Audiobook · read by volunteers
Strange Pages from Family Papers
Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer (1848–1923)
Read by Cori Samuel, David Barnes, Peter Yearsley, Lizzie Driver, Carl Manchester, Graham Redman, Philippa, Claire Goget, Sarah McIntrye, Hugh McGuire · 17 chapters · 7 h 33
About the book
Old families keep old stories, and this book gathers some of the strangest. Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer sifts through legends, superstitions and recorded oddities connected with well-known houses and old English families. He tells of fatal curses that follow a line of descendants, of the screaming skull that cannot be removed from a house, of eccentric vows made and strangely kept, and of the dead hand with its supposed powers of healing. Drawing on a wide range of printed sources, he writes in the manner of a Victorian antiquarian, collecting curiosities and noting where tales are told. The result is part folklore, part social history and part ghost story. Seventeen sections, read by a team of volunteers, last about seven and a half hours. They are perfect for fans of Gothic anecdotes, haunted houses and the odder corners of English tradition.
Introduction
Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer, who lived from 1848 to 1923, was an English clergyman and writer who produced many works on folklore, plant lore and English customs. Strange Pages from Family Papers appeared in 1895. It belongs to the great Victorian taste for collecting old beliefs and local legends before they disappeared.
The book is arranged by theme, with chapters named for the curses, vows, omens, hidden rooms and other curiosities that attach themselves to families and their homes. The author often cites earlier writers and local reports, so the reader meets not one voice but a chorus of sources. This was a popular approach at the time, mixing entertainment and information.
The LibriVox recording has seventeen sections, beginning with Fatal Curses and The Screaming Skull, and runs for about seven and a half hours. Several volunteers share the reading, and the sections are short enough to enjoy singly. Modern listeners will not take every tale at face value, but the stories offer a lively insight into how people explained misfortune and kept memories of their ancestors alive. The book makes no claim to prove that any of these things happened. Its interest lies in what people believed and how they told the stories, which makes it a useful source for the study of folklore as well as a source of eerie entertainment. Listeners who enjoy tales of old halls and family secrets will be well supplied here, and the short sections are ideal for a few minutes at a time.
Public domain
Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer died in 1923: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text