Classic Ghost Stories

Jean-Pierre Ducharme and Ms. Esmeralda Spinoza are experts in the delicate architecture of the séance. Inside the stillness of Julia Silverman’s game room, they prepare to reach across the divide for a daughter lost four months prior. It is a space of flickering candles, soft whispers, and the heavy weight of a mother’s grief. But as the circle joins hands, the atmosphere begins to curdle. The familiar rituals start to feel unpredictable, and a coldness settles that no draft can explain. They have spent years navigating the boundaries of the unknown, but tonight, those boundaries are no longer holding. "A Message for Julia" was first broadcast on The Classic Ghost Stories Podcast in January 2025. Roy Sunter is a New Hampshire-based author. Roy Sunter’s primary body of work can be found at Studio 8, with earlier archives located at ArcanumCafe. He writes under the handle "sasha"—the Russian diminutive of his middle name, Alexander. His ongoing "chapbook" at Studio 8 features a collection of spontaneous prose, much of it in the zuihitsu style, alongside his photography. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of my own stories. The River Thames freezes and a Frost Fair is held for the first time since 1814. Two friends meet for a pint of Dark Ale in the ancient London riverside pub, the Water Witch. What could go wrong? If you've never listened to one of my stories, give this one a try. Many people find them splendid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Boxing Night in Bruddersford and the pantomime's a disaster waiting to happen. The company's second-rate, the theatre's half empty, and the actor playing the Demon King hasn't turned up. Then he does—and suddenly everything changes. The performance takes on an authority it never had in rehearsal. The comedy gets sharper, the villain more convincing, and by the end something has happened that nobody can quite explain. Priestley wrote this in 1931, drawing on his Bradford theatre days and the tradition of the pantomime devil who enters from stage left. The BBC adapted it for radio in 1962 with Ian Wallace, adding Radiophonic Workshop effects to a story that's as much about provincial theatre life as it is about the supernatural. First published 1931. BBC Home Service radio adaptation December 1962. Author: J. B. Priestley (1894–1984), Bradford-born novelist and playwright. Best known for The Good Companions, Angel Pavement, and An Inspector Calls. During the war his BBC radio talks reached audiences of 16 million. Listen to a 24/7 Stream of Classic Ghost Stories Ad Free here: www.gravenheim.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Christmas Day, two sisters in a remote farmhouse in the middle of the Romney Marshes, have a dream. The snow begins to fall heavily and they are isolated miles away from any help. But a dream is just a dream, isn't it? Written by E F Benson Why not try my cost free, ad free new Ghost Stories Radio? Listen to it here: www.gravenheim.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Teaser Script Christmas at Abingdale Hall. The great house decked in festive greenery, servants bustling, family gathering from across the country. And in the entrance hall, a magnificent Scots Pine—ten feet of perfect symmetry, branches heavy with the promise of celebration. But the tree came from Lucky's Grove. The estate manager is new. He doesn't know the local warnings. He doesn't know that some groves have been sacred since before Christianity reached these shores. He doesn't know that when you take a tree from such a place, something comes with it. The guests arrive. The children play in the snow. The fires are lit, the table laid. Everything proceeds as it should. Almost. There are accidents. Small things at first. A workman injured. Strange dreams that leave everyone unsettled at breakfast. A boy builds a snowman with a wolf's head and cannot explain why. The gods of Lucky's Grove are patient. They have waited centuries. They can wait until Christmas Day. Publication Details "Lucky's Grove" by H. Russell Wakefield was first published in The Clock Strikes Twelve (Herbert Jenkins, 1940), later expanded by Arkham House in 1946. Author Biography Herbert Russell Wakefield (1888–1964) was an English writer whose atmospheric ghost stories earned him comparison to M. R. James. His fiction insisted on the reality of the supernatural, presenting hauntings with clinical precision and iron control over dread. ⭐ Join my Patreon ⭐ https://patreon.com/barcud Go here for a library of ad-free stories, a monthly members only story and early access to the regular stories I put out.  You can choose to have ghost stories only, or detective stories or classic literature, or all of them for either $5 or $10 a month.  Many hundreds of hours of stories. Who needs Audible? Or, if you'd just like to make a one-off gesture of thanks for my work https://buymeacoffee.com/10mn8sk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices