The Secret of the Vault by J Wesley Rosenquest

[@donaldmccleary9015]

This is a really cool and dark story. I always enjoy listening to this one! I have listened to your version of this story a few times now. I find it interesting to listen to and follow. I like how this story threads old knowledge lost to many into the storyline. I like your chat at the end, especially the nod to the "obscure" adverbs and adjectives some of these authors loved to use. I also always wonder about the lack of work and real jobs some of the characters have. Oh, to just sit around and do nothing! I like how some authors, like E.F. Benson, poke a little fun at it. Great point! Great story and narration!

[@Josephinejefferies]

Enjoyed this for the second time

[@jenniferlevine5406]

A shockingly great tale and well read! As usual your post chat is as enjoyable or more that then story itself. You bring up a lot of interesting points in your chat. Greatly entertaining!

[@terryolsson4145]

I love the way you narrate. You pull us into these stories as though we are experiencing it first hand. Thank you Tony.

[@ClassicGhost]

Thanks Terry. Much appreciated

[@Bbergster]

Precious bodily fluids….. how I stopped worrying and learned to reanimate my relatives. Thanks! Always enjoy to explanations and personal take away. Good fun. 🐝🐝

[@ClassicGhost]

A bit of necromancy now and again, why not?

[@blixten2928]

A Five-Minute Craft KZbin video. Anne Reardon won't approve, I'll bet...

[@Cat_festation]

“I filled my mind with terrible subjects“- you and me both, Mr Rosenquest. I think most horror aficionados were like that as children.

[@martiwilliams4592]

Just as captivating now a year later. Masterful as always, thank you, Tony.

[@ClassicGhost]

A year later !

[@martiwilliams4592]

@@ClassicGhost Now that IS scary!!!!!!! ;0)

[@karensmith2204]

So helpful, you brought the printed word to life. Once again

[@ClassicGhost]

+Karen Smith thank you!

[@johnhindes9020]

Superb stories superb narration what a treat

[@rosiemcnaughton9933]

Wow, I could almost smell the sickening odor of the vault! Good choice of story, well rendered as always.Thank you!

[@danibissonnette1601]

This was a great one Tony! I loved the accent you affected for reading the grimoire.

[@janebrown7231]

Your anxious dog is telling you you have sleep apnoea, Tony! I'll take a bet she wakes you when you STOP snoring - which is also when you stop breathing. There's a MedicAlert Assistance Dog inside every pet dog. I've trained dogs all my life, including Service dogs of various types, and I would take seriously her precious efforts to keep you alive! x

[@TrinlayK]

I had a cat that did that! She was so happy when I got a cpap.

[@janebrown7231]

@@TrinlayK Wow! That's really interesting. We had a cat which alerted a family member when she was developing cancer. It's an awareness I'm sure they all have, even if they don't all communicate it.

[@joanieann6179]

Oh, that was a scary one! 😮

[@lynnc5252]

💜 Thank you for the story!

[@martiwilliams4592]

I wouldn't go back to that house either, Tony. Just as facinating this time around. Catching the details missed before. Your narration, "ramblings" fantastic ! Thank you! Lots of pumpken heads and ghoul thumbs up (love 'em ) Thank you!

[@ClassicGhost]

Thanks 👍 I don't seem to be able to do them... How do you get theM?

[@martiwilliams4592]

@@ClassicGhost I don't know, Tony. Somthing out in cyberland chose it for me.

[@carolrios9216]

A truly horrible thought, that after death our bodies may retain sentience for a period of time, one that I had never considered before. Good job, Tony, this one really creeped me out!

[@ClassicGhost]

It was a cold, clammy place. Reminded me of the Hellfire Caves at West Wycombe in clamminess.

[@loumarlow7295]

Ah they are the highlight of my week 🤣 Your reading was brilliant as always but I look forward to your ramble afterwards nearly as much these days. Thankyou 😘

[@ClassicGhost]

😊 thank you. Nice to hear. It keeps me going !

[@janebrown7231]

Totally agree - your delightful attention-deficit rambles are an absolute highlight - I wouldn't miss them! (Being strongly ADHD myself, I appreciate the wide value it adds to life... the creativity, the hyperfocus, and all the rest.) You are incredibly well-read and well-informed, and I love your sense of humour.

[@kathykerr1202]

Zeppelin was handsomely paid for it and you should be too...

[@terryIKE69]

A cold, dark, dank, & claustrophobic tale. Made me shudder. Before our protagonist broke into his uncle's very blasphemous occult library, I wonder how many times did he hear this accusation from the uncle: '' You tried to get into the locked door today didn't you?''

[@blixten2928]

Asked looking down at the boy with beetling brows and sharp dark eyes... while the long white fingers pull at each other..

[@terryIKE69]

😎

[@thewildbirds6070]

Super creepy Tony. As a big Arthur Machen Fan can I request The Novel of the Black Seal or The Novel of the White Powder? The Red Hand is a corker too. Please keep up this excellent work.

