Showing results by narrator "B J Harrison" in All Categories

Hilton Cubitt visits Sherlock Holmes to show him a sheet of paper with a weird sequence of drawn figures. When these odd messages began to arrive at Cubitt’s house, fear and panic overwhelmed his wife Elsie. She is afraid her past is catching up with her, but she refuses to reveal anything about it. Holmes is tasked with decipher the messages and find out who is sending them.

B.J. Harrison breathes life into one of Oscar Wilde’s first short stories, "The Canterville Ghost". The American Hiram B. Otis and his family move to a castle in Canterville Chase in the English countryside. They soon discover that they are not alone in the castle and that the ghost of an old tenant, Sir Simon de Canterville, is with them. Yet the family is not so easily scared, even if the ghost can take many shapes and forms. The short story from the late 19th century mixes humor with the macabre.

It is Christmas and a little boy receives a gift - a velveteen rabbit. Although the other toys look down on him, the rabbit is happy to be with the boy. They are constant companions and it seems like nothing can worsen their days. But then the boy gets sick and the doctor insists that all the toys get burned because they may be infected. The rabbit as well. Is this the end of their friendship? Or will the rabbit’s dearest wish finally come true? B. J.

Ralph Orth is an American novelist who decides to move to the English countryside. There he buys a marvellous estate called Chillingsworth. Inside Chillingsworth’s gallery, Orth finds an old portrait of a young girl who takes Orth’s breath away. He is fascinated and is determined to find out who this girl was. His obsession with little lady Blanche gets so strong that one day he sees her walking around in the neighborhood.

"The Devoted Friend" from the 19th century is an unconventional classic for children and adults alike. The Water-rat tells the story of Big Hugh and his friend Hans, whose friendship is not what it seems, and certainly not easy. This story within the story tells of friendship, its importance and how it can go wrong. This ageless fairy tale is a dark and funny short story created by Oscar Wilde is now read by B.J. Harrison. It was also adapted into an animated TV movie in 2003 called "Wilde Stories: The Devoted Friend." B. J.

B.J. Harrison reads one of Hans Christian Andersen’s most beloved stories, "The Snow Queen". The devil, who has taken the shape of an evil troll, has created a mirror that freezes the heart and turns everything ugly. But the mirror breaks and shard spread out throughout the world. Years later, two children named Kai and Gerda hear the story of a terrible Snow Queen. Soon Kai and Gerda are drawn into the world of the mirror and the Snow Queen, who has the power to make everyone forget all that is good.

Ali Baba and Cassim are two Persian brothers. Ali Baba barely manages to put food on the table for his family, while his brother lives an easy life thanks to his rich wife. One day, while chopping wood in the forest, Ali Baba sees a band of thieves laden with treasures approaching. They stop in front of a rock and the captain shouts "Open Sesame!". What happens next is pure magic. The giant rock moves to the sides and opens a portal which the thieves enter.

A father and his son visit a magic shop. This is not just any magic shop, but the "genuine" one, as the shop owner points out to the father. The father is not impressed but the boy is mesmerized by what he sees and hears. Yet when one trick turns out to be too real and the father is gripped by something he will not easily forget. H. G.

Peter Pan is a special little boy, dressed in withered leaves, who does not want to grow up. He lives with the fairies far, far away, on the magical island of Neverland. One night, Peter Pan flies into the room of Wendy and her brothers, Michael and John. He sprinkles them with magic pollen and shows them how to ride the wind and fly. The excited children follow him to Neverland, where incredible adventures await them.

"The Furnished Room" is a short story about love and dedication, about exhaustion and despair. A young man is searching for a girl he fell in love with. He rents a room near the theatre where she could sometimes be seen and he devotes his days to the dream of finding her. When all of a sudden the sweet fragrance of her perfume fills his room... Has he finally found her? Or is this an evil ghost from the past? Will he get to embrace the girl he loves or she will drag him to the verge of madness? B. J.

Lionel Dacre is a young man who lives in a small house in Paris. Because of his large interest in the occult, Dacre has gathered a huge library of occult literature and many mysterious items. One of these items is a leather funnel next to which the young man sleeps. The strange thing is that in his dreams, Lionel can see exactly how the funnel has been used.

B.J. Harrison visits Edgar Allan Poe's grim horror story, "The Cask of Amontillado". Montresor is a man who has been insulted, and he does not take this lightly. Seeking revenge on the person who slighted him, Fortunato, he sets out on a terrible mission to even the score. Yet what follows is far from fair, and Fortunato is far from prepared. "The Cask of Amontillado" is a dark short story by Edgar Allan Poe dating back to the 19th century.

The three scientist Mr. Edward Malone, Mr. Peerless Jones and Professor Challenger come together to build a machine that can drill deep into the earth. When the machine’s construction is finally completed the drilling starts, and it will not stop until the earth’s mantle is reached. Everything goes well for the three men, until they reach something into the earth that threatens to destroy their excavation.

Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan are two scruffy adventurers who are planning to conquer Kafiristan - a remote part of Afghanistan. The two men pretend to have signed a contract that neither of them will touch alcohol or women. However, disguised as a priest and his assistant, Dravot and Carnehan depart for Kafiristan, secretly carrying twenty riffles. Why do they want to conquer Kafiristan? Will the make it across the border alive? Find all the answers in Rudyard Kipling’s adventure story "The Man Who Would Be King" from 1888. B. J.

Anodos is a young boy who finds a large and mystical castle with a big and impressive library. The library hides the secret story of the poor Cosmo who was a student at the university of Prague. Cosmo’s life changed forever because of a mirror. But it was no usual mirror; it was an enchanted and a beautiful girl’s soul was kept inside of it. Cosmo was determined to free the girl but was he able to? Read this short story and find out. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

The narrator is under the spell of Ellis - a female vampire - who takes him on series of flights to different places, such as Paris, St. Petersburg and the Isle of Wight. At these places, he becomes a witness to various incidents and becomes involves in different situations. Why was the narrator cursed by Ellis? Why did she take him to those places and what did she wanted to show him? What will the narrator learn from their journey? How will the story end? Find all the answers in Turgenev’s story "Phantoms" from 1863. B. J.

B.J. Harrison tells Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Tell-Tale Heart", where our narrator has committed the crime of murdering an older man. He does not consider himself a madman, and he describes the murder up to the smallest detail. Yet he has killed a man whom he loved and had never wronged him, for the sake of the mans' "evil eye". The novella from the 19th century is one of Edgar Allan Poe's best-known short stories and has been transformed into theatre, film and television adaptations alike.

Helen Stoner goes to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. She is afraid that her stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, may be trying to kill her. Helen’s sister died mysteriously two years earlier, right before her own wedding. Her last words, which Helen never managed to decipher were "The speckled band". Dr. Roylott’s best friends are a band of gypsies. He also owns two dangerous animals, a cheetah and a baboon, as pets. He simply scares people, and everyone avoids him.

While hosting a party, a banker makes a bet with one of his guests, who is a lawyer. The topic of the bet is capital punishment and whether it is worse or better than a life sentence. The banker sees the capital punishment as more humane than life imprisonment, whilst the young lawyer completely disagrees. The bet is as follows: if the lawyer spends fifteen years in complete isolation, the banker will give him two million rubles. As the years pass, the banker realizes that he will go bankrupt if he loses the bet.

"The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" is Sir Conan Doyle’s second collection about the great detective. In this collection we meet the same two protagonists, namely Holmes and Watson, but the cases and mysteries that must be solved are completely new. The disappearance of a champion horse, a dead coachman and stolen naval treaty are only a small portion of all the mysteries the two men will have to deal with.