Christopher Lee tells a ghost story by M.R. James

It’s that magical night tomorrow where everyone drops their pants, paints themselves green and runs through the streets crying “Who wants to hold my hand?” No? Perhaps it has yet to catch on…

OK so to celebrate one of my favourite times of the year here’s an atmospheric episode from the year 2000 series M.R. James – BBC Ghost stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee.

Based on the fact that his stories were originally written to read aloud to a select few at the University he taught at on Christmas eve, here is Number 13:

My New Favourite Book of the Weird

I must tell you about this brilliant book I got for Christmas. Edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer its called The Weird: A Compendium of Strange & Dark Stories. Here’s what it says on Jeff’s entry on his site:

‘Over one hundred years of weird fiction collected in a single volume of 750,000 words. Over 20 nationalities are represented and seven new translations were commissioned for the book, most notably definitive translations of Julio Cortazar’s “Axolotl” and Michel Bernanos’ short novel “The Other Side of the Mountain” (the first translations of these classics in many decades). Other highlights include the short novels / long novellas “The Beak Doctor” by Eric Basso, “Tainaron” by Leena Krohn, and “The Brotherhood of Mutilation” by Brian Evenson. This is among the largest collections of weird fiction ever housed between the covers of one book.’

Alongside well loved spooky story writers such as MR James, Robert Aickman and HP Lovecraft there’s Kafka, Daphne Du Maurier’s ‘Don’t Look Now’, Haruki Murakami, Poppy Z Brite, Hagiwara Sakutaro, Saki, Neil Gaiman and plenty more. Enjoy!