M. R. James Whistle And I Will Come For You: A Slow-Burning Supernatural Horror

0:05 Speaker 1: It lies in wait amidst your dreams, where nothing is ever how it seems. It is a portal to a terrifying world beyond the doorway to nightmare. Nightmare. Come in. Welcome. I'm Artemis Black. Oh, whistle, and I will come to you, my lad. Though father and mother and all should go mad. Oh, whistle, and I will come to you, my lad. A poem by Robert Burns, first published in 1793. But for us, it is the title of a ghost story written by M.R. James, and perhaps a cautionary tale.

1:16 Speaker 2: What did the boy say?

1:17 Speaker 3: Something about seeing a figure from one of the hotel bedroom windows waving at him.

1:22 Speaker 2: What's so odd about that?

1:24 Speaker 3: He said it was a strange white figure, the face hidden by some sort of rag.

1:31 Speaker 2: I haven't run into anyone like that in this hotel.

1:34 Speaker 3: No, neither have I. But from the boy's description, I believe that it was my room he was talking about.

1:44 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, Whistle and I'll Come to You, was adapted from the classic short story by M.R. James and written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our cast includes Mick Davis and Raven Adams. I'll return shortly with Act 1. Have you ever had one of those days? You're fired. Where everything goes completely wrong. Don't you lay a finger on me!

2:20 Speaker 3: I can't stand on you!

2:21 Speaker 1: And the day keeps getting worse and worse. Hey! And if just one more thing goes wrong, it could possibly send you toppling over the edge. Toppling over the edge. A suspense thriller from Winslow Swan, now available in paperback from Amazon.com. Sometimes And there are those times when even you could go toppling over the edge. Hang on to your sanity.

3:22 Speaker 4: If you'd like to support us, visit our merchandise store. T-shirts, caps, mugs, and so much more.

3:50 Speaker 1: The American actor Robert Stack once said, I don't mind ghost stories. It's just that I tend to give value to the storyteller rather than to the story itself. One of the best storytellers was Montague Rhodes James, better known as simply M.R. James. Of course, he is best remembered for his collection of ghost stories, which he would read to a select group of friends and students, curiously, on Christmas Eve.

4:29 Speaker 2: Please, do come in and sit down. Pour some of this delicious brandy and warm yourself by the fire. Yes, I know why you have come. I thought after I published my account of the events that would put an end to the whole matter. Alas, it did not. And so, I gladly welcome visitors who, and upon the expression, want to hear the story from the horse's mouth.

5:05 Speaker 1: Very well.

5:07 Speaker 2: Here are the facts in this most extraordinary case of something as simple as a brass whistle. I was taking a holiday at a well-known golf resort, working on my handicap, so to speak, when I met an Alan Parkins, a professor of ontography at Cambridge. A study of how living creatures react to the physiographic environment. Anyway, we had both booked rooms at the Globe Inn for the week.

5:45 Speaker 3: How was lunch today?

5:46 Speaker 2: Well, I wouldn't recommend the halibut, but the steak is prepared nicely.

5:51 Speaker 3: Well, after that round of golf we played, I'm surprised you have the energy to eat.

5:56 Speaker 2: I believe we both could use a little more practice. Tell me, are you enjoying your stay at the Globe?

6:02 Speaker 1: Well.

6:03 Speaker 3: I suppose so. I wasn't exactly keen on the extra bed in my room, but it was the only one available, so I took it.

6:11 Speaker 2: Hopefully the weather holds up and we can play another round tomorrow.

6:15 Speaker 3: Oh, by the way, I had a chance to go to that old ruin just down the beach.

6:21 Speaker 2: You mean the Templar Preceptory?

6:23 Speaker 3: Yes, one of the headquarters of the Monastic Knights Templar. Anyway, as I was digging through the ruins, I came across something... Well, fantastic.

6:35 Speaker 2: Well, don't just sit there grinning like an idiot. Tell me.

6:39 Speaker 3: I found this.

6:41 Speaker 2: Hmm. Interesting. Looks like a brass whistle.

6:48 Speaker 3: Look at the inscription. Perhaps you can enlighten me.

6:53 Speaker 2: Well now, on one side there seem to be four words, but I can't make anything out of them. On the other side, hmm. A Latin inscription, it seems to me.

7:04 Speaker 1: Yes.

7:05 Speaker 3: My rough translation is, who is this, who is coming, or something like that.

7:11 Speaker 2: Your Latin is probably much better than mine. But tell me, when did you find this?

7:16 Speaker 3: Just yesterday, after I arrived. Funny thing, though, on my way back to the inn, I thought that I saw someone trying to catch up with me.

7:26 Speaker 2: What did they look like?

7:27 Speaker 3: I couldn't really tell, but I did see that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch.

7:32 Speaker 2: Up with me. That is rather suspicious.

