Widdershins (Version 2)


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(2.4 stars; 5 reviews)

Onions wrote several collections of ghost stories, of which the best known is Widdershins (1911). It includes the novella The Beckoning Fair One, widely regarded as one of the best in the genre of horror fiction, especially psychological horror. On the surface, this is a conventional haunted house story: an unsuccessful writer moves into rooms in an otherwise empty house, in the hope that isolation will help his failing creativity. His sensitivity and imagination are enhanced by his seclusion, but his art, his only friend and his sanity are all destroyed in the process. The story can be read as narrating the gradual possession of the protagonist by a mysterious and possessive feminine spirit, or as a realistic description of a psychotic outbreak culminating in catatonia and murder, told from the sufferer's point of view. The precise description of the slow disintegration of the protagonist's mind is terrifying in either case.
Another theme, shared with others of Onions' stories, is a connection between creativity and insanity; in this view, the artist is in danger of withdrawing from the world altogether and losing himself in his creation. (Introduction from Wikipedia) (7 hr 52 min)

Chapters

01 - The Beckoning Fair One, Part 1 41:54 Read by Kevin Green
02 - The Beckoning Fair One, Part 2 46:33 Read by Kevin Green
03 - The Beckoning Fair One, Part 3 53:07 Read by Kevin Green
04 - Phantas 34:47 Read by C.J. Casey
05 - Rooum 31:55 Read by C.J. Casey
06 - Benlian 43:07 Read by C.J. Casey
07 - Io 32:58 Read by C.J. Casey
08 - The Accident 39:50 Read by Adam Whybray
09 - The Cigarette Case 31:31 Read by Sammy Bean
10 - The Rocker 25:23 Read by Melissa Burns-Price
11 - Hic Jacet, Part 1 48:39 Read by Fannie
12 - Hic Jacet, Part 2 42:51 Read by Fannie

Reviews

wider shins


(0.5 stars)

I thought it was promising after I read what story was about. The reading was good until half way through then it sounded like he was swallowing a lot and pausing. It got so irritating I stop story. If the story was more interesting then maybe I would of continued.

hmm


(1.5 stars)

First story was okay, but then it went downhill from thereon in. Sorry, can’t recommend this one.

Great book


(5 stars)

And a great reading, well done .