Show Notes
Ho ho, and indeed ho! In this special festive episode, Mike and Will pull on their wellies and wander straight into Lucky’s Grove by H.R. Wakefield. But who’s that hiding behind the Christmas tree?
Big thanks to Julia Morgan for allowing us to use extracts from her excellent Youtube reading of this story.
Show notes:
The Clock Strikes Twelve (Ash Tree Press)
If you want to read this story, your best bet is to pick up the Ash Tree Press ebook of The Clock Strikes Twelve, the H.R. Wakefield collection that contains this story.
H.R. Wakefield (Wikipedia)
You can read some biographical information about Wakefield himself on Wikipedia.
The Edda (Wikipedia)
The quote that starts this story is liberally adapted by Wakefield from part of these 11th-century Icelandic works.
The Folk Horror of H.R. Wakefield (whenchuchyardsyawn)
This excellent article by Jason Lineham analyses both Lucky’s Grove and another Wakefield tale called the The First Sheaf from a modern folk horror perspective.
The Disney wolf (Wikipedia)
The intimidating wolf that adorns one of the Christmas lights was presumably based on the wolf from the Disney short film Three Little Pigs (1933). He does look a bit intimidating actually!
More from A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast
This episode Mike and Will examine Curfew by Lucy M. Boston, a childhood tale of haunted bells, unearthed coffins and post-Jamesian highjinx aplenty.
M.R. James said that sex had no place in a ghost story. But was he right? This episode we attempt to answer this question and more, as we cover The Nature of the Evidence by May Sinclair, a tale from 1923 about a couple who just want to enjoy their wedding night. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, yes.
Hold on to your mummy! This episode Mike and Will discuss Mark Gatiss’s recent Ghost Story for Christmas TV adaptation Lot 249, as well as the Arthur Conan Doyle short story it is based on.
This episode, Mike and Will grab their literary toboggans and gallop joyously out into the snow, only to be hit in the face by a terrifying fictional snowball in the form of Louisa Baldwin’s The Real and the Counterfeit!
Who would win in a fight between a man and a bed? Find the answer to this question and more in our new episode on The Weird of the Walfords by Louisa Baldwin! Also, if you like emotionally-repressed Victorian husbands, you will not leave disappointed.