Classic Ghost Stories

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Episode 66 The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe Sep 13, 2020

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The Fall of The House of Usher- Classic Ghost Stories Podcast has done a Poe story before: [https://player.captivate.fm/episode/08a6766c-18ad-4ec7-9c1c-a6918e7306a6 (The Tell-Tale Heart (Episode 12))] and that was fine, but the Fall of the House of Usher is, in my humble opinion, finer.Poe 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 writers of his generation and famed all over the world for his Gothic and macabre tales. It was long overdue that we did another of his storiesThe Fall of the House of Usher was published in 1839, when grave-robbing was still a thing. He makes a play on the word 'house' which can mean both a lineage and a building. This is a rhetorical usage known as a syllepsis.The story is a fine Gothic thing. We have dismal setting with the rotting trees and the stagnant tarn (which is a small lake) the gloomy castle, the sickly and neurotic hero, the storm and generally dreadful weather, the mysterious and sinister chatelaine, Madeline. It is quasi-Medieval also, though not set in Medieval times, it might as well be and at the end they read from some Arthurian legend to make even more Medieval.The remoteness of the house, the lack of modern communications (even for the 1830s), the terrible weather and the vague dream time of no specific location and no specific time trap us in the legend. The house haunts the characters as much as their wraith-like dream forms haunt its halls. Roderick never leaves the house and I doubt Madeline of Usher was much of a gad-about either.Poe never says anything clearly in a few words when he can draw it out over several obscure sentences with multiple clauses and hints rather than statements. We love him for it, indeed that's why we read him.Old Roderick decides to entomb Madeline in the deep dungeon, because it is hinted that the medical men would seek to dig her up and use her for research, given the obscurity of her illness. This was a thing in Poe's days or just before.The hint of the blush on dead Madeline's face is suggestive that she may be a vampire, and Poe, I think was encouraging this, but it is in fact, as it later transpires in a nice twist (nice?) that poor Madeline was not in fact dead, and furthermore, her brother suspected this.Poe's stories are populated by the deeply neurotic and this, for me, is his masterpiece. I love the Gothic prolixity of it, I love the funereal sombreness and I am struck how much influence Poe had on Lovecraft in his vocabulary. Now, it may be an American usage, but, outside these two, I've never come across the word "litten" for "lit" as in red-litten, for red-lit, and my autocorrect dislikes it also. Also reminiscent of Lovecraft, is the long list of obscure books, mostly not in English; a favourite device of the Cthulhu Mythos.What Poe does wonderfully in this story, I think, is identify the building with the family themselves and make the house a living thing. The fortunes of the House of Usher, as he says, is reflected in both the fabric of the ancient castle and the health of the living line. When the people die, the house dies also.Shirley Jackson does this in her story, https://player.captivate.fm/episode/902d0d32-2fe8-4951-a7e4-dbbf2f8a89d8 (The Visit (Episode 52))The co-mingling of story and actuality happens in the reading of the Arthurian legend where the breaking in of Ethelred, has its counterpart in the breaking out of the dying Madeline. In a sense this also mirrors the identity of the living Ushers with the symbol of the ancient building.The purpose of the narrator is merely to give us a window into thSupport the show

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S0202 The Twisted Wood by Tony Walker Sep 13, 2020

