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A classic ghost story of a haunted house, and the haunted man who lives in it.

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Horror/Ghost stories

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The tale of Sweeney Todd has had many incarnations, most famously the stage and movie musical by Stephen Sondheim. But it all started in 1846 with a serialized telling of the story titled “The String of Pearls” in the weekly magazine “The People's Periodical and Family Library”. Called by some a romance, by others a horror story, it is one of the earliest murder mysteries. In “The String of Pearls”, Sweeney Todd is less sympathetic than in some of his later incarnations – a perfect villain, totally self-seeking with no redeeming qualities. How the deeds of Todd are uncovered and how he is brought to justice make a most intriguing tale, but one probably not suited for the very young and certainly not for the squeamish. (Summary by John Lieder)....

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Mystery, Horror/Ghost stories

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The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. It is a ghost story that was originally published in 1898. A nameless governess reports the events of two ghosts who stalk the young children she has charge over. Is she reliable, or an imaginative neurotic? (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)...

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Horror/Ghost stories

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The Lair of the White Worm (also known as The Garden of Evil ) is a horror novel by Anglo-Irish author Bram Stoker, who also wrote /dracula-by-bram-stoker/ Dracula . It was published in 1911.This book centers on Adam Salton who is contacted by his great uncle in England, for the purpose of establishing a relationship between these last two members of the family. Adam travels to Richard Salton's house in Mercia, and quickly finds himself in the center of some inexplicable occurrences. The new heir to the Caswall estate, Edgar Caswall appears to be making some sort of a mesmeric assault on a local girl. And, a local lady, Arabella March, seems to be running a game of her own, perhaps angling to become Mrs. Caswall. There is something strange about Lady March, something inexplicable and evil.... (Summary from Wikipedia) Note: This book contains racial comments that may be offensive to modern listeners....

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Horror/Ghost stories

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Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914?), satirist, critic, poet, short story writer and journalist. His fiction showed a clean economical style often sprinkled with subtle cynical comments on human behaviour. Nothing is known of his death, as he went missing while an observer with Pancho Villa’s army in 1913/14. (Summaries by Peter Yearsley) The Ways of Ghosts : Stories of encounters with the ghosts of the dead and dying. The spirits of the dead reach out to the living, to pass on a message or to pursue a killer. Contents (with beginning time):

• Present at a Hanging (02:06)
• A Cold Greeting (07:07)
• A Wireless Message (11:15)
• An Arrest (17:04)

Soldier Folk : Oddities of death and life; from a man who finds that his death is uncertain, through the effects of war on the family, duty that survives death, to the memory of revenge. Contents (with beginning time):

• A Man with Two Lives (00:31)
• Three and One are One (06:23)
• A Baffled Ambuscade (14:18)
• Two Military Executions (19:45)

Some Haunted Houses - Part One : Encounters of the living with the spirit...

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Horror/Ghost stories

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Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914?), best known as journalist, satirist and short story writer. Cynical in outlook, economical in style; Bierce vanished while an observer with Pancho Villa's army. Four grotesque short stories about murder within the family, seen through the gently innocent eyes of family members ... usually the murderer himself. (Summary written by Peter Yearsley)...

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Horror/Ghost stories

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Originally published as a penny dreadful from 1845 until 1847, when it first appeared in book form, Varney the Vampyre is a forerunner to vampire stories such as Dracula , which it heavily influenced. Flora Bannersworth is attacked in her own room in the middle of the night, and although her attacker is seemingly shot dead, the body is nowhere to be found. The discovery of two small bite marks on Flora's neck leads Mr Marchdale, an old friend of the family, to the conclusion that she was bitten by a vampire. While Flora recovers, her brother Henry and Mr Marchdale begin their hunt for the vampire. Their suspicions soon fall on the mysterious Sir Francis Varney, who has just bought an old abbey near Bannersworth Hall, and who bears an uncanny resemblance to Marmaduke Bannersworth, a long-dead ancestor of the family. (Summary by Annika Feilbach)...

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Horror/Ghost stories, Mystery, Fiction

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Originally published as a penny dreadful from 1845 until 1847, when it first appeared in book form, Varney the Vampyre is a forerunner to vampire stories such as Dracula , which it heavily influenced. Flora Bannersworth is attacked in her own room in the middle of the night, and although her attacker is seemingly shot dead, the body is nowhere to be found. The discovery of two small bite marks on Flora's neck leads Mr Marchdale, an old friend of the family, to the conclusion that she was bitten by a vampire. While Flora recovers, her brother Henry and Mr Marchdale begin their hunt for the vampire. Their suspicions soon fall on the mysterious Sir Francis Varney, who has just bought an old abbey near Bannersworth Hall, and who bears an uncanny resemblance to Marmaduke Bannersworth, a long-dead ancestor of the family. (Summary by Annika Feilbach)...

