A visitor to Seaburgh is fascinated by the local legend of an Anglo-Saxon crown buried nearby, guarding against invaders. He follows the clues to see where they lead, but soon finds himself wishing he'd left well alone... The story starts at 00:01:28

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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:28 A Warning to the Curious
00:45:52 Credits, thanks and further listening

Montague Rhodes James (1862–1936) was a medievalist and scholar, and is probably the best known and most celebrated English ghost story writer of the 20th century, although he actually began composing supernatural tales in the late Victorian era, beginning with 'Canon Alberic's Scrapbook' and 'Lost Hearts' (both 1893). He was born in Kent, but spent most of his childhood in Suffolk, a county which features prominently in many of his stories, including 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'. Several of James's protagonists also reflect his own antiquarian interests, with academics and historians featuring regularly. James published four volumes of ghost stories in his lifetime: 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquary' (1904), 'More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary' (1911), 'A Thin Ghost and Others' (1919) and 'A Warning to the Curious and Other Stories' (1925).

During a long academic career which encompassed several positions at King's College, Cambridge, and Eton College, M. R. James developed a tradition of reading his ghost stories aloud to a group of friends, most famously on Christmas eve, and the majority of his published stories were first heard in that setting.

'A Warning to the Curious' originally appeared in the 'London Mercury' in August 1925, and became the title story in James's fourth and final collection of ghost stories published later that same year. The fictional town of Seaburgh is based on Aldeburgh, the Suffolk seaside town which James knew well from his childhood: his grandmother lived there and he visited her regularly until she died in 1870. Many of the landmarks mentioned in the story can still be seen nearby, including the Martello tower, The Bear (actually The White Lion), the church, and William Ager's cottage.

Note for returning listeners who think you may have heard this one before: you probably have; it was previously uploaded in 2020, but this version has been re-edited and re-mastered to clean up some slightly muddy or boxy audio, and fix some processing errors.

Recording © Bitesized Audio 2020–2024.