Episode 76 – How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery

A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast

We liven up our social distancing by finishing off the Benson boys, with Fred’s How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery. Dirty Dick gets his comeuppance for a murderous deed, but can the ghosts of his victims be laid to rest?

Trigger warning for gratuitous violence against children. And yes, we do mean it this time!

Thank you again to the fabulous Richard Crowest of the ‘Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson’ podcast for giving us permission to use extracts from his reading of this story in the episode. You can find out more about Richard, including his E.F. Benson and ‘Short Stories by Saki’ podcasts, at www.corvidae.co.uk.

• Text of How Fear on Gutenberg, as part of Fred Benson’s collected ghost stories. We covered EF Benson’s Negotiatum Perambulams in Episode 70.
• E.F. Benson (wikipedia) Wikipedia has a good summary of E.F. Benson’s life, including links to information on his fascinating family.
• Life of E.F. Benson by Brian Masters (AbeBooks.co.uk) Brian Masters’ excellent biography of Benson is a must-read for those interested in learning more about Benson.
• A long review of How Fear on Tor.com, including speculation on the fate of Colonel Blantyre’s member.