Corazones perdidos: Cuentos completos de fantasmas

by M.R. James, M.R. James

Dotado de una fuerza casi diabólica para invocar suavemente el horror partiendo del centro mismo de la prosaica vida diaria, el erudito Montague Rhodes James (Goodnestone 1862 - Eton 1936), preboste del Eton College, arqueólogo de renombre y reconocida autoridad en manuscritos medievales e historia de las catedrales, se convirtió poco a poco en un cultivador de primera fila de la literatura espectral, siguiendo su vieja afición a contar relatos de fantasmas durante las Navidades, y ha llegado a servir de modelo a una larga serie de discípulos. […] En estos 31 relatos, la totalidad de los cuentos de fantasmas de James, encontramos a menudo maliciosas escenas humorísticas, retratos de género y caracterizaciones muy naturales que, en sus manos, contribuyen a aumentar el efecto global en lugar de anularlo. […] Al inventar un nuevo tipo de fantasma, James se aparta sensiblemente de la tradición gótica convencional, pues, mientras que los viejos fantasmas clásicos aparecían pálidos y majestuosos y eran percibidos principalmente con la vista, el espectro habitual de M. R. James es delgado, enano y peludo, una abominación perezosa e informal de la noche, a medio camino entre la bestia y el hombre, a la que se llega a «tocar» antes que a «ver». A veces, este espectro tiene una constitución de lo más excéntrica: es un rollo de franela con ojos de araña, o una entidad invisible modelada con las ropas de una cama «cuyo rostro lo forma una sábana arrugada». de El horror sobrenatural en la literatura H. P. Lovecraft.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Gothic, Audiobook, Fantasy

496 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1895

About the author

Montague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted English mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

M.R.^James

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short snapshot of sheer spookiness and sure to awaken a creeping ghoulishness within our mind’s eye!

SCARE CITY!

You know, the days of wintry autumn are slowly coming. Those days shorten bit by bit and the evening shadows lengthen earlier and earlier, and we often feel a slight murky feeling of being ill at ease with our lives.

Ancient times understood this, and evolved a fix for us over time - All Hallows’ Eve - or Hallowe’en, as we now know it.

Before the time of incessant media distractions, there existed a profound sense of Good and Evil in everyday life. Have we missed that essential link to Peace of Mind?

Regardless, Faith provided a CATHARSIS from that bred-in-the-bone spookiness we feel in the air this time of year.

To perform this, it OBJECTIFIES the idea of Evil for us. That helps.

But we all know, deep inside, that Evil we feel is a Solid Thing.

So stories like Lost Hearts can actually PURGE our hearts of its Dread.

And give us the temporary peace of catharsis.

And this one’s FREE on the Web in PDF form!

We’re sure at the outset that something’s a bit OFF with the reclusive Professor Abney. WHAT the devil is he up to?

We’re right in thinking that - for, to be blunt, he’s a Warlock. And an ugly Necromancer.

But his young cousin doesn’t know that, when he’s orphaned at twelve years old and Abney is selected as his guardian.

First clue? Abney asks right off the bat when the Exact Date of his Thirteenth birthday is - his coming of age - that is if you don’t mind, my child?

Yikes!

Seems the professor, a dabbler in the esoteric arts, wants to celebrate with the kid...

I know, I know.

REALLY Risky Business!

But don’t worry - the darkest hour of the Night is JUST BEFORE DAWN...

You know, it never seems to work out smoothly when you read a scary story on a bright, cloudless day -

But in the Dark Dusky moments of a late November smokefall and bat flight -

It’ll make your skin CRAWL.

[Bionic Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lost Hearts is a short story from "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary", published in 1904. It is a lesser tale, and although appealing to modern tastes, is not a typical tale from M.R. James.

The tale begins with the description of an old country house, Answarby Hall in Lincolnshire, towards which a young boy, Stephen Elliot, is travelling. He has been recently orphaned and a distant cousin, a Mr Abney, who is much older, has agreed to give him a home. This is a surprise to the people who know Mr Abney, as he is something of a recluse; a Professor of Greek at Cambridge University and particularly interested in Pagan religions. He is not known to have any interest in children.

