The HorrorBabble Podcast

"The Pool of the Stone God" is a short story by Abraham Merritt, writing as W. Fenimore. In the tale, which was first published in AMERICAN WEEKLY in September 1923, a professor relates the circumstances surrounding an encounter with a strange statue on a remote island in the Pacific… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Tale of Satampra Zeiros" is a short story by American author, Clark Ashton Smith, which first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in November 1931. The story tells of a thief and his companion in search of treasure in the former capital of Hyperborea. Unfortunately, something ancient and terrible watches over the temple the pair intend to loot… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Gray Rider" by American author, Charles Hilan Craig, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in November 1927. The story tells of a famous racing driver, who is about to be put to the test, one last time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Shadow on the Screen" is a short story by Henry Kuttner, first published in the March 1938 edition of Weird Tales. "A weird story of Hollywood, and the grisly horror that cast its dreadful shadow across the silver screen as an incredible motion-picture was run off." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Survivors" is a short story by Algernon Blackwood, first published in his 1935 collection, SHOCKS. "After a dramatic accident, a man wanders through London observing subtle but unsettling changes in himself and the world around him." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Xeethra" is a Zothique Cycle story by Clark Ashton Smith, first published in the December 1934 edition of Weird Tales. "A strange tale about a goatherd who had been king in the olden days, and how he regained and lost again his kingship." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Crib of Hell" is a short story by Arthur Pendragon, first published in Fantastic Stories of Imagination, May 1965. "He could never erase from his memory the evil face of the child of horror . . . the loathsome thing that waited in . . . the Crib of Hell." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you like to immerse yourself in the world of weird fiction? The grimy weird is speculative fiction at its finest — a realm of horror, science fiction, and dark fantasy. Coming to you from SpectreVision Radio, is The HorrorBabble Podcast. We produce recordings of stories by the pioneers of the genre — H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard — while breathing new life into forgotten classics penned by lesser-known authors. With new recordings published twice weekly — Tuesdays and Fridays — you’ll encounter Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, from the Nameless City to the Colour Out of Space; Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique, where cosmic entities linger in a dying world; Robert E. Howard’s legendary tales of Bran Mak Morn and Conan; and everything else weird fiction has to offer: baffling beasts and deadly bargains, haunted houses and polar terrors, caverns and crypts, dreams and nightmares, vampires and werewolves… the list goes on. If you have a taste for the macabre, you’re certain to find something to satisfy your ghoulish appetite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Dispossession" is a short story by the English author, C. H. B. Kitchin, published in the 1929 anthology, SHUDDERS. "A carefree London man is shaken when sudden blackouts and missing days begin to fracture his routine life." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The People of the Pit" by A. Merritt, first appeared in All-Story Weekly in its January 1918 edition, and tells of a man's return from a terrifying voyage into the depths of the Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Spirits of the Lake" is a short story by Alonzo Deen Cole, author and director of the 1930s radio series, The Witch's Tale. The story first appeared in the November 1941 edition of Weird Tales. "Was it at the bidding of the 'Old Ones' that slime—loathsome, hideously green—rose from the lake's dreadful depths?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Weaver in the Vault" is a Zothique Cycle story by Clark Ashton Smith, first published in the January 1934 edition of Weird Tales. "A story of the weird and ghastly-beautiful horror that came upon the searchers in the eery tombs of Chaon Gacca." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Twister" is a short story by the American writer, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, first published in the January 1940 edition of Weird Tales. "Ghostly was the village where the newly wedded couple stopped for gasoline, and weird was their experience there." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Tomb-Spawn" is a Zothique Cycle story by Clark Ashton Smith, first published in the May 1934 edition of Weird Tales. "A tale of a star-spawned monstrosity, and the eldritch magic of a powerful king and wizard." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Dr. Muncing, Exorcist" is one of two stories concerning the titular character by the American author, Gordon MacCreagh, first published in the September 1931 edition of Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror. "A confident exorcist investigates a family plagued by a formless, creeping dread." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Cave of Spiders" is a short story by the little-known Weird Tales author, William R. Hickey. The story was first published in the November 1928 issue of the magazine. "An expedition into the haunted heights of the Peruvian Andes yields a tale of ominous signs, forbidden passions, and a death far stranger than the survivors first claimed." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"A Secret of the South Pole" is a tale of Antarctica by the little-known Irish author, Hamilton Drummond, first published in the April 1902 edition of The Windsor Magazine. "Three castaways encounter a centuries-lost ship from the polar depths, its silent cabin holding hints of a strange fate no living man can explain." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"My Father, the Cat" is a short story by American author, Henry Slesar. As described by Fantastic Universe in December 1957: Here is an off-trail story that is guaranteed to make some of you take a very searching second look at some of the young men you know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Buzzards" is a short story by Edward Lucas White, first published in the July 25th 1908 edition of The Bellman. "In the shadow of circling buzzards and mounting dread, a young woman races against fate across a sun-scorched Virginia farm." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"At the Gate", by the little-known author, Myla Jo Closser, offers an answer to the long-held question: what happens to our beloved dogs when they (and we) pass on? The tale first appeared in the March 1917 edition of CENTURY MAGAZINE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"A Rendezvous in Averoigne" is the second story in Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne series, first published in the April-May 1931 edition of Weird Tales. "An unusual host was the Sieur du Malinbois—a strange story of the undead." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Phantom Woman", which is generally regarded as a traditional British ghost story, first appeared in Bob Holland’s 1904 collection, Twenty-Five Ghost Stories. The tale tells of a man and his inexplicable attraction to a mysterious lady glimpsed in the window of an old house. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Lead Soldiers" is a short story by Robert Barbour Johnson, first published in the December 1935 edition of Weird Tales. "A strange doom closed round the Dictator who sought to achieve his destiny through a bloody war." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Red Shadows" is a Solomon Kane story by Robert E. Howard, first published in the August 1928 edition of Weird Tales. Described as follows: "Thrilling adventures and blood-freezing perils—red shadows on black trails—savage witchcraft and the Black God." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Aquarium" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Carl Jacobi, first published in DARK MIND, DARK HEART in 1962. "When a painter and her friend move into a spacious London house, the strange aquarium left behind by its former owner begins to exude an influence both unnatural and terrifying." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Vine Terror" is a short story by Howard Wandrei, first published in the September 1934 edition of Weird Tales. Described as follows: "An unusual weird-scientific tale, about vegetable vampires that lusted for animal and human food." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices