Behind the Couch

My friend Marie Robinson has recorded a special reading of Shirley Jackson’s short story, 'The Man in the Woods'. A dark, mythic tale that takes place in the heart of a mysterious wood, this story conjures echoes of Folk Horror ritualism and is thick with classic fairy tale tropes. Sound effects are weaved subtly throughout the narrative to provide an immersive experience, so it is best listened to with headphones. Listen to it here . Read and recorded by Marie Robinson. Additional voices provided by Mark Longden (Mr. Oakes) and myself (Christopher).  If you would like to download a free mp3 version of this recording, you can find it here .  Finally, a PDF of the full source list material is available here . 

Writer and physician Michael Blumlein once said "There's a detachment that happens as a physician when you're dealing with frightening, horrifying, or sad events, that you maintain an objectivity that's required, and I do that also when I write." This is certainly true of his 1990 short story Keeping House , which tells of the psychological unravelling of a woman whose husband and child have fled, leaving her to fester in their new home and obsess over its cleanliness. She believes an evil presence dwells in the empty adjoining house; it seems to seep through the walls, leaving traces of damp, mould and other nastiness which she must tackle daily. She perpetually cleans but can never seem to rid her own abode of the manifestations of the dank presence from next door. It malingers about the place like a putrid fog only she seems aware of. Is this a real haunting? A spectral manifestation of her unhappiness? Guilt? Or an unreliable narrator sinking deeper into her o...

Illustration from Famous Fantastic Mysteries They could feel and hear the Nameless Horror, but they could not see it… They could have no doubt that it was present among them, but… what was it? I first came across this curious and highly effective little tale in Christopher Frayling’s tome, Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula . While one of the earliest examples of the 'Invisible Force' tale, Frayling included O’Brien’s twisted yarn in his study of vampire literature, as he viewed it as a variation on traditional vampire motifs. What Was It? was first published in Harper’s Magazine, in March 1859, and tells of the residents of a particular lodging house who encounter an invisible, seemingly blood-thirsty creature in one of the rooms. Once they manage to apprehend it, they attempt to study it. Frayling refers to Irish-born American O’Brien (1828 – 1862) - generally regarded as a forerunner of science fiction - as a ‘domestic’ Edgar Allan Poe. Despite his rational appr...

Born on January 19th in 1809, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most recognised and revered names in gothic literature. Part of the American Romantic movement, Poe is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. Not only an author and a poet, he was also a literary critic and editor, and one of the earliest practitioners of the short story. Now widely regarded as inventing detective fiction, Poe was also a popular crime and horror author, his influence spreads far and wide, and amongst the writers who owe a tremendous dept to his work are Herman Melville, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens, Walt Whitman, HP Lovecraft and Jules Verne, to name but a few. A true visionary, Poe was one of the first well-known American writers to attempt to irk out a living through writing alone, leading him down a path of financial instability and uncertainty. His gruesome stories reflected his inner turmoil. Haunted by the death of his mother, Poe wrestled with fears of aban...

1951 Dir. Christian Nyby/Howard Hawks A group of scientific researchers and military personnel discover an alien spacecraft frozen under the ice in the Arctic. Retrieving the alien pilot, they take it back to their outpost to conduct research. However when the block of ice it’s entombed within thaws, the creature goes berserk and sets off on a bloody rampage, killing anyone who crosses its path and feeding on their blood. The military personnel led by Captain Hendry decide enough is enough, and plot to destroy the creature before it destroys them. Based on the short story 'Who Goes There?' by renowned sci-fi writer John W. Campbell, The Thing From Another World is one of the earliest, and most successful amalgamations of horror and sci-fi. A precursor to the likes of The Day The Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds and Alien , the film was produced during a time when the media was bombarded by reports of sightings of UFOs; a time that would become the Golden Age of sc...