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https://tonywalker.substack.com/ (Subscribe here, support The Classic Ghost Stories Podcast and obtain exclusive content.)The Twisted WoodWell, it's the anniversary of the Podcast! The first episode The Yellow Wallpaper went up a year ago, and what a year it has been. The Podcast has succeeded far more than I ever thought. When I started I just wanted to read the stories I enjoyed. It seems that others enjoy them too.We have also done some stories by living writers, so here's another. It's mine! This is the first story I've ever put up on the Podcast, and I'm doing it because it's the Podcast's first birthday. Happy Birthday, my friend!The Twisted Wood is in my new collection https://amzn.to/2RknlgY (Horror Stories for Halloween) Originally, it was going to be a story about the Mothman, but though it contains moths it got rather twisted and turned into a dark fairytale about a conceited community arts manager who is tempted to do a little stealing. We all know you shouldn't steal from the fairies, and we know even better than you must never ever take anything from fairyland. It ends with a bit of cannibalism, and I am struck that a number of the stories in Horror Stories for Halloween have a cannibalistic turn. What does that say about me?The setting is drawn o n an actual wood and the floods are those floods which hit my home area over the past decade and flooded me out of house and home not once but twice. I was once flooded out in Wales, so that's three times. And the third time is the charm, as they say.I was fired by a community arts manager when I was struggling to feed my small children on the basis I didn't "think like we do" which I swear was the reason they fired me. They know who they are. That's over fifteen years ago now, but I've paid him back in a story.This is one of my favourite stories. I allowed myself to go overboard with ornate language because I thought someone as pompous as his would use overblown language. The truth is I like it too. I've just read a Ray Russell story for the Podcast after all.So, if you liked my dark fairytale of someone getting their come uppence, check out my Newcastle Fairies which is somewhere around.I hope you liked my story. I enjoyed writing it, and reading it out!See you next week.Music by https://theheartwoodinstitute.bandcamp.com/music (The Heartwood Institute!) They rock.Download Charles Dickens The Signalman Free Mp3 https://bit.ly/dickenssignalman (Subscribe to our list and keep in touch with the podcast. Learn of new episodes and bonus Content. )Support our work PLUS you get a free story right now!(The Story Link is in the Thank You Email)Show Your Support With A Coffee!https://ko-fi.com/tonywalker (Buy the thirsty podcaster a coffee...)Final Request: The SurveyI want to know what you want. If you have three minutes, I'd be grateful to know what you think of The Classic Ghost Stories Podcast.https://my.captivate.fm/Click%20here%20to%20go%20to%20the%20Survey (Click here to go to the Survey)Support the show

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Episode 65 Branch Line to Benceston by Sir Andrew Caldecott Sep 06, 2020

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Branch Line to Benceston by Sir Andrew CaldecottBranch Line to Benceston was published in the collection Not Exactly Ghosts in 1947. He turned to writing after retirement from the Malaysian Civil Service, again like many of our ghost story writers, he had a career in the Colonial Civil Service of the British Empire. Sadly, he didn’t live long after retirement and died aged 65.Sir Andrew Caldecott (1884–1951) was born in Kent. He was educated at Uppingham School and at Exeter College, Oxford, where he became an Honorary Fellow in 1948. His father was a clergyman. Spooky. how this happens so much.He had a very distinguished career in the Colonial Service and was Governor of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1937 until 1944 (so during the Second World War), and before that Governor of Hong Kong (1935–1937). He also worked in Malaya and Singapore and there is a station named after him in Singapore.He had a lifelong interest in the supernatural and, as is evident from his two volumes of supernatural tales, he was an accomplished writer, but it wasn’t until after his retirement in 1944 that he published his first volume of ghost stories. Not Exactly Ghosts was published in 1947 by Edward Arnold & Co. It contains twelve tales. Interestingly, features of Caldecott’s own interests, such as playing the piano, crop up in his stories and I suppose that is true for most writers, hence my frequent mentions of Hawkwind.In ‘Branch Line to Benceston’, Adrian Frent, a railway enthusiast and herbalist, is the first tenant of ‘Brentside’, the newly-built house next to the narrator’s own house in Brensham. Frent is a partner in a firm of music publishers, but he hates the other partner with a vengeance, feeling that the man has messed up his life stence since they were boys. He wishes his partner dead, and then when he does die, things turn weird. But the story is not exactly a ghost story. C aldecott does a couple of things wonderfully. Firstly; this story is a portrait of Metroland, the area outside London that was developed in the first half of the twentieth century with the benefit of faster rail connections to allow the middle classes, to have the benefits of living in a suburbia that appeared and was sold as being the English countryside, while still able to travel easily into London to their day jobs. Vast swathes of the Home Counties were gobbled up and railways proliferated. John Betjeman, the English poet laureate captured all of this in his film entitled: Metroland and much of his poetry is set in this half-and-half land bathed in the sunlight of the English dream.The second thing I think Caldecott does well is the set up of the story. The death of the Dachshunds and the herbalism and poison seems to be a red-herring. Though giving his great enemy Paul Saxon one of the tinctures he makes reminds Frent of his wish to kill Paul, and thus his sin, he does not actually poison the man. This is a misdirection, I think: a red herring.However, the real set-up is the trap-door. We have already been told how Frent tends to go off half-cocked, but after a brief mention of this trap-door, Caldecott leaves it. This is subtle and I didn’t get that until the end. Caldecott is a great wit and his comment about the coroner’s view that these houses are death-traps being ignored as normal with coroner’s comments reflects his own professional experience, I am sure, and is a bit of a joke because we are going to ignore this clue too, at least I did. Caldecott even flags this clue up saying he has recorded it for a reason that will become clear later. This to me is a great example of burying the obvious, and doing it well.The pSupport the show

