An Evenings Entertainment (Fantasy and Horror Classics)

<p><strong>M. R. James the master of the antiquarian ghost story frames a tale of unsettling folk-horror around a seemingly quaint family scene proving that the most terrifying stories are not just the ones told around the fire but the ones that leave a physical lingering mark of the unholy past.</strong></p><p>It is a quiet evening by the fireside and a grandmother promises her grandchildren a treat: the next day they shall go blackberrying to make jam. When her young grandson Charles points out the perfect spot the grandmother s demeanor instantly changes.She forbids him from ever setting foot there and to explain her fear she tells a story from her own youth.</p><p>A young man's body is found hanging from an oak tree and another body is found bound and butchered in a cottage the scene of a suspected human sacrifice. The townspeople are so horrified by the pagan wickedness of the place that they dare not give the bodies a Christian burial. Years later a young woman is bitten by a large noxious fly bringing a painful supernatural infection that can only be cured by a local wise man.</p>