Count Magnus

by M.R. James, Peter Coates (Narrator)

A curious traveler. A forbidden tomb. A name best left unspoken.

When Mr. Wraxall digs into the past of a long-dead Swedish nobleman, he unearths more than just history. Something stirs beneath the surface—something ancient, waiting, watching.

Count Magnus is a masterpiece of restrained horror by M. R. James, where dread builds slowly and silence says more than screams. Atmospheric, eerie, and unforgettable.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Gothic, Vampires, Ghost Stories

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1904

About the author

Montague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted English mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

M.R.^James

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Count Magnus,” from Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), is one of M.R. James most effective tales. There are many things one could explore about it, but I will concentrate on the character of the protagonist Mr. Wraxall, how the imposing presence of his antagonist, the dead Count Magnus, influences his actions, and why Magnus' influence is important to our enjoyment of James' tale of terror.

Mr. Wraxall’s fatal flaw is stated by the narrator directly near the beginning of of the story:

As to his character, it is not difficult to form some superficial opinion. He must have been an intelligent and cultivated man. . . . His besetting fault was pretty clearly that of over-inquisitiveness, possibly a good fault in a traveller, certainly a fault for which this traveller paid dearly enough in the end.

This is the habitual fault of the protagonist of the supernatural story. Now, more than one hundred years after James, it is certainly a cliché, and I suspect it was a cliché in 1904 too, After all, “over-inquisitiveness” is the way to get the story going, to bring the supernatural manifestations from the shadows into the foreground. The problem is, though, that the reader tends to view the curious man as foolhardy, lacking in common sense and intelligence. Now we would never be that stupid, would we? Once this idea dominates ours minds, we give the protagonist less sympathy, and as a consequence (here is the important part!) our vicarious terror decreases as sympathy wanes, and the story becomes less satisfying.

In “Count Magnus,” however, this reduction of sympathy never occurs. We sense that there is a compelling force which influences Wraxall’s most imprudent actions, and because of this we continue to pity him and identify with him throughout the story. This force, we suspect, is the powerful personality of Count Magnus de la Gardie. We sense this when he hear the legends associated with the cruel Count, but we see for ourselves how Wraxall is affected from the time he gazes upon the portait of Magnus on the wall of the family manor.

”. . . after a rather prolonged contemplation of his picture in the hall, Mr Wraxall set out on his homeward way, his mind was full of the thought of Count Magnus. He had no eyes for his surroundings, no perception of the evening scents of the woods or the evening light on the lake; and when all of a sudden he pulled up short, he was astonished to find himself already at the gate of the churchyard, and within a few minutes of his dinner. His eyes fell on the mausoleum.

‘Ah,’ he said, ‘Count Magnus, there you are. I should dearly like to see you.’

“Like many solitary men,’ he writes, ‘I have a habit of talking to myself aloud; and, unlike some of the Greek and Latin particles, I do not expect an answer. Certainly, and perhaps fortunately in this case, there was neither voice nor any that regarded: only the woman who, I suppose, was cleaning up the church, dropped some metallic object on the floor, whose clang startled me. Count Magnus, I think, sleeps sound enough.’

Of course, we know different. Our sympathy for poor Mr. Wraxall grows, and—filled with both pity and terror—we wait for the inevitable conclusion.

[Maliha Tabassum (back from hiatus) Tisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I also read the explanatory notes at the back of my copy, which explain the allusions and the religious significance of stuff. Yet, the faces of the corpses are the only thing in this story I found interesting.

[Althea Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

(1904) The 'Dracula' influence is strong in this one... A definite must-read for fans of classic vampire fiction.

Some papers found in a long-empty house reveal the story of one would-be travel writer's experience with the titular Count, whose locked sarcophagus lies in a remote Scandinavian church. The writer uncovers local stories of men who walk when they should be lying dead... and the reader can assume that there'll be no good end to this investigation.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wraxhall is a man obsessed with a man in a painting. We all know obsession never leads anywhere peaceful.
There is an atmosphere of loneliness and of a man who would rather spend time with the dead than the living.
Yes it is reminiscent of Dracula but we never meet count Magnus but like Dracula we feel his power, and his evil nature.
This is certainly one of the scarier James stories and only part of that has to do with parallels to Dracula. It is the unknown, foreign lands, isolation, obsession, and James pulling from folklore and history.