He welcomes Stephen effusively, strangely asking the boy how old he was twice within the first few minutes. Steven and the reader find this rather puzzling. Perhaps it is just eccentricity on the part of an old man.

Steven settles into the household, and questions the servants - Mrs. Bunch and Mr. Parkes - about Mr Abney. They tell Steven that the Professor is very kind. They remember for instance, that he has befriended two children on earlier occasions. The first child was a gypsy girl, who stayed for only three weeks before mysteriously disappearing. The next was a boy called Jevanny. He was also homeless and had arrived playing a hurdy-gurdy one day. Mr. Abney took him in, but he also mysteriously disappeared after a short time. Although the servants do not feel at all surprised by this, the reader feels that Steven at least should have been.

Steven has a couple of very unsettling experiences. Once he sees an emaciated body of a young girl lying in the bathtub. He concludes that it was a trick of the light through the glazed bathroom door. On another occasion his nightgown is found by the servant to have been slashed over and over again, and there are scratchmarks on the door, both of which are inexplicable. On yet another occasion he overhears the butler telling the servant about some rats whom he heard whispering and talking in the cellar. When he catches sight of Stephen, the butler makes out that he had been joking. At this point the story loses some credibility. A sense of dread should have been conveyed, but there is no sense that the characters are made to feel jittery in any way.

After Stephen has been living at Answarby Hall for a while, Mr. Abney asks him if he could come to see him at 11pm one evening in March. It is a strange request, he says, but he would be busy with his papers and not have any time before then, and he would like to talk to Stephen about his future. Stephen agrees, and while he is waiting sees two strange apparitions outside the house - a boy and a girl. The girl reminds him of the image he had seen in the bathroom. She is clasping her hand over her chest, and as she moves it aside, Stephen sees a gaping hole in her chest. Despite this frightening experience, Stephen keeps his appointment and knocks on the Professor's door at 11pm.

Before he can go in however, there is a frightful shriek. When the door is finally opened Mr Abney is found to be dead, with his chest slashed and his heart exposed. He has a ghastly expression on his face. A knife lies close by, but the knife is perfectly clean. Papers and diagrams are spread about chaotically. The verdict of the coroner later is that a wild beast must have entered the house and attacked the man.

However, later papers come to light which mean that the adult Stephen comes to a very different conclusion. Mr Abney had been obsessed by the concept of immortality, and kept a journal of his experiments. The journal detailed theories which he had held, derived from occult practises.

One of them was that the consuming of the hearts of 3 children, before the age of 12, would make him able to fly and make him immortal. It was important that the hearts be cut from the living body, burnt, mixed with port and consumed. The professor wrote that he had hidden their bodies in an unused bathroom and a wine cellar. In other parts of the diaries Mr Abney recorded the "psychic forms" of the children, their leaden features and hideously long nails. They returned after their death, but had little weight or substance, so he thought they were weak and did not pose a threat to him. He viewed these "psychic forms" as a small price to pay for immortality.

This is a much more explicit horror story than we are used to from the pen of M.R. James. The themes are the same - the interference with arcane mysteries, the supernatural element, the remote musty setting, the scholar at the heart of the story and the ideas of both obsession and guilt. But the sense of menace and dread is largely lost. Perhaps it has been sacrificed along with the children in order to make the tale more gruesome and explicitly horrific. Or perhaps it is simply that the protagonist is a child, and M.R. James did not manage to convey such feelings of trepidation and dread from a child's point of view as easily as he managed to with his adult characters. It is a popular story nonetheless, and often dramatised to enhance its "shocker" elements, but it is not one of his best.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Often anthologized, this second tale in from M.R. James’ first collection, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, has never been one of my favorites. I felt that it lacked antiquarian atmosphere, that its ironies were too broad, and that its villain was too Dickensian to be credible. On a more serious note, I found the images of murdered children to be too grim and unsettling—at least within the sedate context of the Edwardian ghost story.

