Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
A group of commercial travellers while away a winter's evening by the fireside in a roadside inn by swapping ghost stories. After a noisy contribution from the most boisterous and tedious member of the party, the quietest man in the group suddenly speaks up, to share his own true experience... The story starts at 00:01:00
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me (and get access to exclusive content):
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
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* Donate via PayPal: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HMMUWZ7URN26A
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 / £1 / €1 per month:
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:00 Number 17
00:23:30 Credits, thanks and further listening
About the author: Although best remembered today for her children's stories, including 'The Railway Children', Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) also wrote several novels and numerous short stories for adults, many of them with a horror or supernatural theme. She was born in London, but after her father's death, when she was just three years old, she spent her formative years travelling with her family, living for periods in France, Spain, Germany and various parts of the south of England. She married Hubert Bland, a bank clerk, in 1880. She was several months pregnant at the time of the wedding, and they went on to have four children together; she also subsequently adopted two children born to her husband as the result of affairs.
The Blands were both active in Labour politics, and were co-founders of the Fabian Society in 1884. She lectured on socialism and politics, and wrote political essays, sometimes in collaboration with her husband under the name Fabian Bland, although she was less active in this area as she grew more successful as a writer of fiction. Her best known ghost stories include 'Man-size in Marble' and 'John Charrington's Wedding'.
Number 17 was printed in The Strand Magazine in June 1910, under the byline E. Bland.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2025
A group of commercial travellers while away a winter's evening by the fireside in a roadside inn by swapping ghost stories. After a noisy contribution from the most boisterous and tedious member of the party, the quietest man in the group suddenly speaks up, to share his own true experience... The story starts at 00:01:00
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me (and get access to exclusive content):
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* Donate via PayPal: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HMMUWZ7URN26A
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 / £1 / €1 per month:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:00 Number 17
00:23:30 Credits, thanks and further listening
About the author: Although best remembered today for her children's stories, including 'The Railway Children', Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) also wrote several novels and numerous short stories for adults, many of them with a horror or supernatural theme. She was born in London, but after her father's death, when she was just three years old, she spent her formative years travelling with her family, living for periods in France, Spain, Germany and various parts of the south of England. She married Hubert Bland, a bank clerk, in 1880. She was several months pregnant at the time of the wedding, and they went on to have four children together; she also subsequently adopted two children born to her husband as the result of affairs.
The Blands were both active in Labour politics, and were co-founders of the Fabian Society in 1884. She lectured on socialism and politics, and wrote political essays, sometimes in collaboration with her husband under the name Fabian Bland, although she was less active in this area as she grew more successful as a writer of fiction. Her best known ghost stories include 'Man-size in Marble' and 'John Charrington's Wedding'.
Number 17 was printed in The Strand Magazine in June 1910, under the byline E. Bland.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2025
