The House and The Brain by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

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  • Опубліковано 3 січ 2025

КОМЕНТАРІ • 116

  • @blixten2928
    @blixten2928 Рік тому +46

    Could NOT be more beautifully read. Your readings are getting BETTER and BETTER which one would not have thought possible.

  • @zeromt3577
    @zeromt3577 11 днів тому +3

    In the US schools, we don't get much Bulwer-Lytton (aside from "Dark and Stormy..."), and, based on this, we clearly should. Did anybody else notice the "larvae" chasing and devouring around 47:15 -- I'm willing to bet these were a strong inspiration to Lovecraft's extra-dimensional entities in "From Beyond." And, at 58:00, the Paracelsus formula for raising a flower from its (identically spectrumed) burned dust sounds very much like the Borellus formula for raising the dead from their essential salts in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
    All those things were on paper 50+ years before Lovecraft read them (and, though he criticises much of Lytton's work, this story and a few others were clearly favorites of HPL).
    And, maybe even more fascinatingly, the lectures around 1:00:00 about humans being the origins of all "supernatural" phenomena (while simultaneously allowing that those same humans might be subconsciously using some kind of magic or psionic telepathy or psychokinesis to cause them) arrived 80+ years before psychoanalist and parapsychologist Nandor Fodor was repeating the same opinions as scientific fact while himself searching for a talking mongoose. (This last is not fiction at all, just a really incredible story from the 1930's -- the "mongoose" was named Gef. Almost certainly at least some of the strangest bits were born of human ingenuity (or delusion), but a fairly large number of historically real residents of the Dalby area on the Isle of Man let themselves become very convinced Gef was as real as they were.)

  • @Tinyflypie
    @Tinyflypie Рік тому +17

    I really enjoyed your 'ramble' Tony. It's easy to think of you as a friend. You are a treasure.

    • @Bambisgf77
      @Bambisgf77 Рік тому

      Here! Here! I agree ☺️🥳 very well done Tony

  • @Thomas-wn7cl
    @Thomas-wn7cl 11 місяців тому +5

    Great story: Mystery, horror, ghosts, and philosophy. Well read.

  • @sadiamumtahnarhidi5888
    @sadiamumtahnarhidi5888 Рік тому +18

    What an absolutely magnificent performance! Simply astonishing!
    I listened to that clip you shared a few days ago of the AI clone of your voice. That fake could NEVER. Thank you so much sharing your art with us.

  • @kaybowkett7931
    @kaybowkett7931 Рік тому +5

    Thank you. As always most enjoyable. ☺️👵🏻🇦🇺

  • @yolandaaranda653
    @yolandaaranda653 Рік тому +8

    Better than a movie! I listened twice! T you are an amazing talent! Plus, very interesting human being.

  • @thurayya8905
    @thurayya8905 Рік тому +5

    I admire and respect the protagonist who deliniates between horror and fear.

  • @smasome
    @smasome Рік тому +4

    Oh, Tony, you are a TREASURE. I hardly stopped smiling throughout the entire story because I was so enthralled by your musical reading. Surely you should be rich and famous because I have never heard anything to compare. Let me clarify with a comparison.
    Everyone knows Benedict Cumberbatch, who is one of my favorite actors, but when I tried to listen to his reading, I soon turned back to your channel. There is just nothing and no one to compare. Yours is a totally unique gift, as far as I am able to see.
    Thank you thank you thank you, for the many times, day and night, I have listened to your voice, carrying me away from my troubles and pains, to find both entertainment and peace.

    • @smasome
      @smasome Рік тому

      So now I'm at least a SPOOK. ;)

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +1

      Thank you so much for these extraordinarily kind words. It would be wonderful if I ever got recognition like this and who knows perhaps it might happen !

  • @joehockley2610
    @joehockley2610 Рік тому +9

    Well done Sir you pulled me all the way in . What a excellent story and performance The story is so different from many ghost stories. The protagonist doesn't run away in fear,
    But uses logic, and reason to find the Genesis of the haunting

  • @mydearvalerie
    @mydearvalerie Рік тому +2

    Thanks!

