EnCrypted Episode 13: 'The Squaw' by Bram Stoker

 

 

For our thirteenth episode the Classic Horror Podcast gets truly horrific with this dark tale of revenge from Bram Stoker. And, while listeners to a horror podcast shouldn't need content advisory warnings, I will state at the outset that this is the third episode in a row featuring harm to animals. Although, this time, the animal in question can more than handle herself. 

Americans (who fare even worse) should also consider themselves warned.

The Squaw is a short story by Bram Stoker, first printed in 1893 in the Christmas edition of the periodical Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News - though in no way could this be considered a festive tale. It was later published in Dracula's Guest, the posthumous anthology of Stoker's short works compiled by the his widow.

Though he's chiefly remembered, of course, for Dracula, Stoker was a prolific writer of novels and short stories, as well as a theatre critic, business manager of the Lyceum Theatre, and personal assistant to famed actor Henry Irving.

There's certainly a theatricality to The Squaw - in which Stoker teases us with lurid descriptions of the diabolical mechanics of a torture device (based, inexactly, on the actual Iron Virgin of Nuremburg) and setting up one of the story's three central characters as its potential next victim.  The stage set for a climax of grand guignol violence, this one is not for the squeamish...

Hope you enjoy!

Your pussycat,


Jasper


About the episode:

"The Squaw" by Bram Stoker. First published in Holly Leaves the Christmas Number of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (December 1893). Republished in 1914 as part of the anthology Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories.

Theme music: The Black Waltz by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Incidental music: 

Shamanistic by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4343-shamanistic
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Black Bird by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3441-black-bird
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Thunderhead by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4528-thunderhead
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Firesong by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3759-firesong
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Gathering Darkness by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3798-gathering-darkness
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Sound effect attributions: 

https://freesound.org/people/Garuda1982/sounds/570144/*

https://freesound.org/people/reinsamba/sounds/73706/*

https://freesound.org/people/RICHERlandTV/sounds/546030/*

https://freesound.org/people/secondbody/sounds/50357/*

https://freesound.org/people/softcoresoft/sounds/327438/*

https://freesound.org/people/FreqMan/sounds/40556/*

https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/415209/*

https://freesound.org/people/FunWithSound/sounds/361485/*

https://freesound.org/people/JoelAudio/sounds/135468/*

https://freesound.org/people/HerbertBoland/sounds/31960/*

*All used with the following licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

All other sound effects sourced at Freesound.org

The recording was created using Audacity and BandLab. Podcast hosted by Anchor.

COMING SOON: a special EnCrypted episode - "An Edwardian EVIL DEAD II"

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EnCrypted: The Classic Horror Podcast