But then I re-read it, and found that everything I claimed to believe about Lost Hearts was wrong.

My criticisms arose from a common mistake: I expected Lost Hearts to be more like my favorite James’ stories and then faulted it when it turned out to be different. Although Lost Hearts features the usual antiquarian narrator, he does not relate the usual antiquarian anecdote, but instead tells us a story told to him by a man who is remembering a boyhood experience. It is indeed an astonishing story, for the boy he once was would have almost certainly been murdered if it had not been for the ghostly intervention of two murdered children.

The child’s eye view is the basis for much that I once wrongly saw as defects; the lack of antiquarian interest, the obvious ironies, the broad-brush portrait of villainry. Most essential to the success of Lost Hearts, however, are the disturbing graphic images themselves. For those images—transmitted through dreams—are the very means by which the ghostly victims warn and save a living boy.

My new opinion: Lost Hearts may be darker and more compassionate than the average M.R. James story, but it is equally effective.

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have arranged my thoughts on this short story into a haiku:

"There's no stronger bane,
Than the combined, stoked efforts
Of the overlooked."

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the tales in Ghosts Stories of an Antiquary (1904). Potentially one of his darkest ones given the victim status of very young children, this takes the antiquarian aspect of the collection to heart with a late Georgian devotee of the Roman mystery religions seeking to find gnosis through blood rites.

[ناني ماكفي · Rating 3 out of 5]

I became addicted to these audiobook short stories narrated by SIMON STANHOPE
Very classic short ghost and criminal stories written by many different writers
And guess what! I'm in loooooove
It's like a bedtime lullaby 🩷🩷🩷
If you are guys interested you can find them in Bitesized audiobook on youtube
ENJOY

[Chris Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this as a 10-year-old. It mildly scared me.

Last night, 35 years later, I still find it a good story.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very atmospheric.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐
This ghost story tells the tale of an orphan boy about to turn twelve, Stephen Elliott, who is sent to stay with Mr. Abney, the boy's cousin, at his remote estate in the country. He is an alchemist obsessed with his quest to acquire immortality. Young Stephen is soon haunted by mysterious apparitions.

[Rick West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nineteenth century ghost stories and M. R. James go together like tea and crumpets. He was truly a master story teller.

This tale tells the story of Stephen, a young orphan boy of 12, who is sent to stay with his much older cousin at a remote country mansion in the year 1811. His cousin, Mr. Abney is a professor of Greek at Cambridge University. He is well versed in ancient pagan religions and philosophies. He lives alone and is attended by servants. We find that he is obsessed with making himself immortal.

Mr Abney has his butler take the boy to the room of Mrs. Bunch, who is to take care of the boy. Mrs. Bunch praises Mr. Abney's kindness and explains that on two different occasions he had given shelter to homeless children. The first child was a gypsy girl who stayed for about three weeks and suddenly disappeared. The boy was a foreigner called Jevanny. Mr. Abney took him in and he to suddenly disappeared.

One night Stephen has a nightmare. In an unused bathroom near his own room he dreams he looks through the glass and sees a very thin girl in a shroud-like garment. Her hands are over her heart. She starts to moan, and her arms start to shake. This causes Stephen to wake up and he finds it was all a dream??

Another night Stephen's nightgown is ripped as if some animal with sharp claws had torn his nightgown just over Stephen's heart.

The story now becomes more freighting and there is a pretty good amount of mystery. It is now time for you to pick up Mr. M. R. James and enjoy.

[Federico DN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.

This was good, but not going to review it.

For the moment at least.

It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1895] [20p] [Horror] [3.5] [Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------

★★★★☆ The Mezzotint [4.5]
★★★☆☆ Ghost Stories of an Antiquary <--

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Muy bien.

Esto estuvo bastante bien, pero no voy a reseñarlo.

Al menos por ahora.

Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.

-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1895] [20p] [Horror] [3.5] [Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------

[Andrew “The Weirdling” Glos · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Lost Hearts” is my first foray into the writing of M R James. It won’t be my last. I am deeply surprised by how dark and evil this story was given the era in which it was written.