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Horror/Ghost stories, Mystery, Fiction

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This is volume 3 of 3. -- Originally published as a penny dreadful from 1845 until 1847, when it first appeared in book form, Varney the Vampyre is a forerunner to vampire stories such as Dracula , which it heavily influenced. Flora Bannersworth is attacked in her own room in the middle of the night, and although her attacker is seemingly shot dead, the body is nowhere to be found. The discovery of two small bite marks on Flora's neck leads Mr Marchdale, an old friend of the family, to the conclusion that she was bitten by a vampire. While Flora recovers, her brother Henry and Mr Marchdale begin their hunt for the vampire. Their suspicions soon fall on the mysterious Sir Francis Varney, who has just bought an old abbey near Bannersworth Hall, and who bears an uncanny resemblance to Marmaduke Bannersworth, a long-dead ancestor of the family. (Summary by Annika Feilbach)...

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Horror/Ghost stories, Fiction, Mystery

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Olalla was a shilling shocker written for the Christmas season in 1885, just before the publication of Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The nameless protagonist of this Gothic tale, a wounded soldier, goes to the Spanish countryside to recuperate. He finds himself enthralled by the beautiful Olalla, the daughter of his hostess, whose family conceals a terrible secret. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)...

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Fiction, Horror/Ghost stories

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A story of psychological horror, The Return explores ideas of identity, love, and alienation. Arthur grapples with the reactions of his family and community, and his own sanity, when he experiences a sudden and mysterious transformation. ( Summary by Corinna Schultz )...

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Fiction, Horror/Ghost stories

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Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by the British author Mary Shelley. Shelley wrote the novel when she was 18 years old. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818, and this audiobook is read from that text. Shelley's name appeared on the revised third edition, published in 1831. The title of the novel refers to the scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who learns how to create life and creates a being in the likeness of man, but larger than average and more powerful. In modern popular culture, people have tended to refer to the Creature as Frankenstein (especially in films since 1931), despite this being the name of the scientist, and the creature being unnamed in the book itself. Frankenstein is a novel infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. It was also a warning against the over-reaching of modern man and the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus . The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. It is arguably considered the first fully-realis...

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Horror/Ghost stories, Fiction, Literature, Science fiction

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The Lost Stradivarius (1895), by J. Meade Falkner, is a short novel of ghosts and the evil that can be invested in an object, in this case an extremely fine Stradivarius violin. After finding the violin of the title in a hidden compartment in his college rooms, the protagonist, a wealthy young heir, becomes increasingly secretive as well as obsessed by a particular piece of music, which seems to have the power to call up the ghost of its previous owner. Roaming from England to Italy, the story involves family love, lordly depravity, and the tragedy of obsession...

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Mystery, Horror/Ghost stories

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The Scarlet Archer of Agincourt is claimed by the Erkenwold’s as their family ghost. Tradition held that the death of an important Erkenwold was always heralded by the apparition of the Scarlet Archer. Now in the early years of WWII, the archer has made an appearance on the family estate on the US coast. Is it a ghost or something more sinister, and what does he or she want? This mystery novel was written by Daniel A Lord, S.J., who was a popular American Catholic writer. The subjects of the works in his bibliography range from religion, humor, plays, songs, mysteries and even politics. His most influential work was possibly in drafting the 1930 Production Code for motion pictures. (Introduction by Maria Therese and Wikipedia)...

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Fiction, Horror/Ghost stories, Mystery

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John Charles Dent, the author of the following remarkable stories, was born in Kendal, Westmorland, England, in 1841. His parents emigrated to Canada shortly after that event, bringing with them, of course, the youth who was afterwards to become the Canadian author and historian. Mr. Dent received his primary education in Canadian schools, and afterwards studied law, becoming in due course a member of the Upper Canada Bar. He only practised for a few years, then returned to England to pursue a literary career, writing mostly for periodicals. After remaining in England for several years, Mr. Dent and his family moved to Boston, in America, for about two years. But he finally returned to Canada, accepting a journalistic position in Toronto. Mr. Dent proceeded to write 'The Canadian Portrait Gallery', which ran to four large volumes, 'The Last Forty Years: Canada since the Union of 1841', and a 'History of the Rebellion in Upper Canada'. This collected work of his short fiction, contributed by their author at considerable intervals to different periodicals, was published posthumously. The stories themselves are delightfully anchored in...

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Horror/Ghost stories, Mystery, Short stories