Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Ghosts

The Man in Black is waiting to make your acquaintance. Maybe you’ll meet him on a bus, in the supermarket or at an airport luggage carousel. Perhaps he’ll peer into your baby’s pram or approach you in the corridor of a care home. Wherever you encounter him, he's eager to pass on his stories. Stories of darkness and death, myth and madness. Stories to unsettle and horrify.

In 1929, M. R. James penned an essay called 'Stories I Have Tried to Write', in which he detailed plots that had failed to blossom and fragments of tales that never materialised, recalling them 'for the benefit of someone else'. In this BBC Radio series, Sheila Hodgson takes advantage of his generosity, fleshing out these sketchy ideas into full-blown dramas. Some are narrated by M. R. James himself, while others feature the author as a character, caught up in strange, inexplicable events.

Described by H P Lovecraft as 'the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere', Algernon Blackwood (CBE) was the acclaimed and prolific author of numerous ghost stories and horror tales. Throughout his lifetime, he wrote 14 novels, several children's books, a number of plays, and over 200 short stories. This anthology opens with a selection of stories featuring his most influential character, occult detective Dr John Silence.

An award-wining poet, short story writer and novelist, Walter de la Mare is probably best known for his works for children and his perennially popular poem ‘The Listeners’. His ghost stories were much admired by H. P. Lovecraft and inspired subsequent authors of supernatural horror such as Robert Aickman and Ramsey Campbell. In 1921, his novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction, and this haunting, surrealistic tale is the opening tale in our anthology.

Classic plays and ghost stories, as performed by the residents of Ambridge and friends - plus bonus drama Dead Girls Tell No Tales. Borsetshire's queen of amateur theatricals, Lynda Snell, never misses the chance to put on a Christmas show. Her productions are always a big hit with Ambridge audiences - and now, Archers fans can enjoy these top-notch performances alongside them (as well as eavesdropping on the shenanigans backstage). 

David McAlister reads six supernatural stories from the author of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. Best known for his science fiction, H G Wells was also a master of the ghost story, producing numerous tales of the Gothic, the eldritch and the uncanny. These six stories, ranging from the humorous to the horrifying, epitomise the very best of Wells’ occult fiction.