Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk | A Ghost Story by Frank Cowper | A Bitesized Audio Production
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- Left to his own devices while visiting a friend for the holidays, our narrator explores the vast mud-flats on a lonely stretch of coastline. Adventure beckons when he discovers the rotting hulk of an old ship, and he climbs on board to explore. But he soon finds he may not be alone...
A new, original recording of a classic public domain text, read and performed by Simon Stanhope for Bitesized Audio.
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Frank Cowper (1849-1930) was an author of adventure and romance novels, although he was best known as a yachtsman and pioneer of solo sailing and wrote several books describing his voyages. His best known book, 'Sailing Tours' (published in several volumes between 1892 and 1909) outlines his circumnavigation of the British Isles and is still cited as an influence by yachting enthusiasts today. He was born in 1849, the son of Henry Cooper (it's unclear whether this was a scribe's error, or if he or his father changed the spelling of the family surname) and Catherine Lovegrove, and read classical history at Oxford. He married Edith Cadogan in 1876 and they had several children together, including the painter Frank Cadogan Cowper (1877-1958), famous as "The last of the Pre-Raphaelites".
'Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk' was first published in January 1889, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2020.
One of my favourites thank you
Intonation, cadence, interpretation, all perfect. Undoubtedly the best storyteller on RUclips.
Extremely kind of you to say so, thank you!
Yes, you can’t beat a good old fashioned perfect diction posh English voice, with a no nonsense masculine delivery , for these stories......perfect.
All these stories are great and perfectly narrated, before 1948 good , before 1933 better before 1910 best
You are undoubtedly correct.
I've been subscribed for a while but haven't commented before. Just wanted to say a big thank you for these stories, they have become a staple of my nighttime routine. I particularly enjoy the ghost stories so nice to see them coming still. You are, sir, a gem as they say where I come from. Many thanks again, and please do keep up the good work 👍🏻
Thank you Mike, appreciate you taking the time to comment. Glad you enjoy the stories, and yes indeed I've lots more stories (ghost and other) lined up for next year!
With you 100 percent. A good ghost story well read, a comfortable bed, it’s about as good as it gets to lull one to sleep. And a nice reassuring but interesting sort of thing in a day that has had plenty of interest but nothing quite so pleasantly ...interesting. Zzz
These make perfect bedtime stories! This often means I'll listen to the same story twice, as I like to hear what's lost to sleep and compare the actual story to the dreams they influence. Immersive media indeed :D
@@jackdare I can usually get away with THREE listens per story lol.
Isn’t it strange that so many of us enjoy a spooky bedtime story?! But there you have it, whatever the reason!
This one is genuinely creepy. Best listened to in the gloom on headphones.
indeed, one of the most spooky tale of haunting
Never heard or read this amazingly good story before. Thanks for brightening the shortest day of the year with your wonderful reading of it.
Listening in the darkness of early Christmas morning before the rest of the household wakes up... wonderful! Merry Christmas!
Thanks Missy, Merry Christmas to you too!
What a fine story by a lively narrator (excellently performed!) - rich in knowledgeable detail (with a nice reference thrown in to another story you narrate so well!). Writing his son Christopher in RAF training, Tolkien relates a letter passed on to him about a bet as to "how to pronounce the name of the poet Cowper", including "Not of course that there is any doubt that the poet called himself Cooper" with detailed discussion of representing the vowel sound (Letter 61).
Thanks @KpCraftster. Yes indeed, I seem to remember my pronunciation of the author's name caused some queries in the comments, but that is indeed the traditional pronunciation of Cowper. And if I recall correctly Frank Cowper's father was listed as "Henry Cooper" at birth...
Well that was the last of my Christmas presents unwrapped. Thank you, Santa Simon. What a treat. ❤
You're most welcome Bob, as ever. Have a good Christmas (as far as possible in the current circumstances) and let's hope for brighter days in 2021!
@@BitesizedAudio or what if the zombie apocalypse starts in 2021
Well, yes, that would be less than ideal. We must hope for the best...
