This is a tale of the super natural
It's the work of a man who wrote ghost stories as a sideline.
The author, M.R. James
is an archaeologist,
Medieval Historian
and a great expert on the early history of the Bible.
He was Vice Chancellor
at Cambridge University during the First World War
and later became the provost of Eaton, where he died in 1936
He's best known for his ghost stories,
all of which have a peculiar atmosphere of cranky scholarship.
The darkest of them is called,
"Whistle, and I'll come to you"
It's the story of solitude and terror, and it has a moral to.
It hints at the dangers of intellectual pride
and shows how a man's reason can be overthrown,
when he fails to acknowledge those forces inside himself
which he simply cannot understand.
Good afternoon sir
Fithurst Hotel? - Yes Sir
Alright Sir? - Thank you.
How much is that?
8 shillings please.
Much obliged. - Thank you
Anybody there?
Professor Parkin
I telephoned to you from Cambridge.
Booked here for a week.
You signed the register?
Oh yes, yes, yes, of course.
Come here for the Golf I suppose.
No, no, I'm afraid I don't play Golf.
Very much
If at all
(mumbles to self) if at all
Err, about my... bag
I'll bring em in
Yeah, thank you
Up we go, up we go, we go
What a day, what a day, what a day
Has it been good here?
Aye?
The weather?
Oh I
Ahh
Yes well, I suppose you want (mumbles incoherently)
Yes, yes, yes
(continues mumbling)
Ahh, yes, yes yes
Bathroom
Dinner at 8 then
aaa, at 8 o'clock, dinner...yes thank you very much.
(hums to himself)
Yesss
(Groans)
Haa, yes
Wash
and moreover... a brush up
(maids laugh)
Yes
Ahh, brilliant, ahhh yes
(Hums to himself)
I've run your bath sir
Your baths ready sir
Professor Parkin?
Err aaa, erm, I'll em, errr em
Err, thank you
Shall I turn down your bed sir?
Turn down the bed
Turrn down bed. Yesss
Ahh, T Turn down the bed
Thank you
And I I think a little, little Haddock, wouldn't come a miss
Aaha
Tut tut tut tut
Quite sure you wouldn't care for a round after all Professor?
No, no I don't think I will
Think I'll go for a good, trudge, around the district.
Take a packed lunch perhaps
Look at the dunes
Beach
or cemetery
Ooo aye. A bit too spooky for me
Spooky
Is it? Hummm
Spooky
(sings to himself)
Old forefather of the village
Sleeping no doubt
Hum
Give a dog a bone
Finders keepers
(sighs)
Aaa, tcha tcha tcha tcha
Dirty
Inscription
One hundred and one things a boy can do
Quis
est
iste
qui
uenit
Who is this who
is coming
We shall
blow it and see
Do you believe in ghosts Professor?
Ghosts
It's a rather sticky one isn't it
I'm not quite certain what you mean, I mean
I'm never quite certain
What are we invited to believe when anybody asks me a question like that
I'm not even quite certain what I'm being invited to disbelieve
Not quite with you old chap
Well I mean
You asked me, do I believe in say
Australia, well
I know perfectly well what the sort of thing I'm being asked to judge
we all agree what we mean by Australia
Large continents, Southern hemisphere
Discovered by Captain Cook
Four or Five large cities, Kangaroos and so on and so on
And given that, Given That
One can perfectly well imagine,
the sort of procedure that one might put in hand to
confirm or on the other hand to Disconfirm
it's existence
it's not quite the same thing with ghosts
I mean there's no broad consensus about what a ghost is, is there?
You've told me a bit of a Chinaman on that one. Lets think now
Ghosts
The spirits of the dead
No the, the survival of the human personality
Aaaa, aaaaaaa. The survival of the human personality
Hum
Well now. That's a different question again really
and err, it has, the, grammatical appearance
of a real question but
I wonder
does it really, does it really mean anything either?
I mean does it?
Let's see
We say, for the sake of argument
that the human personality survives death. Huh
Right
But would we say to the same way that we might say, for example
that someone survived a train crash
Ummmm, Yes
Ahhh, but would we?
Yes
Would we you see
I mean
are we saying, don't we that
poor Sanias survived the train crash
But was very badly injured by it
Now
We wouldn't want to say poor Sanias survived death
and was very badly injured by it
We definitely wouldn't want to say that. Would we?
Umm no
No, no, no, well clearly here we have a logical difference of usage
In that
Death, in a sense is not
like other physical catastrophes
I I mean one one doesn't talk about anyone being
very badly hurt
by death
except possibly the relatives of the deceased
But never the victim himself
excluding of course, the em, the special
interpretation in which one might say that he had been injured
Fatally, by death
or for that matter, that She had
True
But there are more things in Heaven and Earth, than in your Philosophy
I prefer to put it a different way
There are more things in Philosophy then are dreamt of in Heaven and Earth
see what you mean
more things in Heaven and Earth
Delicious breakfast
No, no no I don't think I'll take to it I'll just go on my trudge
Well I tell you what em
you go roughly the way I go, I'll show you erm
put me on my way, umm umm
Now, what have we got here?
a ha, umm
Cold
Yes, yes, I need that
There are more things in Philosophy then are dreamt of in Heaven and Earth
There are more things in Heaven and Earth, then are dreamt of in your Philosophy
Sand
(Hums to himself)
Who is this? Who is coming?
yes, a sort of dog
Oh, Professor Parkin
yes
where shall I put the blankets sir? - Where?
Well which bed do you want it on sir?
Which bed? Which bed?
Yes, my bed
My bed
Which is your bed sir? You seem to have slept in them both. They're both rumpled.
Both, both, both both both
Both?
But didn't you notice that both beds have been slept in sir?
No Madam I did not
That is ridiculous
I can't understand why you didn't notice it sir
Perhaps you moved from one bed to the other in the middle of the night
I'm not in the habit of moving from one bed to the other in the mid nights
Rumpled it certainly is, yes
Rumpled
I've not been in my room since breakfast
Has anyone else got keys?
Only we two sir, and yourself
Phenomenon
Phenomenon, phenomenon
Well I'll, I'll leave you to erm
Straighten up
Silly...Old...Bradley
Spiritualism, if true, demonstrates mind without brains
and intelligence, disconnected from what is down the there
material body
And demonstrates that the so called dead
are still alive
and that our friends are still with us, though aren't seen
Present article maybe taken as a denial of the Yuse thesis
and jolly good
(sighs)
I don't like tomatoes, I told them I didn't like tomatoes.
Tomatoes in the middle of winter, never going to taste the same
Who is this?
Who is coming?
Haaaaa
(Clock chimes 11)
Oh No!
Yeah, well ummm
Oh No!
I think I'll...er
Oh No!
I...I...I'll umm
Oh no
I'll err just tidy these things up a bit. - Oh no
Oh no
No