  • @violetfemme411
    @violetfemme411 Рік тому +2

    Another winner 👏 Thx Tony 💜

  • @nicoleporter6794
    @nicoleporter6794 Рік тому +2

    On hello my friend..
    Beautifully done ❤️ many thanks for so many relaxing and enjoyable evenings due to your special gift
    Hope you are well

  • @alisonkeith4216
    @alisonkeith4216 11 місяців тому +2

    Thanks

  • @MrMrsmcd
    @MrMrsmcd Рік тому +3

    What a wonderful narrative voice ❤
    I have found a new favourite channel. Thankyou

  • @abigailnoland3771
    @abigailnoland3771 Рік тому +8

    Wonderful as usual. I like to listen to you as I hike in the woods. Perfect setting for catching a ghost story.

    • @susanmgalligan792
      @susanmgalligan792 День тому

      While you're hiking. You must listen to Tony's " The Man Whom the Trees Loved"

  • @martiwilliams4592
    @martiwilliams4592 Рік тому +2

    Fantastic, vivid narration--could see all unfolding right before my eyes. also this time around. Love your interesting, informative commentaries and " ramblings". Thanks so much, Tony.

  • @jeanflett4910
    @jeanflett4910 Місяць тому +1

    I heard this story on CBS radio mystery theater and loved it.

  • @Josephinejefferies
    @Josephinejefferies 6 місяців тому +1

    Hope you went on your walk. I did a quick version, due to circumstances, to Avebury and it was exactly what you described. I met the world halfway and it changed my life. I moved to Ireland to further my journey to the thin veil and haven’t looked back since.

  • @shaunlanighan813
    @shaunlanighan813 Рік тому +2

    One of the best haunted-house stories.

  • @thurayya8905
    @thurayya8905 Рік тому +1

    Lord Lytton was certainly one of the most prestigious of English authors; I enjoyed the way his story insisted that anything of the spiritual needed to have its genesis in the material. He was a man ahead of his time. But, I don't think I would have been able to comprehend a fraction of his ideas if it weren't for your inspired reading. Thank you.

  • @Hazel_Fox22
    @Hazel_Fox22 Рік тому +1

    Thanks, Mr. Tony, for providing wonderful distraction!

  • @TheHappyhorus
    @TheHappyhorus 6 днів тому

    Thank you sir, I’m really enjoying your work, I really like the breakdowns that you do afterwards.

  • @Low_Carb_Or_DIEt
    @Low_Carb_Or_DIEt Рік тому

    Brilliant 👏 Thank you!

  • @angelaroberts2803
    @angelaroberts2803 Рік тому +1

    Interesting.Well read.Thank you .

  • @Scarter63
    @Scarter63 9 місяців тому +1

    I love this ghost story, but never knew the other title.

  • @donaldmccleary9015
    @donaldmccleary9015 Рік тому +1

    Wow! I was unsure how I would like this story at first. Then, it just took off and got better and better! Fantastic story and narration! Great job.
    This story is filled with mystery, horror, and great details!
    Thanks, and keep up the good work!

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +1

      Glad you enjoyed it!

    • @donaldmccleary9015
      @donaldmccleary9015 Рік тому

      ​@Classic Ghost Stories Podcast - Tony Walker, it is awesome! I really enjoyed it. I was taken aback by the "Billy Badass" attitude of the main character at first. He seemed to be a bit of a braggart, but he was very resourceful and smart.
      The underlying adage of "what you do may come back to haunt you" really holds true in this one!

  • @violetfemme411
    @violetfemme411 Рік тому +2

    I was thinking about the comment I wanted to leave, when you mentioned Shade and the 2 babies that didn't make it. So I had a good cry and forgot what I had wanted to say in my comment. I hope mama and the other 8 are doing well. And that Sheila is over her health issues 💜

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +2

      The other 8 are thriving. They are the cutest little things and fat. They bite my nose and ears. But I quite like that

    • @violetfemme411
      @violetfemme411 Рік тому

      @@ClassicGhost I like that too. Wish my 2 were still babies...biting my nose. What breed are they?

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +2

      @@violetfemme411 staffies

    • @violetfemme411
      @violetfemme411 Рік тому +2

      @@ClassicGhost awwwww, I LOVE 'em! My favorite breed actually. Enjoy those babies while they still have puppy breath...the best smell ever! 💜

  • @jasperfen3754
    @jasperfen3754 Рік тому +1

    I only knew this story as Haunter and Haunted. Never heard of "the house and the brain". I still enjoyed listening again .