@@BitesizedAudio Can't wait to hear the treats you have in store for us in 2021, Simon. Wishing you a cool Yule and a golden New Year. ❤
@@BitesizedAudio what do you mean by less than ideal I think it would be perfect for an end of the world scenario 🙂 I have my rifle ready to go and hunt me some zombie mofos
Great ghost story from a master storyteller.
I am always excited to see your posts. Such perfection! I love the sound of you voice and the exact way the feeling comes through. Thank you for doing these. Your followers love you.
Thank you Linda, I'm touched! Best wishes to you
You were maybe 5 minutes into the reading when the full story came flooding back into my mind. Thanks for reminding me this story existed. :-)
You're most welcome!
I have just recently started listening to these stories. I really enjoyed your reading on this one very much. I'm tired of all these modern books and movies. I'm so glad to have discovered Bitesized. Thank you all so much for bringing these old stories to life!
Thank you Ann, appreciated. It's actually just me! Glad to know you enjoy them
My goodness. What perfect narration and what a great story. Many thanks once more. Best wishes for a merry Christmas!
Thanks Mrs. C, and to you and yours!
Off work, making ice cream, drinking a brandy and now, a Christmas ghost story! Much appreciated, many thanks. I hope you have a good Christmas.
That sounds lovely! Thanks Gloss Paneer, Happy Christmas to you too
Christmas Eve on a haunted hulk?
Luxury!
You give me visions of this narrator in a "four Yorkshiremen"-style argument with some friends about the most uncomfortable night they've ever spent!
@@BitesizedAudio
Yeah. I should have put: 'We had to live in a lake' as more apropos.
Excellent rendition, as always; thoroughly enjoyed this! Thanks for all you do-
Wonderful, glad you enjoyed it. All the best Scout Rifle
Listen to story , he used a double barrel shotgun
I was going to save this for actual Christmas Eve but your readings are too good, I opened my "present" early. Thanks so much for finding and presenting all these stories, most not found elsewhere in print or audio. Please have a happy Christmas.
Thanks Angela. I do hope you have a good Christmas, and hoping there's better times ahead for all of us in 2021!
Great setting, a reference to that other great reading of yours (the Haunters and the haunted) and great wit as well! A great offering. Wishing you a happy Christmas. This is a fantastic channel
Thanks Ross, appreciated. Wishing you the same!
Wow!!!! So grateful I found your channel! Your level of talent has surpassed brilliant! Truly a total joy to listen to you tell stories 😍😍 thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! Merry Christmas xo
Thank you for your very kind words! Glad you found the channel, and happy to know you're enjoying the stories. Merry Christmas to you too
Over an hour?
You're too good to us!
Yes indeed, I'm still recovering... Hope to be better in time for the new year!
For being a self-described “prosy” man, the protagonist sure provided a vivid and entertaining account of what happened on that haunted hulk.
And you, as usual, read it beautifully.
Thanks Chris, appreciated!