In the midst of good, proper, Edwardian culture, the plot revolves around a seemingly sane and rational practitioner of ancient blood rite magic on the children. It is what I imagine it would be like to read a testament from the likes of Jack the Ripper, but worse. It is shocking and disturbing and, for the horror fan, highly enjoyable and satisfying.

[EHR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I thought I had figured out all the twists, another hit! Great read!

[Debbie Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lost Hearts is an unabridged short story by Montague Rhodes James, aka M. R. James, a British author and medievalist scholar who lived between 1862-1936 that I learned about from a Goodreads review by “Fergus, Quondam Happy Face“ who writes marvelous reviews. While James was uncovering the bodies of 12th and 13th century abbots as a medievalist, it must have inspired him to write ghostly stories. He was born in the year following the death of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the love of Queen Victoria’s life, and from that point forward there was a burgeoning interest on the British Isles in seances and learning whether there could be communication between the living and the dead. There were a number of spiritualists who attained a kind of celebrity status during the Victorian period, and helped spark a spiritualist revival in the 1920s. James picked a great period for writing his stories. Audible has a great number of his individual spooky stories, and once I’d listened to the Audible sample, there was no going back. I was sold on narrator David Collings. I love a good ghost story, and growing up in the midst of the Appalachian Mountains, I grew to love the frightening folklore and superstitions of the mountain people.

This is a tale of a young boy turning 12 years old in a year, who is sent to live with an older cousin, a man old enough to be his uncle. He lives in a comfortable home with staff. The cousin seems inordinately interested in when the boy will turn 12, and seems delighted to know it’s within a 12 month period. The boy learns he previously had taken in two other children, a boy and a girl who both tragically disappeared in time, which is a troubling sign to the reader. You need to read the story yourself to learn what happens, and if you willingly suspend your disbelief, you learn the dead may indeed hold sway in our lives, and like A Miracle on 34th Street where the proof of Santa’s existence is discovered by virtue of the USPS sending the children’s letters to the man who calls himself Kris Kringle, we have only to look at the voter rolls of every state to see proof of the dead’s activity, albeit unseen by mortals.

While in high school I discovered Ambrose Bierce who became one of my favorite authors, an “American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book The Devil's Dictionary was named one of ‘The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature’ by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration…For his horror writing, Michael Dirda ranked him alongside Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft.” (Wiki) Bierce once stated, "Who never doubted, never half believed. Where doubt is, there truth is - it is her shadow." A love of mystery is a wonderful thing. I’m definitely going to read or listen to more of James’ work, and my guilty pleasure will no doubt be in squirreling away those Collings Audible editions.

[Peggy Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lost Hearts: A Chilled Atmosphere But Not Quite Captivating

M. R. James' "Lost Hearts" has its strengths. The creepy atmosphere in Aswarby Hall is undeniable. The isolation, the strange sounds, and the unsettling portrait of Mr. Abney all contribute to a sense of unease that builds effectively.

However, the story fell a little flat for me in a few areas. The plot felt predictable at times, and the characters, particularly Stephen, the young protagonist, weren't fleshed out enough to fully engage me in their plight. The ending, while not bad, didn't pack the punch I was hoping for.

Overall, "Lost Hearts" is a decent read for fans of classic ghost stories. It delivers a good dose of chills but might not leave a lasting impression. If you're new to M. R. James, you might want to try some of his other works, which might be more gripping.

[Maggie May · Rating 4 out of 5]

A creepy, atmospheric short story.

