We have a special treat for our 2024 Christmas ghost story reading, with not one but two tales of Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson. Our first is “The Searcher of the End House”, a weird tale plucked from Carnacki’s younger years. We shall wrap this up tomorrow night, before moving on to “The Horse of the Invisible” later in the week.







This reading has been organised by good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories), taking place on our Discord server. Mike is joined by guest readers Camille Brouard, John Casey, Scott Dorward, Sarah Dovey, Anthony Lee-Dudley, Brian Murphy, T A Newman, and Nic Rosenberg.







At the time of release, you just have time to join us for part 2 at 22:00 GMT on Wednesday the 18th of December. We shall be reading “The Horse of the Invisible” on the 19th and 20th, also starting at 22:00 GMT.







So forget about that “Straw Platters” business for now and let’s try to work out where that nasty smell is coming from. Maybe these flabby footprints offer a clue!













“Silent Night”, performed by The St. Joseph’s Convent Choir, is in the public domain.







If you would like to read along at home, you can find “The Searcher of the End House” in William Hope Hodgson’s collection Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder, available on Project Gutenberg.







And if all this has put you in the mood for Christmas ghost stories, please check out our previous readings:









* “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens







* “The Canterville Ghost” by Oscar Wilde







* “The Viy” by Nikolai Gogol







* “Told After Supper” by Jerome K Jerome