@@BitesizedAudio Hi Simon. Since I was last in contact with you awhile back you have served up a banquet of terror,suspense and mystery with your superb narration and we have feasted and devoured every syllable. I was glad you went on a much deserved vacation some time back. As always I really appreciate it when you feature those magnificent authors from across the Irish Sea. I was going to request "A Christmas Carol" a month or so ago obviously because of the season and I was thrilled when you already had this planned and added your superb narration to this Chrismas classic. You really brought these great Dickensian characters to life and made them jump off the page. Dickens himself would be so pleased. No doubt your sublime reading and narration of this great Dickens story will be a feature of future Christmas and yuletide celebrations. Obviously we celebrate the redemption of Scrooge but we sometimes forget that at it's core it is a ghost story. I really enjoyed your narration of the great M.R.James classic "The Stalls of Barchester". All his stories are great but this is a real gem and it has that superb gothic quality. It is really a spine chiller. I would love if you added your vocal talents to "Count Magnus", "The Ash Tree" and "Casting of the Runes" as these are my favourite from this great ghost story author. I know that some of his stories have been adopted for TV but I think these stories lose something of their character and atmosphere when they are dramatized. I thought the concept by the BBC in the early 2000's which had the late great Sir Christopher Lee as M.R. James was fantastic. I have really enjoyed your latest ghost story. I read this many years ago as part of a volume with other ghost stories with a Christmas theme(including Mrs Riddels) but I have searched in vain in my attic to find this volume. Due to the present circumstances we find ourselves in I am being reacquainted with authors from my youth and they are like meeting old treasured friends again. One of these is H.G. Wells who we always instinctively associate with science fiction. However as you know he was also a first rate short story writer as your sublime narration of "The Red Room" confirms. Anyway I was wondering if you encountered "The late Mr. Elvesham"? I think this is a real gem and was hoping if you could inject some of your magic into this great story. While I have the opportunity I would like to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and happy,peaceful and safe New Year. I wish you every success in your future endeavours and enterprises. I hope there will be more recruits to your army of listeners. You bring such happiness to your listeners and you are a beacon of light during these dark times. Wishing all my fellow "Bitesized Audio Classic" family a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. God Bless.
@John Roche Hi John, it's great to hear from you, I was wondering how you were - I wasn't sure if you received the message I tried sending you a month or so ago regarding Barchester, as I remembered it was one of your requests. I'm delighted to know you've still been enjoying the more recent uploads, thanks so much for your kind words. I do hope to do several more M. R. James next year, and already have 'Count Magnus' and some others on my to-do list, but I'll bear the others you mention in mind too. Regarding H. G. Wells, I do indeed know 'The Late Mr. Elvesham' - although it had slipped my mind and I hadn't considered it to read, but you're right it is a great story so I shall add it to my 2021 list! I hope you're keeping safe and well, and wish you a happy Christmas, despite the ongoing troubles, and hope for better days for you and everyone in the new year! Best wishes, Simon
One of my most favorite.
this writer masterfully describes all the scenes and horrific situations
That was word perfect entertainment, word perfectly delivered! Three Men in a Boat will be ever immortal. But must share stage with One Man in a duck punt bitterly complaining about losing his punt then having problems with a derelict hulk infested with ghosts.. I loved the story’s dreadful accuracy when it came to describing hideous details....and the delightfully irritated responses but problem solving responses from our hero! First class!
Thanks Hugh! Three Men in a Haunted Hulk could make an interesting story...
@@BitesizedAudio it sounds like a complete success! I will begin work on the project immediately!
What a Christmas bonus !
Thank you, and a peaceful Christmas to you sir 🎅🕵👻😊
Same to you Andy, thank you!
@@BitesizedAudio just for a change - not putting up or dismantling furniture, however, did chuckle at the pubsign Duke of Marlborough reference in this story, having just finished a Victoriana style pub slate for a friend of my wifes husband.
Your stories make any task a joy 😊
of the hundred or more stories on this channel, I have listened to this one more than any other, my runaway favourite !
Been saving this one for months. Not disappointed. Thanks and spooky Christmas! 👻
Glad to know that. Spooky Christmas to you too!
I simply love these old ghost stories. These are so well read!
Thank you Mark, very kind of you
Perfect..finished work early showered...bed early+relaxing listening ♥ thank you.?Happy Holidays as best as possible..😊
Wonderful. Yes, same to you Stella - hoping 2021 brings better times for all of us!
Definitely one of the better Ghost stories on this chanel, well done to Mr. Cowper.
Very well done sir!. I really enjoyed it and will now choose another story from your channel. Best wishes for the happiest of holidays.
Glad to know you enjoyed it, thanks for listening! Best wishes to you too
Ooh such a good story! Thank you for this!
I love where the author references another ghost story that you also have posted.
Thank you for these wonderful stories.
looking forward to more Christmas ghost stories.
Interestingly, Michelle Paver's Ghost Story "Dark Matter" echoes some of the atmosphere and theme of this horrific tale. Excellent narration which gives you the shudders!
