The Monster She Wrote Podcast

A young doctor is called into the home of a wealthy man, but rather than seeing the sick patient he is expecting, he is greeted with a seemingly healthy man, who offers him a thousand pounds to attend a death bed. The doctor, who isn't a rich man himself, reluctantly accepts the strange request. Of course, this is a ghost story, so the doctor doesn't know exactly what he is in for…Join us as we discuss Ada Buisson's "The Ghost's Summons."

Story originally published in Belgravia (January 1868); Collected in The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Volume One (edited by Tara Moore, 2016)

Recommended in this episode: Candy Cain Kills by Brian McAuley and the holiday episodes of Doctor Who

UP NEXT: Our next episode is our 100th episode. We want to celebrate this milestone, but since it is the holiday season, we will be taking a hiatus to be with family. We will rerun some of our favorite past holiday episodes, but we will be back in January, to kick off Season 5 and celebrate 100 episodes of Monster, She Wrote. We hope you will join us.

Have a happy holiday season, from Lisa and Mel!

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Exactly two years after she disappeared, Julie mysteriously comes back, with no memory of where she's been. To celebrate her return, Julie's friends get together for a girls' weekend away at a remote hotel. Things, however, are not all wonderful–Julie doesn't seem like herself at all. Something else, something more sinister and dangerous, is hiding beneath the surface, and it all comes out over the course of the trip.

Recommended in this episode: Elizabeth Hand's A Haunting on the Hill and Patrick Stewart's autobiography Making It So

UP NEXT: Ada Buisson's "The Ghost's Summons" in The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Volume One

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Sarah Clayborne is a widow, living alone in an old and stately manor house called Whitegates. One Halloween, Sarah takes a walk and slips on a frozen puddle, injuring her ankle. She takes to bed in her old and lonely home. Her painful broken foot is the least of her troubles, however, as she finds herself in the center of a good old fashioned ghost story.

Recommended in this episode: Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher

UP NEXT: Rachel Harrison's The Return

We will be back in two weeks when we discuss Rachel Harrison's The Return.

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Happy Halloween from the Monster, She Wrote podcast!

UP NEXT: "All Souls" by Edith Wharton

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Ramon left his home in Mexico a long time ago, settling first in California and then in Vancouver. But now, he worries that his past may have followed him, in the form of a homeless woman, a woman he is convinced is a La Llorona. Read the story here.

Recommended in this episode: CJ Leede's Maeve Fly

UP NEXT: A Halloween special episode

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Today, we are doing things a little differently. Since this is our first episode in October–the best month of the year if you ask us–we thought we'd do an extended recommendations episode, all with the intent of getting you ready for spooky season.

UP NEXT: "Lacrimosa" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Read it here at Nightmare Magazine

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When Dr. Beverly Crusher's grandmother passes away, she visits her home planet, a place made to look like old world Scotland on Earth, in order to pay her respects. As it turns out, she gets much more than a sad goodbye. Her grandmother had a secret life, complete with a young lover named Ronin, a man who takes an interest in Dr. Crusher. Ronin, however, is much more than he seems, and Dr. Crusher finds herself in the middle of a ghost romance. Or is it more like ghost possession?

Recommended in this episode: Lisa Tuttle's Riding the Nightmare and Kate Mulgrew's memoir Born with Teeth

UP NEXT: Reading Recommendations for Spooky Season

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Rosalind Ashe's Moths (1976) was marketed as a book for fans of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. And there are some similarities: a beautiful old estate with a crumbling wing. A young wife who moves in determined to make it her own. And a dead woman haunting the home that was once hers. But what would happen if Rebecca had possessed the body of the new wife? That's what Ashe's book posits. So join us as we discuss Moths.

Recommended in this episode: Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy

UP NEXT: Star Trek's "Sub Rosa"

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Last week, we discussed Daphne Du Maurier's novel My Cousin Rachel. Today, we thought it would be fun to look at the 2017 film adaptation, starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin.

Recommended in this episode: Nineteen Claws and a Blackbird

UP NEXT: Rosalind Ashe's Moths

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Phillip has lived with his guardian Ambrose Ashley on Ambrose's manor in the English countryside since Philip was a child and his parents' death left him orphaned. Philip's idyllic life is upturned, however, when Ambrose leaves for Italy, where he meets a mysterious woman named Rachel and swiftly marries her. Things take a dark turn when Ambrose dies suddenly–leaving letters behind that suggest perhaps Rachel was to blame. Following the tragedy, Rachel travels to the manor house, where she further turns Philip's life upside down. But the question remains: is Rachel a scheming villain or an innocent widow? In this episode, we're discussing Daphne Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel (1951).

Recommended in this episode: The Righteous Gemstones

UP NEXT: My Cousin Rachel (the 2017 film adaptation)

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