Welcome back to 1001 Ghost, Chiller, and Lovecraft Stories for Chapter V, “May and November,” of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables. The ancient, decaying Pyncheon mansion is suddenly illuminated by the arrival of young Phœbe, whose sunny disposition immediately begins to purify chambers long tenanted only by spiders, and mice, and rats, and ghosts. As the cheerful newcomer attempts to bring life back to dusty antiques, including a harpsichord that looks more like a coffin than anything else, and soothe Hepzibah's melancholy heart, the dark reality of the Pyncheon legacy is subtly brought to light. The curtain is pulled back just enough to reveal that the true master of the house is coming, and the accomplished but tragic ghost of Alice Pyncheon is still supposed to haunt the house, sometimes heard playing exquisitely mournful music on her instrument.

In this blend of realism and spectral atmosphere, Hawthorne intentionally labeled his work a "Romance" rather than a realistic novel, a distinction in 19th-century literary terms that gave him the imaginative freedom to explore the psychological, supernatural, and symbolic elements that cling to the very walls of the Seven Gables.

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CREDITS

Narration and Production by Gizelle Erickson

Executive Producer Jon Hagadorn

Music:

• Thanks to Sound Gallery By Dmitry Taras "Scary Horror Music" Music by Dmitry Taras from Pixabay
• Thanks to The_Mountain "Horror Piano Darkness" Music by Dmitrii Kolesnikov from Pixabay