Thank you for a brilliant reading x
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks Lee
Thankyou so much, just the thing as I'm settling down to go to sleep 👌🌷
...What is the best way to keep our brain young?...
...The whole thing starts while we are listening our articulate, mellifluous, emotive and eloquent narrator.
Thank you very much, our dear Simon!🇬🇧🇷🇺
You're very kind, thank you Natalya!
@@BitesizedAudio Love from Russia!
Thanks for sharing this! Always look forward to your readings. Merry Christmas! 🎄🍸
Thanks Nick, and to you!
Great story, clear voice, perfectly read. Thank you BAC!
Thanks for all your comments Lev, much appreciated!
Thanks for the wonderful christmas present Simon ✌️🌻❤️ merry christmas to you and your family.
Thanks Simon, you too!
I’m gradually working my way through your audiobooks and came across this one (never heard or read it before), absolutely gripping and now one of my favourites!
You just can’t beat Victorian ghost stories, and this was all the better for your perfect narration 👍
Thanks Stuart, really glad to know you enjoy them! Best wishes
I totally enjoy all the storys .this one is my favourite. Its so well written .great stuff
I love that I can listen to these same stories more than once and be equally entertained every time.
I wish that you had a podcast! You have an amazing voice and this channel is one of RUclips’s best!!!!!
Thanks Alexandra, appreciated. I'm not sure if you received my reply to your comment a few weeks ago? I did actually set up a podcast about nine months ago but haven't developed it yet as I'm not at all au fait with how podcasts work, how to distribute them and gain an audience etc, so I had no idea what to do with it once set up.
It's available at classicghoststories.podbean.com/
Currently there are only three stories but I can add some more if you're interested - let me know if so. However, I'm also currently working in partnership with a producer to release some of the stories as audiobooks, to go on Audible and iTunes, so I need to be a bit cautious about what I release and where. Would that be of interest to you also, as a platform for listening on the go? Watch this space anyway, and thanks again for the suggestion!
Wonderfully told. You have such a clear precise voce and give just the right intonations for the story. I appreciate your choosing some of the less commonly heard stories to read. Of course I also enjoy when you pick a more famous story. Thanks for entertaining us.
You're very welcome! Thanks for your kind comments
I love his voice and his story telling.
You're narration is absolutely spiffing ! Thank you so much, wishing you the merriest of Christmas's.
Thank you Yvonne, you too.
Excellent. I've listened to every read at least twice and counting. You're narration is equally as awesome as your literature.
These are consistently excellent performances of (certainly to me) forgotten ghost stories. Absolute top-quality stuff.
A Blessed Christmas to you, Mr. Stanhope... We are indebted to you for these timeless tales read with the skill of a first rate storyteller.
Frank Cowper is a gem 🎄🕍
Thanks G Vivo, how lovely to hear from you, I do hope you're keeping well
thank you so much ..maybe in the future you considered mystery novels..enjoy the way you reading this books
I am enjoying your rendition on a dark winter's night. Thank you, Simon.
You're most welcome. And I see you've just signed up as a channel member, thanks so much for your support!
Perfect narration, which made it utterly terrifying!
I was there on that festering rotten old boat, listening to the awfully eerie noises.
I could imagine the vile stink & gruesome 'bits'😱
Thank you Simon! 🥰
Wonderfully terrifying! Well written and read!
I just want to say thank you for all of the wonderful stories you bring to us! Your channel is the very best and you are a magnificent storyteller! Victorian/Classic ghost stories are my favorite and as a 29 year old guy I can honestly say I was born in the wrong generation lol. Thank you so much for these, you have no idea how greatly you are appreciated, kind sir. I usually read a couple classics from different anthologies every night in December and listen to one of your recordings each night, and I could never be happier. By jove! I wish I could restart December over and over again!