[dilara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very atmospheric and autumnal. I loved the antiquity aspect the blood rites, cannibalism etc. I wish it had been a tad longer tho

[Morgan Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is actually a favorite scary story of mine. I enjoy the style of writing and the denouement. It fit perfectly within the rest of the story line and wrapped it all up while still leaving that sense of the unknown or unknowable behind.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost Hearts by MR James

8 out of 10


Lost Hearts is part of a collection of short stories, some of which are enticing, wonderful, but this one is not overwhelming

Not for me anyway, and this has to do with the fact that I do not like ghost stories, or maybe I have had too much of that
From here on, this is not about Lost Hearts, my opinion is clear and expressed in the first line, I do not like it

But, since there is all this space here, why not rant on things of the past, Remembrance of Things Past https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/... being my absolute favorite chef d’oeuvre
I chose geology, then geophysics as subject study, and graduated in 1990, after the Revolution that has taken down Ceausescu

With pride I must say that I took part in the overthrow off that heinous dictator, and the link is at the end of this note
However, while studying in University, I took on guiding lessons, then worked for the National Tourist Office

Once on a practice tour, I saw that geophysicists could not do their job, because Ceausescu had decreed the start of the ‘Agrarian Revolution’, which meant that had priority and everything else had to stop, though for not good reason
To satisfy the tyrant, and because they were sycophants and the dogs from Animal Farm https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/... they would actually ruin the crops

That is another story though, perhaps for the next ‘review’, when I will abandon the subject and go odd rails again – I did not mention ‘spoiler alert’, but it was clear enough, right, I said all I had to about Lost Hearts
Watching those engineers sit idly, in lousy circumstances (albeit, in a communist country you could not expect much, if anything) I decided to change jobs, and go into the Hospitality Business, or travel and tours

Indeed, I brought home a color television, then a video player, and eventually, the Dacia car, later traded for an Audi (fifteen years old, but like a helicopter, in those days, when there were very few automobiles)
Incidentally, it may be because of the Audi that Miss Romania stopped and talked to the dog parked inside – yes, it could also be the animal, who was cute, named after Jack Nicholson in The Witches of Eastwick

In that film https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/... Jack Nicholson is the devil, under cover as Daryl van Horn, and that was my German shepherd, the pretext for talk
Let us get off this route – which is nonetheless very present in multiple notes and stories on this blog – and try and explain my adversity to ghost stories, of which I had had enough notwithstanding my adversity

As a guide and later entrepreneur in the travel business, I have taken Americans, British, Canadians and some others around this country, and the number one spot was…Dracula’s castle, and then other places were also taken by the count
Hence, I have had to talk about the guy, the myth, legends, historical facts and superstition, the ghosts and all that, because that was the demand, aside from Bran, there was Sighisoara, where Vlad The Impaler was born

When not traveling to Bran, we were off to Poienari, a citadel now in ruins, where we have had a connection with Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for the vampire count, albeit so distant from the fictional character
The real man was quite a weird fellow, and a lot of horror is associated with him, the sympathizers say it was all in the name of patriotism, to keep the Ottomans away, and defend his land, besides, cruelty was common

Nevertheless, if we are to listen to the gruesome legends, we are terrified, for instance, he is supposed to have asked the beggars, homeless, if they want to end this life, and they said yes, thinking they are in for a treat
And yes, he did give them a meal, but set them on fire after that, he would put nails into the heads of ambassadors that kept their hats on, in the name of respecting their customs, he would impale the enemies and much more…

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

[Elizabeth Choi · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023: (3★) This was a bit more satisfying, for reasons I won't go into because of spoilers. But this is on a classic ghost story level.

2024: (4★) very much enjoyed this on the reread, probably one of the more satisfying of his stories. It's proportionally laid out to balance curiosity, suspense, and explanation. I love the trope of the ghosts trying to stop history repeating itself. I enjoyed getting to know Mr Abneys character a bit more, with how he justifies it to himself and belittles the law. Classic.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

short story, also found at: https://anilbalan.files.wordpress.com...

[Kylie Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this one before. It's a bit short for the substance of the story, and could be the basis of a much larger piece.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might appear blasphemous, but I didn't find this story to be of quite the five-star level which I usually associate with James. But in comparison to all other such stories, it's awesome!

[Faizan · Rating 3 out of 5]

should have read this at night

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young orphan boy is sent to live with his uncle in a house that seems to be haunted from his uncles unnatural experiments.

[Brooksie Fontaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great story, concise and horrifying. Yet it also provides a vindicating sense of justice.

Beyond anything supernatural, the story is a timeless cautionary tale of the rich using poor or vulnerable children as commodities, under the guise of kindness.

