Snoozecast Presents: Spooky Stories

Tonight, for the last episode of our second annual October classic horror series, we’ll read a Snoozecast original called “Night Spell.”  It’s Halloween Night and all the nocturnal animals of the forest will be attending a very important function. Where are they off to this evening?  Besides a cameo from Maggie in this story, you may also notice poet Robert Frost, for a spell. — read by 'V' — Sign...

Tonight, during our second annual October classic horror series, we’ll read the opening to "Dracula", an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.  "Dracula" introduced the character of Count Dracula and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy. The novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread...

Tonight, for our second annual October classic horror series, we’ll read a Swedish fairytale called The Werewolf.  Until the 20th century, wolf attacks on humans were an occasional, but still widespread feature of life in Europe. Some scholars have suggested that it was inevitable that wolves, being the most feared predators in Europe, were projected into the folklore of evil shapeshifters. Areas...

Tonight, during our second annual October classic horror series, we'll read "The Ghost Ship", written by Richard Middleton published posthumously in 1912.  Middleton was a tragic figure - a young man impatient for success, who managed to live the archetypal life of the Romantic Bohemian poet, complete with poverty and unrequited love for an impossible woman. None of his novels were published while...

Tonight, during our second annual October classic horror series, we’ll read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", a gothic story by American author Washington Irving. Written while Irving was living abroad in Birmingham, England, it is among the earliest examples of American fiction with enduring popularity, especially during Halloween.  The Headless Horseman was believed to be a Hessian soldier who was...

Tonight, as the final episode of our October classic horror series, we’ll be reading the opening to "The Dunwich Horror", written in 1928 by H.P. Lovecraft. It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in central Massachusetts. It is considered one of the core stories of the Cthulhu Mythos.  — read by 'N' —  Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Le...

Tonight, as part of our October classic horror series, we'll read the opening to The "Turn of the Screw", an 1898 Gothic ghost story by Henry James.  The novella focuses on a governess who, caring for two children at a remote estate, becomes convinced that the grounds are haunted. Some critics have argued that the brilliance of "The Turn of the Screw" results from its ability to create an intimate...

Tonight, as part of our October classic horror series, we’ll read the opening to "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", a Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1886.  It is about a London legal practitioner named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde. The novella's...

Tonight, as part of our October classic horror series (every Wednesday this month), we'll read the opening to "Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus", written by Mary Shelley and published anonymously in 1818 when she was just 20 years old.  It tells the story of a scientist named Victor Frankenstein who creates a hideous humanoid creature. Since the novel's publication, the name "Frankenstein"...

Tonight, as part of our October classic horror series (every Wednesday this month), we’ll read the opening to "The Fall of the House of Usher", written by Edgar Allen Poe and published in 1839.  This short story is a work of Gothic fiction and includes themes of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities. Poe's inspiration for the story may be based upon events of the Hezekiah Usher H...