Thank you again, & Happy Holidays to you!! :)
I'm touched. Delighted to know you enjoy the stories, thanks so much for listening and taking the time to comment, much appreciated. Best wishes for Christmas
I love your narration...you put such feeling and emotion in it, it’s as though I’m listening to a first hand play by play. Thank you and I hope you have had a lovely Christmas.🤗
Thank you for your kind words. Lovely to hear from you, I hope you had a good Christmas too, and all best wishes for the new year
THANK YOU
Always have loved well written ghost stories all my life, so thank you for making my day!!
You're most welcome Cathy, thank you for your lovely comment!
Good one! Thank you for your narration and uploading.
My doggie and I were chilled just listening to this! Thank you for a very excellent if chilly story and your excellent read.
Perhaps a stiff drink by a warm fire? Best wishes to you both
Perhaps a flaming rum punch
Lovely reading! THe first sentence had me worried (such a cliché!), but the way the landscape was described was GORGEOUS. And the vicar who'd taken off for the Continent was straight out of Trollope... Well done!!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Good point about the first sentence. It's interesting that the story also references Lord Lytton (of "It was a dark and stormy night" fame!). It seems that Cowper is better remembered today for his sailing manuals than his contributions to literary fiction, but agree there are some fine descriptive passages in this tale.
@@BitesizedAudio It's well-done of him, given that, to place the story on a ship, for he obviously knows a ship's geography (and sounds, and smells) by heart. Now, I gotta go research this Lord Lytton, who is new to me, but doubtless (if a ghost) less than happy to be known throughout the Anglo-Saxon-speaking world of the author of horror-melodrama's most travestied opening line...
Yes, he's worth looking up. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (aka Lord Lytton), friend and contemporary of Charles Dickens, although his literary reputation hasn't aged as well... There's actually a Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, where entrants compete to compose deliberately bad opening sentences
These engaging adventures filled my vessel! Thank you, as time and time again!
Glad to know it floated your boat...
I saved this for Christmas night ,as your readings like a fine wine should be enjoyed at leisure , Thank you so much as always .I hope that you Christmas was enjoyable and that your New Year brings you all that you wish for RNK
Thank you! Same to you, all best wishes for 2021
There's a stinky, wet and brutal story for a Christmas Eve! I love it. Highlights include persistent rusty drips and the narrator hurling himself into the bottom of the wreck having forgotten the lack of floor. I half-wonder if there's an Easter egg of sorts for anyone who looks up that ship and the date 1837, but I'm not in the right place to enquire...at any rate, thank you for this, and best of the season to you.
Wonderful! I do like this story, though not especially Christmassy it's very atmospheric, I think, and an ideal seasonal ghost story. All best wishes and compliments of the season to you!
Just what I was looking for, for this evening‘s entertainment! Thank you. Merry Christmas!
@K. Friedricks Lovely to hear from you, I hope you're well. Merry Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year
I learned something very useful from this story. I did not know about “mud pattens”, mentioned toward the end.
I’ll be moving from Los Angeles in the Spring to Connecticut, where there is a brook on the property. I expect it to be very muddy at times, so having mud pattens could be very handy!
Glad to know it was helpful! Good luck with the move - that's quite a big move, geographically speaking, isn't it?
Mr Simon Stanhope, you are indeed an inspiration! I salute you for your perfect rendering of British RP, long may it live... I am proud to be a supporter of your channel and wish you every success in 2021 :)
Very kind of you to say so, thank you! Same to you, all best wishes for the New Year
Thouraghly enjoyed this one.
Excellent, glad to know that. Thanks whousay!
"This prosaic age," says the Victorian author (albeit referring to the 1830s). There's some perspective.
This is amazingly descriptive
What a story. Brilliant. The narration is excellent.
Subbed liked shared
Thank you! Welcome aboard
This author certainly took his time to get to the ghosts!
I was trying to save this for Christmas Eve 2021 but here I am on the 21st at 2 am pressing play … ☺️ thank you Simon & Merry Christmas from a fan in SW Missouri.
