This episode features the second half of our podcast extravaganza on M.R. James’s seaside shocker ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’. Neither beach nor bedtime will ever be the same again!

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.

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In this Christmas Special* Will and Mike get stuck into Count Magnus by M.R. James, and explore some startling questions:

• 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).

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In this post-Halloween spook-tacular of an episode, your hosts Mike and Will attempt to answer the following thorny questions:

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

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