Showing results for "Disappearances" in Anthologies & Short Stories

This is the unabridged audio recording of M R James' excellent ghost story "The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance". Read by David Collings, this is sure to scare and delight in equal measure.

The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance is M. R. James at his most disquieting: where festive streets darken quickly, dreams twist into warnings, and something grotesque walks just beyond the edge of understanding. Blending holiday cheer with a creeping sense of dread, this tale invites the listener to question what hides behind tradition, and what slips through the cracks of propriety. Laced with unease and subtle horror, it is not merely a ghost story—it is a disturbance in the fabric of the ordinary.

The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance is a strange tale told in the form of four mysterious letters. The writer's uncle, the rector in a small market town, has mysteriously disappeared in the days before Christmas. The writer of the letters has been summoned to help the search for the missing man. He writes every day to his brother to update him on events...and describes a series of most bizarre and inexplicable happenings.