Mystery Reads

"Phil, my dear boy, really -- what's the matter? Why don't you answer? Have you seen the eyes?" An older gentleman invites a group of friends over for dinner and to discuss the supernatural. Afterwards, when only two guests remain, he tells them a story about The Eyes, about a man who is repeatedly haunted at night by a pair of grotesque eyes floating over the foot of his bed. 'The Eyes' is a short, sharp read that slowly enters your psyche and leaves you with a paragraph that may haunt you forever, because it's not about ghosts at all...

Aladdin is a boy, who lives in poverty with his mother. One day, while he is playing outside, an African magician approaches him and claims that he is Aladdin’s uncle. The mysterious man tricks the boy to work for him by promising him wealthy rewards. Aladdin agrees after having gotten his mother's permission. The African man instructs the boy to enter a dark cave and fetch him an oil lamp and Aladdin jumps into the cave to finds it. However, the boy refuses to pass it to the magician before he is helped out of the cave and back into daylight.

A man travels through the frozen wasteland bordering the Yukon River, accompanied by his best friend - a large husky dog. The dog tries to dissuade the man from walking farther into the frozen land, but the man pushes on. At some point the man decides to stop and build a fire. Unfortunately, snow falls from one of the trees and extinguishes the fire. This is the moment where the problems truly begin.

Huck is a young boy who embarks on a long and adventurous journey along the Mississippi River together with the runaway slave Jim. Their trip is marked by many obstacles, the different people they meet from various social classes, and the beautifully idyllic scenary of the riverfront and the surrounding forest. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" will take you on a journey that will grab your attention and keep you entertained until the very last page. B. J.

Three young men are caught by a storm and are offered shelter by a strange man. Something about him is very disturbing and they are about to find out what it is. Their host claims that he has made a pact with the Devil and can't get himself out of the deal. Is he going crazy or he is telling the truth? If it is the truth, can the three visitors help the poor man? Find out in Leroux’s "In Letters of Fire". B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

"The Squaw" is not your typical horror story but the brutality of it will take by surprise even the biggest horror fiction fan. Bram Stoker introduces us to a couple on a honeymoon and an American tourist whom they meet in Nuremberg, Germany. The story however does not unfold around those three characters, but between the American lady and a kitten ... which she kills. What is the reason for it and what follows after that? Find out in "The Squaw". B. J.

Sherlock Holmes is at the stables of Colonel Ross in Dartmoor. He has an especially important mission to investigate the disappearance of Silver Blaze, titular horse and a famous winner. It is not enough that the champion is gone, but his trainer, John Straker, has apparently been murdered. After carefully examining the crime scene, Holmes follows the horse’s footprints to the neighbor stables, where he tries to get more information from Silas Brown.

A governess is hired by a bachelor to take care of his nephew and niece. She has barely arrives at the house that she starts seeing ghosts and having other supernatural visions. She decides to share her frightening experience with the maid of the house, Mrs. Grose. The maid, however, is not surprised and tells the governess that the ghosts are those of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel.

The narrator is under the spell of Ellis - a female vampire - who takes him on series of flights to different places, such as Paris, St. Petersburg and the Isle of Wight. At these places, he becomes a witness to various incidents and becomes involves in different situations. Why was the narrator cursed by Ellis? Why did she take him to those places and what did she wanted to show him? What will the narrator learn from their journey? How will the story end? Find all the answers in Turgenev’s story "Phantoms" from 1863. B. J.

"You won't know till afterward. You won't know till long, long afterward." When Ned and Mary Boyne hear that their new house is haunted, they laugh it off and joke that every good house in the countryside must have a ghost for it to be worth purchasing. They move in and forget all about its supposed supernatural quirks. But when Mary notices a strange change in her husband's behaviour, she begins to suspect a not so friendly ghost is indeed at play.

