In this cave by the restless sea, we are met to call from out of past, stories strange and weird. Bell keeper, toll the bell, so that all may know that we are gathered again in The Weird Circle.
The Weird Circle
Sources:
Digital Deli
Radio Horror Hosts
Wikipedia
OTRR
Out of the past, phantoms from a world gone by speak again the immortal tale:
Bell Tower, The
An arrogant architect is hired to build the tallest tower ever… with help from the Devil? A dead man’s blood cracks the bell and brings down the tower: vengeance from beyond the grave? [Adapted from Herman Melville] (Also by: NBC Short Stories: “Tower of Bannadonna”Black Parchment, The
Bride of the Dead
A woman is betrothed to a man rumored to be a cruel soldier, but when they meet, they fall in love. Too bad he was already dead! (More romance than horror.) Will she commit an abomination and marry a corpse– a son of the grave? [Adapted from: Joseph Howard Krucher]Burial of Roger Malvin, The
A man swears to return to bury his friend’s body after both are wounded in an Indian raid in the Old West, but he never does. Finally he returns after he loses his friend’s farm, racked with guilt… but it’s “too late.” [Adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne]Curse of the Mantle, The
A noble woman whose seamstress is in league with the Devil gets a new dress. She is eternally beautiful, but the price is paid by the townsfolk: a plague soon arrives. [Adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Lady Eleanora’s Mantle”]Declared Insane
When a man gives money to an ugly woman, his wife and her brother plot to protect their assets by having him declared insane. They frame him for murder and hire a ringer judge to secure control of the family’s finances. The recused Judge Popinot acts as a detective investigating and revealing the underhanded setup… but he too is undone! [Adapted from L’Interdiction by Honore de Balzac]
Diamond Lens, The
A scientist gets advice from the inventor of the microscope via a medium. The perfect microscope: electricity and a diamond lens. He kills for that diamond, and discovers a tiny world. Horton hears Enimula, a tiny woman who sings to him. [Adapted from Fitz-James O’Brien]Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Strange Case of
A nicely condensed version of the novella. A scientist develops a draught that will separate out his base, evil instincts, leaving only a good man. But the split personality takes a turn for the worse when the jerk inhabiting his body becomes not only abusive, but commits murder! Jekyll is so close to a cure, but his original success was an accident… and Hyde is now too strong to fight off. Does hate hold back our kindness or does our generosity provide a check on our necessary violent nature? [Adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson]Dr. Manette’s Manuscript
A 1700s landowner methodically kills a servant family. When his wife is suspected of an affair, he concocts an elaborate plan for revenge, but a mad-woman’s ranting gives a clue that will lead to his undoing! [Adapted from Charles Dickens]Doll, The
The Wondersmith creates a doll and calls upon a fortune-teller to trap a murderous spirit inside. He sets his weapon on his step-daughter when she declares her intention to marry! [Adapted from Algernon Blackwood]Dream Woman, The
Evil Eye, The
A man with a twinkle in his eye encounters many people with Italian horn charms. When his fiancee becomes ill again after his being away, he believes he has the evil eye. Will he surrender her love to another suitor… or blind himself? [Adapted from: Theophile Gautier]Executioner, The
Falkland
A woman dumps her fiancee, infatuated with the mysterious recluse, Mr. Falkland. He has the conceit to believe that the price he promised the gods for immortality would not come due: anyone he loves will die. He is struck down by lightning. The audio skips, but no story is lost. [Adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton]Fall of The House of Usher, The
Twins who were born partially conjoined believe they share a soul. When the woman dies, her brother hears her footsteps returning from her coffin in the catacombs below the mansion… coming to reclaim her soul! When the rain turns red, the mansion will crumble! A masterpiece. [Adapted from Edgar Allan Poe]Feast of Red Gauntlet, The
Frankenstein
Ghost’s Touch, The
Goblet, The
Hand, The
When a hunter’s wife kills herself at the urging of an occultist, the husband tracks the magician down and cuts off his hand, leaving him to die. But the hand doesn’t! There is a great scene with him whipping the hand. There is romance. The hunter is strangled! Was it the hand? The Indian servant? Has the occultist returned for his severed limb? (Nope. Nothing so exciting, sorry.) [Adapted from: Guy de Maupassant]Haunted Hotel
