Show notes:

• Comparative Mythology and the Cambridge Ritualists (Wikipedia)
  The criticism of Karswell’s writing style could be read as M.R. James having a dig at his academic contemporaries working in theoretical subjects that James thought were nonsense. For example see James’s ‘flaying’ of Jane Ellen Harrison (erratum: we incorrectly call her ‘Katherine Harrison’ in recording, sorry!).
• The Golden Legend and The Golden Bough (Wikipedia)
  The two very different texts which Mr Karswell is described as putting exactly on par and taking both as historical fact.
• Thomas Bewick (1753-1826) (Wikipedia)
  The “woodcut of Bewick’s” mentioned in Casting the Runes refers to English wood engraver Thomas Bewick, whose work varied between both studies of nature and the bawdy and macabre. For example a man followed by demons, a man urinating on a wall, and men riding gravestones.
• The ‘Black Spot’ (Wikipedia)
  James refers to the ‘black spot’ being put on John Harrington, a reference to Treasure Island (1883) by Robert Lewis Stevenson.
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Project Gutenberg)
  The extract from the poem which Karswell sends to Harrington can be found in ‘Part the Sixth’ of Coleridge’s ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner).
• Lord Warden Hotel, Dover (www.dover-kent.co.uk)
  Dunning and Harrington finish their adventure at a real hotel in Dover, the Lord Warden. The building is still there today, but no longer a hotel.
• St. Vulfran’s Church, Abbeville, France (Wikipedia)
  Karswell meets his death at a French church that M.R. James had visited on a previous holiday. The church is dedicated to St. Vulfran (or Wulfram) of Sens. Karswell’s death reminded us of the death of Adam Buxton’s character in Hot Fuzz (youtube – warning, it is gory!).
• Casting the Runes (1979) (Irish Gothic Horror Journal)
  An excellent review of the 1979 tv version of Casting the Runes. As mentioned in the podcast, we also didn’t rate it very highly but still recommend you purchase the dvd if only for the interesting extras that come on the disc.
• Kate Bush/Night of the Demon mashup (Youtube)
  The “it’s in the trees! It’s coming!” sample from the start of Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds of Love’ is a sample from Night of the Demon, the 1957 film of Casting the Runes. Thanks to @rodmckie for drawing our attention to this superb video mashup which combines footage from ‘Night of the Demon’ with various Kate Bush footage to great effect.
• For more Casting the Runes-related links, see the show notes for part one.

Also! Robert Lloyd Parry was announced the next run of his excellent M.R. James stage performances between July and December 2012, including the world premier of his new show featuring ‘Count Magnus’ and ‘Number 13′! For more information visit the Nunkie Productions Website.

Show notes:

• Magic Lanterns (Wikipedia)
  Mr Karswell was not the first to use a magic lantern to scare the crap out of his audience, it’s been going on since the 15th century!
• Aleister Crowley (Wikipedia)
  Many have commented on the similarities between the fictional Mr Karswell and the English occultist, poet and mountaineer Aleister Crowley (1875-1947).
• ‘Class War in Casting the Runes’ by Mike Pincombe (Ghosts & Scholars)
  Mike Pincombe’s exploration of class conflict in Casting the Runes is a must-read.
• Night/Curse of the Demon (1957) (Trailer – Youtube)
  The first and best screen adaptation of ‘Casting the Runes’ was filmed in 1957 as ‘Night of the Demon’ (released as ‘Curse of the Demon’ in the U.S.). Superbly atmospheric and worth watching for Niall MacGuiness’s exemplary performance as Mr Karswell. It is available on DVD.
• Casting the Runes (1979) (Amazon)
  Casting the Runes was brought forward to the seventies in this 50 minute UK tv version. It is clearly very low budget and not very good to be honest, but still worth purchasing on DVD as it is cheap and comes with two decent extras, a short tv version of ‘Mr Humphreys and his Interitance’ and a very enjoyable documentary about the author.
• Drag me to Hell (2009) (Trailer – Youtube)
  Sam Raimi’s 2009 splatter-fest ‘Drag me to Hell’ is a loose (and unacknowledged) adaptation of ‘Casting the Runes’. James would have hated it but fans of OTT gorefests will love it!
• Lamplough’s Pyretic Saline (Ghosts & Scholars)
  This is the ‘highly convincing’ advert that Dunning examins in the tram shortly before spotting the strange message about John Harrington.
• The British Library (bl.co.uk)
  The real-world location of Dunning’s first encounter with Karswell.
• London United Tramways (Wikipedia)
  In ‘Casting the Runes’ Dunning travels to work and back on the then-new London tram network operating in the west and south of London.
• A Podcast to the Curious Merchandise Store
  That’s right, you can now grab yourself an Official APTTC t-shirt in a wide range of exciting colours! It’s what all the cool kids are wearing nowadays!