Can a man lose his mind because of a braid of hair? Can people come back from the dead? "The Head of Hair" tells the story of one poor man who gets so obsessed with a hairpiece that he comes to believe that the lady it belonged to has returned from the underworld. Nobody believes him and he ends up in an institution for mentally ill but could he have been telling the truth? Did he really get a visitor from the past? B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

A small group of friends decide to attend a seance at a local art studio. While some of them are very sceptical about the whole thing, others believe in the medium’s abilities. The group starts a discussion about a new painting of a mythical creature, when a Frenchman joins and claims that he sees a unicorn in it. Shortly after the seance begins, a strange light fills the room and the medium starts speaking in a different voice. The voice is that of a person no longer within the living.

Joyce-Armstrong is a pilot, whose allies dies while they are trying to break the current height record of 30,00 feet. The man is curious over the mysterious deaths and thinks that his friends have been caught in what he calls "air-jungles". Hay Connor and Myrtle are its two most recent casualties. Connor dies immediately after landing, while Myrtle is found beheaded. Joyce-Armstrong then decides to conduct his own investigation and takes his plane to a height of 40,000 feet.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are discussing the lack of interesting new cases when a man bursts into the room. The panicked young man is McFarlane and he believes that he will be arrested for the murder of 52-year-old Jonas Oldacre. Oldacre’s burnt remains are found behind McFarlane house, the day after the builder Oldacre came to the lawyer McFarlane to draw up his will and made him his sole beneficiary. McFarlane is arrested as the main suspect. Holmes believes that the young man is not guilty and does his best to prove it.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Other Tales" is a collection of 23 stories by the American author Ambrose Bierce. It consists of some of the author’s best known works such as "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", "Chickamauga", "A Horseman in the Sky" and many others. The American Civil War, execution of plantation owner, twist endings, stream of consciousness narration, soldiers who are morally challenged, horses running through the sky, murder and supernatural occurrences.

Joel Hetman Jr. is summoned home because his mother was found dead. The only thing his father saw was an unknown man fleeing their home. The murderer was never found and the crime case turned to a mystery. One night Joel and his father were walking down a moonlit road when suddenly the father saw a pale figure. Was it a ghost or was he going crazy? Joel will finally find out what happened to his mother. "The Moonlit Road" by Ambrose Bierce holds all the answers.

Have you ever wondered what hides inside the big chimney which Santa Claus goes through every Christmas Eve? Jem is about to find out. Inside the chimney, she notices a magnificent white brick, but this brick is special; it lets Jem into a magical world full of toys. Do you want to join Jem’s journey to Santa Claus’ wonderland? Grab "Behind the White Brick" and come along. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

"There was but a single forlorn hope, and I took it." After being unwillingly transported back to Earth, John Carter finally finds a way back to Mars, exited to be reunited with his beloved wife Dejah Thoris after a ten-year separation. Unfortunately, John Carter arrives at the one place on Mars you can never leave: the Barsoomian afterlife. Heroric, cheesy and imaginative, 'The Gods of Mars' is even more entertaining than 'A Princess of Mars'. When it comes to these Martian adventures, there is no such thing as a small taste.

Ahab is the captain of a whaling ship named the Pequod. His great obsession with the giant whale, Moby Dick, makes him embark on a dangerous voyage. Some years before, the captain lost his leg because of the whale and now Ahab’s main desire is to take his revenge on the whale by killing it. He is so obsessed, that Ahab is ready to sacrifice everything he has, including the Pequod and all the members of his crew, and even his own life.

After their father’s death, the two brothers, Nur al-Din and Shams al-Din, agree to marry two sisters on the same day. The main idea is that Nur wants to have a son, while Shams wants to have a daughter. And so it happens. Shams al-Din has a daughter and Nur al-Din has a son - Badr al-Din. Right before he dies, Nur tells his young boy about his uncle Shams, who is still in Cairo. After the death of his father, Badr al-Din loses the approval of the sultan and must flee away.