Heart of Ethan Brand, The
A sociopath becomes infatuated with the idea of an “unpardonable” sin. He teaches himself how to use a person’s weakness to manipulate them into committing horrible crimes. In the fires of a lime kiln, he finds a solution to his existential malaise. His heart, we discover, is made of pure marble. [Adapted from Nathanial Hawthorne]History of Dr. John Faust, The
A doctor sells his soul for twenty four years of youth. Many encourage him that it isn’t too late to repent, but he does not ask forgiveness, and is damned. [Adapted from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]Horla, The
House and the Brain, The
A student of the occult and his wife purposely rent the haunted house of a pirate and mesmerist whose sheer will has kept him alive for 400 years. The housekeeper is killed and their only hope of survival is to find the “brain” of the house. [Adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Also by: CBS Radio Mystery Theater]Jane Eyre (1943)
The classic gothic. A new governess is intimidated by the housekeeper. She and her charge are terrified by the savage animal sounds coming from the forbidden third floor, while the man of the mansion professes his love for her. [Adapted from Charlotte Bronte]Knightsbridge Mystery, The
Last Days of a Condemned Man, The
No twist ending, just the sad tale of a soldier in Napoleon’s army who is accused of his own murder… by his wife and daughter. [Adapted from Victor Hugo]Lifted Veil, The
A man has visions of his maid accusing him of murder. Then he catches her in his room… with rat poison! His wife refuses to dismiss her. The man’s friend luckily always carries a syringe of re-animator serum! [Adapted from George Eliot]Mad Monkton
Mark of the Plague, The
A woman opens a Pandora’s Box from France and releases the plague in London. When her father dies, she devotes herself to caring for her lover’s rich father who hates her for being common. He sends for the lawyer to write his son out of his will for marrying her. Will she kill him first, or will the plague beat her to it? Who will survive? (No one. Heh!) [Adapted from: Daniel Defoe A Journal of the Plague Year]Middle Toe of the Right Foot
Moonstone, The
A yellow diamond is stolen from the moon god’s temple in India. Cursed, it is then stolen from the woman who inherits it. When the fence for the stolen diamond is caught… he’s been murdered! [Adapted from Wilkie Collins]Murder of the Little Pig, The
Murders in The Rue Morgue, The
A dry adaptation, but an amazing story as it may be the first detective fiction. When written, apes were rarely seen and terrifying man-monsters to Victorians. The noises this one makes are pretty grisly, and a nice lady and her daughter are terribly murdered. C. Auguste Dupin solves the mystery! The orangutan out of nowhere was controlled by a man! [Adapted from Edgar Allan Poe]Niche of Doom, The
A wife’s lover is bricked up in a closet by the cuckold husband, who waits as the days and weeks pass, never leaving the room, pretending he does not hear the cries of anguish, as his wife watches. Nice adaptation. [Adapted from La Gran Breteche by Honore de Balzac]I’ll never forget the sound of that rapping coming from the empty room.
Oblong Box, The
Old Nurse’s Story, The
A wealthy, pig-headed man turns his estranged daughter and grand-daughter out into a storm, where they freeze to death. Having sworn to hurt him in return, their ghosts come back to lure away his beloved grandson. A fire begins in the mansion. Who will survive? [Adapted from Elizabeth Gaskell]Passion in the Desert
A soldier deserts his post in the Foreign Legion when a local woman asks him to run away with her. They are joined by a panther, who seems to love the man, but dislikes the woman. Eventually, there is a “conflict of interest,” and the woman is killed… but her laughter is heard coming from the cat! [Adapted from Honore de Balzac]Phantom Picture, The
An artist falls in love with his mentor’s daughter. Hi son Philippo, a drunk, accidentally kills his pop Pasquale, then blames artist Octavio. His sister Bianca believes him! Years later, the artist catches up with both of them, struggles with, then kills the Philippo! He runs! Because of a hideous portrait of the dead brother, Bianca eventually comes around.. She declares her love!Pistol Shot , The
A duelist holds his shot for a later time when his opponent steals his fiancee’s love. His extreme revenge is doubly successful. [Adapted from Alexander Pushkin]Possessive Dead, The
The touch of a mummy’s foot resurrects an Egyptian queen… who wants to steal your boyfriend! She’s been in love with him for centuries. [Adapted from Theophile Gautier]Queer Client, The
