A Phantastic horror story from the master, Nigel Kneale.

The Pond!

Join me next Tuesday at 9pm for anther Phantatstic Story.

Come see the Haunted Book Club - Live!

Details here.

Gav

Thank you eejits, Claire Pitt, Jude Wilde, Josie Ray, Rachael Prime, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Thanks for reading Gav Cross: Storyteller! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

William Wymark Jacobs - W.W. himself, will pop up here a lot… He holds a facination for me. Short story writer. Playwright. Fan of the supernatural. Writer of humour. East Ender. And the author of my very favourite Phantastic Story…

And I like this one too. It has that great visual quality that means you could imagine Mark Gatis getting his hands on it and making a superb Christmas TV version. I hope you enjoy it - let me know what you think.

It’s from this collection. Haunting Ghost Stories. Plainly aimed at what I suppose is now named as the YA market. (Is that a useful term? I don’t know…)

And contains some gentle and twee lovelies like Through the Door:

And then switches to Tell Tale Heart and The Red Room. I’ll be doing those…

I think I've been reading short classic stories online for about five years now and I'm enjoying the discovery. There are so many! But what I enjoy most about them is talking about them and that's what's going to happen with.

https://gavcross.substack.com/s/haunted-book-club

I will continue to pop up on a Monday and read a live story but I am also going to add recordings to the Haunted Book Club Feed. We will be starting on the 17th of Feb with The Signalman. A Dickens Classic for the get go? Why not?

The Trailer for the Book Club is in all the places. John Reppion and I would love it if you joined us. We will dust off a seat in the circle. Light a candle. And listen intently to what you think.

https://linktr.ee/haunted_bookclub

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

Do you know who Hilda Hughes is? Genuinely. There doesn’t seem to be much biographical info about them but they have two stories in the 1934 collection: “A Century of Creepy Stories”

I love books like these. They smell right! They smell like a collection of supernatural stories should smell like. Slightly mouldering…

I think I've been reading short classic stories online for about five years now and I'm enjoying the discovery. There are so many! But what I enjoy most about them is talking about them and that's what's going to happen with.

https://gavcross.substack.com/s/haunted-book-club

I will continue to pop up on a Monday and read a live story but I am also going to add recordings to the Haunted Book Club Feed. We will be starting on the 17th of Feb with The Signalman. A Dickens Classic for the get go? Why not?

The Trailer for the Book Club is in all the places. John Reppion and I would love it if you joined us. We will dust off a seat in the circle. Light a candle. And listen intently to what you think.

https://linktr.ee/haunted_bookclub

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

There are 1000’s of places to read in great depth about the Christmas tradition of telling ghost stories. Luckily, this isn’t one of them.

I’ll just tell you the story. Written for and performed live at “Ghost Stories for Christmas” at Norton Priory Museums and Gardens in Runcorn, Halton.. Rob Sanderson-Thomas is the Chief Executive Officer for Norton Priory and a writer.

This short story was written, especially for the evening and set in the hugely atmospheric space itself.

You really should visit. Either in the glory of sale with its spoiled gardens and exposed archaeology or perhaps on the 29th of December where I will be performing my adaptation of “Gawain and the Green Knight”. A Medieval text, probably written in a Cheshire monastery to be performed between Christmas and New Year. To be performed between Christmas and New Year in what once was a Cheshire monastery.

Merry Christmas…

Gav

Phantastic Stories

https://gavcross.substack.com/s/phantastic-stories-with-gav-cross

&

Tell Me Your Story

https://gavcross.substack.com/s/tell-me-your-story

Will continue in the New Year.

You can’t stop me.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

Of course the most famous fantastic Story by WW Jacobs is “The Monkey’s Paw”. My love for that Story is inexhaustible but this story has a real charm. I was not surprised to hear it was converted into a play. It was like watching a black-and-white spooky film from the 1930s with those English character act faces across the cast. After this film there will be a Will Hay movie on BBC2.

It is of course dramatic.

It is of course melodramatic.

I am of course both.

What do you think?

Gav

November 2025

Thank you eejits, Kelly Williams, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

As I typed this I realise I'm not going to be home to read a Story live. I am currently sat in a haunted Tudor Mansion, in Bolton. My job tonight is to tell ghost stories to teenagers who are going to sleep over… I love telling ghost stories.

I'm telling ghost stories too the over sevens all week in my Show

Ghastly Stories for Gruesome Gremlins.

I'm telling Ghost stories to grown-ups in the evenings. I like saying horrible things to lovely people and for cash I am happy to say lovely things to horrible people.

Gav

Shows & Tours

I recorded a number of stories for Stories for Schools:

https://storiesforschools.com/

And as I was in such a brilliant recording space I asked if I could record one for me!

I do love this poem.

It’s a little bit nasty of course...

Stories for Schools is a project headed up by the brilliant Settle Stories.

https://settlestories.org/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

Full disclosure. I am a HG Wells stan.

I mean, I just sent out the first programmer requests to book my show:

The War of the Worlds

By H.G. Wells

A New Abridged Performed Reading

by Gav Cross

But that is not what we are here for. I love this little short story. I think it is designed to do what a big book and film of the 70s did for the Sea but in the 1890s

Wilfully!

Let me know what you think of the story.