  • @glosteiger2517
    @glosteiger2517 Рік тому

    I truly enjoy this author. And your reading of course

  • @gillrippingale1173
    @gillrippingale1173 Рік тому +1

    Yes! I agree with previous comments - beautifully read and very enjoyable tale! I liked his style! ( although I won't be bowing down in adoration.. 🤣)
    So sorry to hear your sad news about the puppies though, must have been tough)
    Nice to be making plans for summer excursions 😊 Maybe you can do some live stuff from various sacred sites along the way...

  • @lesleykaygosson315
    @lesleykaygosson315 Рік тому +1

    Such a unique, different and unusual story. Interesting and intriguing. Except the part about the dog, that bothered me. Once again, you read it beautifully and flawlessly. I absolutely love your ramblings. ❤️

  • @hollywebster6844
    @hollywebster6844 Рік тому

    Excellent.

  • @phillip5505
    @phillip5505 Рік тому +1

    "In all the wonders which the amateurs of our age record as facts." Love that quote

  • @normaemanuel4975
    @normaemanuel4975 Рік тому +3

    Yummy! Thank YOU Tony!

  • @Josephinejefferies
    @Josephinejefferies 6 місяців тому

    Enjoyed this

  • @sheilakirby5616
    @sheilakirby5616 11 місяців тому

    ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING !!!
    SIR. YOUR VOICE AND TALENT IS ABSOLUTE PROOF OF GOD SHOWING OFF ❣️❣️❣️
    THANK YOU FOR SHARING !!!

  • @garybryant4293
    @garybryant4293 Рік тому

    Absolutely fantastic, the story and the narration, just fantastic.

  • @StoryVoracious
    @StoryVoracious Рік тому

    Victorian weirdos!
    Yes!!!
    Despite all your delving through the motivations, history, and minutiae, you have a refreshing way of cutting through the bulls***!
    Like a burst of citrus on a heavy meal. (I'm a cook, what can I say).
    I must say that it was worth putting off listening until I could devote my limited attention to this story; I would never have experienced it without your method of presentation, and that would have been a shame.
    So sorry to hear about the puppies, such a painful event.
    I hope that this message finds you and yours in clearer skies, like in a Kate Bush song, "Somewhere a door is opening... maybe the Sun will come out."
    🌦🌥⛅️🌤🌈

  • @waltercook4868
    @waltercook4868 Рік тому

    Great story. Very engrossing.

  • @Jynxxxycat
    @Jynxxxycat Рік тому

    Oh, dear! I have so much to catch up on! Sorry for my absence from your stats, Tony! I've been a gardening fool, for the past month. Clicking this long story, with relish, as I transfer my coriander plants into larger containers. 🥰

  • @normaemanuel4975
    @normaemanuel4975 Рік тому +1

    No AI there......that was Most Excellent!

  • @garybernstein3527
    @garybernstein3527 Рік тому +1

    Your comments after the story apparently spontaneous improvised, fascinated me and I thought they were brilliantly educated and insightful.. They range from Hemingway and Norman Mahler to the Golden Dawn, to the historical literary era and a great deal about the Victorians, The rise the popularity of ectopasm and all kinds of things. Has it happens I myself had read up on many of these the subjects in the In the past it was fascinated by the way you related them to each other and to the story. Your personal literary criticism and insights or focused and intelligent and informative and the least pretentious way unlike the false academic exercises of pretentious criticism, yet you seemed as informed and thoughtful as any critic I have encountered. One thing I did not know much about was a life of the author, which was fascinating to hear you talk about.
    I had actually read this story perhaps 50 years ago when I encountered it and then an anthology a favorite horror stories edited by Boris Karloff. I had meant to get back to it and we read it because I think it's a fascinating story but hadn't that done so until now. One thing that struck me was that the psych investigator is a kind of romantic during hero, any shoes these noble qualities with his servant. While the author seems to show no sign

    • @garybernstein3527
      @garybernstein3527 Рік тому +1

      (continued for my previous post) While the author seems to so nice shine of challenging the class system, He recognizes the same heroic field virtues in the servant as in the master.
      I enjoyed your coming so much that you should have someone type them up and possibly there might be room for some slight editing or rewriting, and you should publish this as an essay on the story in the author.. I expected the story to be excellent and I had heard you readings before so so I knew it would be good, But this wonderful commentary was a huge surprise to me. Thank you for all of it

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +1

      That is a nice idea though certainly would need sone editing . Thank you for taking the time to comment at such length and so thoughtfully

  • @mariameere5807
    @mariameere5807 Рік тому +6

    My God Tony you are spoiling us! This one is excellent! Well performed as usual!
    BTW Have you seen the trailer or the movie yet ( on UA-cam I l have just rented it ) about the life of Shirley Jackson? Thank you so much for introducing me to her! And all these other awesome writers!✨✨🌟🌟🌟

  • @roxanavasilakis9435
    @roxanavasilakis9435 Рік тому

    Thank you so much dear Tony 🌳🌳🌳

  • @MsMak12356
    @MsMak12356 10 місяців тому

    that is an extremely involved story.