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Episode 64 Blind Man's Buff by H R Wakefield Aug 29, 2020

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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 Birmingham. He was educated at the prestigious Marlborough College and then went to Oxford University where he studied history and played cricket, golf, hockey and football. He was secretary to Viscount Northcliffe and served with the Royal Scots Fusiliers when the First World War broke out and was promoted to Captain. After 1920 he settled in London and worked as chief editor in a publishing house. His wife was American, Barbara Standish Waldo, and he met her when she was in London as her family were wealthy and took a house in London each year for the season. He divorced her in 1936 and married again in 1946. Older now, during the Second World War he served as an air-raid warden.H R's brother Gilbert was a successful playwright.Wakefield was famous for his ghost stories during his life. He published seven volumes of ghost stories during his life. His work was appreciated by August Derleth, H P Lovecraft's disciple and some of his stories were published in Weird Tales. His main influences were M R James and Algernon Blackwood (both of whom we have featured on the podcast.)The poet laureate John Betjeman considered Wakefield in the second rank of ghost story writers after M R James, which was praise indeed. However, M R James wasn't as fond of Wakefield's work. H P Lovecraft on the other hand showered Wakefield in praise and said he reached the heights of horror.Wakefield strongly believed in the paranormal, and it is perhaps because of this he was drawn to write in this field. He claimed to have had personal experiences of supernatural phenomena. This story, Blind Man's Buff, plays on the primal fear of the dark and what might lurk within. In that play on phobia it struck me that it was similar to Marghatina Laski's The Tower, which we read as https://player.captivate.fm/episode/6682b629-19d6-4cff-ab73-24a1ed629ab8 (Episode 13)Tony's Ghost Story BooksMy latest book, London Horror Stories is available on https://amzn.to/2YSSHPb (Amazon UK) and https://amzn.to/2NgZHQu (Amazon US). Ghost and horror stories with a sense of place. It's available free for Patrons.It's doing moderately well and the audiobook will be coming in stream soon through Author's Republic, which you'll be able to get on Audible.If you've read it and like it, could you please leave a review on Amazon?All purchases, recommendations and support of London Horror Stories is massively helpful to me.Support Tony on Ko-fi!The show is only possible through the support of appreciative listeners. If you'd like to show your appreciation for the podcast, why not nip over to Tony's Ko-Fi page and buy him a coffee? There are also some free tracks there for download, and others to buy.Go https://ko-fi.com/tonywalker (here) to visit Tony's Ko-Fi page.For Hardcore Lovers of The Podcast: Pledge via PatreonThe regular support of patrons via Patreon ensures that podcast hosting gets paid every month. If you feel you'd like to be a committed supporter, please sign up at the https://www.patreon.com/barcud (Patreon page).Music by The Heartwood InstituteYou can listen to the album from which this is taken https://theheartwoodinstitute.bandcamp.com/album/witch-phase-four (here). Please support hauntological music!Start Your Own Podcast!I am very happy with the wonderful responsive support and constant innovation of my podcast host, Captivate FM. If you want to start a podcast, you will be supported by them all the way.If you use https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=tonywalker (this affiliate link) to Support the show

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Episode 63 Elias And The Draug by Jonas Lie Aug 22, 2020