Also, the more I read of Wells the more I am certain I know his favourite word.

Do you it is used three times in this story and about 48,000 times in The War of the Worlds…

Not long now until:

The Monkey’s Paw… and More

On 31 October 2025 7.30pm

Norton Priory Museum and Gardens

https://norton-priory-museum-and-gardens.arttickets.org.uk/norton-priory-museum-and-gardens/the-monkeys-paw-and-more-68bee8b44896e

Thanks for listening. I'm always up for suggestions. What is your favourite Short supernatural story?

Gav

https://linktr.ee/gavcross

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

I wasn't really a Famous Five kind of guy and I was a kid. I don't recall ever reading the books.

And I didn't really watch the famous 80s TV version

It was on ITV

I didn't watch much ITV then. Or now…

I think my most endearing introduction to the world of the famous five was through the Comic Strip Presents version. Five Go Mad in Dorset.

Anyway I am culturally aware enough to recognise that this story is perhaps in that realm. Maybe there are other stories featuring this gang? I don't know. I do know that I pick this because it is rather a sweet story. And as we discussed in the life version I think this is targeted at about 10 years old, and above.

What do you think?

What are you doing Tuesday at 8:30 pm?

Would you like to join me for a conversation and then Q&A with poet, writer, broadcaster, comedian & more, Robin Ince?

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Very often found up and down the country at literary festivals, in libraries, supporting independent bookshops or hosting festival events, this time you can join in and take part whilst in your slippers.

Every week I ask creative people that I admire to

“Tell Me Your Story”

Live on Substack.

Last week was the fabulous Black Liver, previous to that Lamphouse Theatre. Two conversations with theatre making people that understand the value of a thoughtful and a purely silly, good night out.

This week it is

Robin Ince

. Discussing his new poetry collection. Ice Cream for a Broken Tooth.

Live Link:

https://open.substack.com/live-stream/65019?r=gqsqk&utm_medium=ios

Thank you eejits, Claire Faulkes, Josie Ray, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

I am drawn to Algernon Blackwood simply by dint of his geographical location being Shooters Hill in South East London. I lived in the estate at the base of that ancient spot and it was always looming with a sense of mystery.

Trees.

A Tower.

I knew it was ancient

And for some reason I very rarely went there. Even though it was probably a mile or more from my house. To be fair I very rarely went anywhere as a child because that was not the family I came from. I knew that it was a significant way marker for ancient paths.

And seemingly like Edith Nesbit, Edwardian Southeast London was a hotbed of the supernatural storyteller. Perhaps I'm hoping some of their mystical and literary skills rub off on me.

I also like his stories because they are quite chewy and have a damp atmosphere about them…

I would love to know what you think of this one.

You do not need to tell me what you think of my attempt at accents.

I cannot stop myself.

I'm fully aware of how bad I am.

I will not stop myself. You cannot make me...

I'm not you're telling the story live anywhere near you. But I might be telling other ghost stories throughout October. Cheltenham literature festival. Nottinghamshire. Lincolnshire. Bolton. The Black Country. Norton Priory. Anywhere near you?

Always Free.

Any shares, comments, recommendations are gratefully recieved!

What do you think?

Read live on Substack

9pm on Mondays.

Classic supernatural, ghost and weird short stories.

Often found in the periodicals of magazines of the time.

An entertainment.

An enticement.

Everybody loves a spooky story??

Read by StoryTeller, Gav Cross to a live audience, who are invited to discuss the story afterwards, and swap and share cultural recommendations.

Follow, Subscribe and join in!

https://linktr.ee/gavcross

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com

Certainly most famous for The Monkey’s Paw, W. W. Jacobs certainly liked a macabre tale when he wasn’t writing funny books about sailors or plays!

I picked this one for a couple of reasons.

Certainly to begin with I'm going to read the short of the short story is available

I'd like to work up to Reading longer supernatural tales, perhaps over a couple of episodes…

This story appealed awesome because there is a melodrama to the whole thing. I can imagine it as an expressionist style black-and-white film from the early 20th century. Populated by those actors whose faces we recognise that means escape us.

I also picked it because I will be reading “The Monkeys Paw and More…” Live on Halloween at Norton Priory.

Supernatural tales in a building reputed to be haunted… But certainly where I stand overlooking the audience when I am performing at this venue I have to look at the archaeologically recovered human skeleton that is part of the exhibition. Quite a momentum Mori for me.

Will you join me for that?

https://www.nortonpriory.org/events.php?category_id=30

If not. Do not worry. I'll be back next Monday with another supernatural tale live.

You can also catch up with previous stories here and of course the audio only version on your podcast catcher.

Enjoy:

The Three Sisters

By W. W. Jacobs

Episode 03 of Phantastical Stories.

Always Free.

Any shares, comments, recommendations are gratefully recieved!

What do you think?

Read live on Substack

9pm on Mondays.

Classic supernatural, ghost and weird short stories.

Often found in the periodicals of magazines of the time.

An entertainment.

An enticement.

Everybody loves a spooky story??

Read by StoryTeller, Gav Cross to a live audience, who are invited to discuss the story afterwards, and swap and share cultural recommendations.

Follow, Subscribe and join in!

https://linktr.ee/gavcross

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gavcross.substack.com