Horror Stories

Tales of Ghosts, Curses, Mummies, and Zombies

By: Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Stacy Aumonier, H. P. Lovecraft, Louisa May Alcott, H. Rider Haggard

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 20 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

A spine-tingling collection of weird and wonderful horror stories, featuring ghosts, curses, strange phenomena, ghouls, black magic, and demonic apparitions. Do you dare to listen?

• "Nyarlathotep", by H. P. Lovecraft
• "The Ship that saw a Ghost", by Frank Norris
• "Lost in a Pyramid", by Louisa May Alcott
• "The Girl Who Was Tired of Love", by Leonard Merrick
• "The Brothers", by Stacy Aumonier
• "The Devil’s Spectacles", by Wilkie Collins
• "Glad Ghosts", by D. H. Lawrence
• "The Mummy’s Foot", by Théophile Gautier
• "The Ring of Thoth", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• "The Famous Race Between the Hearse and the Steamroller", by Sidney Keyes
• "Lot No. 249", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• "The Pit and the Pendulum", by Edgar Allan Poe
• "The Money’s Paw", by W. W. Jacobs
• "My Favorite Murder", by Ambrose Bierce
• "The Fall of the House of Usher", by Edgar Allan Poe
• "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs", by Harry Houdini and H. P. Lovecraft
• "The Story of Baelbrow", by E. & H. Heron
• "The Idiot", by Arnold Bennett
• "Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty" by Stacy Aumonier
• "The Premature Burial", by Edgar Allan Poe
• "Sredni Vashtar", by Saki
• "The Masque of the Red Death", by Edgar Allan Poe
• "The Lifted Veil", by George Eliot
• "The Telltale Heart", by Edgar Allan Poe
• "The Withered Arm", by Thomas Hardy
• "Smith and the Pharaohs", by H. Rider Haggard
• "A Professor of Egyptology", by Guy Boothby

Public Domain (P)2013 Red Door Audiobooks

Boring

What disappointed you about Horror Stories?

Mostly the narration, but the stories are pretty unhorrific as well.

Has Horror Stories turned you off from other books in this genre?

Perhaps.

Would you be willing to try another one of Cathy Dobson’s performances?

Absolutely not. Her performance doesn't make these dated tales to life.

What character would you cut from Horror Stories?

The narrator.

The narrator ruined this book.

What would have made Horror Stories better?

If the narrator had made an effort to engage the reader with her voice.

What could the authors have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

This collection seemed like the perfect choice. Many of my favorite authors are featured in this anthology. I could not get past the narrator's constant, unchanging way of reading.

Ugh, more great material ruined by Cathy Dobson

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A better narrator without the strange cadence and random inflections!

What other book might you compare Horror Stories to and why?

Other great classic material ruined by Dobson's weird narration.

What didn’t you like about Cathy Dobson’s performance?

Everything. She has a British accent, which would usually bode well for this type of material, but in her case it's just awful.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Horror Stories?

The scene where Cathy Dobson enters the narrators booth.