Warlock Vorobok Reads

Join Warlock Vorobok for his final podcast as he reads one of his favorite time-traveling stories: Enoch Soames by Sir Max Beerbohm. Join a down-on-his-luck writer as he makes a Faustian deal with the Devil to see if his name lives on in literary history. You'll never guess who gets the last laugh! Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Join Warlock Vorobok as he reads a story about the scariest creatures of them all...caterpillars...wait, what? You read that right, but Edward Benson uses just the right tone to create this disquieting story about unsuspecting larvae. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Join Warlock Vorobok as he reads the terrifying words of Cincinnati's own Lafcadio Hearn, an Enquirer journalist who later moved to Japan and translated their folklore for English-speaking people. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Join Warlock Vorobok as he reads this classic tale of horror from Ireland's greatest writer of the supernatural, Bram Stoker. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

“The King in Yellow,” a mythological play that causes the reader to lose touch with reality, is Robert W. Chambers’ haunting legacy in supernatural fiction, influencing many authors and even the hit-television series “True Detective.” Listen to Warlock Vorobok read one of the chilling tales that mentions this awful play...  Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Join Warlock Vorobok as he reads the leading Victorian ghost story writer of his day, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu! Besides his notable ghost stories, Le Fanu also penned a famous vampire novel 25 years before Dracula! Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Warlock Vorobok returns once more to America's greatest horror writer: Edgar Allan Poe. Get ready to be spooked by the Masque of Red Death!

One of New England's most famous writers comes forth from the void to share a story no-doubt connected to his family's witch-trail roots. Gather round as Warlock Vorobok reads about a Puritan's temptation to stray from good to evil in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown."

It all started because of bad weather and boredom. A ghost story contest was announced. And the genre of horror was about to change forever. Join Warlock Vorobok as he reads from one of his favorite horror novels—and an all-time classic—Frankenstein.

It all started because of bad weather and boredom. A ghost story contest was announced. And the genre of horror was about to change forever. Join Warlock Vorobok as he reads from one of his favorite horror novels—and an all-time classic—Frankenstein.

Brace yourself for gloomy castles, ghostly apparitions, and gruesome corpses! This new season of Warlock Vorobok Reads features scary good short stories, starting with the queen of Gothic literature, Ann Radcliffe. Radcliffe returns from the void to join the podcast after first sharing her supernatural writings with the Library’s resident warlock on the March 2022 episode. This time, Warlock Vorob...

Join Warlock Vorobok as he kicks off a new season of this supernatural podcast with an excerpt from the first Gothic novel, the Castle of Otranto. Written in 1764, this slim novel would be the start of so many nightmares to come.

Walter is most famous for his lyrical poetry for children, but "the Listeners" still manages to scare this Warlock every time I read it - and it is perfect for a cold winter's evening! Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Did you know the poet that penned the famous words on the Statue of Liberty also wrote poems about haunted places and Will O'the Wisps? Come get scared by the phantasmagoric verses of one America's most important poets. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

This month, the Warlock brings forth the works of famous Irish folklorist Alfred Perceval Graves. Born in Dublin on July 22, 1846, Graves published his first poem in 1863, which sparked his emergence as a leader in the renewal of Irish literature. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Henry was the most popular poet in America during his lifetime. And one of the richest, earning $3,000 per poem, which, in today's money would equal roughly $77,000! Join Warlock Vorobok as he explores the fantastical shipwrecks and haunted verses of one of America's most enduring poets. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Despite being one of the most popular Victorian poets, Christina Rossetti challenged the Victorian morals with this poem about temptation. Even Warlock Vorobok looks over his shoulder while reading this one!  Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was more than just Mary Shelley's husband. He was an accomplished poet, a radical nonconformist, and a vegetarian atheist. Join Warlock Vorobok as he explores the hallucinatory words of a poet well ahead of his times. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Lord Byron's larger-than-life persona created some fantastic poetry. Listen to Warlock Vorobok explore the gloomy depths of prison as well as a stunning apocalyptic dream from one of England's most famous poets. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Is there a more haunted place than the graveyard? Join Warlock Vorobok and other things that go bump in the night as he reads the most famous work of Scottish poet, Robert Blair. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Listen to Warlock Vorobok read from an obscure 17th century poet whose pamphlets depicting lower- and middle-class life were burned in the streets by the authorities. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

Cursed by a witch, a talking tree laments his failure to uphold virtue to a chivalric knight in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, one of the longest poems written in the English language. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

CHPL's resident warlock recites one of the most famous of the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table tales: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in which gallant Gawain agrees to trade axe strokes with the verdant knight only to discover a gruesome surprise. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

The Ancient Romans had many myths about gods and humans transforming into beasts. Here are two of the most frightening ones penned by one of the finest poets of his day, Ovid. Warlock Vorobok Reads is a monthly storytime for grownups.

At the end of this season of Warlock Vorobok Reads, after reading otherworld poetry from ancient Greece up until the start of the twentieth century, CHPL's resident warlock ends his supernatural saunter with the King of the Bohemians, George Sterling. On this episode, Warlock Vorobok reads “A Wine of Wizardry,” published in the September 1907 issue of Cosmopolitan. This poem stirred up lots of har...