Ghost Stories
Selected and Introduced by Mark Gatiss
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3 Months Free + £10 Audible voucher
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Ghost Stories
Narrated by:
Mark Gatiss
Buy Now for £7.76
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Narrated by:
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Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones) reads chilling tales by the unsung master of the classic ghost story - E.F. Benson.
There's nothing sinister about a London bus. Nothing supernatural could occur on a busy train platform. There's nothing terrifying about a little caterpillar. And a telephone, what could be scary about that? Don't be frightened of the dark corners of your room. Don't be alarmed by a sudden, inexplicable chill. There's no need for a ticking clock, a limping footstep, or a knock at the door to start you trembling. There's nothing to be scared of. Nothing at all.
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Critic reviews
This collection, selected by that connoisseur of the eldritch, Mark Gatiss, contains enough nastiness to give you just the right kind of frisson for the time of year. (Nicholas Lezard)
Ghost Stories collects nine of his most gruesome stories… Impressively shocking. (Tim Martin)
Spooks galore in E.F. Benson’s nightmare-inducing stories. (Val Hennessy)
[A] master ghost story teller.
Would highly recommend!
Off to search for more stories narrated by Mark Gatiss :-)
Excellent
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Gattiss is Bland & Unconvincing
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Several I had read before in different collections over the years.
Very much of their time, but charming and gripping.
Excellent short stories, similar to M R James.
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Here’s a taste of a few of my favourites, although it was hard to choose this time…
The Man Who Went Too Far – A young man is living a life of hedonism in the woods, seduced by the music he sometimes hears of pipes playing in the distance. But gradually the pipes grow nearer and the young man will get his wish to meet the player – Pan! The motto of this one should be – be careful what you wish for! A wonderful story, full of lush descriptions of the natural world, and with a dark ending.
The Room in the Tower – The narrator has a recurring dream about a house and the family who live there, which always ends with the mother of the family saying “Jack will show you your room: I have given you the room in the tower.”, at which point he has a sense of terror which wakes him. Then one day he goes to visit the family of a friend and recognises their house as the one from the dream! A more traditional ghost story of the Gothic variety, and Benson builds the tension beautifully to a truly horrid climax!
Spinach – A brother and sister, both mediums, have rented a cottage. They are contacted by the ghost of the previous tenant, Thomas Spinach, who was killed in a storm. Spinach tells them he left something lying around but can’t remember where. They decide to help the ghost by searching for the object, though they don’t know what it is. It turns out to be… no! I’ll leave you to find that out for yourself! This one is played mostly for laughs, with some nicely shivery moments added in. Good fun!
Negotium Parambulans – Our narrator lived for some years as a boy in Polearn, a fishing village in Cornwall. (What is it about Cornwall? Half the horror stories in the world are set there!) There is a house there, built from the remains of a church, and the original inhabitant sacrilegiously used the altar for feasting and gaming. He came to a sticky end. But was it madness brought on by drunkenness? Or was there something more sinister behind his death? Now our narrator has returned to the village as an adult and his elderly aunt tells him a similar tale about the next occupant. And now an old schoolmate of the narrator, John Evans, lives there… Lovely crossover between Gothic and weird in this somewhat dark story, and some great horror imagery, especially for those of us who are not too keen on slimy things.
And No Bird Sings – Our narrator is going on a visit to a friend and his wife, Hugh and Daisy Granger, in a house they have recently acquired. He decides to walk from the train station, and takes a short cut through a small wood that lies in their grounds. But once in the wood he is seized with a feeling of unease – there are unexpected shadows where there shouldn’t be, sometimes he notices a horrible smell as of decaying living things, and then he notices the oddest thing of all – there are no birds in the wood. It turns out both Hugh and especially Daisy have also felt this sense of something wrong in the wood, and their dogs won’t enter it at all. So Hugh and the narrator decide it is time to find out what is in there… This one is most definitely weird, and Benson develops a really great atmosphere of creepiness and unease. The climax is deliciously horrible! Great stuff!
So loads of variety, excellent writing, lots of shiveriness but nothing too gruesome – I loved this collection, and felt the narration made it even better. One I’ll listen to again!
Which are scarier – ghosts or slugs?
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Mark Gatiss makes these stories chilling!
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