Merry Christmas to you too Felene. Thanks so much for your support! I've uploaded a couple of new ghost stories this week (hopefully you've received the members' notification?) so there are some more options for Christmas eve now! Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and peaceful Christmas in Missouri
Like the reference to another ghost story on here.😄 Very good story...👻👻👻 Well Xmas TV is awful as norm and this year I will be on here listening to these wonderful stories.😀👍🎄🕯
Yes indeed, that was pleasing. I also felt there were echoes of 'The Upper Berth' (which was written about three years earlier, interestingly), although perhaps that story was just in my mind because of the setting...
I love this old spooky tale of ghouls that tormented this gentleman that was stranded upon the old hulk of a ship. Scary as all get out and I shivered as I imagined him listening to a murder and as he felt their presence. Perfect narration and the inflections of voice made me feel.as tho I was there with him. Thank you for this terror tale good sir. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment.
Thanks for listening, and for your kind words!
Saved for today. ⛾
Happy New Year 2021.
Thanks Nancy. Same to you!
Great listening 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
very good story, sounds like a ghost story that might actually happened
That was fun! Subscribed.
Excellent, thanks Michael!
Really good thank you.
Merry Christmas to you + your family 🎄
Thank you. Same to you!
Sorry to comment twice, but finally got a chance to listen to the end. Three especially impressive things. First, your reading. You sound *just* like a prosaic, relatively unimaginative huntin' shootin' sporting type of 1870 - getting progressively more terrified and uncomfortable, and in the end gropingly trying to make sense of his experiences. Second, you know how to talk like someone who really knows his way around boats/ships --first time I've heard fo'c'sle (or however it's spelled) actually spoken. Talk about thorough research! Finally, the choice of story. The circumstantial detail (like Blackwood's "The Willows") of a man in a very strange landscape (traversible only by "mud pattens", whatever those might be), the palpable feeling of being there, without light, wet with stinky bilge water; *and* the consistent way it's written, in character, all the way through - down to and including no semi-predictable "unravelling of the mystery" (I expected, of course, a skeleton to be found) - both original and refreshing. THANK YOU.
Appreciate your comments, thank you!
Good thing he had some sandwiches with him.. Mr Cowper that is .. and he didn't have to starve before his clergy friend arrived
@@javedsultan4830 The British, conquerers of the Empire. Of couse he had sandwiches. Made by Cook before he set out.
@@blixten2928
Its a work of fiction dear sir.
Nice, awesome' one this one. Would like to hear a very simular. 👍💀👀
Interesting - I haven't heard this one before.
That'll teach him to pinch other people's punts. No sympathy for the swine.
my second listen. your reading is so incredible on this story. it sort of has a cadence like the sea waves. 🌊 totally involving. 🌷
What a great story.
Thanks for listening, Tuck
Excellent reading enjoyable
Thank you!
Oh, so good, so good.
Thanks Adam!
Simon Stanhope thanks for a great reading such a pleasure to listen. A fantastic title aswel Christmas eve on a haunted hulk what pictures my mind creates with that. Title is important factor in my choice but your synopsis is very helpful good outline of the author too.
Thanks Pilgrim, glad to know they're helpful! Thank you for listening
I loved this story and your wonderful narration! I feel 24 December, 1837 is probably the key date for whatever happened.
Love storytime! ♥️🥰
Thank you.
You're welcome!
So very enjoyable 👏👏
Glad you enjoyed it
Wonderful story & reading!
By any chance is that photograph of the wreck of the Peter Iredale?
Thank you! Actually, it isn't... it's an image I created myself from an amalgam of various old ship images. I just googled the Peter Iredale and some of the older pictures of that wreck would indeed have worked very well for this story!
@@BitesizedAudio Ah, interesting!
Yes! Sadly it's decayed quite quickly due to the weather & surf conditions, but I imagine it must have been equally eerie at night in its time!
im back for catch up day number 2 , Thank you
This is one of the most unpleasant and uncomfortable stories I have ever heard.
Was it real or was it all a dream?..... l think we shall never know for sure....
Happy Yule all.
Well done!
Thanks Mark!
I think this is the best ghost story I ever heard. 😶😶😶🙏
Thanks Dennis!