Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Fresh from working on a gruesome murder trial, Johnson is looking forward to Christmas skiing in the Alps. But as he stays up late packing his borrowed kit-bag for the journey, he finds the memory of his recent case difficult to shake off – and he increasingly senses that a sinister presence has joined him in his lonely top-floor chambers...
A new, original recording of a classic public domain text, read and performed by Simon Stanhope for Bitesized Audio.
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Algernon Blackwood (1869–1951) was an English author and journalist best remembered for his "weird tales" and ghost stories. He was born in Kent and went to school at Wellington College in Berkshire. In his youth he travelled widely, in particular in North America, and gained experience in a startling variety of professions, including hotel management and dairy farming in Canada, as well as newspaper journalism and violin teaching in New York City. He contributed short stories and other pieces of journalism to a number of publications on both sides of the Atlantic; his first short story, 'A Mysterious House' was published in The periodical 'Belgravia' in July 1889. Blackwood settled back in the UK in the first decade of the 20th century and his first collection of supernatural fiction, 'The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories' was published in 1906. He went on to write many more, as well as 14 novels and a number of children's books. He also found success as a playwright, often as adaptor or co-author, most famously 'The Starlight Express' (1915), an adaptation of his own children's story with Violet Peam. His short ghost stories and novellas remain very highly regarded today: amongst the best-known are 'The Willows' (1907), 'The Wendigo' (1910), as well as a short series featuring the supernatural detective John Silence (1908).
'The Kit-Bag' was first published, as befits its Christmas setting, in the December 1908 issue of 'The Pall Mall Magazine'. It has been much anthologised ever since.
End music Silent Night (Dark Piano Version), used by permission © Myuu 2014
iTunes: bit.ly/1NiZDyL Bandcamp: bit.ly/1OinZQT MP3 Download
Dark Christmas song. royalty-free music Support Myuu with Donations → goo.gl/tZy5p
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2021.
Fresh from working on a gruesome murder trial, Johnson is looking forward to Christmas skiing in the Alps. But as he stays up late packing his borrowed kit-bag for the journey, he finds the memory of his recent case difficult to shake off – and he increasingly senses that a sinister presence has joined him in his lonely top-floor chambers...
A new, original recording of a classic public domain text, read and performed by Simon Stanhope for Bitesized Audio.
If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, you may like to consider supporting me on Patreon:
patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
Or for occasional one-off contributions, you can Buy Me a Coffee here: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
Algernon Blackwood (1869–1951) was an English author and journalist best remembered for his "weird tales" and ghost stories. He was born in Kent and went to school at Wellington College in Berkshire. In his youth he travelled widely, in particular in North America, and gained experience in a startling variety of professions, including hotel management and dairy farming in Canada, as well as newspaper journalism and violin teaching in New York City. He contributed short stories and other pieces of journalism to a number of publications on both sides of the Atlantic; his first short story, 'A Mysterious House' was published in The periodical 'Belgravia' in July 1889. Blackwood settled back in the UK in the first decade of the 20th century and his first collection of supernatural fiction, 'The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories' was published in 1906. He went on to write many more, as well as 14 novels and a number of children's books. He also found success as a playwright, often as adaptor or co-author, most famously 'The Starlight Express' (1915), an adaptation of his own children's story with Violet Peam. His short ghost stories and novellas remain very highly regarded today: amongst the best-known are 'The Willows' (1907), 'The Wendigo' (1910), as well as a short series featuring the supernatural detective John Silence (1908).
'The Kit-Bag' was first published, as befits its Christmas setting, in the December 1908 issue of 'The Pall Mall Magazine'. It has been much anthologised ever since.
End music Silent Night (Dark Piano Version), used by permission © Myuu 2014
iTunes: bit.ly/1NiZDyL Bandcamp: bit.ly/1OinZQT MP3 Download
Dark Christmas song. royalty-free music Support Myuu with Donations → goo.gl/tZy5p
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2021.