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've arranged my thoughts into a haiku:

"It begs the question,
Caught in a vampiric trance,
Who opened the locks?"

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding horror story that relies upon atmosphere, sharp dialogues, and eventually creeps the ** out of the reader!
Awesome stuff penned by a maestro.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Wraxall, was a tourist in Sweden on a mission to write a guidebook. He was given permission to examine the papers of the De La Gardie estate at Råbäck which was the ancestral home of the evil Count Magnus de la Gardie. The Count is still remembered locally as a monster of wickedness and things are known to happen around his mausoleum. In an unfortunate moment while standing outside the Count's tomb Wraxall says out loud "Ah, Count Magnus, there you are. I should dearly like to see you." He then perceives the coffin of the count begin to open and immediately flees. Even though he flees quickly back to England and tries to hide, misfortune soon follows.

[Fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish it was longer!

[Federico DN · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

It was ok, but not worth reviewing.

For the moment at least.

It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.

-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1904] [26p] [Horror] [Not Recommendable]
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★★★★☆ The Mezzotint [4.5]
★★★☆☆ Ghost Stories of an Antiquary <--

-----------------------------------------------

Meh.

Estuvo bien, pero no vale la pena reseñarlo.

Al menos por ahora.

Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.

-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1904] [26p] [Horror] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------

[Regina Cattus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can definitely imagine that "Do Not Open" from The Magnus Archives podcast was an homage to this story (although quite distinct from it I hasten to add). Delightfully creepy, if quite an abrupt ending I felt, although it does tie up all the loose ends (leaving some open questions as you'd expect of course, can't have horror without a little mystery usually).

[April Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. There are some undertones of Bram Stoker's Dracula, especially in the beginning, but the tale diverges enough that it cannot be called a copy. I do wonder at the name "Count Magnus," if this tale was perhaps a bit of an inspiration for Vampire Hunter D? At any rate, the narrator of the story has come across the papers of a man who had traveled to Sweden to do a travelogue/narrative journalism piece- and got more than he had bargained for! I haven't read much by James (yet) but so far this one is far and away my favorite.

[Punk Pup · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I love that the British writer went on bike with his gay lover to Sweden.) And that this horror story/ghost story takes place in Sweden :0 and it was proper creepy and interesting and even had some cool body horror elements! It also captured the Swedishness of taking our time to speak and being a bit timid.

[Marcos Ibáñez Gordillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un cuento de terror a medio camino entre la historia tradicional de fantasmas o vampiros y los terrores modernos del siglo XX. Se nota que Lovecraft debió leer esto.

Me gusta cómo, sin dejar la historia completamente hilada ni explicada, la sensación final no es que falte algo, sino que la incomprensión por parte del protagonista es parte del horror en lo que cuenta.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes several attentive readings of "Count Magnus" to get the story aright. There's Wraxall's experience, anecdotes of local priest and innkeeper in Wraxall's notes, and the narrator's third person omniscient interjections.

Be patient. Keep going. Confusion will dissipate.

[Juliette · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Rebeca Trejo · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 ⭐️

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

”At first they hear nothing at all. Then they hear someone – you know how far away it is – they hear someone scream, just as if the most inside part of his soul was twisted out of him.”




“Count Magnus” by M.R. James is a 1904 ghost story. It has some very creepy moments, but is hampered by overly convoluted prose and structure. One of my favorite authors, H.P. Lovecraft greatly admired the story and what he had to say about it is interesting.

I read “Count Magnus” because it is featured in The Literature of Lovecraft, Vol. 1 . This collection contains stories that were admired by Lovecraft. HPL thought very highly of James, and wrote extensively about him in the essay Supernatural Horror in Literature:

At the opposite pole of genius from Lord Dunsany, and gifted with an almost diabolic power of calling horror by gentle steps from the midst of prosaic daily life, is the scholarly Montague Rhodes James, Provost of Eton College, antiquary of note, and recognised authority on mediaeval manuscripts and cathedral history. Dr. James, long fond of telling spectral tales at Christmastide, has become by slow degrees a literary weird fictionist of the very first rank; and has developed a distinctive style and method likely to serve as models for an enduring line of disciples.
The art of Dr. James is by no means haphazard, and in the preface to one of his collections he has formulated three very sound rules for macabre composition. A ghost story, he believes, should have a familiar setting in the modern period, in order to approach closely the reader’s sphere of experience. Its spectral phenomena, moreover, should be malevolent rather than beneficent; since fear is the emotion primarily to be excited. And finally, the technical patois of “occultism” or pseudo-science ought carefully to be avoided; lest the charm of casual verisimilitude be smothered in unconvincing pedantry.
Dr. James, practicing what he preaches, approaches his themes in a light and often conversational way. Creating the illusion of every-day events, he introduces his abnormal phenomena cautiously and gradually; relieved at every turn by touches of homely and prosaic detail, and sometimes spiced with a snatch or two of antiquarian scholarship. Conscious of the close relation between present weirdness and accumulated tradition, he generally provides remote historical antecedents for his incidents; thus being able to utilise very aptly his exhaustive knowledge of the past, and his ready and convincing command of archaic diction and colouring. A favourite scene for a James tale is some centuried cathedral, which the author can describe with all the familiar minuteness of a specialist in that field.
Sly humorous vignettes and bits of life-like genre portraiture and characterisation are often to be found in Dr. James’s narratives, and serve in his skilled hands to augment the general effect rather than to spoil it, as the same qualities would tend to do with a lesser craftsman. In inventing a new type of ghost, he has departed considerably from the conventional Gothic tradition; for where the older stock ghosts were pale and stately, and apprehended chiefly through the sense of sight, the average James ghost is lean, dwarfish, and hairy—a sluggish, hellish night-abomination midway betwixt beast and man—and usually touched before it is seen. Sometimes the spectre is of still more eccentric composition; a roll of flannel with spidery eyes, or an invisible entity which moulds itself in bedding and shews a face of crumpled linen. Dr. James has, it is clear, an intelligent and scientific knowledge of human nerves and feelings; and knows just how to apportion statement, imagery, and subtle suggestions in order to secure the best results with his readers. He is an artist in incident and arrangement rather than in atmosphere, and reaches the emotions more often through the intellect than directly. This method, of course, with its occasional absences of sharp climax, has its drawbacks as well as its advantages; and many will miss the thorough atmospheric tension which writers like Machen are careful to build up with words and scenes. But only a few of the tales are open to the charge of tameness. Generally the laconic unfolding of abnormal events in adroit order is amply sufficient to produce the desired effect of cumulative horror.

HPL goes on to write that “‘Count Magnus’ is assuredly one of the best, forming as it does a veritable Golconda of suspense and suggestion.” He provides detailed plot synopsis:

Mr. Wraxall is an English traveller of the middle nineteenth century, sojourning in Sweden to secure material for a book. Becoming interested in the ancient family of De la Gardie, near the village of Råbäck, he studies its records; and finds particular fascination in the builder of the existing manor-house, one Count Magnus, of whom strange and terrible things are whispered. The Count, who flourished early in the seventeenth century, was a stern landlord, and famous for his severity toward poachers and delinquent tenants. His cruel punishments were bywords, and there were dark rumours of influences which even survived his interment in the great mausoleum he built near the church—as in the case of the two peasants who hunted on his preserves one night a century after his death. There were hideous screams in the woods, and near the tomb of Count Magnus an unnatural laugh and the clang of a great door. Next morning the priest found the two men; one a maniac, and the other dead, with the flesh of his face sucked from the bones.
Mr. Wraxall hears all these tales, and stumbles on more guarded references to a Black Pilgrimage once taken by the Count; a pilgrimage to Chorazin in Palestine, one of the cities denounced by Our Lord in the Scriptures, and in which old priests say that Antichrist is to be born. No one dares to hint just what that Black Pilgrimage was, or what strange being or thing the Count brought back as a companion. Meanwhile Mr. Wraxall is increasingly anxious to explore the mausoleum of Count Magnus, and finally secures permission to do so, in the company of a deacon. He finds several monuments and three copper sarcophagi, one of which is the Count’s. Round the edge of this latter are several bands of engraved scenes, including a singular and hideous delineation of a pursuit—the pursuit of a frantic man through a forest by a squat muffled figure with a devil-fish’s tentacle, directed by a tall cloaked man on a neighbouring hillock. The sarcophagus has three massive steel padlocks, one of which is lying open on the floor, reminding the traveller of a metallic clash he heard the day before when passing the mausoleum and wishing idly that he might see Count Magnus.
His fascination augmented, and the key being accessible, Mr. Wraxall pays the mausoleum a second and solitary visit and finds another padlock unfastened. The next day, his last in Råbäck, he again goes alone to bid the long-dead Count farewell. Once more queerly impelled to utter a whimsical wish for a meeting with the buried nobleman, he now sees to his disquiet that only one of the padlocks remains on the great sarcophagus. Even as he looks, that last lock drops noisily to the floor, and there comes a sound as of creaking hinges. Then the monstrous lid appears very slowly to rise, and Mr. Wraxall flees in panic fear without refastening the door of the mausoleum.
During his return to England the traveller feels a curious uneasiness about his fellow-passengers on the canal-boat which he employs for the earlier stages. Cloaked figures make him nervous, and he has a sense of being watched and followed. Of twenty-eight persons whom he counts, only twenty-six appear at meals; and the missing two are always a tall cloaked man and a shorter muffled figure. Completing his water travel at Harwich, Mr. Wraxall takes frankly to flight in a closed carriage, but sees two cloaked figures at a crossroad. Finally he lodges at a small house in a village and spends the time making frantic notes. On the second morning he is found dead, and during the inquest seven jurors faint at sight of the body. The house where he stayed is never again inhabited, and upon its demolition half a century later his manuscript is discovered in a forgotten cupboard.

“Count Magnus” is worth a read, especially if you would like to see its influence on Lovecraft’s concept of what makes a good “weird” story.

Title: “Count Magnus”
Author: Montague Rhodes [M.R.] James
Dates: 1904
Genre: Fiction - Short story, horror
Word count: words
Date(s) read: 9/2/22-9/3/22
Reading journal entry #246 in 2022

Link to the story: https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/jamesmr-c...

Link to Lovecraft’s essay: https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/...

Sources:
Fifer, C., & Lackey, C. (2013, October 24). Episode 180 - Count Magnus. H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast
https://www.hppodcraft.com/list/2013/...

Lovecraft, H. P., & Joshi, S. T. (2012). The annotated supernatural horror in literature (second edition). Hippocampus Press. https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/... (Original work published 1927)

James, M.R. (2021). Count Magnus. In H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (Ed.), The literature of Lovecraft, vol. 1.. (S. Branney, Narr.; A. Leman, Narr.) [Audiobook]. HPLHS. https://www.hplhs.org/lol.php(Original work published 1904)

Link to the image: https://www.nunkie.co.uk/count-magnus

The contents of The Literature of Lovecraft, Vol. 1 are:
"The Adventure of the German Student" by Washington Irving
"The Avenger of Perdóndaris" by Lord Dunsany
"The Bad Lands" by John Metcalfe
"The Black Stone" by Robert E. Howard
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" by William Hope Hodgson
"Count Magnus" by M.R. James
"The Dead Valley" by Ralph Adams Cram
"The Death Mask" by Henrietta Everett
"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Ghost of Fear" by H.G. Wells (also called “The Red Room”)
"The Ghostly Kiss" by Lafcadio Hearn
"The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant
"The House and the Brain" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
"The House of Sounds" by Matthew Phipps Shiel
"Idle Days on the Yann" by Lord Dunsany
"Lot #249" by Arthur Conan Doyle
"The Man-Wolf" by Erckmann-Chatrian
"The Middle Toe of the Right Foot" by Ambrose Bierce
"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs
"One of Cleopatra's Nights" by Théophile Gautier
"The Phantom Rickshaw" by Rudyard Kipling
The Place Called Dagon by Herbert Gorman
"Seaton's Aunt" by Walter de la Mare
"The Shadows on the Wall" by Mary E. Wilkins
"A Shop in Go-By Street" by Lord Dunsany
"The Signal-Man" by Charles Dickens
"Skule Skerry" by John Buchan
"The Spider" by Hanns Heinz Ewers
"The Story of a Panic" by E.M. Forster
"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson
"The Tale of Satampra Zeiros" by Clark Ashton Smith
"The Tapestried Chamber" by Sir Walter Scott
"The Upper Berth" by F. Marion Crawford
"The Vampyre" by John Polidori
"The Venus of Ille" by Prosper Mérimée
"The Were Wolf" by Clemence Housman
"What Was It?" by Fitz-James O'Brien
"The White People" by Arthur Machen
"The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains" by Frederick Marryat
"The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood
"The Yellow Sign" by Robert W. Chambers
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Here is a list of the stories in the order in which they were written, with links to my reviews of them:
The Vampyre (1819) by John William Polidori
The Adventure of the German Student (1824) by Washington Irving
The Tapestried Chamber (1828) by Walter Scott
The Minister's Black Veil (1836) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Venus of Ille (1837) by by Prosper Mérimée
The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains (1839) by Frederick Marryat
The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) by Edgar Allan Poe
What Was It? (1859) by by Fitz-James O'Brien
The House and the Brain (1859) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
The Signal-Man (1866) by Charles Dickens