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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, ghost stories collections are just a rehash of the same old tired stories, but Roald Dahl put some goodies in this one. Of course, Dahl was of Norwegian descent, so it is perhaps natural he should include a Norwegian writer.This story Elias And The Draug was published in 1870. Of course, the 19th Century was a time of a revival in traditional folk stories, often Germanic such as Hans Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, and often very grim. This story is a horror story, absolutely, and a ghost story in that it features a supernatural creature, a resident of faerie, the draug. And in its style, it is definitely akin to fairytales which are one of the sources of the ghost story form.Jonas Lie was born at Hokksund in Norway in 1833, and he died in 1905. he is considered to be one of the four greats of Norwegian literature. His father was appointed sheriff of Tromsø which is a very northern part of Norway with chunks of the region within the Arctic circle. This area has a rich Sámi heritage, and we note the reference to the Lapp girl in the story whom the surviving child Brendt marries and settles down, never going to sea again.Lie wanted to go in the navy, but his eyesight was so weak he never succeeded in going to sea professionally. Instead, he became a lawyer, which was probably more lucrative. He went to University in Christiania and got to know the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and Bjornsterne Bjornson, another famous Norwegian author less known outside Norway than Ibsen.He published his first novel in 1870, Den Fremsynte, which like much of his work focuses on Norwegian life, the traditions and folklore and the constant encounter with the sea. My Money Making SchemesBelow I list various things you can do to show your appreciation for my work producing the podcast. These range from buying my books, to starting your own podcast to shopping at Amazon.Tony's Ghost Story BooksMy latest book, London Horror Stories is available on https://amzn.to/2YSSHPb (Amazon UK) and https://amzn.to/2NgZHQu (Amazon US). Ghost and horror stories with a sense of place. It's available free for Patrons.It's doing moderately well and the audiobook will be coming in stream soon through Author's Republic, which you'll be able to get on Audible.If you've read it and like it, could you please leave a review on Amazon?All purchases, recommendations and support of London Horror Stories is massively helpful to me.Support Tony on Ko-fi!The show is only possible through the support of appreciative listeners. If you'd like to show your appreciation for the podcast, why not nip over to Tony's Ko-Fi page and buy him a coffee? There are also some free tracks there for download, and others to buy.Go https://ko-fi.com/tonywalker (here) to visit Tony's Ko-Fi page.Pledge via PatreonThe regular support of patrons via Patreon ensures that podcast hosting gets paid every month. If you feel you'd like to be a committed supporter, please sign up at the https://www.patreon.com/barcud (Patreon page).Music by The Heartwood InstituteYou can listen to the album from which this is taken https://theheartwoodinstitute.bandcamp.com/album/witch-phase-four (here). Please support hauntological music!Start Your Own Podcast!I am very happy with the wonderful responsive support and constant innovation of my podcast host, Captivate FM. If you want to start a podcast, you will be supported by them all the way.If you use https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=tonywalker (this affiliate link) to join Captivate,Support the show

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Episode 62 Snake In The Attic by Garret Johnson Aug 15, 2020

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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 now know why.We discussed whether I should do the story in a British or an American accent and we decided that I could do it in my native tones because I could after all have moved to the USA to teach English. It struck me that the supernatural element in the story, of whether the snake is real or a ghost, is secondary. What the story is, is an exploration of fear. Garret confirms this in the interview.In the story we explore various phobias We have the fear of rats, of snakes, of the dark, of finding your child harmed in the night. We talked a little about the deep anxiety that comes from being a parent of young children, or in fact children of any age, as mine are grown up and I still worry about them.In the Snake in the Attic there are also some slice of life elements. The story of the Gandalf type guy wandering around bookshops and sleeping under parks, strikes me as likely to be true observation rather than a figment of writerly imagination.Also, the story of the addiction and the whole exterminator men seems very realistic, but Garret confirms that this episode is made up. I'm still not sure whether the snake was real. He has these physical sensations which don't seem to possibly be from the snake crawling over him, so that leads me to believe, like the exterminators ,that the snake was a figment of his imagination. The musings about whether the snake can follow him, or staying living of black air and dust. And the final sentence, wondering about the new occupier of the house and whether the snake will trouble her seems to suggest the snake is a metaphor for deeper disquiets, something that was hinted at earlier on, that the true haunting arises from within our narrator.Garret Johnson LinksGarret's story can be found at http://www.theghoststory.com/snake-in-the-attic (The Ghost Story) website. As he says, there are lots of class stories on this website. Garret particularly mentioned the author Rowan Bowman and his story set in nearby (to me) Northumberland is http://www.theghoststory.com/?s=rowan+bowman (here).Garret mentions the work of https://twitter.com/andypaciorekart (Andy Paciorek) coming out through https://folkhorrorrevival.com/wyrd-harvest-press/ (Wyrd Harvest Press). They have some pretty fantastic publications if you like this kind of thing, which you do, or you wouldn't be reading this!https://tonywalker.substack.com/about (Subscribe For All Episodes!)Music by The Heartwood InstituteYou can listen to the album from which this is taken https://theheartwoodinstitute.bandcamp.com/album/witch-phase-four (here)Support the show

