Uploaded September 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
For centuries, clergy and scholars have puzzled over the whereabouts of the treasure hidden by Abbot Thomas of Steinfeld, until antiquarian Mr. Somerton discovers some stained glass which appears to hold the key to the mystery. He hastens to Germany to follow the clues amid the Abbey ruins... but has the Abbot set a trap for the unwary treasure seeker?
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:
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* 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 per month with various benefits:
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:09 The Story begins
00:51:49 Credits, thanks and further listening
Montague Rhodes James (1862–1936) was a medievalist and scholar, and is probably the best known and most celebrated English ghost story writer of the 20th century, although he actually began composing supernatural tales in the late Victorian era, beginning with 'Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book' (1893). He was born in Kent, but spent most of his childhood in Suffolk, a county which features prominently in many of his stories, including 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'. Several of James's protagonists also reflect his own antiquarian interests, with academics and historians featuring regularly. James published four volumes of ghost stories in his lifetime: 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquary' (1904), 'More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary' (1911), 'A Thin Ghost and Others' (1919) and 'A Warning to the Curious and Other Stories' (1925).
During a long academic career which encompassed several positions at King's College, Cambridge, and Eton College, M. R. James developed a tradition of reading his ghost stories aloud to a group of friends, most famously on Christmas eve, and the majority of his published stories were first heard in that setting. 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas' was first published in 1904 as the last story in James's first anthology 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquary'.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2022.
For centuries, clergy and scholars have puzzled over the whereabouts of the treasure hidden by Abbot Thomas of Steinfeld, until antiquarian Mr. Somerton discovers some stained glass which appears to hold the key to the mystery. He hastens to Germany to follow the clues amid the Abbey ruins... but has the Abbot set a trap for the unwary treasure seeker?
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:
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* 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 per month with various benefits:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:09 The Story begins
00:51:49 Credits, thanks and further listening
Montague Rhodes James (1862–1936) was a medievalist and scholar, and is probably the best known and most celebrated English ghost story writer of the 20th century, although he actually began composing supernatural tales in the late Victorian era, beginning with 'Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book' (1893). He was born in Kent, but spent most of his childhood in Suffolk, a county which features prominently in many of his stories, including 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'. Several of James's protagonists also reflect his own antiquarian interests, with academics and historians featuring regularly. James published four volumes of ghost stories in his lifetime: 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquary' (1904), 'More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary' (1911), 'A Thin Ghost and Others' (1919) and 'A Warning to the Curious and Other Stories' (1925).
During a long academic career which encompassed several positions at King's College, Cambridge, and Eton College, M. R. James developed a tradition of reading his ghost stories aloud to a group of friends, most famously on Christmas eve, and the majority of his published stories were first heard in that setting. 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas' was first published in 1904 as the last story in James's first anthology 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquary'.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2022.