The Man-Wolf by Erckmann-Chatrian
The Ghostly Kiss (1880) by Lafcadio Hearn
One of Cleopatra's Nights (1882) by by Théophile Gautier
The Upper Berth (1886) by F. Marion Crawford
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Horla (1887) by Guy de Maupassant
The Phantom Rickshaw (1888) by Rudyard Kipling
”The Middle Toe of the Right Foot” (1891) by Ambrose Bierce
Lot #249 (1892) by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Ghost of Fear (1894) by H.G. Wells- also called The Red Room
The Yellow Sign (1895) by Robert W. Chambers
The Dead Valley (1895) by Ralph Adams Cram
The Were-Wolf (1896) by Clemence Housman
The Monkey's Paw (1902) by W.W. Jacobs
The Shadows on the Wall (1903) by Mary E. Wilkins
Count Magnus (1904)
The White People (1904)
The Willows (1907)
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" (1907)
Idle Days on the Yann (1910)
The Story of a Panic (1911)
The House of Sounds (1911)
A Shop in Go-By Street (1912)
The Avenger of Perdóndaris (1912)
The Spider (1915)
The Death Mask (1920)
The Bad Lands (1920)
Seaton's Aunt (1922)
The Place Called Dagon (1927)
Skule Skerry (1928)
The Tale of Satampra Zeiros (1929)
The Black Stone (1931)

*The difference between a short story, novelette, novella, and a novel: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Diff...

Vignette, prose poem, flash fiction: 53 - 1,000 words
Short Stories: 1,000 - 7,500
Novelettes: 7,500 - 17,000
Novellas: 17,000 - 40,000
Novels: 40,000 + words

[Rebecca Milne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is about a man who has recently adopted a Manor House in which he discovers many articles and books containing the story of the predecessor. The story of the last man who lived there and the tales of Count Magnus, how the stories become almost real or disturbing enough to make the owner mad. The idea of the dead listening to the present and being able to control and follow the actions of those in the house is quite chilling but not as scary as some others in James works

[C.M. Rosens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was alright when it got going but it takes a while to get there. It's set up as a dry, academic wander through the dry, academic wanderings of some dry academic, who dryly academics his way through various parts of Europe until he decides Sweden could also benefit from his dry academicking.



We get to Sweden and there follows - eventually, after much dry academicking around - a fairly fun story about an evil aristo called Count Magnus, who liked punishing the peasants and good old fashioned alchemy and something called the Black Pilgrimage which might be really interesting as a concept if we ever found out what exactly that was, but as near as we can get it is something to do with Estoric!Cults! and immortality (see: alchemy interest). Deal with the Devil. Etc. Anyway. There's Atmosphere (TM) in the way that M. R. James is very good at, and some colourful stories from local personalities which are especially creepy and fun if you like a splash of folk horror or body horror in the woods.

The main set piece is a mausoleum where our dry academic likes to ask Count Magnus if he's awake, although he's not sure why he's doing that. The part here, and the academic's increased fascination with Count Magnus, reminds me a bit of Vernon Lee's story about the narrator's growing obsession with the singer they see in a painting. Anyway, there's some shenanigans with a sarcophagus and the usual third act of Haunted by the Past, or rather, Haunted by Raising the Past, and the climax we were waiting for, which is dry academic found dead in mystery circumstances, probably an act of God (i.e. died of fright).

If I hadn't been listening to this on HorrorBabble I probably wouldn't have got passed the first few pages, because my lord above the dry academicking. Goes on. For some time. But overall, I liked it. The prose stays with you, as does the imagery.