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Episode 61 The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions Part 4 Aug 08, 2020

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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 by the unseen narrator. I'm not clear whether these are Paul Oleron's thoughts, or the narrator's observations. He talks about a letter dropped, disregarded that lies, and I guess this refers to a letter from a well-wisher, probably Elsie Bengough.But I'm not sure what these high falutin' reflections add to the story.I wonder whether Oliver Onions, unlike Paul Oleron was torn between writing popular stories for the paying public, and aiming at literary praise from the high minded for his observations of the human condition.However, in this musing where we get a description of the telegram boy turning away from the unanswered door, we also have reference to a succubus.And a succubus as I quote from Google is: a female demon believed to have sexual intercourse with sleeping men.Though the intercourse in Oleron's case seems to be more a spiritual vampirism.The Beckoner appears to be a kind of muse gone wrong. A true muse of a male artist is conceived to be female, a personification of his soul, his anima, if you like. But this true muse inspires the artist and becomes a channel through which he brings down wisdom from his soul and puts it in his art. Even this true muse may be jealous, but the Beckoner is wholly wicked. She gives nothing in return for his sick love of her. She merely drains him.Socrates talked of daemons (an idea taken up by Philip Pullman of course) who are spiritual creates to guard and inspire us. But the Beckoner does neither thing. The closest she gets is to give him dreams of the perfect novels he might write.Even though Oleron propitiates the Beckoner with flowers, as a man might give his lover, they decay and die. This seems to be a symbol, or a warning. The fact the blinds are red and plunge the room into a red twilight reminiscent blood, also seems a warning of the terrible nature of his transformation.The next part of XI is of Oleron's ruminations. Mainly he is plunged into hatred of Elsie Bengough, which appears to be the Beckoner's jealousy. He in his turn is jealous of his dead rival, the painter Madley.Sometimes, he seems to see Elsie as his rescuer. He remembers that she wouldn't leave him. And of course she doesn't. This is a foreshadowing. It is described vaguely but he hints at his thoughts have enabled and ignited the terrible jealousy of the Beckoner against Elsie.Part 12, is from the omniscient narrator's point of view and we get relief from Oleron's internal ramblings with a bit of a semi-comic interlude of Mr Barrett going on about the imagined fornication with Elsie. He does this even down to the Christ's quote about the prostitute which Christ meant with love and charity, but Barrett turns to serve his own narrow minded prejudice, and Barrett's sanctimonius refusal to disclose whether his wife saw anything going on as if he was a man who chose to remain silent on moral issues.Onions paints this picture of the self-righteous religious bigot very well and I enjoyed reading Barrett's lines.Part 12 is a breath of fresh air as the coppers open the windows. No more interminable introspection but instead we have narrative movement, drama, dialogue and a twist at the end. The story ends well. It could have been cut by two thirds though to its improvement.So, did Oleron kill Elsie or did the ghost? The ghost seems able to do physical things, like weaken the stairboard and replace the rusty nail. The pudding sized thing (think of a figgy pudding at Christmas, round, about the size of a ball) is probably her heart aSupport the show

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Episode 60 The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions Part 3 Aug 01, 2020