Questions addressed in this episode include: Does Mr Eldred like MC Hammer? Did Sir Jimmy Saville make a pact with the devil? Is Miss Simpson a slamming hotty or merely a comely wench? And is it even politically correct to call someone a wench in this day and age?

Show Notes:

• The Lost Will of Dr Rant (1951) (archive.org)
  This American television version of ‘The Tractate Middoth’ was part of the ‘Lights Out’ mystery series, and stars none other than a young Leslie Nielson!
• Cambridge University Library (cam.ac.uk)
  The real world location of this story was the university library at Cambridge, though the current library is no longer housed in the same building as it was in James’s time.
• Bredfield, Suffolk (googlemaps)
  The likely real-world location of Dr Rant/Mr Eldred’s house, Bredfield in Suffolk. Note Melton station about three miles to the south east (or shorter if you go across country!).
• E.W. Pugin (1834 – 1875) (Wikipedia)
  Information on E.W. Pugin, who may or may not be linked to this story.
• The Real Tractate Middoth (google books)
  More information on the real book can be read in ‘A history of the Mishnaic law of Holy Things, Volume 2′, available on Google Books.
• Squire Toby’s Will by J. Sheridan le Fanu (horrormasters.com)
  The plot of this story by M.R. James’s favourite author of ghost stories bares some resemblance to the plot of ‘The Tractate Middoth’.
• Piccadilly Weepers and More (oook.info)
  Information on Piccadilly/Dundreary Weepers and other fabulous contemporary facial hair styles can be found here.
• Tractate Middoth Postcard & Bookmark (Ghosts & Scholars)
• Burial of William McKenzie (forteantimes.com)
  Liverpool architect and builder William McKenzie (1794 – 1851) was supposedly buried sitting up in a pyramid-shaped tomb to trick the devil, to whom he had sold his soul in exchange for luck at cards.
• Burial of Sir Jimmy Saville (telegraph.co.uk)
  We were slightly mistaken in the podcast, Sir Jimmy Saville was not buried sitting up but propped up at a 45 degree angle so he could ‘see the sea’!

Show notes:

• Popish Plot Playing Cards (BritishMuseum.org)
  Having trouble getting your head around the popish plot? Why not invest in a pack of Popish Plot Playing Cards! Alas hundreds of years out of print. The Seven of Hearts is the one of Edward Coleman being ‘drawn’ to his execution behind a horse, and the Six of Diamonds is also particularly gruesome.
• M.R. James’s Women by David G. Rowlands (Ghosts & Scholars)
  This essay looks at the small selection of women who appear in James’s work, including ‘The Rose Garden’s Mrs Anstruther.
• “The Rules of Folklore” in the Ghost Stories of M.R. James by Jacqueline Simpson
  Landmarks and Shrieking Ghosts by Jacqueline Simpson
  An excellent pair of essays originally published in Ghosts & Scholars that drew our attention to the influence of Danish and Suffolk folklore on ‘The Rose Garden’.
• Weald Country Park, Essex (Wikipedia)
  The site of the former Weald Hall, residence of the terrible Sir William Scroggs and the possible real-world ‘Westfield Hall’. The hall fell into disrepair and was pulled down after world war II but the park can still be visited and looks like a nice day out!
• Victims of the Popish Plot (Wikipedia)
  Wikipedia provides a brief rundown of those accused during the popish plot. Play special attention to Sir William Scroggs, Oliver Plunkett and Edward Colman!
• The Head of Oliver Plunkett (Wikipedia)
  As mentioned in this episode, popish plot victim Oliver Plunkett’s head is on display in Drogheda, Ireland. A possible inspiration for the strange face in ‘The Rose Garden’?
• Proceedings against Sir William Scroggs (on Google Books)
  Cobbett’s Complete Collection of State Trials features a transcript of the indictment against Sir William Scroggs that makes very interesting (and frequently humorous) reading.
• Gaude, Gaudy, Domini in Laude by Roger Johnson
  The essay that drew my attention to Weald Hall was featured in the Ghosts & Scholars Newsletter 15, not available online but an incentive (if more were needed) to subscribe to this foremost Jamesian news source.
• Eastscapes: Doggerland
  Photographic work by friend of the podcast and M.R. James fan David Senior will be on display at the House Gallery in Camberwell, London from the 15-22nd March 2012 as part of his collaboration with artists Misa Tamura and Dan Howse.

Errata: Since recording we have been informed that the correct term is ‘Hanged’ rather than ‘Hung’. Could we be arsed to go back and re-record? We could not.

That’s right, it’s ‘A School Story’!

N.b. If you have forgotten your gym-kit, you have to listen to this episode in your vest and pants.

Show notes:

• The History of Temple Grove School (.pdf)
  The school in ‘A School Story’ is based on the prep school that M.R. James attended, Temple Grove School which was at the time based in East Sheen, London.
• Site of Temple Grove School on Googlemaps
  Temple Grove School is not longer in existance, but this gives an idea of where the parkland in which it stood used to be. Note Well Lane where the old stable stands (now converted to a very nice looking house) and where we spotted yew trees! In the photo of us below we are standing at the north-eastern end of Observatory road, where the lake used to be. This Map from 1895 gives an indication of where the school stood (see ‘H’), and this map shows the layout of Temple Grove Estate in 1811.
• “I’ve Seen It!” – A School Story and the House in Berkeley Square by Rosemary Pardoe
  Here Rosemary Pardoe provides some background information on the legends surrounding the famously haunted 50 Berkeley Square in London, mentioned in ‘A School Story’.
• Ancient Coin Pendants
  Jewelry such as the ‘coin charm’ that Mr Sampson wears on his watch chain is not hard to come by these days! For more info on Byzantine coins see Wikipedia.
• Eton and Kings (Ghosts & Scholars)
  M.R. James published a volume of recollections about his life at school and in academia.
• Ancient Yews Group FAQs
  Yew trees are a common sight in English churchyards. The Ancient Yew Group website provides some interesting information on the historical and mythological significance of yew trees.
• ‘A School Story’ at FreakyTrigger
  Some excellent analysis of this story at FreakyTrigger, plus some interesting views in the comments.
• ‘The Well’ by W.W. Jacobs
  This story, published in 1902 by James’s contemporary W.W. Jacobs, features some similarities to ‘A School Story’. Mike Pincombe highlights this story in his excellent essay ‘Homosexual Panic and the English Ghost Story’ (Ghosts & Scholars Newsletter 9).

Visit to the Site of Temple Grove School, East Sheen

Top: Temple Grove Estate, East Sheen, 1812
Bottom: Mike & Will at Temple Grove Estate, East Sheen, 2012.

Can you spot the differences? Hint: top image = more bonnets, bottom image = less swans.

We are standing in the slight dip in Observatory Rd that marks where the lake stood 200 years before. Mike had brought his umbrella to fight off the swans. Turns out this was unneccesary.