Solid 3*s though.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Binge Reviewing my previous Reads #Horror Short Stories #Anthologies # Gothic & Classic Horror (1800s–early 1900s)

This tale is a masterclass in how to evoke dread through patience, antiquarian detail, and suggestion. The story follows a travel writer researching Scandinavian churches who becomes fascinated by the tomb of the enigmatic Count Magnus—a nobleman rumoured to have dabbled in darker arts. What begins as curiosity gradually slides into obsession, with fatal consequences.

Unlike Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book, where horror is tied to an object, Count Magnus is anchored in place—a mausoleum, a locked sarcophagus, a landscape heavy with legend. James excels at balancing scholarly observation with creeping unease, showing how an academic’s interest in folklore can lure him across boundaries best left intact.

Comparatively, this tale stands midway between Le Fanu’s painterly Schalken the Painter and Machen’s mythic The Great God Pan. Le Fanu gave us shadows in lamplight, Machen hinted at cosmic transgression, and James fuses both impulses into a chillingly restrained narrative. Where King (’Salem’s Lot) democratises gothic horror in small-town America, James keeps it rooted in the Old World, letting whispers of the past rise from crypts and sealed vaults.

Count Magnus also demonstrates James’s flair for withholding—hinting rather than showing, building terror out of anticipation. The titular figure remains mostly unseen, but his presence saturates the story, proving that suggestion can be far more powerful than spectacle.

Ultimately, this is one of James’s finest works: an elegant blend of travelogue, folklore, and gothic menace that shows just how haunting curiosity itself can be.

[Jerry Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic gothic horror short story from an author specializing in such tales. I find that these stories are quite compelling although I must admit they are fairly formulaic and this one has themes that are fairly familiar but it is nonetheless a good yarn.

As with all short stories, there is a minimal amount of time to set the scene or develop characters (unlike the longer novel, such as Dracula), but the story is quickly told of a researcher into ancient papers in the standard creepy house, this time complete with mausoleum housing the apparently horrific, titular Count who seems to have partaken of "black pilgrimages" whence he returned with "something dark". He has been long dead and now supposedly rests in a coffin replete with horrifying scenes that tell us where this story is going. In particular there is artwork showing a character, presumably the Count, being chased by some sort of fiend.

Of course, as is required in horror stories, the protagonist is unable to take a look in the mausoleum, see that one of the locks has been opened on said coffin and say to himself: "well, that's enough of that. I won't be back here". No, he has to return a couple of times to see the second lock gone, and to have the final one fall off in his presence followed by a slowly opening coffin. It is at this point he finally decides to flee, but like the count before him, is pursued to a terrifying death.

I enjoy these yarns as a distraction from more weightier tomes and they serve their purpose well.

[Aeo · Rating 2 out of 5]

El autor del relato narra la historia leída en un diario extraviado que llega a manos de este, donde se cuentan los hallazgos del propietario del diario en su viaje por Suecia. En este viaje descubre la historia del conde Magnus, noble aristocrático temido y odiado a partes iguales por las gentes de la zona y donde los rumores apuntan a un trato con algún ente maligno.
No termino de cogerle el puntillo a estos relatos que siempre cuentan un viaje a algún lugar alejado del hogar, donde amablemente nos invitan a escarbar entre los secretos olvidados de la familia que nos acoge sin conocernos de nada y donde un horror oculto durante años nos asusta de tal manera que nuestra vida tal y como la conocemos deja de existir. Sin embargo tienen un algo atrayente, un aroma a paisaje tétrico y ambientes oscuros, que unido por lo general a personajes solitarios y excéntricos crean una envoltura curiosa y entretenida. Por lo demás un relato que no ha despertado en mí sensaciones especialmente inquietantes.

[Lynsey Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Today's life choice is I must read all of MR James ghost stories, as I have run out of books and can't get to a book shop until Sunday. These are dark times, dark times indeed.

However yay! Yay for Victorian ghost stories about learned Cambridge types getting caught up in all kinds of ghostly goings on and going beautifully mad.

Today's first offering is Count Magnus, and like most of James's work it reads like a tourist guide as the sense of place is incredible and the atmosphere and descriptive prose are second to none. This man is not the Father of the Ghost Story for nothing.

