Widdershins


Read by Don W. Jenkins

(4.5 stars; 7 reviews)

Onions wrote several collections of ghost stories, of which the best known is Widdershins (1911). It includes the novella The Beckoning Fair One, widely regarded as one of the best in the genre of horror fiction, especially psychological horror. On the surface, this is a conventional haunted house story: an unsuccessful writer moves into rooms in an otherwise empty house, in the hope that isolation will help his failing creativity. His sensitivity and imagination are enhanced by his seclusion, but his art, his only friend and his sanity are all destroyed in the process. The story can be read as narrating the gradual possession of the protagonist by a mysterious and possessive feminine spirit, or as a realistic description of a psychotic outbreak culminating in catatonia and murder, told from the sufferer's point of view. The precise description of the slow disintegration of the protagonist's mind is terrifying in either case. Another theme, shared with others of Onions' stories, is a connection between creativity and insanity; in this view, the artist is in danger of withdrawing from the world altogether and losing himself in his creation. (Introduction from Wikipedia) (7 hr 35 min)

Chapters

The Beckoning Fair One, Parts I-IV 42:45 Read by Don W. Jenkins
The Beckoning Fair One, Parts V-VIII 48:24 Read by Don W. Jenkins
The Beckoning Fair One, Parts IX-XII 54:27 Read by Don W. Jenkins
Phantas 35:50 Read by Don W. Jenkins
Rooum 31:00 Read by Don W. Jenkins
Benlian 39:28 Read by Don W. Jenkins
Io 32:43 Read by Don W. Jenkins
The Accident 33:04 Read by Don W. Jenkins
The Cigarette Case 29:00 Read by Don W. Jenkins
The Rocker 23:44 Read by Don W. Jenkins
Hic Jacet, Introduction-Part III 45:32 Read by Don W. Jenkins
HIc Jacet, Parts IV-VI 39:25 Read by Don W. Jenkins

Reviews

highly original


(5 stars)

Found this whilst looking for reads by Mr. Jenkins who shouts a bit at times but is generally very good. I was pleased at the originality of these entertaining tales. All entertaining, creepy but not frightening and unlike any I've read before.