The Classic Tales Podcast

The Lurking Fear. The Silent Death. Thunder calls it forth. It moves without detection. It kills without mercy. It terrorizes a mountainside. H.P. Lovecraft weaves a spellbinding tale of terror in the Catskill Mountains.

What if you had the equivalent of five million dollars in your pocket, but had no way of spending it? Two brothers make a bet, proposing that such a man would either starve or barely scrape by after a month of such living. 27 year old Henry, a shipwrecked, penniless American in London, is the man the brothers choose. For 30 days, he must sink or swim by keeping a £1,000,000 note safe in his pocket.

The Red Room is haunted. Nobody knows how or why, but one man has lost his life while spending the night in the forbidden chamber. The horrors of the room drove him to madness. So, what will happen when another ambitious young man attempts to enter the room? Find out, on The Classic Tales Podcast.

One ounce of darkened blood. This birthmark was the only thing that kept Georgiana from celestial perfection. Her husband, Aylmer, was certain the birthmark would grow stale and insignificant over time. But time, it seems, has a will of its own. And as Aylmer fuels the dark fire within himself, the birthmark gains a scorching power that promises to engulf them both.

When one of Bertie Wooster’s American chums needs help in getting his hard-nosed uncle to approve of his intended, Jeeves demonstrates his colossal mind power with the equanimity of a true gentleman’s gentleman.

“The horror. The horror.” These are the final words uttered in this world by the enigmatic Mr. Kurtz. And while Marlow mulls over the myriad paths these words cut into his heart, he is lead to a final interview with Kurtz’ Intended. She is the only mourner Kurtz ever had. So, how is Marlow to tell her that her embodiment of perfection was actually the Heart of Darkness?

The voyage begins, and whispers of the mysterious Mr. Kurtz trickle into Marlow’s ear. Cannibals join the crew with tattooed faces, patterned heads and rotten hippo-meat. White mist gathers round us as we journey further into the Heart of Darkness.

“A weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares.” This is how Marlow describes his journey into the Belgian Congo. And while Europeans go mad, corporations turn tyrannous, and the legend of a great ivory hunter is dangled before him, Marlow observes everything with a keen eye, as we journey with him, into The Heart of Darkness.

Valentin, the greatest detective in the world, travels to London on the trail of the most elusive of villains. But a strange trail of clues leads Valentin through London and out into the country. It isn’t until the meandering journey’s end that the short, moon faced Father Brown sets Valentin back on his feet.

Two student anatomists purchase the remains of humanity in the small hours of the morning. The shadowy men who bring the bodies seldom speak, and the suspicions of the students are never spoken aloud. Until one morning, when the drapery is lifted from the face of a new acquisition and one student recognizes it as the face of a dear friend, alive and well only yesterday.