovecraft
24 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Pickman's Model by H P LovecraftThis story was written in September 1926 and first published in the October 1927 edition of Weird Tales. The narrator...
S02E31 The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe
10 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Edgar Allen PoePoe was an American writer born in 1809 in Boston who died aged only forty in Baltimore in 1849. He is one of the best-known American w...
S02E30 His Beautiful Hands by Oscar Cook
27 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
His Beautiful Hands by Oscar CookThis will be the second of Oscar Cook's stories we have read, the first being Boomerang. Boomerang is https://player...
S02E29 Lady Ferry by Sarah Orne Jewett
13 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Orne JewettThis episode is a real treat for me for a number of reasons. One is that this was my first commission! Susan Foust very kindly introd...
S02E28 The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
27 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Elizabeth BraddonAnother accomplished woman novelist of the Victorian period. Mary Elizabeth Braddon was born in 1835 in London and died in Richm...
S02E27 The Spider by Basil Copper
13 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Spider by Basil Copper@stuieburley on Twitter put me onto Basil Copper. He had recommended the Janissaries of Emilion. I'd never heard of Basil s...
S02E26 Music Hath Charms by L T C Rolt
30 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Music Hath Charms by LTC RoltLionel Thomas Caswall Rolt, was an English writer born in 1910 and who died in 1974, therefore for us, he's a recent writ...
S02E25 The Story of Salome by Amelia B Edwards
16 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Story of Salome by Amelia B EdwardsWe did https://player.captivate.fm/episode/9913ad9b-e382-4acb-a42a-1000157a734c (The Phantom Coach )by Amelia...
SE02E24 Rosalind by Richmal Crompton
01 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Richmal Crompton Richmal Crompton was born in Bury, Lancashire in 1890 and died in Bromley, Kent in 1969, aged 78. She was the daughter of a clergyma...
S02E23 The Story of A Disappearance and An Appearance by M R James
25 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
THE STORY OF A DISAPPEARANCE AND AN APPEARANCE by M R JamesThe Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance is one of the few M R James stories actually...
S02E22 A Christmas Carol The Spirit of Christmas Future
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A Christmas Carol Part 4: The Spirit of Christmas Future & The End of ItThe Ghost of Christmas Future is the scariest of the ghosts. No jovial sprite ...
SO2E21 A Christmas Carol: The Spirit of Christmas Present
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A Christmas Carol Part 3: The Spirit of Christmas PresentHe brought a tear to my eye and halt to my throat, did Old Dickens in this episode. I think h...
S02E20 A Christmas Carol: The Spirit of Christmas Past
19 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Christmas Carol Part 2. The First Spirit.I am enjoying this story. It's a long time since I've read it, and I'd forgotten a lot of the detail. I do ...
S02E19 A Christmas Carol — Marley's Ghost
12 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Charles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England in 1812. He died in Higham, Kent in 1879, aged only 58 and was b...
S02E18 The Ghost of Christmas Eve by J M Barrie
05 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
S02E18 The Ghost of Christmas Eve by J M BarrieJames Matthew Barrie was born in Kirriemuir in Angus in North East Scotland in 1860. His father was a w...
S02E17 The Turn Of The Screw Part 8
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
PhewIt's done! This is the final part of our reading of the The Turn Of The Screw novella.While, I'm pleased the job is done, the race is run and I ca...
S02E16 The Turn Of The Screw Part 7
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
S02E16 The Turn Of The Screw Part 7Forgive me not saying much in these show notes. We have one last part of The Turn Of The Screw after this. I hope t...
S02E15 The Turn Of The Screw Part 6
29 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We continue with Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. His language is getting easier. I think he's given up trying to impress me and is just getting o...
S0214 The Turn Of The Screw Part 5
28 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Turn Of The Screw Part 5, being chapters 12, 13, 14 and 15.Hope you're enjoying this. I'm doing lots of recording and editing to finish it before ...
S0213 The Turn Of The Screw Part 4
21 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Turn Of The Screw Part 4, being chapters 9, 10 and 11.Minimal show notes this week as I plough on trying to record and edit this novella.Visit the...
S0212 The Turn Of The Screw Part 3
14 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Part 3 of The Turn Of The ScrewOur part three, not Henry James's. We're getting through the story. It's a good story! The characterisation is skilled....
S0211 The Turn Of The Screw Part 2
07 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
S0211 The Turn Of The Screw Part 2I'm not going to say much. James's parenthetical insertions of information interrupt the flow of his sentences. He s...
S0210 The Turn of the Screw Part 1
31 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
So we begin The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I have wanted to do this story for a long time but have hesitated because it's so long!Of course, we...
S0209 The Maker of Gargoyles by Clark Ashton Smith
24 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
S0209 The Maker of Gargoyles by Clark Ashton SmithClark Ashton Smith was born in 1893 in Long Valley, California and died in California in 1961. He be...
