Ancient Horror

Over 100 years before Julius Caesar's assassination, Rome marched against Carthage and left it in ruin. Contrary to recorded history, Rome fought not to eliminate her greatest rival but for the survival of all mankind. A secret lost to time is now revealed, told through the eyes of a witness to the horrible darkness spreading out of Carthage. Mixing historical fact with elements of Lovecraftian horror, The Darkness out of Carthage explores the Third Punic War with the question, "What if Rome fought not to be the world's conqueror, but its savior?"

Charles Boswell's short story "Monsters of Monarchy", Terror Tales, May 1940 features Roman emperor Caligula (12 BCE-24 CE), one of the most notorious Roman emperors. Known for his incestuous relationship with his sisters, and for his cruelty and madness, which culminated in Caligula naming his horse Roman consul and declaring himself a god. Caligula's brief reign and life turn into a complex and fascinating story of a boy-emperor thoroughly unprepared for the throne, who, in the early years of the Roman Empire, tried to make Rome an absolute monarchy but failed.

Among the ancient artifacts concealed in a London Victorian mansion lies an ornate human-sized sarcophagus which houses the body of an ancient Egyptian sorceress dead for centuries...or is she?

Stylish gentlemen and ladies await their carriages in the Victorian London night. But lurking in the shadows is one of the creatures of the night, one who brings chilling fear to those he encounters, a man who cannot die yet must prey upon the blood of others to prolong his doomed existence...the vampire Dracula.

Whether searching for the buried treasure of Captain Kidd in "The Gold Bug" or seeking revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado," the words of the master storyteller will thrill and envelop the listener.

Algernon Henry Blackwood (March 14, 1869 - December 10, 1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The following recording includes the short stories "The Olive" and "Ancient Lights."

Even before the birth of Christ and many centuries before the expeditions of the great Spanish conquistadors, there lived a group of American Indians called the Timucua. Their ancient shell mounds, piled high from countless feasts and everyday meals, survive to this day. One tribe of the Timucuan Federation made its home near the mouth of the Manatee River in southwest Florida. Here, the unspoiled river emptied into the crystal green waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Experience one of Poe’s classics with crisp, clear audio. Orange Island Book Shop is proud to present Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tales like you’ve never heard them before.

"The Middle Toe of the Right Foot", a ghost story by the writer and Civil War soldier Ambrose Bierce, was first published in The San Francisco Examiner in 1890. A man named Manton had murdered his children, and his wife who lacked the middle toe of her right foot. A decade later, he returns to the area; and having been recognized, is provoked to a duel in the dark, to be held at the scene of the crime. When the time of the duel comes, no antagonist appears, and Manton stands alone in the haunted darkness. The next day, they found his corpse, throttled by terror, crouching in a corner.

"Bayou's Hex" is a tale of voodoo. An ancient curse and chant open Pandora's box in a Louisiana tavern...and all hell breaks loose.