Gift hopes shattered, eggless nog, Svalbard seed vaults, and murderous staircases... All this plus another original poetic recap, this time for Smee by A.M. Barrage! Spike that cocoa and nestle in for a cozy tale of projecting knees, adults playing games, and absolutely zero pirates –

All classic episodes of BBC's A GHOST STORY FOR CHRISTMAS are streaming on Shudder! Not sure where to start? We've got you covered.

Big things are coming for the next bonus episode...

Let's do a little Late Night Bar Talk! This week: 🥃 Ryan is enjoying  Ghostland by Edward Parnell and drinking his Lagavulin 16.

If you liked this week’s story, you should definitely read Gothic by Philip Fracassi!

Tartar sauce, scooters vs pew-ters, arboreal poetry, and OLDIE-TIMEY PAGAN THINGS! The gang closes out season 8 with style and grace (and a trollop), that is, if they can survive the intro. Join us for: The Stalls of the Barchester Cathedral by M. R. James--out now!!

Bar Talk Time! This week: 🥃 Jessica is reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and drinking a well-deserved Freeland Spirits Bourbon.

Like this episode? Jessica thinks you should watch Black Box (2020; dir. Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour).

Time warp! Updates from our future's past, multiple mustachios, and the gang gets deep on ourselves (but not as deep as how this author describes a monk's haircut). Dang bro, chill. Let's talk about The Face of the Monk by Robert Hichens!

Will this make more sense tomorrow? Maybe not! But we're covering The Face of the Monk by Robert Hichens anyway. 🥃

You're right, we should do some Bar Talk: This Week: 🥃 Ryan is reading  Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse and Bad Manners, edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey while drinking a Glenlivet 14.

If you liked this week’s story, read the interconnected short stories of the Dandridge Cycle by Caitlin R Kiernan!

The recommendations go far beyond Bar Talk, the gang concurs – relics are super rad, and doinkin' cousins? Only one podcast is brave enough to tackle all three! It's us, we're the podcast. It's time for The Duchess at Prayer by the one and only Edith Wharton!

Bar! Talk! Bar! Talk! This week: 🥃 Known-gamer @frryanwhitley.bsky.social  is playing Blue Prince (2025) and drinking a Glenlivet Caribbean Cask.

If you liked this week's story, you should definitely watch the very weird movie Presence (2024; dir. Steven Soderbergh)

The gang waxes reminiscent on PEMDAS, Ed Begley Jr, the wonders of a semi-decent ice ball, and their fondest funerary experiences... wait, wut? Join us for Marguerite Merington's An Evicted Spirit - available now!

Want to attend your own funeral? Well, now's your chance: we're coving An Evicted Spirit by Marguerite Merington! Tomorrow!

Is it before noon where we are? Yes. Could Jessica use come Bar Talk despite that? Also yes. This week: 🥃 Jessica is reading A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher; drinking a Blind Tiger's Bees Knees.

This is so kind! 🥃

Bar Talk? Why Not!? This week: 🥃 Damien is reeaaaally liking Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones and drinking a Redbreast 15 Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey.

Love this week's story? Make sure to watch 2016's The Forest, directed by Jason Zada!

Ten penny words are drunken misdirection, sideburns correlate to writing prowess, whiskey that burns in a whole new way, and a GHORSE! Find out what all this jargon means, and why we almost recommended Nic Cage's magnum opus, Ghost Rider, in this happy-go-lucky episode!

Bar Talk? Bar Talk! This week: 🥃 Jessica is reading the very good Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo and drinking Heck's Gentle Persuasion Golden NA.

If you liked this week’s story, or if you're just a real Laird-Head like some of our cohosts, read "Procession of the Black Sloth" by Laird Barron!

Ryan educates the crew on incense, thuribles, and thurifers, Jess hates on a completely innocent duo, and the crew gives this tale a modern casting, which is heavy on Ralph Ineson. We're reading The Cathedral Crypt by this guy, John Wyndham.

Tomorrow: let's all learn about immurement! We're reading The Cathedral Crypt by John Wyndham!

Let's do a little post-Halloween-y Bar Talk! This week: 🥃 Jessica is watching Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor (2023; dir. Stephen Cognetti) and drinking a Sloop Brewing Oktoberfest, despite criticism of the label.

Loved this story as much as we did? Obv, read the rest of the collection--but also check out the 2013 novel Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Spoooooky season is nigh at its end, so Jess, Ryan and Damien are here to hack and slash another contemporary piece of short fiction: Lost in the Dark by pod fave John Langan! What's the worst way you can describe a whiskey? Are cement mines real? How you pronounce the year 2001?

It must be time for a little Bar Talk! This week: 🥃 @damesies.bsky.social is watching Demoni/Demons (1985; dir. Lamberto Bava, produced and co-written by The Dario Argento) and drinking Corsair Triple Smoke.

Love this week's story but wish it was church-ier? Well, Ryan says you should read The Traveller by R.H. Benson! You can even read it right here, if you'd like! www.steve-calvert.co.uk/the-travelle...

There's too much time on the walls, Ryan's stuck in a time loop, and how many times can Damien and Jess absolutely misuse churchy terms? (Spoiler: A lot.) Join us for: In The Confessional by Amelia B. Edwards. Out now!

We have a new episode tomorrow--and it's maybe the most flabbergasted Damien and Jessica have ever been by Ryan? Get ready for In the Confessional by Amelia B. Edwards!

It's time for some Bar Talk, baby. This week, 🥃 Ryan has gone Full-Clancy and is reading The Hunt for Red October and drinking Glenlivet Double Oaked.

If you liked this week's story but long for a stronger revenge tale, maybe check out Mandy (2018; dir. Panos Cosmatos)

Today! Ryan undergoes a Clancification, Jess describes the highly volatile world of NA beers, and Damien is anxious to talk beans! LONG LIVE BEANS! Join us for The Lifetime Movie Event of The Parson's Oath by Ellen Price/Ellen Wood/Mrs. Henry Wood. Out now!

Tomorrow! It's a whole new episode where we spend a weird amount of time discussing Tom Clancy, a cheddar goblin, and beans. Lots of bean talk. We're covering The Parson's Oath by Mrs Henry Wood, obviously.

Why don't we do a little Bar Talk for Episode 1 of the new season? @thejessicaberg.bsky.social is reading the best book she's read in a long time (The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard) and washing it down with a Labatt's NA. Yum.

Don't have enough Ominous, Lurking statues in your life? Well, if you liked Man-Size in Marble and somehow missed it, check out Oddity (2024; dir. Damian McCarthy)!

Extended leave: terminated! Jess, Ryan and Damien return with an explanation of the AWOL (it's lovely, trust us), a beloved classic by Edith Nesbit, and Jess' most wretchedly despised literary couple to date. Plus, Ryan tries to take out his congregation by organ.

After a delay that...will make some sense after listening to Episode 1, we're back with an all new, all weird season! We're kicking off TOMORROW with Man-Size in Marble by Edith Nesbit! You can find it in almost every book ever published AND Holy Ghosts: Classic Tales of the Ecclesiastical Uncanny!

Holy Ghosts! You've got a week to read our first story: Man-Size in Marble by Edith Nesbit AND to learn the approximately 10,000 ecclesiastical vocab words that Ryan gets to show off this season.

We're Baaaaaaack! (Next) Sunday Sunday Sunday, we're kicking off a new season with a new collection. Get ready for Holy Ghosts: Classic Tales of the Ecclesiastical Uncanny, edited by Fiona Snailham! 🥃