This episode we return to the diabolical doings of Mr Karswell in part two of our examination of ‘Casting the Runes’ by M.R. James.

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.

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Join Mike & Will as they delve into Brian Blessed’s beard, the truth of alchemy, diabolical magic lantern shows and class war in the first of our two-part extravaganza on M.R. James’s chilling story ‘Casting the Runes’!
Our reader for this episode is Mr Torion Bowles.

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!

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In this episode Mike & Will whip out their library cards and prepare to crack the spine of ‘The Tractate Middoth’ by M.R. James.

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’!

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