"The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood / Proto-Cosmic Horror / 2025 Remaster + Subtitles

My fav. story in FAMOUS GHOST STORIES '44 edited by Bennet Cerf editor of Random House; the illustrations are terrific ! Thanks HB !

I had the feeling this story wasn't supernatural at all, but rather about panic, anxiety and an overly active imagination.

I know what I'll be doing tonight!

Well read! I remember reading back in mid 80’s for first time. One of my favorites. I enjoy rereading on occasion.

One of the greats! I've been binging on your HPL stories to get my mind off things. Now I can hear a story that even HPL admired!

Oh, excellent! Iam not overly familiar with this one. I remember something about burning feet of fire though!😁 Many thanks.

This is great, I don't think Ive heard this story yet.

This is going to be so good. Time to brew a lot of tea and tuck into my favourite chair!

😶

Oh my god! This is one of my all-time favorites that I pull out of the archives to listen to every now and then.

who is hating the sfx? I definitely prefer them

Proto-Cosmic Horror from Blackwood. Yes please.

Love this story, can we have the WENDIGO too please

Bet!

I am a fool....because I did not know Warren was dead

I love this story for its wonderful evocation of the natural world.

This has long been one of my favorite stories, so much so that I'm visiting where it takes place, the Dunajské luhy protected landscape area, next year during my trip to Hungary.

One of the best reading channels on the planet.

This is a superb work. Highly influential.

One of my top five short horror stories. Thanks!

My crimson basil is reaching for the high branches with this tale! Another excellent narration sir Ian!😊

This is one of my favorite stories.

How awesome is this! This is the first story I listened to on this channel and the first story that ever actually creeped me out. 😮😅 Thank you. I like the clean reads without the sfx and different voices. This is one of the rare channels that the sfx are never annoying.

Thank you ❤

It's rather telling how keeping the constant mystery of an unknown entity, without a tangible description leaves the reader with more fear than describing the physical properties of the threat itself. The fear rapidly disappears once the reader can see the antagonist. The imagination is the most important part of horror. Leave the reader to scare themselves. Great Remaster of the Precursor to Cosmic Horror! Right up there with the Novel of the Black Seal.

Fantastic reading!

i find intros like this really helpful. Wonderful reading as always, thank you!

As this story progressed, I thought about an episode of "The Outer Limits," with tumbleweed which possessed human-like intelligence and threatened two lost travelers. Strange how the mind works at times. This tale was extraordinary for its time. It remains as such. Many thanks, Ian Gordon!

Thanks, man.

A classic, Ian! Thanks!😎🔥🙏

I'll skip this one.

One of my favorite stories, not just by Blackwood but by anyone and that's a very high bar.

For anyone who hasn't read it, (and probably reread it,) they're in for a ride.

Thanks for the breakdown! Could you help me with something unrelated: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (air carpet target dish off jeans toilet sweet piano spoil fruit essay). How should I go about transferring them to Binance?

Wonderful story, beautifully read. Thank you as always for bringing these gems to us, here's to team Horrorbabble ❤

Jerome K Jerome meets Cthulhu 😁

I got the jitters

I've fallen behind! I'm going to watch your last upload and then this one. I've been quite busy.
I'm happy to know that I have your stories to fall back on when it's time to relax!
Your work is appreciated!
Now, time to make some popcorn

A little history and geography for the fun of it: Pressburg is now Bratislava, Slovakia, and the flooding willow area of the story is now on the border between Slovakia and Hungary. After Bratislava the Dunaj/Duna river widens out tremendously for a bit then is split into a maintained rivercourse on the Slovakian side and a more slowly meandering 40km of marshlands along the official Slovakian/Hungarian Border. Thankfully there is less flooding here after the engineering projects and it allows the marshlands waterflow to be less volatile. This marshy region is now a nature preserve on the Slovakian side and a national forest on the Hungarian side.
The pictures look very pretty, and considering the decades of enduring peace now in that area is less likely to be some sort of dimensional overlap liminal zone. Not impossible, just less likely. I really enjoy Algernon Blackwood!

I was waiting for this!

First time hearing this story. It is excellent. Thank you for a good story.

I am so glad to have gotten familiar with Algernon Blackwood, and other authors of his time.

I just got very excited less than one minute in

I know this is an unpopular opinion given how things have changed on the channel. But i like your old stuff with background music and effects better. I remember the old horror narration you did about the carpathian castle that was good i wouldn't mind another

Still love love love it

Does anyone else sense a sort of bromance between the narrator and the Swede

Masterpiece. Masterful narration. Been told its a difficult one to do (managed to get some of my tec problems sorted).

Algenon is one of my favourites

Thank you so much!
This is my all time favorite. I appreciate your work!

Wonderful and extremely evocative story. Thank you for your masterful reading.