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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 a bit long, and if I'd been his editor, I would have cut it. That's the bit where he muses somewhat abstractly with long words about this and that.However, the next bit when Elsie comes round and they go on the bus is excellent. Not from a ghost story point of view, but just as a snapshot of an awkward conversation between two former friends. Elsie comes off by far the better person. He then starts to talk about women who earn their own living and how they sacrifice their womanliness and open themselves to failed love affairs with the men they mix with in a man's world. He even pretends to be understanding of this predicament, but Elsie sees right through him. Oleron becomes increasingly pathetic. She, on the other hand, is pretty magnificent. She is caring and thoughtful, and he's just an idiot.Onions does this exceptionally well.Section 9 begins with Oleron's visit to the vicar. From this, he learns that his predecessor Mr Madley died in the house of starvation twelve or so years previously. We infer from this that he too was a victim of that deadly muse, or anti-muse, the Beckoning Fair One. After that, he goes home and tries to summon the spirit. From here on in, the ghost begins to look ambiguous. Where it seemed to be clearly a spirit that was jealous and would brook no rival in Elsie Bengough, from here, I can see that readers might think that Oleron is merely going mad. He is now deliberately courting the female spirit that inhabits his house or his mind."Whatever it was which he so patiently wooed, it seemed to be both shy and exacting."He sits and waits for the spirit, but when she doesn't come, he considers making her jealous and even considers sending for Elsie to do that job. It is some slight recommendation of him that even he dismisses that as a wheel to break a butterfly on. He decides to go to the country to teach her a lesson, and from now on sounds increasingly lunatic.He tries to fool the Beckoner to appear by pretending to go to bed. And then, when he searches for his slippers, he sees her reflection in the glass of a photo frame. She brushes her hair with his old comb. I can't imagine any woman would use my comb to comb her hair, but times were different then, I suppose.Section 10 paints a picture of him becoming increasingly reclusive. We already had a hint that this is his fate from the fate of the previous tenant, the painter Madley. Oleron is still in love with the spirit. We see that its malign influence grows on him and he becomes agoraphobic. He doesn't even go out for food or flowers any longer and chooses to stay in his house throughout. Onions may have had some experience of agoraphobia because his description of it is spot on.He calls out "Romilly" as if he thinks the ghost is the heroine of his novel. Either that or the spirit has made him believe that. We now see him increasingly labile in his emotions, happy and sad. Then he thinks he sees Elsie Bengough's skirt in his house. His worry is not for Elsie's safety here, I guess. He says that her being there would have compromised him horribly. I guess he means that the Beckoner would have been jealous and it would have ruined his chances with her. The mad ranting about this search for the Beckoner being his real work reminded me of https://player.captivate.fm/episode/08a6766c-18ad-4ec7-9c1c-a6918e7306a6 (Poe) or The https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a9e021f7-af89-499d-bdde-779d2afe5b54 (Yellow Wallpaper) or the https://player.captivate.fm/episode/60579769-c11Support the show

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Episode 59 The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions Part 2 Jul 25, 2020

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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 house listening to the noises and from nowhere he begins to muse that someone in the future might have an impression of a ghost that was started by his presence. This section achieves two things; firstly it sets up the ghost, and secondly it strengthen's the idea that the house itself has a personality and a life. That only becomes more evident as the story progresses.As I read, listen and edit, I am struck again by how hollow are the claims of those critics who say this is not a ghost story. This is a ghost story indeed! My evidence is first; the nail that scratches Elsie Bengough's arm. Oleron knows he took all the nails out. And after this incident, he looks at her and realises for the first time, that she is in love with him. What an idiot! But then, he is a man and many men aren't very sensitive about these things. But then, I should probably only speak for myself on this.The Beckoning Fair One is as much a love story as it is a ghost story. We saw this mixture of love and monsters in https://player.captivate.fm/episode/fcca7910-00c4-4a91-a799-eceb808cc1fa (The Yellow Sign). However, the realisation that she loves him creates a mixed emotion in Oleron. I like to think this represents a war between the real Oleron, when he feels compassion and pity, and almost love for Elsie, and the spirit of the house that's invading him and making him resentful of Elsie. Either way, both his compassion that she should not suffer more from unrequited love, and the prompting of the jealous house join together in his resolution to encourage Elsie not to come back. The house woman is winning.When Elise can't keep away, she puts her foot through the stair. Oleron is clear that the woodwork was old but fine. It's the ghost again striking out to hurt Elsie.Elsie's comment is that she's getting fat. For me, that really humanises her. She's an ordinary, flawed woman, not some dream of a spirit woman. I often think that men would do well to take this lesson on board. They spend their lives running after dream women and spurn real women.Elsie says, "Let me go, I'm not wanted!"Neither by Oleron, nor the house. Then he tries to tell her how dear she is to him. Quite rightly she tells him not to patronize her.We get an insight into the narrow-minded Christianity of Barret, very quick to misunderstand and condemn without asking any questions about this. I suppose that this is a hot topic for me now because I just listened to a podcast episode with Damien Echols how he served 18 years on death row in Arkansas for a crime he didn't commit because he was alternative and different in his small, narrow-minded town. https://batgap.com/damien-echols/ (It's a good listen)Elsie goes, Oleron decides he won't even sit down if she comes to visit, in order to get her to leave quickly. And then, he becomes anxious for her physical safety. This ghost is mean, and he knows it. At this point, he is far from seduced by the Beckoning Fair One. However, he does let himself down. When he imagines her suicide, his first thought it that he might get blamed! And then he thinks he an't marry her because she's ugly! What a cad.the silkly rustle and the brushing sound must surely be a ghost!The noise scares him to death and he goes the pub, acting out of character, but the brandy and the human contact serve to ground him a little. He decided he will go back and not be chased out of the house by the ghost. I think this incident is his last chance. This would have been his opportunity to escape, aSupport the show

