Thank you Amanda - it truly was a #pleasingterror 😱
November 2, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Thank you Amanda - it truly was a #pleasingterror 😱
James does Poe:
“undeniably the outside was blank and forbidding”
James does Beckett:
“he distinguish'd a Trampling (not loud)”
😱 #pleasingterror
“undeniably the outside was blank and forbidding”
James does Beckett:
“he distinguish'd a Trampling (not loud)”
😱 #pleasingterror
October 31, 2025 at 7:05 PM
James does Poe:
“undeniably the outside was blank and forbidding”
James does Beckett:
“he distinguish'd a Trampling (not loud)”
😱 #pleasingterror
“undeniably the outside was blank and forbidding”
James does Beckett:
“he distinguish'd a Trampling (not loud)”
😱 #pleasingterror
A wonderful couplet:
“The drawing up of a catalogue raisonné would be a delicious occupation for winter.”
“As he pursued his round the sense came upon him (as it does upon most of us in similar places) of the extreme unreadableness of a great portion of the collection.”
😱 #pleasingterror
“The drawing up of a catalogue raisonné would be a delicious occupation for winter.”
“As he pursued his round the sense came upon him (as it does upon most of us in similar places) of the extreme unreadableness of a great portion of the collection.”
😱 #pleasingterror
October 31, 2025 at 4:59 AM
A wonderful couplet:
“The drawing up of a catalogue raisonné would be a delicious occupation for winter.”
“As he pursued his round the sense came upon him (as it does upon most of us in similar places) of the extreme unreadableness of a great portion of the collection.”
😱 #pleasingterror
“The drawing up of a catalogue raisonné would be a delicious occupation for winter.”
“As he pursued his round the sense came upon him (as it does upon most of us in similar places) of the extreme unreadableness of a great portion of the collection.”
😱 #pleasingterror
“There were one or two slight mistakes, but here, near the centre, was a bad confusion, probably due to the entry of the Second or Third Bat.”
I mean, Whomst among us, amirite
😱 #pleasingterror
I mean, Whomst among us, amirite
😱 #pleasingterror
October 31, 2025 at 1:27 AM
“There were one or two slight mistakes, but here, near the centre, was a bad confusion, probably due to the entry of the Second or Third Bat.”
I mean, Whomst among us, amirite
😱 #pleasingterror
I mean, Whomst among us, amirite
😱 #pleasingterror
Time to read the last MR James story for this month's #pleasingterror book club. Play us out, "Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance" ....
October 29, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Time to read the last MR James story for this month's #pleasingterror book club. Play us out, "Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance" ....
I kept thinking it’s like part Straub’s Ghost Story rightfully vengeful spirit, part The Ring creepy crawly manifestation, and part Hammer film period piece supernatural Witchfinder courtroom drama
After finding Barchester a little turgid, this was a great palette cleanser. 😱 #pleasingterror
After finding Barchester a little turgid, this was a great palette cleanser. 😱 #pleasingterror
October 29, 2025 at 2:02 AM
I kept thinking it’s like part Straub’s Ghost Story rightfully vengeful spirit, part The Ring creepy crawly manifestation, and part Hammer film period piece supernatural Witchfinder courtroom drama
After finding Barchester a little turgid, this was a great palette cleanser. 😱 #pleasingterror
After finding Barchester a little turgid, this was a great palette cleanser. 😱 #pleasingterror
Poor Ann Clark in "Martin's Close," having everyone say "She was ugly" in the court record. #pleasingterror 😱
October 28, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Poor Ann Clark in "Martin's Close," having everyone say "She was ugly" in the court record. #pleasingterror 😱
My favorite line in "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral": "There *is* no kitchen cat." #pleasingterror
October 26, 2025 at 11:25 PM
My favorite line in "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral": "There *is* no kitchen cat." #pleasingterror
Another hairy and horrible thing in today's #pleasingterror reading.
October 26, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Another hairy and horrible thing in today's #pleasingterror reading.
M.R. James style ghost / living dead sketch
October 23, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
October 22, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Timely warning.
#pleasingterror 😱
#pleasingterror 😱
Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
October 22, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Timely warning.
#pleasingterror 😱
#pleasingterror 😱
Never fails. Bingo?
“What he touched was, according to his account, a mouth, with teeth, and with hair about it, and, he declares, not the mouth of a human being.”
😱 #pleasingterror
“What he touched was, according to his account, a mouth, with teeth, and with hair about it, and, he declares, not the mouth of a human being.”
😱 #pleasingterror
October 22, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Never fails. Bingo?
“What he touched was, according to his account, a mouth, with teeth, and with hair about it, and, he declares, not the mouth of a human being.”
😱 #pleasingterror
“What he touched was, according to his account, a mouth, with teeth, and with hair about it, and, he declares, not the mouth of a human being.”
😱 #pleasingterror
Reading MR James for #pleasingterror 😱 and also Katabasis by RF Kuang makes them sort of blend with each other, esp. with today's story featuring "a Cambridge man."
That both authors use initials is another thing. My library hold for the latter just happened to come in finally.
That both authors use initials is another thing. My library hold for the latter just happened to come in finally.
October 22, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Reading MR James for #pleasingterror 😱 and also Katabasis by RF Kuang makes them sort of blend with each other, esp. with today's story featuring "a Cambridge man."
That both authors use initials is another thing. My library hold for the latter just happened to come in finally.