[@richardstrachmesserschmiti4979]

Consciousness leaves the body Before or after blood stops flowing? Compost pile or hope ? You’d have to keep cells alive with o2 at some level or tissue would degenerate and consciousness can’t return. He didn’t break the law at the time of the experience.

[@hatuletoh]

Throughout this story I heard the voice of Fred Gwyn (affecting a thick "nor'easter" accent) in my head warning: "sometimes...dead is bettah."

[@ClassicGhost]

I had to look him up.

[@MSYNGWIE12]

Terrific tale and fascinating too...Really enjoyed your narration and your chat at the end- another book to add to list.Thanks Tony as usual! ( you're CORRECT, DON'T read other people's diaries/journals-it will come back on you...)

[@norayoder3189]

AMAZING ❣️the author through his story’s narrator eerily nailed😉the fears I have in my “belief system “ about death😱I’ve made my husband & daughter swear to cremate me☠️

[@sirmintyclack]

55:36 I can't say for sure but I might be interested in spending time with a revived person. I might be a regular visitor of this house then again maybe not

[@ClassicGhost]

they have so much life experience

[@bloke1348]

I felt there were resonances here with lovecrafts " The case of Charles Dexter Ward." ....even some of the turns of phrase are similar though I'm not sure who influenced who. It's still an accomplished story in its own right and really well read.

[@earthcat]

SCARY STUFF 🙃

[@StoryVoracious]

As always great narration! But the story... Ah... I don't know? I guess I just had a failure to connect moment with it. To me it's like a pizza with everything you like on it, but with pineapple too! Yuk! Thanks Tony, always love the ramblings.

[@ClassicGhost]

yes, it was a bit clammy

[@careyannewesternpa5512]

Best voice on you tube

[@ClassicGhost]

tyvm!

[@kathykerr1202]

100%

[@grannykiminalaska]

I really enjoyed that. What i got out of it was perhaps a large manor house with more than 1 wing, that maybe the whole family shared as " apartment" type arrangements. Anyway, I don't read anymore, it's just too frustrating, but i thought you might be interested in usher ll. Narrated by Nimoy I tried to share the link but....😓 Just a thought, do you have sleep apnea.... perhaps your loving pup is trying to tell you something. I only say so because my own dog spent months sniffing and even rooting with her massive st Bernard nose just about where my stomach is. Turned out to be cancer. A short time after I started chemo she quit doing it. That was a year ago.... alls fine.

[@ClassicGhost]

No, I don't have sleep apnoea. She's sleeping downstairs now. She doesn't mind. I think she gets more rest that way

[@grannykiminalaska]

@@ClassicGhost ❤️😀

[@bethcastagnoli2911]

You tried to get in the locked drawer, didn’t you?😉

[@ClassicGhost]

Every day

[@SC-jh9qp]

Oh come now Tony, who hasn't dabbled a little in necromancy in their salad days?

[@ClassicGhost]

I know I did.

[@janebrown7231]

Thanks for another fantastic narration. It was absolutely gripping! You're a star. I thought this writing far surpassed Lovecraft (but then, Lovecraft is that rare author who irritates me to the point of unreadability).

[@blixten2928]

Lovecraft is certainly an acquired taste. But one assumes that he himself knew how over-the-top he was, and sometimes chuckled as he piled on the adjectives... as his readers often do. He wrote non-horror, simple satires and comedy, and they are very different in style. So if one can grin a bit along with the author, one eventually gets to actually like the absurdities of the writing!

[@janebrown7231]

@@blixten2928 He isn't an acquired taste for me, I'm afraid. I'm very persistent, but I spend no more time trying to like Lovecraft! His intention, over-the-top though it probably was, is less important to me than the irritation it inspires. What might cause a chuckle in some seems turgid to me. Quality and beauty of writing is more important to me than style or content, and I have stopped wasting time trying to like those few authors I dislike. There's so much to enjoy out there that doesn't feel like a penance!

[@ninaappelt9001]

I've tried on multiple occasions to read Lovecraft. I finally gave up. Just not my cup of tea.

[@janebrown7231]

@@ninaappelt9001 You have good reason, I think. I absolutely agree with criticism that he was unsuccessfully copying writing styles (which I'm very familiar with) from earlier times. “Lovecraft’s writing style has been dismissed as little more than “amorphous description by horrified though passive narrators.” And not without reason.” “…his writing style was a deliberate but woefully clumsy attempt at imitating the high-flown formality of early- to mid-19th-century American and British writers.” I have better things to do and better authors to love!

[@alfredthorne4315]

If the uncle's plan was to resurrect his wife and then kill himself, who was going to resurrect him ? Bit of a chance to take. If Helena had died naturally I could see his motive but he was taking an awful risk just to experiment on her.

[@ClassicGhost]

Good point. Plot hole.

[@TeethToothman]

☠️🤘☠️

[@violetfemme411]

💜

[@ClassicGhost]

You know you recommended a story which I wrote as Another Morecambe, is it this one lovecraftzine.com/magazine/issues/2011-2/issue-2-march-2011/a-different-morecambe-by-simon-kurt-unsworth/