We're taking care of a request I got some time ago with today's show.  From Favorite Story we'll hear their adaptation of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow.  This radio version is based on Washington Irving's story first published in 1820, and one of few early examples of American fiction still read today.  Favorite Story aired their version May 29, 1948.

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David T. Wilbanks has a great spooky tale available online for free over at the Horror Drive-In site. It’s a nice blend of horror and fantasy that reminded me of the style Algernon Blackwood sometimes wrote in. The story is a short one that hooked me from the start and left me with that satisfying feeling I always have after reading a good work of eerie fiction.

This month we return to the works of E.F. Benson to take a look at some more of his great tales of terror. My previous article on him included a bit of his background as well as a brief synopsis of his stories. “Caterpillars” (1912), “Terror by Night” (1912), “The China Bowl” (1916),“The Passenger” (1917), “Mrs. Amworth” (1923), and “Bagnell Terrace” (1928) “The Witch-Ball” (1929) were all featured therein. It can be found at http://www.vintagehorror.com/node/41 .

Arthur Christopher Benson was born in England in 1862, to an Archbishop of Canterbury. Although he and his siblings endured a tumultuous upbringing, their family still produced a surprising number of successful writers. His brother Robert Hugh, his sister Maggie and the most successful of them Edward Frederic all had works published. You can find my article on Edward (E.F. Benson) at http://www.vintagehorror.com/node/41 . He was educated at Eton and Kings College before teaching and later becoming Master of Magdalene College. He wrote poems, essays, biographies, short stories and is probably best remembered for writing the lyrics to the British patriotic song “Land of Hope and Glory”. He died in June of 1925.

I'm very excited to announce that my Christmas ghost story "Here He Comes A Wandering" has won the Pod of Horror story contest and is read by the great host of that show, Mark Justice in episode #58. You can download it for free at http://www.horrorworld.org/poh.htm.

This year we continue the tradition of highlighting Christmas themed weird tales for the holidays. You can find the last two years Christmas articles at http://www.vintagehorror.com/node/100 and http://www.vintagehorror.com/node/25 . Personally, I love the combination of a good spooky supernatural or weird tale at Christmas time. And I am a Christian, so I do believe that Jesus is the reason for the season. I don’t think that means one can’t enjoy a bit of the macabre, however. We no longer sit around a Yule Log burning through the night, regaling each other with our tales any more like in years gone by, but that only slightly lessens the enjoyment. Author and podcaster Mark Justice has a similar outlook.

Robert W. Chambers was born Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1865. He became a successful artist, selling works to several magazines and publications of the time. He later turned his attention to writing, publishing his first novel (In the Quarter) in 1887. Chambers wrote in multiple genres, but his biggest success was his weird fiction collected in “The King in Yellow” (1895). The majority of the works included in this collection revolved around a play that is brilliant and yet insanity provoking in anyone who reads it. In some cases it seems to bring supernatural entities after those who read it. He included the fictional realm of Carcosa in “The King in Yellow”, which was an invention of author Ambrose Breice. H.P.