Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

Lettice Galbraith is as mysterious as the stories she wrote. She appeared on the literary scene in 1893 with a rash of short stories and one novel, published another story four years later, and then disappeared without a trace. Yet despite the brevity of her presence on the literary stage, her supernatural stories have remained popular to this day. 'The Ghost in the Chair' tells the story of a strange shareholders' meeting at a troubled mining company.

Mary Cholmondeley (1859-1925) was an English novelist and short story writer. 'Let Loose' is a supernatural ghost story where a young architect wishes to research a unique fresco in the crypt of a remote and ancient parish church in Yorkshire. The parish clergyman is remarkably reluctant to hand over the keys to the crypt and sets some odd conditions to their use. On the subsequent days after the young architect has opened the crypt, terrible and mysterious deaths begin to plague the village.

Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946) was a prolific English writer who is best remembered for his science fiction novels. 'The Temptation of Haringay' is the strange tale of an unsuccessful artist who is unexpectedly approached with an offer by the devil - his soul in return for the thing he most yearns for....

When Don Juan returns home after years of travel, he brings with him a beautiful and mysterious young wife, Dona Pepa. Despite her beauty, Dona Pepa is mistrusted and disliked by everyone. Several years after this, Don Juan invites his nephew, Don Luis, for an extended visit. Don Luis takes an instant dislike to his aunt. Moreover, he often sees a sinister snake around the house, which fills him with fear and loathing. He soon realises that this snake is Dona Pepa in another form.

When Mademoiselle Aurelie's neighbour appears and asks her to take care of her four children in an emergency, she accepts the challenge very reluctantly. Mademoiselle Aurelie knows nothing about children and cares even less for them. But over the following weeks, the children become a part of her life... until the day when their mother reappears to reclaim them.

Lady Eleanor Furneaux Smith (1902-1945) was an English writer, famous for her supernatural stories. 'Mrs. Raeburn's Waxwork' is an eerie tale about Patrick Lamb, who takes a job as custodian of Mugivan's waxwork exhibition. In the part of the exhibition where all the murderers and freaks are displayed, there is one figure which fascinates him. It is the figure of Mrs. Raeburn, the poisoner.

Mary Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930) was an American writer best known for her stories reflecting the world of women fighting for dignity and independence from men. Her tales typically describe domestic settings and intimate relationships and are told with sensitivity and a poignancy which illuminates a bygone era in vivid detail. 'The Lost Ghost' is a supernatural story told by one woman to another about a child ghost who wanders around an old house in search of her mother.... The story has an extraordinary ending.

A. J. Alan was the pseudonym of Leslie Harrison Lambert (1883-1941), an English magician, intelligence officer, short story writer, and radio broadcaster. He was hugely popular in the '20s and '30s for his radio broadcasts, wherein he performed his own humorous and often macabre short stories, which he always delivered wearing full evening dress.

The Scholar tells the tale of a reclusive old academic with an obsession for orderliness and absolute quiet, who also suffers from acute hypochondria. His doctor suggests that a cure might be to marry...preferably a woman who is the complete opposite of himself. He suggests Antoinette, the vivacious, party-loving daughter of the landlord downstairs. But it is Antoinette's quiet, studious sister who is secretly in love with the old scholar, and who is of course, more suited to making him happy. The question is, how destiny can conspire to effect the right match.

Stoker became famous as a writer of horror and supernatural fiction, including his 1897 best seller Dracula. 'Dracula's Guest' was written as an action-packed chapter in Dracula, but it was never included in the final manuscript. It was published in 1914 as a standalone tale after Stoker's death.

Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946) was a prolific English writer of science fiction stories and novels, and is frequently credited as being the father of science fiction. 'The Moth' is the strange tale of two rivalling entomologists, each determined to demolish the other's life's work. When one of them dies, the other struggles to cope in the absence of his rival. And then he discovers an entirely new species of moth - a moth very reminiscent of his dead rival - and which pursues him wherever he goes.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867 - 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known as the true master of the gothic occult story. Charles Linkworth is guilty of the very worst kind of murder imaginable and is sentenced to hang the next morning. The prison doctor certifies the death following the execution, but is struck by a strange sensation as he does so, as though the spirit of the executed convict were next to him.

The story opens with the narrator on his way home from the theatre one evening, when his attention is drawn to a crowd gathered around a road accident in the West End of London. A taxi has hit a pedestrian. Out of the crowd emerges Charles, an old friend, supporting a fainting women. They had been the passengers in the taxi, and Charles now charges the narrator with seeing the lady home.

A. J. Alan was the pseudonym of Leslie Harrison Lambert (1883-1941), an English magician, intelligence officer, short-story writer, and radio broadcaster. He was hugely popular in the '20s and '30s for his radio broadcasts, wherein he performed his own humorous and often macabre short stories, which he always delivered wearing full evening dress.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928, and 1930. Among her most popular and terrifying tales are the many masterly ghost stories which she wrote in her early career. During a convivial evening during which all the guests recount their own personal ghost stories, nobody expects the dry old host, Andrew Culwin, to contribute any supernatural experience.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867 – 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer, best known as the true master of the gothic ghost story. The Other Bed tells the tale of a hotel guest who is allocated what appears to be a very fine first floor room at a highly reasonable price. There are two beds in the room and even on the first night, the weary traveller develops an inexplicable horror of one of these beds.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867 - 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer, best known as the true master of the gothic ghost story. "The Step" tells the bizarre and terrifying tale of a British money-lender in Alexandria who is aware of uncanny footsteps following him as he walks home from his club at nights. Initially he ignores the footsteps... then he plucks up courage to challenge the invisible follower...

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost stories. Caterpillars is the story of a strange visit to the mysterious Villa Cascana, where one bedroom is inexplicably always kept empty. The visitor feels uneasy immediately on arriving, although there is no obvious reason why he should. And then the nightmares begin.

Morley Robers (1857-1942) was an adventurer who worked on railways, cattle and sheep ranches all over Africa and the Americas and still found time to write a large number of very varied novels and stories with a zest which only real life experience can give. In "The Smile of La Gioconda" he is concerned with the subtle psychological aspects of the love triangle and the perils of repressed emotions.

The story of two brothers, who could not be more opposite, experience the Great War in different ways. Giles, the elder, popular, sporty brother enlists as a soldier. Robin, the younger, sickly brother is rejected when he tries to join up. Yet a mysterious bond exists between the brothers. When Giles leaves for the trenches, it is as though Robin goes with him. He experiences all the sights, sounds, smells and emotions of his elder brother.