What do we see in others that we cannot admit in ourselves? In Henry James's haunting tale, a woman recounts her fascination with two people who have each witnessed a ghost. She delays their meeting for years, caught between longing and fear, until it is too late. Names are withheld, but emotions are not. Beneath the surface of polite society, something older stirs—jealousy, desire, and the quiet undoing of the self.
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You can choose to have ghost stories only, or detective stories or classic literature, or all of them for either $5 or $10 a month.
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First published as "The Way It Came" in 1896, the story was later retitled "The Friends of the Friends."
Henry James (1843–1916) was an American-born author whose subtle, psychologically complex stories often explore the limits of perception and the tensions of social life. His ghost stories are never merely spectral; they are studies of the mind in shadow.
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The Tapestried Chamber by Sir Walter Scott
General Browne, a soldier hardened by war and governed by reason, accepts an invitation to the castle of his old school-friend, Lord Woodville. The place has only lately been inherited and is undergoing tasteful restoration, its mediaeval past slowly yielding to Georgian elegance. But not all traces of the past have been swept away.
One chamber remains veiled in its former splendour—its faded tapestry concealing more than just stone walls. It is this room that is given to the General to stay in overnight.
The Tapestried Chamber was written by Sir Walter Scott and published in The Keepsake for 1829, during the final years of his life, when he was writing under intense pressure in an effort to repay heavy debts.
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The Squire's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell
In the year 1795, in the secluded Derbyshire town of Barford, a stranger settles into the old White House. He renovates it handsomely, pays every bill on time, and quickly wins the friendship of the local squire and his daughter. Among the hunting gentry, he seems to fit right in.
But this is a story of the hunting gentry—and the secrets they don’t know, and the things people do when no one is looking.
The Squire’s Story is a Gothic tale by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in Household Words in 1853. Known for Cranford and North and South, Gaskell here turns her subtle realism to darker terrain.
📚 You can now buy my books where you are! 😊
https://tonywalkerbooks.com/
Hello In the year 1795, in the secluded Derbyshire town of Barford, a stranger settles into the old White House. He renovates it handsomely, pays every bill on time, and quickly wins the friendship of the local squire and his daughter. Among the hunting gentry, he seems to fit right in.
But this is a story of the hunting gentry—and the secrets they don’t know, and the things people do when no one is looking.
The Squire’s Story is a Gothic tale by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in Household Words in 1853. Known for Cranford and North and South, Gaskell here turns her subtle realism to darker terrain.
📚 You can now buy my books where you are! 😊
https://tonywalkerbooks.com/ and thank you! Welcome and take a look around. If you have any questions let me know .
In the meantime, here's a link to my Google drive of stories
I may be running late with uploading the latest ones so give me a nudge if one you want is missing.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TlPMQHk6A3WZfhQqHunBaimaBCjz4b0l?usp=drive_link
And here's the link to the Members Only Library
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MEHmW8OxcDm68ONBIBnj2SQURsfoz3HN?usp=drive_link
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The Roll-Call of the Reef by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
A gale howls in from the sea as a traveller takes shelter with a smallholder on the Cornish coast. Above the hearth hang two relics: an old cavalry trumpet and a weathered drum, bound together with a brass-lettered lock. No one knows the word that opens it. As the fire burns low, the smallholder begins to tell a tale—half history, half haunting—of shipwrecks, silence, and the names that must still be answered.
The Roll-Call of the Reef was first published in 1911 in Noughts and Crosses, a collection of stories by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. It remains one of his most enduring supernatural tales and has been reprinted in The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories.
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944), who published as “Q”, was a Cornish writer, critic, and anthologist. He is best known for his editorship of The Oxford Book of English Verse and his lifelong dedication to the literary life of Cornwall.
⭐ Join my Patreon ⭐
https://patreon.com/barcud
Go here for a library of ad-free stories, a monthly members only story and early access to the regular stories I put out.
You can choose to have ghost stories only, or detective stories or classic literature, or all of them for either $5 or $10 a month.
Many hundreds of hours of stories. Who needs Audible?
Or, if you'd just like to make a one-off gesture of thanks for my work
https://buymeacoffee.com/10mn8sk
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Symposium of the Gorgon by Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith's "Symposium of the Gorgon," a masterful blend of satire and fantasy, made its debut in _Fantastic Universe Science Fiction_ in October 1958. Published relatively late in Smith's career, the story showcases his enduring talent for crafting bizarre and imaginative narratives, even as his output had begun to wane. The appearance in _Fantastic Universe_ introduced this darkly humorous tale to a new generation of pulp readers.
⭐ Join my Patreon ⭐
https://patreon.com/barcud
Go here for a library of ad-free stories, a monthly members only story and early access to the regular stories I put out.
You can choose to have ghost stories only, or detective stories or classic literature, or all of them for either $5 or $10 a month.
Many hundreds of hours of stories. Who needs Audible?
Or, if you'd just like to make a one-off gesture of thanks for my work
https://buymeacoffee.com/10mn8sk
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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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