My favorite line from this story: “... you can comfortably recline on the cushion of coincidence.”

Ditto, Tony. Listening today, Easter Sunday, 2004. Hmmmmmm... . Love, your work, Tony, as always. Thank you!

Cheers from New Orleans: November 2023 - I have become quite fond of Benson's stories. And I notice here, the subject of reincarnation comes up. Fascinating how Benson lets his characters speak, and express their views, which of course in a sense are HIS views.. 'In The Tube' has the two main characters discuss the notion of 'time slippage'..past, present and future. And hypothetically - what it could mean if we were a little more flexible in our own perceptions of it. So, now these characters are discussing the idea of the paranormal. How lovely....

Personally, I like that you do ghost stories and stories with faeries. Being American I have never heard those stories before. I listen to HorrorBabble for weird tales and of course Bitesize Audio for the mystery stories and some victorian stuff. I also quite like your other channel which is focusing on "true" hauntings as it reminds me of the old ghost books I used to read. It's nice to have this range to choose from.

Not at all boring. Very well read.

Right directly from The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion And kabbala!! EF Bentsen was obviously in the know . Protocol #2 I think 🤔

Creepy and haunting. What a treat, thank you.

Great story Tony, I've not heard it before, nicely read. A really nice example of EF s craft with great lines.

I'm a big Benson fan, but I've never heard this. It's a great classic, and well read.

Can't wait for this. I love E F 💜

Great story and narration as always. Many thanks for all you do.

Dogs always know....🐕🐾💜

I enjoyed that. Good accents!

Well Tony, I'm glad you decided on Classic Ghost Stories in this seminal recording because I've been listening to all of them, including your masterful Dracula. Pooh on any naysayers, your voice and delivery are magnificent.

Great stuff!!!

I loved this. Such an unusual concept

I really, REALLY needed this today. ❤

I totally got the the Easter connection. I've been binging on your show ever since I came across the 6 Christmas murders series a couple of days ago.

Really loving the E F Benson stories! I have not heard of him before and am really enjoying your playlist of them! Thank you for introducing me to his work!

Such at fantastic story! I really enjoy your reading. Currently I am relistening to all the EF Benson stories you have posted. Thank you so much for them!

Oooh..really liked this spooky one. I agree on Benson! Oh and I AM in South Carolina🤣

Loved the story love the ramblings!

Superb, as always , thank you xx

I like the classic ones.

Thank you sir , another wonderful story and commentary. Thank you!

thanks Tony

This story riveted me and it has everything to do with your narration! I am so glad I have found you on You Tube. I look forward to evening when I can relax and listen. Thank you!

Well done sir.

Love love love!

Love this story. I have met people very much like Mrs. Acres.

Yes love the classic ghost stories 👌

Thank you for this great narration. Such an interesting story.

This was brilliant!! Spookiest story. Not just here but on YT. That beach scene … thank you. Dreadfully awfully good ❤️👻👻👻👻👻 I give it five ghosts out of five

E.F.B. is always a good choice.

Lancashire is the land of my birth, though I was raised here in Australia. It's been a long time since I've had an Eccles cake🥰 though thankfully we can get proper cheese here lol. Enjoy your unwind 😊

Very effective story, gave me genuine chills.

Nice one. I feel bad for the lady. Poor thing, she was so nice. Great narration!

Love your work Tony. Whenever I feel down or out of sorts I know I can just listen to you and feel lifted ❤❤

Thank you, Tony! Tarleton is near Southport in the North West. It's near the sea. There could be other places with the same name, thought... much love! 👻💀💜!

This is absolute genius! 1000 million thank you’s!!!!🌟

Loved the story.! It’s an EF Benson one I’ve never heard before, which is always cool to come across. Should not have been surprised to find it here!

Fabulous!

I have liked every story you've ever narratored. I have always loved the classic haunted stories, psychological horror, especially vintage Gothic Horror. I love the authors of distant past. I live in Salem, Oregon USA 🇺🇸 So, for me your accent is captivating. I can listen to you for hours. You are the perfect narrator. You could read the back of a cereal box and I would listen to you. 😉 Thank You Ever So Much For Happening In My Life. ❤️

Thanks Tony, I always enjoy the stories that you choose. Some more than others, but I think that there is no rhyme or reason to that, short of my being intrigued or not. The one thing that I always enjoy is your talk (ramble on), at the end. I don't get to travel far, or even go out to the flicks more than a handful of times each year, and my home conversation is a literary void. So thank you. I look forward to each and every one; even more than the other channels, (although I do love Morgan Scorpion's channel ). Please do include some of your own short stories as well. 🙋🔻🇦🇺

I absolutely love your stories and storytelling. Fie on the moaners.

