"The Mummer Man" - Chilling Tales for Dark Nights

Chilling Tales for Dark Nights — A Horror Fiction Anthology and Scary Stories Series Podcast

This episode presents a first-person horror narrative from the Chilling Tales for Dark Nights anthology, following an isolated bibliophile who joins a local book club to rebuild his social life after a breakup. The

Key takeaways

Narrator joins Tara's book club seeking companionship after a bitter split leaves him friendless
Finds a cracked leather tome at a flea market containing a hidden folding Ouija board and a summoning rhyme

Main topics

Horror fiction anthology storytelling
Occult rituals and Ouija boards

Notable quotes

"Only the pain is true."

Conclusion

The episode delivers a tightly paced, visceral horror experience that

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:03) Where do I start with this? Speaker 1 (0:07) He won't tell me. Speaker 1 (0:11) So, I'll start at the beginning. Speaker 1 (0:15) It's probably as good a place as any. Speaker 1 (0:18) I'm a bibliophile. I love books. I love reading and I love collecting books. Speaker 1 (0:27) Or at least I did. Speaker 1 (0:29) It's changed now, of course. Speaker 1 (0:34) I joined a group, a local book club, in the hope of meeting new people. I'd just come out of a shitty relationship and I was low and feeling pretty hollowed out. Most of my friends were her friends, and when we split, they mostly sided with her. Speaker 1 (0:54) So, I was single and friendless. Thought maybe I'd start over. Make a new circle. Speaker 1 (1:03) I saw on Reddit some life hack about local interest groups as a way of finding like-minded fellows. So, naturally, I thought, what about a book club? Speaker 1 (1:16) And it was a good club. Speaker 1 (1:20) But it's changed lately. Speaker 1 (1:24) It's far more serious now. Speaker 1 (1:27) Not so much fun as it was to start with. Speaker 1 (1:32) A lady called Tara ran the book club. She was single and pretty, but also pretty strange. Hippie guru. Speaker 1 (1:43) I decided early on that she and I were not going to socialize outside the club. The club met once a week here in her cottage, all low beams and exposed stonework and log fires. Speaker 1 (1:57) The first couple of meets were okay. Fun. Like I said, the people were quite nice, really. Speaker 1 (2:07) Each session, we took it in turns to bring a book we intended to read. Everyone else had to source the same book and read it ready for the next meet. We actually did that, too. This wasn't one of those book clubs where everyone used the book thing as an excuse to meet and chew the fat. I liked the fact that we read the books and then talked about them. I liked the fact that they were all proper bibliophiles. Like me. Speaker 1 (2:38) I liked that. Speaker 1 (2:43) Like it now. Speaker 1 (2:45) It was a happier time. Speaker 1 (2:49) It's so dark now. Speaker 1 (2:52) It's not at all like it was. Speaker 1 (2:57) I'm typing. Speaker 1 (2:59) It was my turn to choose a book, so I went for a walk and popped into a flea market bookstore. A place I'd never been before. It was musty, just like I like it. Downstairs was local history. Upstairs, fiction, hobbies, children's literature. The staircase between floors was open plan and turned a corner halfway. Speaker 1 (3:26) Here was a half-landing in a bookcase marked Esoterica. Speaker 1 (3:33) I have a look. Weird books about mysteries, magic, and miracles. Speaker 1 (3:39) I pick up an Erik von Daniken. Ancient Aliens Speaker 1 (3:46) I decide to make this the book club's next read. Speaker 1 (3:50) Before leaving, my eyes fall on something poking out from under the bookcase. Speaker 1 (3:57) I pull out a crusty old tome, leather-bound and cracked, and I love this kind of thing. So... I peel it open to find I'm reading a book of black magic. Speaker 1 (4:11) I buy the books, 50 cents each, dog-eared and old, and that's the way I like it. Speaker 1 (4:19) The next book club session is next evening. Speaker 1 (4:23) I take out the Von Daniken. This is our next read. I get some groans. The old tome is in my bag and Steve spots it. What's that? I share the tomb around and everyone has a look. It raises some eyebrows, especially when Steve turns to the back and unfolds a Ouija board. I hadn't noticed it before. It's printed on the back cover, which is bifold. What's this?