That both authors use initials is another thing. My library hold for the latter just happened to come in finally.
"A Tractate Middoth" was the first M.R. James adaptation I watched, back when my VPN worked on BBC iPlayer, I watched it on Christmas Day, even. (It's on Prime now.) If you're a Doctor Who fan, it's written by Mark Gatiss and has both Sacha Dhawan and Louise Jameson. #pleasingterror 😱
"A Ghost Story for Christmas" The Tractate Middoth (TV Episode 2013) ⭐ 6.7 | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
35m
www.imdb.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:54 PM
"A Tractate Middoth" was the first M.R. James adaptation I watched, back when my VPN worked on BBC iPlayer, I watched it on Christmas Day, even. (It's on Prime now.) If you're a Doctor Who fan, it's written by Mark Gatiss and has both Sacha Dhawan and Louise Jameson. #pleasingterror 😱
When in doubt, you can always scare ‘em with a weird vaguely disembodied head exhibiting poor dental hygiene.
😱 #pleasingterror
😱 #pleasingterror
October 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM
When in doubt, you can always scare ‘em with a weird vaguely disembodied head exhibiting poor dental hygiene.
😱 #pleasingterror
😱 #pleasingterror
Mr and Mrs A. lob and volley during that breakfast like tennis champs, as he attempts to get out of the errand to fetch “knitted things” and lend advice on the location of the rose garden location. Who needs golf? #pleasingterror 😱
October 19, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Mr and Mrs A. lob and volley during that breakfast like tennis champs, as he attempts to get out of the errand to fetch “knitted things” and lend advice on the location of the rose garden location. Who needs golf? #pleasingterror 😱
It’s easier to frighten someone once they are comfortable, so we listen to a married couples’ perfectly normal breakfast conversation about errands, the sad quality of merchandise these days, and plans for a rose garden. #pleasingterror 😱
October 19, 2025 at 6:03 PM
It’s easier to frighten someone once they are comfortable, so we listen to a married couples’ perfectly normal breakfast conversation about errands, the sad quality of merchandise these days, and plans for a rose garden. #pleasingterror 😱
I also found it to be a real sleeper great - taut, sort of predictable but you’re still curious/propelled how it’s going to shake out, almost aware of its efficiency in an effective way. Great underdiscussed story. 😱 #pleasingterror
October 19, 2025 at 3:18 AM
I also found it to be a real sleeper great - taut, sort of predictable but you’re still curious/propelled how it’s going to shake out, almost aware of its efficiency in an effective way. Great underdiscussed story. 😱 #pleasingterror
More golf shade in today's #pleasingterror reading lol
October 19, 2025 at 2:20 AM
More golf shade in today's #pleasingterror reading lol
"School Story" is great, btw. Would make a great short play too, I think. #pleasingterror😱
October 17, 2025 at 11:02 PM
"School Story" is great, btw. Would make a great short play too, I think. #pleasingterror😱
Oh shit! I forgot! Today's the 17th. Time to start reading More Ghost Stories by M.R. James for #pleasingterror 😱
October 17, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Oh shit! I forgot! Today's the 17th. Time to start reading More Ghost Stories by M.R. James for #pleasingterror 😱
Jamesian story about a cursed library pass revoked unfairly 130 yrs before murdering or driving insane a long line of academics who trace it via an obscure footnote in a crumbling book of sermons by an infamously dull bishop resulting in them only ever being issued the wrong books #pleasingterror
The British Library has reissued Oscar Wilde’s Reader Pass 130 years after it was revoked following his conviction for “gross indecency”.
In 1895, Wilde was convicted of “gross indecency” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which criminalised same-sex relationships.
jrnl.ie/6846388
In 1895, Wilde was convicted of “gross indecency” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which criminalised same-sex relationships.
jrnl.ie/6846388
British Library reissues Oscar Wilde’s pass 130 years after it was revoked over gay conviction
Wilde was convicted in England of “gross indecency” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which criminalised same-sex relationships.
jrnl.ie
October 17, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Jamesian story about a cursed library pass revoked unfairly 130 yrs before murdering or driving insane a long line of academics who trace it via an obscure footnote in a crumbling book of sermons by an infamously dull bishop resulting in them only ever being issued the wrong books #pleasingterror
“Cambridge Jones and the Well of the Creepy Sacks” 😱 #pleasingterror
October 16, 2025 at 1:18 AM
“Cambridge Jones and the Well of the Creepy Sacks” 😱 #pleasingterror
Thoughts on Abbot Thomas?
I sort of liked the shaggy dog, story within a story structure, and the guy’s well-timed brandy sipping as he retold of his deciphering. That said, very much build up for about a page of creepiness? 😱 #pleasingterror
I sort of liked the shaggy dog, story within a story structure, and the guy’s well-timed brandy sipping as he retold of his deciphering. That said, very much build up for about a page of creepiness? 😱 #pleasingterror
October 15, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Thoughts on Abbot Thomas?
I sort of liked the shaggy dog, story within a story structure, and the guy’s well-timed brandy sipping as he retold of his deciphering. That said, very much build up for about a page of creepiness? 😱 #pleasingterror
I sort of liked the shaggy dog, story within a story structure, and the guy’s well-timed brandy sipping as he retold of his deciphering. That said, very much build up for about a page of creepiness? 😱 #pleasingterror