  • @sparklemotion8377
    @sparklemotion8377 Рік тому +1

    I am really enjoying this.
    The writing reminds me of Jane Austen and your narration of Simon Callow. Kept waiting for 'A body in the libry?!'
    I know it's library...

  • @robertbruce7686
    @robertbruce7686 10 днів тому +1

    Love the accent 😂😂

  • @KarensOpinionsMayDiffer
    @KarensOpinionsMayDiffer Рік тому +9

    Why does the dog always have to be murdered? 😭

    • @Andy-te8ui
      @Andy-te8ui Місяць тому +1

      No worries. All dogs go to heaven!

  • @rickkennett8505
    @rickkennett8505 Рік тому +3

    Love this story. However this is the shortened version. The longer version goes another 3000 words or so and comes to a very sinister conclusion.

    • @WWZenaDo
      @WWZenaDo 6 днів тому

      I wish that I could find the long version, even at an acceptable price.

  • @DylanNewkirk
    @DylanNewkirk 2 місяці тому +1

    This is an excellent story, often ghost stories don’t really move me very much but this one is unsettling. That poor child.
    Why did this author have a mixed reputation? Why are some verbose authors held up as brilliant and others derided for the exact same practices?

  • @KristinChoruby
    @KristinChoruby Рік тому +3

    At this point, I'm resigned to the knowledge that any dog appearing in a horror story is inescapably doomed 😮‍💨. If we learn any one lesson from these tales, it is that if your dog enters a house and starts acting frightened for no discernable reason--or resists entering the house at all--RUN!

    • @KristinChoruby
      @KristinChoruby Рік тому +4

      Also, I like that this story managed to work in the word "eidolon"--it's sad to me that the English language has such a large vocabulary (the largest of any extant language, I believe), and yet we seem to use less and less of that wealth of words as the years pass.

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +2

      It's true. If a dog is featured it's either going to be a plucky hero and saviour, or if it's a horror story, die.

  • @sharonwhiteley6510
    @sharonwhiteley6510 Рік тому +3

    I feel sorry for the child and poor dog.

  • @annagettings4675
    @annagettings4675 12 годин тому

    E Nesbit was also a member of The Golden Dawn Society. Yes That E Nesbit. She also wrote ghost stories for adults. WARNING. If you like happy endings, don't read them. They are wonderful however. Crowley was quite the character. I recommend reading up on him. He didn't write fiction to the best of my knowledge. But he wrote! He was the model for M.R.James villain in The Casting of the Runes.

  • @spotthespy
    @spotthespy Рік тому +2

    This one of the truly great horror stories, nothing quite like it, and definitely a few decades ahead of its time.
    However, this is the slightly shorter version which was more widely published, the original has a stranger ending that reveals all of the oddness was caused by a Count of St. Germain-type figure who reveals some occult secrets to our protagonist.
    He also wrote "Vril, the Power of the Coming Race" which had a large effect on the Nazis and numerous other occult groups.

  • @krakow95
    @krakow95 Рік тому

    He should have opened with: "it was a dark and stormy night..."

  • @ropeburnsrussell
    @ropeburnsrussell Рік тому +2

    I wonder that dogs are so affected by hauntings.
    I'd have thought that only humans could feel human spiritual forces, yet the Victorians use this trope constantly.
    I wonder if you have ever considered this, Tony?

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +1

      I haven't but yes, it is very common. I will ponder this one and no doubt at some point will ramble on about it

    • @ropeburnsrussell
      @ropeburnsrussell Рік тому +1

      @@ClassicGhost great, I value your opinion on ghostly/horror fiction and I've wondered about this for years.
      The comments reveal a lot if interest in the fate of animals in these stories.
      I will add that your engagement with your audience is a mighty strength of your channel.
      Thankyou for all your work and your willingness to share yourself with us.