7:36 Speaker 3: Yes, I thought so too.

7:38 Speaker 2: So, what are you going to do with the whistle?

7:40 Speaker 3: Well, I thought I would donate it to the museum.

7:44 Speaker 2: Take my advice, Alan. Throw it into the sea from the cliff.

7:48 Speaker 3: But why?

7:50 Speaker 2: There's something about it that quite frankly seems evil.

8:02 Speaker 3: Who is this? Who is coming? I wonder what it means. I suppose I should blow the whistle and find out.

8:19 Speaker 3: My word! Such a pleasant note! And what are these images I'm seeing? A wide, dark expanse of night? And a lonely figure.

8:35 Speaker 2: What the devil?

8:37 Speaker 3: I can't get to the window to close it. Strange. The window shut itself. Naturally, the lights go out. It must happen quite often here. At least there are candles and matches in the drawer. I hope that moaning wind doesn't go on all night. It's enough to give a person... nightmares.

9:15 Speaker 1: Brian Aldiss once said that science fiction stories are no more written for scientists than ghost stories are written for ghosts. I'll return shortly with Act Two.

9:34 Speaker 2: It is in all of us.

9:36 Speaker 1: Waiting.

9:37 Speaker 4: Watching. Growing. Evil Within, by Winslow Swan. Now available on Amazon.

9:47 Speaker 1: Watch Circle of Mystery, Tuesday nights at 7pm EDT on the Doorway to Nightmare YouTube channel. Alan listens to the wind outside of his hotel room window. deciding that he will light a candle and read for a short while, an effort to relax his brain and try to go to sleep.

10:25 Speaker 3: What's that? Something around the bed?

10:30 Speaker 2: Rats? Here in this hotel?

10:32 Speaker 3: Damn, the match went out.

10:49 Speaker 2: Well, Alan, fancy another round today?

10:51 Speaker 3: Perhaps, Wilson.

10:52 Speaker 1: Perhaps.

10:54 Speaker 3: I've had the strangest encounter this morning.

10:57 Speaker 2: What's going on now?

10:58 Speaker 3: Last night, I lit a candle to read by, since the power went out.

11:03 Speaker 2: Still is, from what I gather. Breakfast is going to have to be fruit.

11:07 Speaker 3: Well, normally I would have blown the thing out before retiring, but for some reason, I didn't.

11:14 Speaker 2: Must have been quite a waxy mess when you got up this morning.

11:17 Speaker 3: Oh, it was, but That wasn't the strange part.

11:25 Speaker 2: Oh, come in. Would you like any extra blankets on your bed, sir?

11:31 Speaker 3: Ah, yes. Thank you. Yes, I believe that I should like one. It may turn colder. Very good, sir. Which bed should I put it on? Why, the one that I slept in last night.

11:42 Speaker 4: I beg pardon, sir, but both were in disarray this morning.

11:46 Speaker 1: Really?

11:47 Speaker 5: Really.

11:48 Speaker 1: How?

11:49 Speaker 3: Very absurd. I suppose I disordered it more than I thought when I unpacked. I'm very sorry to have given you the extra work. No trouble at all, sir.

12:02 Speaker 2: Very strange. As strange as that wind last night. Back in my hometown, they would have said that someone whistled for it.

12:11 Speaker 1: Really?

12:11 Speaker 3: I don't hold for superstition.

12:14 Speaker 2: However.

12:16 Speaker 3: Well, I did whistle last night, and the wind did seem to come and answer to my call.

12:28 Speaker 2: Alan, what happened?

12:30 Speaker 3: There was a young boy running out of the hotel, screaming that he saw someone or something.

12:36 Speaker 2: What are you going on about?

12:38 Speaker 3: I talked to him. He said that he saw someone waving at him from one of the upstairs rooms.

12:42 Speaker 2: What's so unusual about that?

12:44 Speaker 3: Wilson, he described my room.

12:48 Speaker 2: Let's get up there. Good thing you locked your door. Anything missing?

13:04 Speaker 3: No, not that I can... Wilson, look at the other bed. And she made up both beds.

13:11 Speaker 2: And this is the one that you've been sleeping in?

13:13 Speaker 1: Yes, it is.

13:15 Speaker 3: And it's still made up. But the other bed? The sheets are all tangled up.

13:20 Speaker 2: Again. Then, who has been sleeping in the other bed?

13:27 Speaker 1: There was a different story about a particular family of bears asking the same question. But in our tale... We are dealing with something far more terrifying than anthropomorphic animals. I'll return shortly with Act 3. Meet Jerry Connors. Family man. Business man. Psychopathic killer. The Convincer by Winslow Swan. Now available on Amazon. Jerry Connors. He can convince you to do anything. Even die.

14:18 Speaker 4: Have you heard any good books lately? Audiobooks from Winslow Swan. Now available on Spotify.

