Tag: M.R. James

‘Old Books, New Delights’ (2014)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

The Third Omnibus of Crime; book by Dorothy L. Sayers

There’s stuff in here that’ll blow you away!

It’s troubling to see how little reading gets done, these days. Our civilization, which would not have even been possible without literacy, is looking rather sickly.

In addition to flat-out needing what books can tell us, books are an inexhaustible store of pleasure for the reader. Like this, for instance:

Old Books, New Delights

A haunted stamp collection! Betcha never thought of that before.

Books can help keep us from turning into Eloi. And when you consider how our teachers’ unions discourage independent reading, you’ll know who the Morlocks are, too.

For a Pleasant Little Scare: ‘A Warning to the Curious’

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

See the source image

M. R. James wrote the best ghost stories ever, and one of those gems is A Warning to the Curious. This was made into a short film (50 minutes long) some years ago and currently available on Youtube.

How good an idea is it to dig up an ancient artifact supposedly protected by a supernatural guardian? Even outside of an M.R. James story, probably not. A Warning to the Curious is about what happens to an amateur archaeologist who ignores the warning.

The thing that makes this little movie go is its spectacular photography and ominous-looking locations. If you were looking for ghosts anywhere, these places would be where you’d find them. Flat fens where it’s hard to tell where the beach ends and the water begins, stone buildings that look like they grew out of the landscape a thousand years ago, a train station smack in the middle of nowhere–sit and look. You won’t see places like those every day.

We watched in this afternoon, to take our minds off stressful things, and it does do that. It does it very well.

Not Honest! (Plus a Prayer Request)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of m.r. james

Patty and I wanted to watch a ghost story last night; and, lo and behold, we found a movie treatment of M.R. James’ Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad, one of the best ghost stories ever written. There’s a 1968 version starring Michael Hordern as the intellectual know-it-all who gets a very rude awakening, but this new one is longer and stars another great actor, John Hurt.

But first we read the viewer comments.

It turns out there’s no ghost in this rendition, and no freakin’ whistle, either. Instead, it’s a story of dementia. All they did was lift the title–not honest! The story in the movie has nothing to do with the one M.R. James wrote. So we didn’t watch it.

Sorry, but dementia is very much wanting as a source of entertainment, especially when it’s eating up certain members of your family. My brother-in-law, Ray, has it: has it bad. Because it’s not possible to get his permission to divulge any of the details, all I can say is that he needs our prayers. I mean, he really needs them, and I ask you to join me in offering prayer on his behalf. Please, Lord, in Jesus’ name, do something to help him!

I know you can’t copyright a title, but this goes beyond just “based on” and is a highly blameworthy attempt to trick the audience.

Meanwhile, we thank you for your prayers.

Medical Mystery: Hallucinations Spread by… Touch?

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Didn’t take this long to morph into a conspiracy theory, did it?

This is really weird. Coos Bay, Oregon–Five people are suffering from hallucinations and nobody knows why: but doctors suspect they might be having them because maybe, maybe… they touched something. ( http://www.aol.com/article/2016/10/17/mysterious-hallucination-causing-illness-seemingly-spread-by-tou/21584672/ ).

But the bottom line, so far, is, they just don’t know.

First a 54-year-old caregiver called the sheriff to say a gang of ruffians was trying to tear the roof off her car. When this turned out to be like, totally not true, deputies took her to the hospital.

But then the two deputies started having hallucinations. Then a hospital worker. And then the caregiver’s patient. Five people seeing and hearing things that aren’t there, and no one has been able to find out why.

The only thing that would make this story even weirder is if they all had the same hallucination. But that would take us out of our own world and into M.R. James country. As is, it does sound a bit like his classic horror story, Casting the Runes.

Who ever heard of any kind of disease, transmitted by touch, that causes you to have hallucinations? Well, nobody–otherwise they’d have diagnosed the thing by now. To me it sounds like some funky kind of secret weapon that somehow got out of the lab; but maybe I’ve read too many thrillers.

I hope this is not one of those stories–in a fallen world that falls a little farther every day–that just dries up and blows away without any explanation of the mystery. Let’s keep an eye out for further developments.