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Episode 58 The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions Part 1 Jul 18, 2020

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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 Carmilla by J Sheridan Le Fanu.I'm doing The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions for a couple of reasons. Firstly, of course it is a classic ghost story and has been described as a 'cut above' the standard ghost story.This episode represents sections 1-4 of the story.We have done an Oliver Onions story before: The Cigarette Case https://player.captivate.fm/episode/cba2b2e7-9ece-4767-803e-895ebbd34880 (Episode 36)Onions is a lyrical writer and this story is a slow burn. He gives some lovely descriptions of his new flat and the life of the square outside with its school children, cats and dogs and occasional mandolin player.He actually reminds me of Proust. Now, if I was to read out Proust, I'd be at it for the rest of my life.Oliver conjoures Elsie Bengough and is not wholly kind about her. She's a bloomy, pink, moist, lady. In fact, she turns out to the voice of reason, but that's for future episodes.I note again Onions's hidden Welshness. Apart from the fact he's got a Welsh surname: Ab Enion; he has intimate knowledge of a Meirionethshire accent, which I enjoyed doing. I have friends from Meirionydd, you see. And he calls Elsie, Elsie Bengough, which is clearly Welsh, Bengoch, red head; even though she's not ginger. The ghostly influence is wonderfully subtle. We see it at first changing his taste. He furnishes and paints the flat at first elder-flower pale, but then gets strange ideas about introducing more colour. We wonder where these promptings come from.Then he can't work. Ultimately, he dislikes his life's work novel Romilly Bishop. The Reason he doesn't like it is because the main character Romilly is based on Elsie Bengough, his sort-of long-term girlfriend. Is the ghost trying to oust him out?Then he finds a piece of material which he can't identify, but which Elsie Bengough tells him is a harp cover.Then the dripping tap subtly insinuates a tune into his head which he begins to hum and Mrs Barrett recognses as The Beckoning Fair One.Critics have called this the best classic ghost story ever and other say it isn't a ghost story; much like The https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a9e021f7-af89-499d-bdde-779d2afe5b54 (Yellow Wallpaper) or https://player.captivate.fm/episode/60579769-c11c-46ee-b4e3-cad8b6778d37 (The Horla).However, personally, I do think it's a ghost story. The build up is too deliberate for it all to be chance: the changes in his taste, the artefacts he finds; the harp case for example. For me these carry the energy of The Beckoning Fair One, and she's out to ensnare him.Then there's Elsie Bengough's prescient comment just before the end of Section 3: Who else lives here? She's had an intuition that the house is not deserted; that there's someone or something living there with him. Elsie also has the intuition that the ghost will never allow Oleron to finish Romilly Bishop in that house. She won't because she's jealous that the heroine of Romillyis modelled on Elsie Bengough and the ghost is jealous.It is during the subtle dripping of the tap; the dripping that he later realises introduced the tune of The Beckoning Fair One that he starts to criticise Elsie Bengough so sharply in tones he has never entertained before. I think Onions intends all of this. Oleron is being hypnotised, in my opinion, by the spirit of the houseWho is this Beckoning Fair One and what does she want of him?You'll have to keep listening to find out.Music by The Heartwood InstituteYou can listen to the album from which this is taken https://theheartwSupport the show

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