An Evenings Entertainment

M. R. James, the master of the antiquarian ghost story, frames a tale of unsettling folk-horror around a seemingly quaint family scene, proving that the most terrifying stories are not just the ones told around the fire, but the ones that leave a physical, lingering mark of the unholy past. It is a quiet evening by the fireside, and a grandmother promises her grandchildren a treat: the next day, they shall go blackberrying to make jam. When her young grandson, Charles, points out the perfect spot, the grandmother’s demeanor instantly changes.She forbids him from ever setting foot there, and to explain her fear, she tells a story from her own youth. A young man's body is found hanging from an oak tree, and another body is found bound and butchered in a cottage, the scene of a suspected human sacrifice. The townspeople are so horrified by the pagan "wickedness" of the place that they dare not give the bodies a Christian burial. Years later, a young woman is bitten by a large, noxious fly, bringing a painful, supernatural infection that can only be cured by a local "wise man."