Classic Ghost Stories

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The Sandman by E T A Hoffman Apr 22, 2022

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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 syphilis, which was extremely prevalent. He was only 46. He was a romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror as well as being a composer, music critic and artist. He wrote the Nutcracker and the Mouse King which was the basis of Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker and Offenbach’s opera The Tales of Hoffman is based on E T A Hoffman’s works.His parents separated when he was 12. He remained with his mother and aunts. He was very fond of his aunts. He started work in 1796 for his uncle as a clerk. He visited Dresden and was impressed by the paintings in the gallery there. He lived and worked for his uncle in Berlin from 1798. From 1800 he lived and worked away from home and took to a dissolute lifestyle. He was promoted and got a job in Warsaw in 1804. He was happy in Warsaw, but went back to Berlin which was occupied by Napoleon’s armies. In 1808 he got a job in Bamburg as a theatre manager. He was given to falling in love, once with a young music student Julia Marc and another time with a married woman 10 years old who had six children. He also appears to had challenges with alcohol most of his adult life. The SandmanThe Sandman is Hoffman’s best loved and most influential story. It was a favourite of Sigmund Freud and we might see some influence of this story on Tim Burton’s films. M. Grant Kellermeyer on his great ghost story site says that the Sandman exists to sow suffering and everything he touches. Coppelius as the Sandman wants to throw hot coals and sparks into the eyes, not the soporific sand.The story begins with a series of letters. This was a common convention and later Hoffman steps in as the author and discusses different ways he had thought of beginning the story. One can’t help think that he was amusing himself with this story as he seems to be satirising certain classes of people, notably Romantics. The Romantic Movement grew up towards the end of the 18th Century and lasted into the 19th Century, dated to end at the crowning of Queen Victoria in England in 1837.I think the first letter from Nathanael setting out his horrified fantasies about the Sandman Coppelius is to establish him as a credulous and impressionable boy given to neurotic terrors. He seems incapable of distinguishing truth from his fantasies and believes his inward passions rather than objective facts. Again, I think Hoffman is poking fun at Romanticism.There is some theme of eyes. Coppelius seems to want to steal Nathanael’s eyes, and eyes and optics crop up again and again. When Coppelius and Nathanael’s father are working as alchemists, they seem to be building automata. Clara’s letter establishes her (a woman) as level headed and logical and not given to fancies. They are at odds in this and I feel that Hoffman is making fun of the brooding romantics who believed that nature should lead over thinking. Clara is endlessly forgiving and devoted to Nathanael despite him not really deserving it as he is moody and unfaithful with a robot and then tries to kill her. In the end, we hear that she has found someone more worthwhile to love and have children with.Amusingly, when Clara doesn’t love his gloomy poem he calls her a lifeless automaton. The story is filled with little jokes like this.Nathanael does not believe in free will. Clara does. Nathanael believes that we are controlled by mighty powers greater than ourselves. Clara denies this and says we are fooled by our own fancies if we think this. Ironically, that is what kills Nathanael and drives him mad.SomSupport the show

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Out of the Deep by Walter de la Mare Apr 15, 2022

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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 part of the county of Kent but has now been gobbled up by Greater London. He was offered a knighthood twice but declined.De La Mare died in 1956, aged 83, in Middlesex. He had a heart attach in 1947 and was left unwell until his death of another in 1956. He was highly regarded as a poet and T. S. Eliot wrote a poem for his funeral service. His ashes are buried in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral. His writings were a favourite reading matter of H P Lovecraft and admired by Robert Aickman and Ramsey Campbell.His family were originally French, from the Protestant Huguenots who fled persecution by the Catholic King of France. His ancestors had been silk merchants, but his father was a banker and his mother was the daughter of a Scottish naval surgeon.He disliked the name Walter and his friends called him Jack.When he was 17, he went to work for Standard Oil in the statistics department, but he was already writing and his first volume of work was published when he was twenty-nine.He married his wife, who was impoverished after meeting her the amateur dramatic society of which they were both members. They lived in Anerley, where I once lived, a rather nondescript part of South London next to the more famous Crystal Palace. They were apparently great entertainers and hosted many parties.Most of the fiction he wrote was supernatural fiction.His style is elegant but his sentences are complex with lots of sub-clauses making him nearly has hard to read out as Henry James. This is a story written to be read rather than read out, I think.Out of The DeepThe story unfolds slowly. Jimmie, an orphan boy has not been ill-treated by his uncle and aunt from what we hear, but he disliked their characters and was tormented by their butler Soames. It appears, though were are not told, that after he became a man, he left them and the hated house where he had been so unhappy and was reluctant to go back even after he inherited the house. As well as the physical torment of his time in the attic he had memories of things coming out of the wardrobe and the crab patterned paper that came alive. (Like the Yellow Wallpaper). He seems to have hated everything about his boyhood, including going to church, fatty meat and the ugly old-age of his relatives. We learn from his aunt that he’s always suffered from anxiety and is timid. There is some tension between him wanting to be good little boy and feeling he never quite managed it. Although in his adulthood, he doesn’t seem to do much that’s bad. He seems to do his best. But he never rises above the pointless misery of the house. It’s all miserable and suffuses the story.He lies awake thinking like a fountain. He has little human company and appears to have cut off what friends he had before moving into the house as he if knew he was preparing for his death.He has his charwoman Mr Thripps who considers the house unpleasant and doesn’t want to sleep a night there for a plate of sovereigns, even though she would out of duty to Jimmie. I warmed to Mrs Thripps and though Victorian and Edwardian writers mostly portray the working-classes as idiots, thugs and criminals, there is a warmness to Mrs Thripps that makes her more likeable than Jimmie, though Jimmie does nothing to offend us really. I don’t know whether De La Mare intended that.Jimmie uses his witty speech to deflect from the deep despair and unhappiness in him. He is quite nice to the tradespeople he meets and gives the impression of wanting to be cheerful and good tSupport the show