  • @theroseinthelibrary7975
    @theroseinthelibrary7975 Рік тому

    This is beautifully done (as always) but I was wondering if you could credit the artists and photographers of the thumbnails in the descriptions? As an artist and an art historian I would be greatly appreciative, and so would many others. Thanks for all of your hard work!

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +1

      Well. That’s a thorny subject. The image is Midjourney AI. I know it is trained on historical examples but I don’t know how to search for that or even if it would work. There was something called tin eye ?

  • @SamuelBlack84
    @SamuelBlack84 Рік тому

    Imagine if haunting occurrences where actually the surrounding building showing you past events through your brain
    That sounds a lot like the stone tape theory

  • @scottmiller2591
    @scottmiller2591 Рік тому

    As an aficionado of Lovecraft, walking the ancient track probably has special meaning for you.
    Interesting that you mention gnosticism. I've been immersed in it lately, tracing gnosticism in Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, as well as Hegel and the various mystical lodges - it's all kind of spooky how it ties together. I didn't want to believe that there was such a thread at first, it all sounds very conspiratorial, but digging into various references from original papers, it shows through quite clearly - the CT crowd don't really believe in physical law at all, but rather how the world is plastic and can be bent to their will. This seems to be their justification for rejecting rationality, science, etc., and renaming, infiltrating, and ultimately destroying such subjects. A few of the more recent, philosophical types reject this, of course (there's probably more types of CT than there are adherents to CT), but that seems to be uncommon.
    Having an engineering frame of mind, I actually found the technology in the story the most interesting part - actually a little frustrated that it wasn't explained more clearly.

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +2

      Have you read Focault’s pendulum about the weird occult links between things and then there’s The Zelator by Mark Hedsell

    • @scottmiller2591
      @scottmiller2591 Рік тому +1

      @@ClassicGhost I read Foucault's Pendulum so long ago I've forgotten it - I'll have to reread it, and The Zelator, now.

  • @garybernstein3527
    @garybernstein3527 Рік тому

    Someone commented that there's another version perhaps 3000 words longer and with a different ending. I would like to get hold of that and wish I knew where to find it what books or anthologies might contain it. Perhaps the fact that there were two versions published would be responsible for the story having two titles

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  Рік тому +2

      +Gary Bernstein I think that’s probably true. www.gutenberg.org is a good first place
      to look

    • @Hunrakku3
      @Hunrakku3 6 місяців тому

      I just read the longer version of this story in an anthology: H. P. Lovecraft's Book Of Horror (which can be had fairly cheaply). Despite its name, the only of Lovecraft's writings in it is his essay on horror literature. Otherwise, it's a collection of stories that influenced Lovecraft... some familiar to me, some not, like this one.

  • @amandine512
    @amandine512 10 місяців тому

    With the advent of AI video you could perhaps have Darkworlds made into a film. I’ve seen some impressive videos made by AI.

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  10 місяців тому +1

      +@amandine512 that may become possible

  • @tuomasronnberg5244
    @tuomasronnberg5244 Рік тому

    Expertly read, of course, but the story itself was so tedious that it failed to hold my attention for long. A note to aspiring writers: build some *tension* in your mystery story, and not just narrate a series of supernatural occurrences as if you're writing a shopping list!

  • @brograb898
    @brograb898 4 місяці тому

    This is a really good reading of a pretty bad story. Bulwer-lytton never got to even the second tier, Wilkie Collins, of Victorian authors. The story’s just flabby and not clever. Still, the reading is excellent!

    • @brograb898
      @brograb898 4 місяці тому +1

      Also, not trying to be sassy, it’s just not a great story. Check out “the empty house” by Blackwood for a similar much better story

    • @brograb898
      @brograb898 4 місяці тому

      m.ua-cam.com/video/BWe56aS3M7I/v-deo.html&pp=ygUbVG9ueSB3YWxrZXIgdGhlIGVtcHR5IGhvdXNl

    • @ClassicGhost
      @ClassicGhost  4 місяці тому +1

      That's my version :)

  • @renzo6490
    @renzo6490 Рік тому +1

    Read well , sure.
    But the story is written in such an antiquated style that I failed to follow it.
    A barrage of purple verbiage.

  • @JennyLane8666
    @JennyLane8666 Рік тому +3

    What a lovely surprise to find a new story tonight! I really dug that one. I'm happy as a kid in a sweetshop to have found your channel... All these new authors to devour muahaha
    PS never stop