Details hidden below for spoilers.

Abney takes in a Romani or Traveler child and a homeless Italian child, and nobody thinks anything of it when both disappear - in fact, in the case of the former, it's blamed on the other Romani or Travelers, when a more sinister explanation would be apparent if anyone were to look.

In his papers, Abney admits to having killed the two children by cutting out their beating hearts, in the hopes of attaining supernatural pleasures. He uses academic language to detach himself from the barbarism of these acts.

His most recent would-be victim is his twelve-year-old cousin, Stephen Elliot, who is saved from his fate by the spirits of the slain children. Abney is found slumped in his chair, with a look of rage, pain, and mortal terror on his face and a deep gash in his chest, just before he can murder Stephen.

Subtextually, I found the story to be reminiscent of real life abusers who hide behind wealth and status while preying on children, oftentimes children in their own care. That's why his fate - at the hands of his victims, no less - is so satisfying.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I listened to Lost Hearts as part of Ghost Stories – Stephen Fry’s Definitive Collection.

This was a short, eerie tale that made strong use of foreshadowing and atmosphere. The tension built beautifully, with the mystery presented and resolved just enough to leave a lingering chill at the end. The concept of an unwitting victim stepping into a trap is classic ghost-story material, and it’s handled well here.

That said, the brevity of the story works against it slightly — I felt there was room for more development to deepen the unease and make the resolution hit harder.

Stephen Fry’s narration was, once again, exceptional. His voice carried the weight of the story and painted vivid, unsettling images throughout. The background sound design perfectly complemented the tone, enhancing the tension without overpowering it.

In its current form, I wouldn’t revisit this one often, but it’s still an enjoyable piece of classic supernatural fiction. The audiobook experience, particularly through Fry’s delivery, elevates it considerably.

Rating: Like

[Pietro Mirabelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raccolta di Racconti su Fantasmi e simili. Di base non hanno lo scopo di far paura ma soprattutto inquietarti. L'autore (e il traduttore) è abile nel cambiare linguaggio a seconda della scena, passando da un registro informale a uno ricercato da verbale di tribunale. Spesso omette i nomi dei personaggi, rendendo le storie più dicerie che accurati reportage, così da dare ancora maggiormente quel senso di storia sentita, tramandata oralmente. I luoghi ove accadono le vicende sono spesso Chiese, Borghi o Alberghi, ma le trame reggono una buona originalità, evitando di diventare copie di racconti precedenti. Non tutti i racconti sono dello stesso livello, alcuni sono noiosi, altri appassionanti. È un libro da leggere per chi apprezza storie di Fantasmi di fine 1800 inizio 1900 ed apprezza quelle atmosfere di campagna un po' bucoliche, con vecchietti amabili e storie di assassini e demoni.

[Plateresca · Rating 4 out of 5]

One knows what to expect from an M. R. James story, doesn't one? And I like this comfortable predictability. I don't mean to say that his stories are all alike, not at all; there are similarities, of course, but still the situations are varied enough. I mean that their style and tone is mostly the same, they're all creepy to a nice point, all in good taste, and I think they all, or most of them, have happy endings, as much as a happy ending is possible in a ghost story; and their BBC adaptations mostly have sad endings, which ruins them for me. And, of course, I love the quiet sense of humour.

So this is another of those M. R. James's comfortably creepy short stories. There's a lonely scholar, and, of course, mysterious things happen...

An enjoyable read for a rainy day.

[Lily P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Audible)

Published 1904, this creepy ghost/horror story tells the tale of a young orphan who goes to live with a distant uncle. The uncle is a nice enough gentleman, a little eccentric, and a bit of a scientist it seems.

Shortly after arriving the young boy learns of the mysterious disappearances of two other children in the area. They were disposable children, a gypsy and an immigrant without family to inquire after them at great length.

Curious.

Then the boy sees the first ghost.

A creepy story that is beautifully served in short story format. While some of the tale was predictable, I wasn't expecting then ending. Well done M.R. James. Well done.

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