Show notes:

• Steinfeld Abbey & Glass (also see Googlemaps)
  Read about the read-world location of this story on wikipedia.
• The Treasure of Steinfeld Abbey, A Visit to the Scene of “The Treasure of Abbot Thomas” by Helen Grant
  Interesting account of a visit to Steinfeld, in which Helen Grant compares the real abbey to the one described by M.R. James.
• Ashridge Park
  This story was inspired by James’s own study of the stained glass at Ashridge Park in 1904. The glass is now in the Victoria & Albert museum in London, and the park is now home to Ashridge Business School (check out the cool virtual tour!)
• Steinfeld stained glass in Wales
  To illustrate how widely glass from Germany and Belguim circulated in Britain, here some more of the Steinfeld stained glass shows up in a church in Wales!
• Review at GhostingImages.com
  An excellent review of the 1974 tv version.
• Origin of “Gare à qui la touche” (“Woe to he that touches it”)
  The origin of this ominous phrase appears to be Napoleonic!
• An Introduction to Classical Cryptography by William Stalling
  A useful guide for those who wish to get their head around the cryptographic puzzles solved by Mr Somerton.
• ‘A Pleasing Terror’ (Ash Tree Press)
  This definitive anthology of and commentary on James work is now available as an e-book.
• Ghost Stories of Christmas at the BFI Mediateque
  You can currently watch the BBC’s classic M.R. James tv adaptations at the BFI Mediateque centres.

Thanks again to Tom Hemmings who lent us his wonderful voice for the readings, and to Dave Senior (EastScapes) for the excellent groyne photo.

Show notes:

• ‘The Toad in the Study: M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft & Forbidden Knowledge’ by Simon McCulloch
  This essay first appeared in Ghosts & Scholars 20-23, and can now be found in ‘Warnings to the Curious’, a book of excellent criticism edited by Rosemary Pardoe and S.T. Joshi.
• ‘Innocents and Not-So-Innocents in the Stories of M. R. James’ by John Alfred Taylor
  Another essay featured in ‘Warnings to the Curious’ which explores and categorises what M.R. James’s characters did (if anything) to deserve the horrors that confront them.
• Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)
  Read more about this Templar-tastic Spanish horror film which features many ‘Oh, Whistle…’-esque qualities.

For more ‘Oh, Whistle…’-related links, see the post for Episode 7a.

Big thanks to Tom Hemmings who returns as our reader for this episode.

Show Notes

• ‘Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ by M.R. James
  Read the full text at Wikisource.
• Felixstowe Golf Course and Beach on GoogleMaps
  Here can be seen the real-world setting of ‘Oh, Whistle…’
• 1968 TV version on Youtube
  Watch the BBCs classic adaptation, starring Michael Horden.
• 2010 TV version on IMDB
  Read about the BBCs recent tv adaptation, starring John Hurt.
• Review of the 2010 TV version at The Gothic Imagination
  Includes some very interesting discussion in the comments section.
• The Quadruple Object and Ontography
  A website explaining the area of modern study now known at Ontography.
• Pilgrim’s Progress Quote
  This is the section of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress that comes to Parkins’ mind when seeing a figure following him along the beach.
• “I Shall Most Likely Be out on the Links”: Golf as Metaphor in the Ghost Stories of M. R. James. by Terry W. Thompson
  A really interesting essay relevant to this story.
• The meaning of “Fur/Fla/Fle/Bus” at Ghosts & Scholars
  Ghosts & Scholars provides a summary of the various speculations about the meaning of the text found on the whistle.
• Photo of the beach below Cobbolds Point, Felixstowe circa 1900
  The more touristy part of the beach at Felixstowe, south of where Parkins had his horrible experience.
• Info on the Felixstowe Bath Hotel | Photo of Felixstowe Bath Hotel
  This is the hotel on which James based The Globe Inn in ‘Oh, Whistle…’. The hotel is sadly no more, having been burned down by Suffragette arsonists on April 28th 1914!
• Image of ‘The Lodge’ Felixstowe | ‘The Lodge’ on GoogleMaps
  This is the house owned by James’s friend Felix Cobbold, and where parties of friends from Kings College would meet for holidays (and probably a round of golf or two at the nearby golf course).
• Penelope Fitzgerald on M.R. James
  In this 2000 article for the Guardian, author Penelope Fitzgerald examines James the man as well as James the writer and compares James’s personality to that of Parkins in ‘Oh, Whistle…’
• ‘Bleak and Solemn…’ at k-punk
  This article retraces the Norfolk and Suffolk locations used in the filming of the 1960′s TV versions of ‘Oh, Whistle…’ and ‘A Warning to the Curious’. Photos are provided to show the locations as they are today (well, in 2007).
• Knights Templar on Wikipedia
  Read about the history of this much-maligned order of religious knights.