My favorite part of this ramble was learning that Tony listens to Lol the same KZfaq audio books i do. Also I adore when Horror babble does their own work, and I also feel similarly when Tony reads his own work.

Wonderful! 😱💖

The stories are very well put over as maybe expected (cheers) but I enjoy the ramblings which give a little insight into our friends life. I havent heard in the last few listenings the lives of the authors and their works which i miss. Thank you

I like the "locked drawer"! Adds a certain vintage je ne sais quoi ;)

Hi Tony I listen to your stories on KZfaq and I think you do a wonderful job I know that you get a small amount of money from me listening to all of the advertisements before your stories so I always listen to them since I'm not a patreon member of yours yet and I love the after videos when you are on video and you talk about the stories even if you're not showing your face talking about them I love the history that you give about the author or The Story You're So knowledgeable and I enjoy all of that and I also enjoy the live readings that you give where you're just seeing in a comfy chair with a lamp on and reading the story I think those are amazing also I think you do a great job I don't care what you change I don't care what you leave the same anything you do is okay with me thank you for the hours of entertainment you give me

A chilling story. Thanks Tony. Very enjoyable in a macabre way.

This was a ripper of a story. Chilled me to the bone listening to this at 4.30 am with the pitter pay of a steady rain outside

Tony, when you talk about stories that other people do really well with and you don’t-it’s probably because we’ve just recently listened to those. There was the tragic debacle where l’Estrange and Hew Carr came out with the same story on the same day. TOTAL NIGHTMARE! I’m not going to listen to both. You do lots of great stories but I’ve already heard so many of them by others. Ps-Benson is my favorite too and I was so happy that I’d never heard this tale. My advice, for what it’s worth, is to check the channels we all listen too (bitesized, l’Estrange-I can’t bear Ian the Horrorbabbler’s voice-but I’m sure he’s big, etc) and see if they’ve done a piece in the last year or so). Try and find New old material that we’ve not heard. IMHO. Ps, I could suggest a few tales none have done lately

Thank you. Throughly enjoyed this story!

Absolutely chilling. Mr. Walker, only your delivery can make it even 'chillier'; I mean this in a totally complimentary way. I also must agree with you, re: EF Benson and his place at the top of ghost story authors of his era. I'll probably take a bit of flack for this, but while I know MR James is very talented..some of his stories just drone on and on for me. As I tell my 2 young grands, if we all liked the same things, what a dull world this would be. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.

Love the accents!

I love your wanderings and feel I've been on a mini vacation honestly , meeting all your charming characters and places. Also, I thought you were starting a joke, 2 psychiatrists were walking ahead of me.......

Refreshing new tales for Halloween

I’m sorry that anybody sends you negative comments. As my Aunt Therese used to say, The next best thing to brains is silence“. This story is a real stand out! Very creepy and well told. You read it wonderfully well, too. I enjoyed your chat after. I would love to take one of those barges someday. I, for one, prefer classic ghost stories: the creepier the better! MR James and EF Benson are at the top of my list. Thank you for sharing your super readings! They bring me so much pleasure.

I don't know if I like your story telling or your ramblings more. ❤️❤️

"If you ever go mad..." 😂🤣 but "We're all mad here" Tony 💜

I lost my comment…. Yay! KZfaq! Yeah Tony we love what you choose! I love the lock drawer and classic ghost stories but I particularly enjoy the classic literary with surreal edges.- like Jackson & Wharton!!! And MORE of YOUR OWN WORK!!!❤

Not for the bin: love your rant at the end 💜 and everything else as well, of course. nettie 💜🦉

Really like this one. I always save tour readings for bedtime, brilliant 👏

Love your voice much better than others. Thank you.

Masterful, intreguing, gripping narration and entertaining, informative "ramblings"----also this time around. Thank you, Tony!