14:39 Speaker 1: The German philosopher Immanuel Kant once said, Ghost stories are always listened to and well received in private, but pitilessly disavowed in public. For my own part, ignorant as I am of the way in which the human spirit enters the world and the way in which he goes out of it, I dare not deny the truth of many such narratives. I was.

15:08 Speaker 3: I was asleep for possibly an hour. Something, I'm not sure what, woke me. I thought that I heard a noise coming from the other bed.

15:19 Speaker 2: What sort of noise?

15:23 Speaker 3: A shaking noise, more than any rat could cause, but my terror was nothing until I saw... God help me. I saw a figure sitting up in what I know was an empty bed. I jumped out of bed and ran to the window where my only weapon was a wooden walking stick. I should have never have done that.

15:58 Speaker 2: What happened next?

15:59 Speaker 3: The figure, in one smooth motion, left the bed and blocked my only exit. My door, with its arms outstretched. There was no way out. My terror had increased, and I would have rather jumped out the window than have that... thing touch me.

16:20 Speaker 2: What did you see, Alan?

16:22 Speaker 3: I saw this thing begin to move in a stooping posture, groping around the room with its arms. I realized that the thing must have been blind. I saw it dart over to the bed and begin to search for me.

16:46 Speaker 3: Not finding me, it began to feel its way onto the floor, and for the first time I saw its face.

16:59 Speaker 2: What did he look like? No, Wilson.

17:02 Speaker 3: Not he.

17:04 Speaker 1: It.

17:06 Speaker 3: It had the face of crumpled linen. No features, just crumpled linen.

17:11 Speaker 4: Crumpled linen?

17:16 Speaker 3: It began to sweep around the room, and in a moment, I felt its hand brush across my face. I screamed. That was when it was on me in a flash, trying to push me out the window. Get off of me!

17:34 Speaker 1: Help! Help!

17:39 Speaker 3: Help me!

17:40 Speaker 5: Help me!

17:42 Speaker 1: Help!

18:08 Speaker 2: And that's when I broke in.

18:10 Speaker 3: And you saw it.

18:13 Speaker 2: I must admit that I did see something. But when I got to you, hanging halfway out the window, there was no one else there.

18:20 Speaker 1: Ugh.

18:21 Speaker 3: It's face. It's horrible face. It was only an inch from mine. I will never forget it.

18:43 Speaker 2: There was only a heap of bedclothes by the window. I helped my friend back to bed and spent the rest of the night in the other bed. As you can imagine, the events have cast a heavy shadow on the professor's nerves. Even a solitary scarecrow in a field has cost him more than one sleepless night. As for the whistle, I told Parkins that I would throw it into the sea as far as I could. However... Here it is. Would you like to blow the whistle?

19:30 Speaker 1: American author Gillian Flynn once said, I'm a huge fan of ghost stories. That sort of slow build, the suspense and the questioning about whether you're imagining something or if it's real. I'll return shortly with a final word.

19:51 Speaker 4: The only witness to her murder cannot speak. Until now.

19:58 Speaker 1: Click.

19:59 Speaker 4: A Tale of Revenge by Winslow Swan. Now available on Amazon. Revenge is a dish best served Cold. Hey guys, this is Crimson.

20:16 Speaker 2: And this is Swan.

20:17 Speaker 1: And we'd love to know what you think of the stories.

20:20 Speaker 4: Even if it's bad.

20:21 Speaker 3: So leave us a comment.

20:23 Speaker 4: Or give us a thumbs up.

20:24 Speaker 1: Thank you! James perfected a method of storytelling which has since become known as Jamesian. The tale usually includes the following elements. A setting in an English village, seaside town, or country estate, or an ancient town. A nondescript and rather naive gentleman scholar as protagonist, often of a reserved nature. And finally, the discovery of an old book or other object that somehow unlocks, calls down the wrath, or at least attracts the unwelcome attention of a supernatural menace, usually from beyond the grave.

21:18 Speaker 1: Our cast included Mick Davis, Raven Adams, and Patience Adams. The story was edited by Crimson McKenzie and directed by Winslow Swan. And now, a preview of our next tale.

21:39 Speaker 5: But I thought you said that there were only five rooms.

21:43 Speaker 2: But there were. At least, last night there were.

21:46 Speaker 5: Maybe you simply miscounted.

21:48 Speaker 2: I can assure you, Opal, that there were only five rooms in this dollhouse.

21:53 Speaker 5: Oh, but as you can see, there are now seven rooms. Maybe the dolls decided they needed more room.

22:02 Speaker 1: This is Artemis Black, inviting you to return with us to the doorway tonight, Mayor. for another adventure into the terrifying world of your imagination. Until next time, slumber peacefully. Epilogue.

22:21 Speaker 2: The butler did it.