A man in debtors prison watches his child, then his wife, die when his wealthy father-in-law denies him a loan. He swears revenge, and when released, spreads his net in a grand Machiavellian plan… [Adapted from Charles Dickens]Rappaccini’s Daughter
An average presentation, but the idea is original. A man falls in love with a woman who tends a garden, but he is warned away because her father is an ethically challenged mad scientist. His daughter is herself an experiment! She has been infused with the toxin of the poison plants in the garden so that her breath itself means death! But he, too, has been changed… [Adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne]Red Hand, The
Crime Noir. A Leader of La Main Rouge tracks down his fiancee when she discovers his secret and runs. He is apprehended before he can kill her. Suspenseful, but the ending fizzles. [Adapted from Arthur Machen]Returned, The
River Man, The
A girl believes that her step mother is plotting against her father. He dies, but comes back for revenge! [?]Rope of Hair
Shadow, The
Specter of Tappington, The
When a stressed out soldier comes to visit, he is told the legend of a vengeful ghost with no legs. Guess who comes to visit him every night to steal a new set of pants? When all his trousers are gone, his friends hide out in his closet to see the ghost for themselves! [Adapted from Richard Harris Barham]Spectre Bride, The
Terrible Night, A
Two guys take a hunting trip in the Canadian Northwest and get lost in the woods only to find a secluded cabin and a vengeful giant of a man. One gets paranoid, sure they will be killed in their sleep… or were they truly drugged? [Adapted from Fitz-James O’Brien]Terribly Strange Bed, A
Rather than focus on the uniqueness of the bed,this adaptation is a crime story about a fat man who runs a casino. When he is noticed at the scenes of all the crimes where a flattened corpse is discovered, he is followed. One investigator wins big waiting for the fat man to show at the casino… but he’s not going anywhere with that money! [Adapted from Wilkie Collins]Thing in the Tunnel, The
Trial for Murder, The
The foreman of a jury is fed clues by the mysterious voice… of the ghost of the murdered man! Will Peter Cook hang? It couldn’t have been suicide– the dead man was left-handed, and the key witness is in love with the defendant! In the end, the killer knows his goose is cooked because he had a vision himself. [Adapted from Charles Allston Collins and Charles Dickens (1865)]
Vendetta, The
One of Napoleon’s men is holed up in the attic of an art school. Who catches a glimpse of him and falls in love? The daughter of a Corsican man sworn to kill anyone of the Porta blood. Will this man chose to take the life of his own daughter if she marries the soldier? There is no way to capture this complex tragedy in a half hour. [Adapted from Honoré de Balzac, not to be confused with The Vendetta by Guy de Maupassant!]
Warning, The
When a woman’s brother vanishes, she is warned by a ghost not to let her husband go looking for him at Waverly Manor. They do. An unrequited love lives there… with an army of zombies! [Adapted from R.P. (Robert Pierce) Gillies]
Werewolf, The
Children are suspicious when their father brings home a couple he found traveling while hunting a silver wolf in the deep wilderness. [Adapted from “The White Wolf of The Hartz Mountains” by Frederick Marryat (1839).]
What Was It?
A boarding house full of lodgers captures a ghost! Or is it more of an invisible ghoul? What if it gets free? Better starve it to death! A [Adapted from Fitz-James O’Brien] [See also Haunted Tales of the Supernatural: What Was It?]
Wiliam Wilson
A manipulative sociopath steals his roommate’s girlfriend and then watches the girl he jilted jump into the river and drown for his sake. He soon meets a doppelgänger, his look-alike and namesake!When the fake Wilson goads him, the original decides to shoot him dead. A vague and surreal supernatural story. [Adapted from Edgar Allan Poe]
Wooden Ghost, The
A man from a woman’s dreams comes for her hand in marriage. He is a 300 year old ghost embodied by a wooden statue, desiring only love. [Adapted from John Walters]
Wuthering Heights
Gothic romantic-tragedy, not horror. When a woman falls in love with a rogue adopted by her father, she finds only trouble. When her father dies, Heathcliff leaves, driven away by Catherine’s brother Hindley. Though she eventually marries a man from a neighboring house,she always pines for Heathcliff. When he finally returns to the Heights to get revenge on Hindley, Catherine has fallen ill. A decent job condensing a large novel into a half hour! [Adapted from Emily Brontë]
1 thought on “The Weird Circle – OTR Plots”