Squire Toby's Will by J S Le Fanu

Seen from a passing stagecoach, you might think that Gylingden Hall is not the sort of place where the dead rest easily. The chimneys are cold, the gallery echoes with no human tread, and the great trees that line the avenue whisper of old wrongs and buried fury. In the shadow of the ruined chapel and beneath the rot-black timbers of the house, something lingers—a grief curdled into malice, a legacy neither signed nor forgotten. Squire Toby’s Will is not a tale of ghosts who startle, but of the slow, relentless suffocation of guilt, and of the strange things a man will refuse to see, even when they’re clawing at the door. Published anonymously in Temple Bar magazine, Volume XXII, in 1868. Later attributed to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and often compared to his novel The Wyvern Mystery, written around the same time. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814–1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic fiction and supernatural tales, widely praised for his subtle and psychologically charged ghost stories. A master of atmosphere and ambiguity, he was admired by M. R. James and influenced the shape of modern horror fiction. ⭐ 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

A man waits in silence. The law has spoken, the doctors have done their work. But something does not rest. In the quiet rooms and corridors of the prison, a sound is heard—faint, deliberate, and not easily explained. What follows is noted calmly, professionally. Still, it leaves a mark. *The Confession of Charles Linkworth* was first published in 1912 in *The Room in the Tower and Other Stories* by Mills & Boon, London. E. F. Benson was a British author best known for his *Mapp and Lucia* novels and his ghost stories. He came from a clerical family deeply involved in both religion and early psychical research. ⭐ 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

In the Members Only podcast episode of the Classic Ghost Stories podcast for July 2025, I spent a lot of time apologising for being late in delivering the Members Only episode to you this month. I then talk about my Uncanny Mirror project, which I'm sure many of you will find very interesting. I then talk a bit about our holiday in Scotland. I read from a book called Hungry Ghosts by Joe Fisher. I then get bored with that and move on to Adventures in the Supernormal by Aileen J. Garrett, who is a psychic, and I get really interested in the description of her childhood in County Meath in Ireland. But then I sort of run out of time; the scrap man's scrapping in the background, and altogether it's a very scrappy episode, but I hope it makes you laugh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do we see in others that we cannot admit in ourselves? In Henry James's haunting tale, a woman recounts her fascination with two people who have each witnessed a ghost. She delays their meeting for years, caught between longing and fear, until it is too late. Names are withheld, but emotions are not. Beneath the surface of polite society, something older stirs—jealousy, desire, and the quiet undoing of the self. ⭐ 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 First published as "The Way It Came" in 1896, the story was later retitled "The Friends of the Friends." Henry James (1843–1916) was an American-born author whose subtle, psychologically complex stories often explore the limits of perception and the tensions of social life. His ghost stories are never merely spectral; they are studies of the mind in shadow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

General Browne, a soldier hardened by war and governed by reason, accepts an invitation to the castle of his old school-friend, Lord Woodville. The place has only lately been inherited and is undergoing tasteful restoration, its mediaeval past slowly yielding to Georgian elegance. But not all traces of the past have been swept away. One chamber remains veiled in its former splendour—its faded tapestry concealing more than just stone walls. It is this room that is given to the General to stay in overnight. The Tapestried Chamber was written by Sir Walter Scott and published in The Keepsake for 1829, during the final years of his life, when he was writing under intense pressure in an effort to repay heavy debts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the year 1795, in the secluded Derbyshire town of Barford, a stranger settles into the old White House. He renovates it handsomely, pays every bill on time, and quickly wins the friendship of the local squire and his daughter. Among the hunting gentry, he seems to fit right in. But this is a story of the hunting gentry—and the secrets they don’t know, and the things people do when no one is looking. The Squire’s Story is a Gothic tale by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in Household Words in 1853. Known for Cranford and North and South, Gaskell here turns her subtle realism to darker terrain. 📚 You can now buy my books where you are! 😊 https://tonywalkerbooks.com/ Hello In the year 1795, in the secluded Derbyshire town of Barford, a stranger settles into the old White House. He renovates it handsomely, pays every bill on time, and quickly wins the friendship of the local squire and his daughter. Among the hunting gentry, he seems to fit right in. But this is a story of the hunting gentry—and the secrets they don’t know, and the things people do when no one is looking. The Squire’s Story is a Gothic tale by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in Household Words in 1853. Known for Cranford and North and South, Gaskell here turns her subtle realism to darker terrain. 📚 You can now buy my books where you are! 😊 https://tonywalkerbooks.com/ and thank you! Welcome and take a look around. If you have any questions let me know . In the meantime, here's a link to my Google drive of stories  I may be running late with uploading the latest ones so give me a nudge if one you want is missing. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TlPMQHk6A3WZfhQqHunBaimaBCjz4b0l?usp=drive_link And here's the link to the Members Only Library https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MEHmW8OxcDm68ONBIBnj2SQURsfoz3HN?usp=drive_link Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A gale howls in from the sea as a traveller takes shelter with a smallholder on the Cornish coast. Above the hearth hang two relics: an old cavalry trumpet and a weathered drum, bound together with a brass-lettered lock. No one knows the word that opens it. As the fire burns low, the smallholder begins to tell a tale—half history, half haunting—of shipwrecks, silence, and the names that must still be answered. The Roll-Call of the Reef was first published in 1911 in Noughts and Crosses, a collection of stories by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. It remains one of his most enduring supernatural tales and has been reprinted in The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944), who published as “Q”, was a Cornish writer, critic, and anthologist. He is best known for his editorship of The Oxford Book of English Verse and his lifelong dedication to the literary life of Cornwall. ⭐ 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

Clark Ashton Smith's "Symposium of the Gorgon," a masterful blend of satire and fantasy, made its debut in _Fantastic Universe Science Fiction_ in October 1958. Published relatively late in Smith's career, the story showcases his enduring talent for crafting bizarre and imaginative narratives, even as his output had begun to wane. The appearance in _Fantastic Universe_ introduced this darkly humorous tale to a new generation of pulp readers. ⭐ 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

In H.G. Wells's "The Red Room," a young man, confident in his rationality, seeks to debunk the supernatural in a reputedly haunted chamber. He is certain that his experience will be defined by logic and reason. But the air within the castle walls is heavy with unspoken dread, and as the candles dwindle, something shifts. Is it the room itself, or something within him, that begins to unravel? "The Red Room" was first published in The Idler magazine in March of 1896. H.G. Wells (1866-1946), a visionary of science fiction and social commentary, explored the depths of human experience with unparalleled skill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Late one fog-bound night, a man goes in search of a book to help him sleep. He finds a book he doesn’t remember. Did he inherit it? It has no title. No author. It’s written in Latin, in an unknown but legible hand. And once he begins to read it, he can’t stop returning to it each night. He was a happy family man. A little bored, but happy. But what is he now? Margaret Irwin’s *The Book* first appeared in *The London Mercury* in 1930—a quietly chilling study of possession, hidden knowledge, and the horrors that live on our own shelves. ⭐ 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