I don't know of any legends about the burial of Judas (other than the account of his body falling/being tossed into the potter's field), but there is a tradition that the body of Pontius Pilate could not be buried. I remember reading a medieval drama that used the story. The body wouldn't remain in the earth or sink in the sea. It sank in the Tiber, but poisoned the water. According to the story, it was finally thrown into an isolated lake in Switzerland. This tradition is based on the assumption that he died unrepentant. There is another tradition that says that he became a Christian and died as a martyr.

Agreed. E. F. Benson was the best. IMO, his range of tone plays no small part.

Enjoyed very much, thank you..

Fantastic story! Really chilling! Youre one of THE best readers of ghost stories! So, il give this 4,5/5... i wanted more! Wish it was longer ❤

Love your rambling conversations about nothing much, after the stories. Maybe you could do one podcast of nothing but rambling, maybe even a live podcast so we can ramble back to you.

If only E.F. had been more proflic. Had the brilliant ideas and ease of conveying them. No weakness here.

Thank you 🥰😘 That poor American lad is still doing circles up near Carlisle 🤣

Another wonderful reading, Tony, and I very much enjoyed it. You mentioned the name of Acres and what it could mean. I may be over-thinking it, but I wonder if we should consider it an anagram (or corruption, if you prefer) of 'Sacre', meaning sacred. She is, in other words, unholy.

Tarleton is in Lancs near Southport.

Truly horrifying! 🦇🦇🦇

Loved this, thank you!

Ooh nice and creepy!

I much prefer the locked drawer start

If it’s not too late, please, keep “the locked drawer”. It immediately transports me into “ the other dimension”.

We had barges in the US, I think, maybe on the Erie Canal, but not sure if they are the same kind.

Whoa, this one starts off with a bang, doesn't it. (Sorry, SORRY, I'm deleting it). It's almost in media res, which seems a unique choice for horror. One of the things I like best about Benson is his swings between creeping horror and sudden explosive action. Hope you're having a relaxing time on your barge!

actually I love the sherlock holmes stuff..bite size has a number of really good detective stories most of which are not about Holmes there are 2 channels you should check out if no one has mentioned them to you chip slaters story time new thinkable some of the old space horror stories are just as entertaining as lovecraft or benson think about adding them to the wheel house thanks

💜💜💜

A lot of the ideas brought together here are very much influenced by contemporary study of ancient religious themes. James George Frazer's 'The Golden Bough' was very influential at the time and described fertility rituals of rebirth and scapegoat. The stress on the Jewishness of the lady is relevant to the scapegoat idea, as is the cyclical nature of her relationships with husband and society. Her husband connected with her for the material benefits, but then rejected her after a span. The title 'The Outcast' is another reference. In the fertility myths, the chosen king is lauded and given gifts as he rules for a set span. His presence brings life and blessings. However when it wanes, or when the specified time is up - usually a year - he is discarded and replaced. This often involved casting him into the sea. The Fisher King is one version. The Christian story of resurrection also derives from these tales. While these are usually based around male figures, in this story it is stated more than once that sex is irrelevant and it can be either. The idea that it is the actual process that is malevolent and not the blameless participants is very satisfying and lifts this tale into a slightly more sophisticated level.

I found this story interesting because of the reincarnation theme.

"Could you imagine being Judas Escariot..."

⭐️⭐️💛⭐️⭐️

You are perfectly charming. Have a lovely holiday.

9:28

Try some Warhammer horror. There's a massive fan base there. Drag a few your way.

I heard 'subscribe like Cher'

My ears have a crush on your voice. Read me anything you like.

Lucifer... Shade... Lol mix of cultural religious versions of the underworld/hell

Also Tony, do you mind if I promote a guy who has very few followers but deserves many many more?

Since this has been up for a year, I'm sure that the answer is already in here, but...IN THE BIBLE, The Jewish church leaders (who have him killed) tell Jesus that they want a sign (He's already given so many, but these guys are jerks). He tells them that the only sign He will give them is the story of Jonah. Jonah's three days in the big fish foreshadow Jesus' own three days in the earth. So...they are related. :)

How did I miss commenting on one of my favorite EF Benson stories? Although I usually binge listen to you. Anyway, I have never been convinced of Judas’ perfidy. Someone was needed to betray Jesus. Thus Jesus must have chosen him for the task. I’m sure a theologian could give me a reason why this is unsound. But I like to think Jesus forgave him and took him up to heaven. 😊