Hypnogoria

In this new chapter of In Search of Santa, we discover the history of Christmas gift-bringers in Scandinavia, from the present day Julemanden, to the more ancient Yule Goat and the Jultomten!

In this episode we have our traditional Christmas commentary, revisiting a classic television adaptation of an MR James tale. Tonight we have reached Christmas 1974, and this year the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas was The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark.

In this festive special we explore the legends and lore of Herne the Hunter. We examine his appearances in classics such The Box of Delights, The Dark is Rising and Robin of Sherwood, explore his connections with the Wild Hunt and Christmas, and untangle his history and folklore from Shakespeare, ghost stories, and the pagan wildwood.

The horrors of '43 continue with mad science zombies in The Mad Ghoul, an eerie anthology of tales in Flesh & Fantasy, and Holmes tangles with The Spider Woman! Universal also begins another franchise with Calling Dr Death - the first of the Inner Sanctum Mysteries starring Lon Chaney Jnr.

1943 was another bumper year for Universal, with a new Phantom of the Opera, Lon Chaney Jnr. taking on the cloak of the Count in Son of Dracula, and a new franchise launching with Captive Wild Woman. Even the adventures of Holmes and Watson were taking an eerie turn...

1942 continues to be a bumper year for Universal, with Kharis rising from the grave once more in the shape of Lon Chaney Jnr. in The Mummy's Tomb, delivering old dark house thrills in Night Monster with Bela Lugosi, and pitting two titans of terror against one another in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man! Plus the great detective Sherlock Holmes, as played by Basil Rathbone, begins a long running series of film adventures at Universal!

In this chapter we see Universal riding high on the success of The Wolf Man, and launching a record-breaking number of horror movies in 1942, including a new addition to the Frankenstein saga with their newly crowned king of horror, Lon Chaney Jnr. donning the famous square skull and neck bolts!

It is 1978, and this is the night he came home! In this chapter we look at John Carpenter's classic Hallowe'en, uncover its origins, explore its connections with the holiday and learn how it brought horror back to Hallowe'en night!

Find more the rest of the Origins of Halloween podcast series, plus other ghoulish goodies, here!

As a prelude to the next chapter of our Origins of Hallowe'en series, we delve into the world of spooky spoken word records from the '60s and '70s, discovering a world of scary stories and haunted vinyl! We hear Famous Monsters Speak! (1963), visit A Graveyard of Ghosts (1974) with Vincent Price, and experience Halloween Horrors (1977)!

In this episode we have a double dose of terror from Adam Nevill! First we look at the new movie version of his novel No One Gets Out Alive which is currently scaring the pants of people on Netflix, and then have a review of his tenth novel, a tale of folk horror entitled Cunning Folk!

The book is available for preorder, along lots of other goodies, at Adam's website