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The Music of Erich Zann by H P Lovecraft Apr 08, 2022

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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 show

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Thirteen At Table by Lord Dunsany Apr 01, 2022

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Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron DunsanyEdward John Moreton Draw Plunkett, or Lord Dunsany was known to his friends as Eddie. Lord Dunsany was born in 1878 in London England and died in 1957 in Dublin Ireland. Though born in England, he was heir to the oldest inhabited house in Ireland: Dunsany Castle near Tara. In County Meath.He worked to support the Abbey Theatre in Dublin with W B Yeats and Lady Gregory. In addition he was chess and pistol champion of Ireland. He was also a great traveller and, as you can tell from this story: he was a habitual hunter with horse and hounds.He was a prolific writer produced over ninety volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays. His most famous book is possibly The King of Elfland’s Daughter and he is thought to be the first fantasy writer who set out the later genre that produced the Narnia books and The Lord of the Rings and ultimately Game of Thrones. Thirteen At TableThis story was suggested by Mike Jenkins. We have a beautiful description of the Kent countryside on a spring evening as they follow the fox. This is indeed a fox hunt and may not be to everyone’s taste but is part of the story. I like the idea that a gentleman at hounds may request a bed from any other gentleman who has a gentleman’s house.It’s s simple tale thereafter. We have host, Sir Richard Arlen, who says he has lived a wicked life. What he has done to this succession of women that means he has to dine with them every night for the past fifty years is not explained. But we understand he has wronged them and we guess perhaps he was somewhat of a rake.As the dinner goes on. It is explained that Mr Linton drinks a lot as he is dehydrated. He is also tired. He starts off by humouring the guest and then takes to his story of his wonderful twenty point hunt. The best hunt that ever was and a tale that grows in the telling. I am thinking this is a good humoured dig at huntsmen and their stories. And as he feels the need for an audience to tell his tale, slowly the ghosts become visible to Mr Linton and he begins to treat them as real people rather than as figments of his imagination. It is so slowly and delicately done that it is very effective and smooth. In the end he offends the ghosts by something he said. They are clearly very sensitive and collect slights. He is mortified, but the host is supremely grateful. There is a happy ending in that Sir Richard ArlenIt’s a humorous and pretty story. I haven’t read much Dunsany, but I’m keen to read more now.If You Appreciate The Work I’ve Put In HereIf You Appreciate The Work I’ve Put In HereYou could buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/tonywalker (https://ko-fi.com/tonywalker)Become a Patronhttps://www.patreon.com/barcud (https://www.patreon.com/barcud)And you can join my mailing list and get a free audiobook: https://bit.ly/dalstonvampire (https://bit.ly/dalstonvampire)Music By The Heartwood Institutehttps://bit.ly/somecomeback*** (https://bit.ly/somecomeback***)Support the show

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The Crowd by Ray Bradbury Mar 25, 2022

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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 and is about to go to the police...A short weird tale by the prolific master of the weird tale, Ray BradburyIf You Appreciate The Work I’ve Put In HereYou can become a Patreon of the show for exclusive members’ only stories:https://www.patreon.com/barcud (https://www.patreon.com/barcud)And if you want to thank me (think of a busker’s hat) then you can get me a coffee via http://www.ko-fi.com/tonywalker (www.ko-fi.com/tonywalker)Join my mailing list and get a download: https://bit.ly/dalstonvampire (https://bit.ly/dalstonvampire)Music By The Heartwood Institutehttps://bit.ly/somecomeback (https://bit.ly/somecomeback)Support the show

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SO311. The Man Whom The Trees Loved by Algernon Blackwood Mar 18, 2022

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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 something in the old man and he takes to wandering deep in the forest. Mrs Bittacy with her strong, Christian values is appalled by the ancient woodland spirits that her husbands seems to seek out. She loves him and wants to protect him from the ancient force of the forest. But will her love and faith be enough? Algernon Blackwood was a man of many talents and is known still for his disturbing ghost and horror stories. The Man Whom The Trees Loved is one of his classics.If you'd like to support my ongoing work and make free audiobooks like this possible, consider a one off donation via www.ko-fi/tonywalkerOr become a Patreon for ongoing support and members only stories. https://www.patreon.com/barcudSupport the show

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S03010 The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 16-20 Mar 11, 2022

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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. Make sure to listen to the very end.Support the show

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S0309 The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 13-15 Mar 04, 2022

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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 aren't into it so much, don't worry, it will soon be over.Support the show

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S0308 The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 10-12 Feb 25, 2022

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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 it was published in 1880 as A Picture of Dorian Gray.In this Dorian goes to the bad. He will get worse, and this is just the beginningSupport the show

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S0307 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Chapters 7-9 Feb 18, 2022

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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 WildeSupport the show

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