S0208 The Empty House by Algernon Blackwood
17 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://tonywalker.substack.com/ (Subscribe here, support The Classic Ghost Stories Podcast and obtain exclusive content.)S0208: The Empty House by Al...
S0206 Sanatorium Under The Sign of the Hourglass by Bruno Schulz
03 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bruno SchulzBruno Schulz was a Polish writer. He was born in 1892 in Austrian Galicia. In those days that part of historical Poland was under the cont...
S0201 A Journey of Little Profit by John Buchan
19 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is a subscriber only episode, so come on and sign up at tonywalker.substack.comJohn Buchan: John Buchan, officially 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was bor...
Episode 66 The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
13 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Fall of The House of Usher- Classic Ghost Stories Podcast has done a Poe story before: [https://player.captivate.fm/episode/08a6766c-18ad-4ec7-9c1...
S0202 The Twisted Wood by Tony Walker
13 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://tonywalker.substack.com/ (Subscribe here, support The Classic Ghost Stories Podcast and obtain exclusive content.)The Twisted WoodWell, it's t...
Episode 65 Branch Line to Benceston by Sir Andrew Caldecott
06 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Branch Line to Benceston by Sir Andrew CaldecottBranch Line to Benceston was published in the collection Not Exactly Ghosts in 1947. He turned to writ...
Episode 64 Blind Man's Buff by H R Wakefield
29 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Blind Man's Buff by Herbert Russell WakefieldH R Wakefield was born in 1888 in Sandgate, Kent, England and died 1964. He was the son of the Bishop of ...
Episode 63 Elias And The Draug by Jonas Lie
22 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Elias And The DraugI got this tale from https://amzn.to/31BmIUU (Roald Dahls' Book of Ghost Stories)which is a very well-curated collection. Often, g...
Episode 62 Snake In The Attic by Garret Johnson
15 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Snake in The Attic by Garrett JohnsonGarrett is an English professor in Houston Texas who is married with two boys, and has recently moved house. You ...
Episode 61 The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions Part 4
08 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Part Four of The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver OnionsPart 4 of The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onion starts off with another philosophical discourse b...
Episode 60 The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions Part 3
01 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Part Three of The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver OnionsThis section comprises parts 8, 9 and 10 of The Beckoning Fair One.I find the first section of 8 ...
Episode 59 The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions Part 2
25 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Part Two of The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver OnionsThe first part of section five of The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions has him sitting in the ho...
Episode 58 The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions Part 1
18 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver OnionsBecause this story is actually a novella, I am splitting it probably into three episodes much as I did for Carm...
Episode 57: The Mezzotint by M R James
11 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
M R JamesThis is the third story we've done by M R James, previous ones being https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a39d795e-df46-4123-a0bb-a12dec71069...
Episode 56: The Curse of Mathair nan Uisgeachan by Angus Wolfe Murray
04 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Angus Wolfe MurrayAngus Wolfe Murray was born in 1937 and now lives at Traquair in the Scottish Borders. With his late wife he founded Canongate Publi...
Episode 55 Boomerang by Oscar Cook
27 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Boomerang by Oscar CookFirst of all, this story was requested by Peter Denyer. To be fair he merely suggested it and I went and hunted it down, so I a...
Episode 54: The Bridal Party by S Mukerji
20 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Bridal Party by S MukerjeeS Mukerji, whose name appears in various transliterations, including S Mukherjee, published his book of Indian Ghost St...
Episode 53: Little Heart by Georgina Bruce
13 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Georgina BruceGeorgina Bruce is a British writer, born in the West Midlands of England but who has taught English in different parts of the world, not...
Episode 52 A Visit by Shirley Jackson
06 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Shirley JacksonShirley Hardie Jackson was bon in 1916 in San Francisco, California and died in Vermont in 1965 aged only 48. Though born in Californi...
Episode 51 Mr Jones by Edith Wharton
30 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mr Jones by Edith WhartonThis is the second Edith Wharton story we've read, the first being https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/7696635d-86ff-42d2-a2...
Episode 50 Fullcircle by John Buchan
23 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
John Buchan: John Buchan, officially 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was born in 1875 in Perth, Scotland and died in 1940 aged only 64 in Montreal, Canada. He wa...
Episode 49 They by Rudyard Kipling
16 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rudyard KiplingRudyard Kipling was the great poet of British Imperialism. He was born in 1865 in Mumbai (then Bombay) British India. He died in London...
Episode 48: The Dining Room Ghost by Megan Taylor
09 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Megan TaylorMegan is a British author, who has four novels, the latest being https://amzn.to/2z94akj (We Wait) UK link and https://amzn.to/2XQOFI1...