• What is the connection between Count Magnus and Ghostbusters 2?
• Will sewing your corpse into the carcass of a deer save your soul from the devil?
• Would Mr Wraxall prefer to have been shot in the balls by Robocop?

Answers to these questions and much, much more can be found in this bumber festive edition of the greatest and only M.R. James podcast! This episode features readings by Chris Savory.

Show notes:

• About the real Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie (Wikipedia)
• An image and map of the real manor at Råbäck
• Varnham Abbey, the site of the mausoleum of Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie (Wikipedia)
• ‘The Familiar’ by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (Full text at Gaslight)
• The Black Pilgrimage to Chorazin by Rosemary Pardoe and Jane Nicholls (Ghosts & Scholars)
• Dark Devotions – M.R. James and the Magical Tradition by Ron Weighell (Ghosts & Scholars)
• About Chorazin (Wikipedia)
• The Tale of the Witch of Berkeley by Rob Hardy (twistedtree.org.uk)

* This edition may or may not feature Mike and Will singing an exclusive acapella rendition of ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’, accompanied by the choir of King’s College, Cambridge (spoiler alert: it doesn’t).

Also in this episode Will and Mike:

• Coin ‘The Jamesian Wallop’
• Tackle the schleswig-holstein question
• Discuss hellish subjects such as alchemy, German sunlounger etiquette, and Toploader
• Inexplicably find something funny about the phrase ‘the Danish area’

Show notes & links:

• Viborg on Wikipedia and Googlemaps.
• ‘The Shadow of the Occupant of Number 13′ by Helen Grant (at Ghosts and Scholars)
• The Significance of Number 13 (at Squidoo)
• ‘Warnings to the Curious’ by S.T. Joshi & Rosemary Pardoe (ed) (at Amazon)

Don’t forget to join us for our next episode when we will be looking at ‘Count Magnus’!

Regular service will resume in a few weeks when Mike returns from his reckless galavanting.

Notes

‘Stories I have Tried to Write’ was written by M.R. James in November of 1929 and first published at the end of that month in ‘The Touchstone 2’, a publication of Eton College where James was Provost at the time. The editors would no doubt have preferred to have received a completed ghost story of the sort James had produced for the Eton Boy Scouts two years previously (‘Wailing Well’, one of the last James ghost stories to find print during his lifetime) but instead they received a short essay in which James runs briefly through a number of story ideas that never saw completion.
Some of these stories are the merest hint of an idea (the Christmas cracker, the tap on the shoulder) while others provide the outline of an almost completed story, with settings, characters, names and so on all prepared. As James mentions in the essay, some of these stories he not only tried to write, but did write, only later deciding they were not good enough for publication. A draft of the Marcilly-le-Hayer story can be found among James’s papers in King’s College Library and was publishes in Ghosts & Scholars 22 in 1996. Likewise, the draft of the story involving two students at King’s was found and published in Ghosts & Scholars 12 as ‘The Fenstanton Witch’.
Other story elements James mentions in the essay hint at plot devices that James did actually use in some of his published stories, for instance the mask that appears amongst the curtains brings to mind the leering face that peers through the hedge in ‘The Rose Garden’ and similarly in James’s story ‘A Vignette’, a story written in 1935 and not published until after his death in 1936. James’s reference to ‘common objects being vehicles of malice’ was an idea he later fleshed out into the macabrely humorous fable ‘The Malice of Inanimate Objects’ which was printed in another Eton publication, ‘The Masquerade 1’ in 1933.
The essay saw wider publication when it was included in The Collected Ghost Stories of M.R. James (Arnold 1931), and since that time many authors have yielded to the temptation to flesh James’s ideas out into complete stories. The most notable being Sheila Hodgson who produced not only a series of stories based on the ideas (published by Ash Tree Press in 1998 as ‘The Fellow Travellers and Other Ghost Stories’), but a highly enjoyable series of radio plays which were broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1976 and 1992. As far as I am aware these radio plays have never seen the light of day on cassette or cd but can be tracked down by anyone with a search engine, bit torrent client and ‘relaxed’ attitude towards copyright law. Or so I am told. *cough*.
More information on the essay and the various stories it has inspired can be found in the excellent ‘Stories I Have Tried to Write’ story notes at Ghosts & Scholars.

