A parting gift from me – 3 short readings that haven’t been released on the main feed before. You’ll hear A Little Place Off the Edgware Road by Graham Greene, followed by Sredni Vashtar by Saki, and The Man and the Snake by Ambroise Bierce. The recording for Sredni Vashar is a few years old, so apologies for the dip in audio quality here.

Can a monster that won't die, be defeated by a man who thinks he's dead already?    We come to the end of a long road. Not just in terms of this decade-spanning – or indeed the end of season 4 of the podcast. This is last regular episode of this ghost story podcast. At least for now. Thanks so much for listening. I hope this final horror story has been worth waiting for. A big thanks to Karyna Collier-Marsh for helping out with these episodes. You can find more about her work...

8 knocks. 8 victims. An undying monster finds a new home in an old hotel. Who will be his next victim? A man who’s lost his mind or a woman at risk of losing hers? What better way to end Season 4 – and this phase of the podcast – by solving the show’s oldest supernatural mystery. In episode 1, we met an uncanny killer, a paranormal entity that kills slowly, tormenting his victims using a rhythm of six knocks.  After that episode, I asked if anyone had any further information. And someone...

“By the power of that Sabbath wine, a few grains of white powder thrown into a glass of water, the house of life was riven asunder and the human trinity dissolved”  I’ve moved the annual summer bonus episode up in the schedule to give me more time to work on the season finale. Alas, I’ve only just about managed to put this episode out on time, nevermind start on the next one. Oh well, finger’s crossed things will still stay on schedule.   The story I’ve chosen is a weird fiction classic by...

Turns out there really is a conspiracy. They really are out to get you. They know where you live. And they’re coming for you. Traditionally, you have to be dead to be a ghost. But today we have new types of ghoul. They’re not supernatural, they’re not paranormal, they’re people who share the same spaces with us, but live in a completely different reality. Where the rules are different, and everything is connected. They’re still alive, but they’re hard to reach. Because the world they’ve...

It’s a family heirloom. Her sister doesn’t deserve it. So she’s keeping it for herself. And it doesn’t matter what the voices say… Ghosts come most often when we’re vulnerable, and there are few times when we’re more vulnerable to the supernatural than when we’re in mourning. When we’re contemplating not just who we’ve lost, but our own mortality. Why wouldn’t we want to reach out to something beyond, and hope that there is an afterlife. And that we don’t just all fade to nothing. Patrons...

When you’re getting ready to go to the airport, the last thing you need is an unexpected knock at the door. And a stranger who refuses to leave. There’s probably never really a good time to come face-to-face with the supernatural, but there are definitely worse times than others. This is rare ghost story that manages to be both a reminder and a premonition – it reveals a frightening event from the past, and provides a terrifying warning of what might happen if one family can’t find a way to...

Never upset a man with a great memory. You’ll never forget what happens next. This unforgettable episode of the podcast is another tale from the weird section of the archive. And it’s one that raises all sorts of questions about time. Is it all laid out before us? Can we change our fate? Or is what’s happening all some clever trick? If the man at the centre of all this has some supernatural gift, how come he’s in this situation, performing to a hostile audience? Or must he follow his path...

“We had now some discussion as to the propriety and feasibility of awakening him; but we had little difficulty in agreeing that no good purpose would be served by so doing. It was evident that, so far, death (or what is usually termed death) had been arrested by the mesmeric process…” This classic gothic tale of mad science ended up being a bit of a challenge to complete for the podcast. Not just because of my 'American accent' (hope it work for you), but also because I got a sore throat...

It’s the season of good will. Everyone’s supposed to get along. And not get into arguments. Or settle old scores… Revenge is a dish best served sweetly in this year’s ghost story for Christmas. There is something wonderful about the festive season, the way it helps us to renew connections with the people we care about. But connections can come with baggage. And when it’s family, love can often be tinged with hate. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and hope yours doesn’t become as...

A crime has been committed. A guilty man has been identified. But will the punishment fit the crime? Many a ghost story revolves around acts of injustice. An act of evil is committed, and then a terrifying, chilling act of supernatural vengeance is enacted to right it. But justice is a slippery thing. We may revel in seeing an act of revenge be carried out, but are we forgetting to ask whether that revenge is appropriate? Did the victim really deserve what happened to them? Hear the extra...

It’s a section of road that’s lethal to the local wildlife. Not the sort of place where you’d want to find yourself stranded, and alone. Welcome to season 4 of this ghost story podcast, and prepare yourself for a chilling walk into the woods… Our first new supernatural case may be modern in terms of its setting, but its themes go back generations. History has a habit of repeating itself. And it can be frightening to consider what the future might have in store for you. Tags: Gothic,...

Nightmares can come true. Discover 8 new supernatural tales in season 4 of the New Ghost Stories Podcast. Where ordinary lives are overturned by extraordinary events. And things will never be normal again.

"Yes, you did well to awake," he said. "That warning came from your subconscious self, which never wholly slumbers, and cried out to you of deadly danger. For two reasons, then, you must help me: one to save others, the second to save yourself." While M.R. James may lay claim to being the most influential of the classic ghost story writers, E.F. Benson is by far the most prolific. He penned more than 50 of what he called 'spook stories', and like James, his gothic tales also tend to centre...

"They do say, as on All Saints' Eve them two bodies sits up on their slabs, and gets off of them, and then walks down the aisle, in their marble" Many old ghost stories have the reputation of being cosy. Stories to tell around the fireside to provide listeners with a pleasant terror. One of the surprises about Edith Nesbit’s stories – an author, let’s not forget, famous for her children’s classics – is that they don’t hold back. Her stories aren’t guided by a Victorian sense of justice and...

It’s not her battle, but it doesn’t matter. A score needs to be settled. And the only way to get her life back is to fight. - One of the many things that fascinates me about these real-life horror stories is how people come to live with what has happened to them. Regardless of how chilling or traumatising an experience may have been, you’ve still got to go home afterwards, do the shopping, answer your emails. The extraordinary and the ordinary end up living side by side. Terrifying,...

Life is fragile. No matter how strong your career, your connections, the roof over your head. It only takes one vandal to tear it all down. We’re bringing season three of this supernatural podcast home with an epic two-part horror story. A tale in which speaking truth and standing up for yourself are just as frightening as any paranormal entity. Well… almost. This an uncanny case where one woman goes on a journey and has to face her own anxieties and grievances head-on, but is also forced...

A ghost who cleans up after you isn’t so bad. But one that goes through your wife’s underwear, that’s a step too far... If your home is haunted, are you ever truly alone? If you share your living space with a spirit, what happens to your privacy? What can ghosts see? Supernatural stories often focus on the noises, the shocks, the scares. But what is it really like to live with something paranormal? What does it do to your senses, knowing that you’re living with something unexplained, that...

It was a beautiful garden, except for the weeds. Strange black stems, with red flowers. And a deadly aroma. Rather than a haunting, this is another frightening case from the weird section of my paranormal archive. There’s a long tradition of scary plants in horror. They’re something we can’t control, that creep and grow sometimes where we don’t want them too. Slowly, gradually, they can be destructive. We have to keep them in check, or they can take over the spaces where we feel...

He needs to prove he can be a responsible parent. Provide a good home for his family. If he could only do something about the damp… Case no 288 is amongst the most upsetting of the stories that’s featured on this real life horror podcast to date. We’ve had real supernatural cases before where the pressures of parenthood have led to horrible outcomes. But what makes this chilling case more frightening is that if it happened just as the subject claims it did, then it’s simply terrifying. If...

Run off the road. Forced to find help. He sees an old farmhouse in the distance. And that’s where the nightmare really begins. Case no. 202 is a real haunted house story. A disturbing account of one man’s ill-fated trip into the British countryside, and the unexpected horror he uncovers there. It’s a sinister discovery that reveals something about his own dark past. And it all builds to a thrilling, and disturbing climax. Patrons help to keep the project going. If you'd like to become...

It was a routine operation. She didn’t think she’d have to stay overnight. With strange sounds on the ward. And something hiding behind the curtain. This was meant to be one of the Shorts series, but this hospital-based horror story has ended up being a much longer supernatural tale than I originally planned. So I’ve added it as regular-length episode. Unlike most of my cases, this story just takes place over one night. It’s a nightmare that grows more and more strange and chilling, until it...

“… When subjects were scarce the pair would drive far into the country in Macfarlane's gig, visit and desecrate some lonely graveyard, and return before dawn with their booty to the door of the dissecting-room.” This time for our New Year’s bonus classic ghost story, I’m reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Body Snatcher. This creepy gothic tale was inspired the famous Burke and Hare case, and the non-conformist libertine streak exhibited by one of the leads seems to lay the way for the...

No presents. No dinner. No company. He thought covid was the worst thing that could happen at Christmas. He was wrong. This year’s chilling ghost story for Christmas comes from our very recent history. A troubling period that still haunts us, even though we’re keen to try and put it behind us. Yet bizarrely, there is still something Dickensian about this real festive tale. But I won’t spoilt it; I’ll leave it to you to see what you make of it. Patrons help to keep the project going. If...