Fifty Classic Ghost Stories

By: E. F. Benson, Edith Wharton, F. Marion Crawford, Lettice Galbraith, Hugh Walpole, Charles Dickens, D. H. Lawrence

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 30 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

A wonderful collection of 50 of the best classic ghost stories ever written.

• 'The Missing Model' by Lettice Galbraith
• 'Pomegranate Seed' by Edith Wharton
• 'The Screaming Skull' by F. Marion Crawford
• 'The Ghost in the Cupboard Room' by Wilkie Collins
• 'The Shadow on the Blind' by Louisa Baldwin
• 'A Ghost's Revenge' by Lettice Galbraith
• 'The Lost Ghost' by Mary Wilkins-Freeman
• 'On the Northern Ice' by Elia W. Peattie
• 'The Cold Embrace' by Mary E. Braddon
• 'The Dust Cloud' by E. F. Benson
• 'The Haunted Dolls' House' by M. R. James
• 'For the Blood Is the Life' by F. Marion Crawford
• 'Miss Mary Pask' by Edith Wharton
• 'Mrs Raeburn's Waxwork' by Eleanor Smith
• 'The Man with the Roller' by E. G. Swain
• 'Over an Absinthe Bottle' by W. C. Morrow
• 'The Diary of Mr. Poynter' by M. R. James
• 'The Snow' by Hugh Walpole
• 'They' by Rudyard Kipling
• 'The Evil Clergyman' by H. P. Lovecraft

Plus 30 more classic ghost stories....

Public Domain (P)2015 Red Door Audiobooks

Eccentric Reading

I love these stories, but I am having some trouble with Dobson's reading, and I mean no offense to her. Her accent and intonations are unusual, and somehow I find them... not conducive to paying attention. I guess I am having a hard time following the tone of the tales, so I get distracted and find I haven't been listening for 15-20 minutes. I start over, same problem. A bit sad because I love ghost stories so, and was looking forward to hours of them, but, not working for me.

8 people found this helpful

This narrator is terrible

Cathy Dobson, while a clear reader, is both monotone and inclined to a sing song rhythm. If you’re looking for a reader to put you to sleep, this one will do it. It’s a real shame, because this is a solid collection, and at more than 24 hours of material, a goldmine of great stories.

It’s too bad the narration is someplace between teeth grittingly annoying and so monotonous that listening while operating heavy machinery would be treacherous. Every character sounds the same, be they beggar or Earl, male, female, or ghost.

I’m going to avoid everything else this narrator has done.

6 people found this helpful

Wonderful selection of classic stories.

Some very obscure gems make for an interesting trip through the late 1800's/early 1900's. More 'haunting' than 'horrific', it still does include a few genuine chills.

2 people found this helpful

Great Narrator.

The stories in this collection are all of the highest possible quality; they are classics. So, what makes them a great or a not so great audio book is the narrator. This narrator is not an actor she is a story teller and a great one at that. I can listen to her voice for longer than any other narrator I have heard so far and I have over 200 titles in my library. If you are looking for someone who does all the imagination for you, you will be disappointed but if you are looking for someone who will wake up and enthrall your native imagination and let the beauty of the writing speak for itself then you will love it.

4 people found this helpful

Great stories ! Really annoying narrator !!

This is an interesting, diverse choice of stories of good quality.
I dread the narration.

11 people found this helpful

I could not get through 5 minutes

I am certain that the stories are amazing, but I could not follow along due to the narrator’s style. I do not wish to offend her (and I see that others enjoyed her style) but it did not work for me.

2 people found this helpful

Not happy with this purchase

The narrator was extremely dry and hard to understand when she changed her voice for multiple characters. It also sounds like she is trying to have a monotonous argument with herself.

2 people found this helpful

I agree on narration

Good narration is the heart of an audiobook - cannot understand this narrator and
just gave up on it. And believe me, I listen to lots of ghost stories and mysteries.

9 people found this helpful

The narrator is the problem with these stories

Do you like to hear an extremely affected voice narrate stories in what sounds to be a forced-English accent? It is so over-acted it detracts from every story. Her pronunciation and emphasis are as irritating as they are distracting and this all takes away from every story she reads. Hard pass on anything narrated by Cathy Dobson. (Maybe this is less annoying to someone who was born and raised in Brittain? ) Now, if this were Patrick Stewart narrating this, I'm sure I would have been riveted to these same stories, so it's not the accent, it's the jerky-timing and forced enunciation.

Really well done

Cheers !!!!! To all who had a hand in putting this performance on. The authors to the narrator really delivered on this one. Thank you ALL

Text to speach

Beware, this is a Text-to-Speech automated reading and the appalling intonation makes it unlistenable nonsense.

29 people found this helpful

Fifty Classic Ghost Stories

Dreadfully read, with weird inappropriate intonation. Wouldn't recommend this to anyone and can't bear to listen to anymore. Hugely disappointing.

26 people found this helpful

dreadful narration.

Un-listenable narration ruining these stories. As try as I might to ignore it, I can't. The narrators inflection is all over the place, emphasis placed on the wrong words in the sentence - I've honestly never heard anything like it, and will consciously avoid anything like this in the future. it's so bad it makes me cross to even think about it.

11 people found this helpful

Terrible narrator

Whilst I am sure that these stories are wonderful, the narration was atrocious. I actually had to stop listening and move on to another book. Very disappointed as I paid for the book and was looking forward to the stories.

I found this narrator appalling and will make sure not to purchase any books narrated by her in future. Shame I cannot get a credit back.

Very very disappointed

10 people found this helpful

Classic stories, badly presented

Reading stories more than, say, 100 years old, requires a good deal of skill and can bring difficult literature to life. Sadly this reader seems to have honed her skills on a decade or two of UK local radio commercials, and perhaps some Christmas panto in her local village hall. Combine this with a refreshingly relaxed approach to pronouncing 'difficult' words, and we have an audio experience that is not quite what I was hoping for. Harsh, maybe, but people on Libravox do this better for love, not for money.

9 people found this helpful

Dreadful

Bought this in a rush without reading the reviews. Absolutely awful. I give up after less than 5 minutes.

8 people found this helpful

Good Stories Completely Ruined

These are good stories but are completely ruined by the narrator. Cathy Dobson's voice is grating. I couldn't absorb the story being told due to her seriously irritating voice. Surely, somebody at Audible must listen to these before publishing.

11 people found this helpful

very poor

what a load of rubbish. stories go on and on making no sense and the narrator has to be the most talentless person ever. no charisma what so ever. give this a miss. I'm annoyed I wasted my credit on this!

15 people found this helpful

Fifty classic ghost stories

The book contains excellent writers however the narrator voice is irritating after a, short, while.

6 people found this helpful

Terrible

This woman's voice is totally distracting making the book unlistenable. I made the mistake of purchasing two books read by her ...never again

9 people found this helpful