This story has all the similar Jameseon tropes of his other stories, all of which are presented beautifully, my fave part of this one being his mad dash from the church as something comes after him, it has a truly nightmarish quality to it.

On to the next one, and remember antiquarians, don't be to curious.

[A.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man foolishly calls the name of Count Magnus three times over three days within earshot of his mausoleum.

Dude...

His eyes fell on the mausoleum. ‘Ah,’ he said, ‘Count Magnus, there you are. I should dearly like to see you.’ “Like many solitary men,’ he writes, ‘I have a habit of talking to myself aloud; and, unlike some of the Greek and Latin particles, I do not expect an answer. Certainly, and perhaps fortunately in this case, there was neither voice nor any that regarded: only the woman who, I suppose, was cleaning up the church, dropped some metallic object on the floor, whose clang startled me. Count Magnus, I think, sleeps sound enough.’

And then, realising what he may have done, he tries to run away.

Being a modern reader with many a horror movie having this premise, I can guess what is going to happen. Be careful what you call on three times, eh?

3 stars

This vampire sucks peoples faces OFF...

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

De los tres relatos de vampiros clásicos que he leído, este es el que menos me ha impresionado, pese a que en sus pocas páginas da bastante información. El relato es una especie de carta/memoria/diario en el que se cuenta las vivencias de su protagonista en un pueblecito que, más tarde, sería su propia perdición.

En unas 30 páginas, la historia tiene muchísima fuerza y es todo lo que se debe de pedir en un relato de terror. Pero, en mi opinión no es tanto una historia de 'vampiros' si no de no-muertos. Entiendo que la intención del autor era jugar con la perspectiva de estas criaturas que no están vivas, pero tampoco pueden morir, sin dejar claro a qué tipo de criaturas se refiere exactamente.

Me ha gustado, pero evidentemente es un relato muy pequeño.

[Ilse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as the little explanation written underneath it interested me: “A traveler in Sweden stumbles upon the history of a mysterious and ominous figure. Are you awake Count Magnus?”

Unfortunately, as this is written in the style of someone who reports upon a report made by someone investigating this Count Magnus I felt a total disconnect from the story. I really couldn’t care less about the unfortunate ending of the first investigator, and it didn’t at all feel like a ghost story. Maybe if it was written from the viewpoint of the fellow investigating this Count Magnus, it would’ve grabbed me more, but for now I can’t give it more than two stars

[Thomas Houghton · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the very first time I read an M. R. James short story I knew that he would become one of my firm favourites of the horror and ghost genre. ‘Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad’ was one of my favourite texts I read last year, and the atmosphere created in this short story is no exception. Detailing the journey of a travel-writer who arrives in Sweden and begins to uncover the truth about a mysterious “Count Magnus”. To reduce the chance of any spoilers, this review will be devoid of details, but the pace of the story builds to a crescendo of suspense and a decidedly ambiguous ending (which I like). The mystery of what happens is left for the reader to extrapolate.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may sound a bit harsh, but my enjoyment of the story profited greatly from the fact that I didn‘t actually read this myself but instead listened to an audio version.
Yes, the spooky vibes and interesting base plot are there, but you are soooo far removed from all horror (about four layers) that it's not really genuinely scary.

For maximum enjoyment, I recommend the version narrated by Jonathan Sims, because you can tell he genuinely likes the story and voices the different characters so distinctly and in such an entertaining way that highlights the good parts of the story and even makes the slower ones enjoyable.

[Elin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The TMA brainworms have reached critical mass, so I thought I'd listen to the short story it's named after. It's... fine. As a Swede, I was interested and amused to find that my country rendered unrecognisable, and the very English audiobook narrator trying and failing to pronounce Swedish names didn't exactly help. Still, if I were to be mean about it I'd call this an excellent comedy (I mean, the plot is "Brit on holiday does grave robbery, regrets it", what's not to love?). None of the supposed horror came through though. :/

[Yomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

«[...] Es extraño el interés que siento por la personalidad de este viejo noble, me temo que feroz y siniestro».


Totalmente entiendo que Lovecraft sea fan de este relato si me lo leí a las tres de la mañana y encima con una playlist con temática ~dark ambient~. No digo que sea lo más terrorífico que exista, pero tiene su encanto; lo gótico y la sensación del horror, lo desconocido, desborda en esta historia.