What could be more worthy of a Christmas episode than a ghost story? Answer: twelve ghost stories! This week Mike and Will find plenty of seasonal cheer in the scribblings of a 15th century monk from Yorkshire, whose collected tales of wandering spirits Monty transcribed in 1922. Expect lashings of purgatorial terrors, a stocking-full of redemption and a whole load of bad wassailing, ghostly and otherwise*, as we explore Twelve Medieval Ghost Stories.
Links:
- The Byland Abbey Project has all the stories, plus translation notes and commentary on each story. Invaluable!
- Ghosts in Medieval Yorkshire, by Jacqueline Simpson, is a fantastic article, not least for Jacqueline’s analysis of the different roots of James’ ghost stories and these medieval tales.
- Mark Gatiss talks about medieval manuscripts with a curator at the Fitzwilliam Museum in his 2013 documentary Ghostwriter (contains images some listeners will hopefully find disturbing).
- Death and the Afterlife – a British Library article with examples of medieval Books of Hours and other context for understanding the 15th century view of mortality, purgatory and salvation.
- Underrated BBC Radio 4 discussion show Beyond Belief (it’s great, even for atheists!) ran an episode on purgatory, which may not be available to listeners outside of the UK.
Happy Christmas and we’ll see you again in 2016!
* no, seriously. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
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This week, Will and Mike don their academic tweeds, gather their notes and ascend to the podium to bring you their conference report on MR James and the Modern Ghost Story. Join us for 45 minutes of (un)learned comment, digressions and wild speculation – plus more expert commentary from author Helen Grant (@helengrantsays), comics writer John Reppion (@johnreppion) and horror expert Prof Darryl Jones, as well as conference organisers Jane Mainley-Piddock (@jmainpidd) and Jim Mussell (@jimmussell).
Show notes:
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This week Will and Mike explore the borders between psychedelia and twee when they crack open The Five Jars, Monty’s only novel. Prepare yourself for enigmatic springs, helpful trees and cantankerous cats – and two very confused podcasters.
Show notes:
Parents beware – Will drops his guard and utters a foul-mouthed profanity at 12:48. Chapter one was a real struggle at times.
The full text of the Five Jars, courtesy of Thin Ghost.
We used Peter Yearsley’s Libravox recording of Five Jars for our readings this week, with sound editing by Will.
Alisdair Wood’s excellent illustration for The Five Jars also appears on this month’s Ghosts and Scholars Newsletter (subscribe!). Why not check out Alisdair’s store?
If you’d like to see one of Robert Lloyd Parry’s performances in Oxford, Manchester, Newcastle, Cambridge or Hemmingford Grey Manor, do contact him directly.
And finally, did anyone else think of this when they heard about the bat?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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What could be more worthy of a Christmas episode than a ghost story? Answer: twelve ghost stories! This week Mike and Will find plenty of seasonal cheer in the scribblings of a 15th century monk from Yorkshire, whose collected tales of wandering spirits Monty transcribed in 1922. Expect lashings of purgatorial terrors, a stocking-full of redemption and a whole load of bad wassailing, ghostly and otherwise*, as we explore Twelve Medieval Ghost Stories.