1. Is it unlucky to sleep in a room near an ash tree?
2. Is Mrs Mothersole a MILF?
3. Are you down with the Castringham Sickness?

If you answered ‘yes’ to one or more of the above then pull your deep leather armchair closer to the roaring fire, refill your glass of port and prepare to join Mike and Will as they delve into dark and devilish goings on in 17th & 18th century  rural Suffolk in M.R. James’s The Ash-tree!

Big thanks to Katy Ross (@dreamkitten) who was our reader for this episode.

Links

• Great Livermere on GoogleMaps
  M.R. James grew up in Great Livermere and it is widely believed to be the inspiration for Castringham, the setting of ‘The Ash-tree’.
• Photo of Livermere Hall
  Sadly the hall on which Castringham Hall was based was demolished in 1923 but a photo of it can be found at the Lost Heritage website. Note the extensive growth of foliage visible around the sides of the hall!
• ‘The Ash-tree’ story notes at Ghosts & Scholars
  Exemplary M.R. James resource Ghosts & Scholars features an excellent set of story notes on The Ash-tree penned by M.R. James expert Rosemary Pardoe.
• James & Great Livermere at SuffolkCoast.co.uk
  An interesting article about James’s connection to Great Livermere and stories it inspired.
• Sortes Sanctorum & Sortes Biblicae at Wikipedia
  The history and origins of using the Bible for divination.
• Spiders in ‘The Ash Tree’ by Jacqueline Simpson
  An article from the Ghosts & Scholars Newsletter no. 5 on James’s use of spiders in The Ash-tree, with particular reference to a peculiar mini-plague of spiders that hit Bury St. Edmond’s in 1660!
• Bible Quotes from The Ash-tree @ Bible.cc
  ‘Cut it down’ – Luke 13:9
  ‘It shall never be inhabited’ – Isaiah 13:20
  ‘Her young ones also suck up blood’ – Job 29:30
  ‘Thou shall seek me in the morning and I shall not be’ – Job 7:21

In this episode:

• Terror!
• Art!
• Golf!
• Alternative endings!
• How NOT to choose a babysitter!
• Mike gets all sentimental about his university days.
• Will moans a lot and bellows “In your FACE Cambridge!”

Also in this episode:

• Mike tweaks his hurgy gurdy around the house
• Will says ‘Dun Dun Duuunnn!’ more than is strictly necessary
• We both says ‘evocative’ more than is strictly necessary and then get really, really depressed

A big THANKS goes out to Kirsty Woodfield who brought a much-needed touch of class to the proceedings by doing an excellent job with the readings.

Show notes:

• Read Lost Hearts at thin-ghost.org
• Aswarby Hall on Google Maps
• St. Michan’s Church, Dublin
• Orpheus and the Orphic Poems
• The Worship of Mithras and Mystery Religions
• Neoplatonism
• Simon Magus

Also in this episode: Mike grumbles bitterly about carnival folk while Will insults Bury St. Edmonds before whipping out his Testament of Soloman and scrawling a cock and balls in the margin.

Show notes & links:

• Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook (in .pdf format)
• Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges at Wikipedia
• Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges on GoogleMaps
• A picture of the famous crocodile!
• Study Guide at LitGothic.com
• Ghosts & Scholars Website