“In ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’, the narrator tells her story from the grave,” says Alison Cotton, discussing Muriel Spark’s 1957 short story, the inspiration for her new album of the same title. “The story is about a girl who works in a London office, her first job after a long illness. As she leaves work one evening, she is struck by a strong conviction that she has left something important at the office, but can’t work out what it can be...”
The opening side of this beautiful 10” vinyl release was originally commissioned and recorded for Gideon Coe’s BBC 6 Music Show in 2018, to accompany a Christmas reading of the story itself, by actress Bronwen Price. A single, 13-minute suite for melancholy viola captures perfectly the downbeat, rainsoaked ambience of austerity-era London, underpinned by a fluttering murmur of dread that escalates as the narrative speeds towards its chilling conclusion. “As I was playing, I imagined myself as the main character of the story,” continues Alison. “I composed an eerie melody, following the structure of the story, and building up the suspense with my wordless singing...”
Continue reading your story on the app
Continue reading your story in the magazine
Lightning Or Legendry?: The Chase Vault Moving Coffin Mystery Revisited
The moving coffins of Barbados have been a staple subject of books on the unexplained for over a century, and yet no one has so far provided a wholly satisfactory solution to the mystery. BENJAMIN RADFORD argues that we might have been looking in the wrong place...
The Haunted Generation
Bob Fischer Rounds Up The Latest News From The Parallel Worlds Of Popular Hauntology...
The House On The Borderland In Search Of William Hope Hodgson
In his new book, EDWARD PARNELL goes in search of the ‘sequestered places’ of the British Isles and explores how these haunted landscapes shaped a kaleidoscopic spectrum of literature and cinema. Here, he arrives in Cardiganshire to look for the house in which the neglected master of weird fiction William Hope Hodgson wrote one of his greatest works.
Fortean Traveller: 117. The Mediæval Crime Museum, Rothenburg, Germany Fortean Traveller
STEVE TOASE feels the thumbscrews tighten as he explores a grisly collection exploring the history of mediæval torture and its relationship with the law
Where Ghosts Gather
In 1977, Usborne published World of the Unknown: Ghosts, the children’s book that inspired a generation of junior forteans. Four decades on, following a concerted fan campaign, the book is back in print... and the perpetually haunted BOB FISCHER tracked down its pleasantly surprised writer, Christopher Maynard, to discuss its genesis and unexpected impact.
A Bang On The Head
MARK GREENER explains how traumatic brain injury can change personality, creating serial killers and even vampires.
Blood-Suckers And Time-Travellers
A drunken warning from the future, plus violence against suspected vampires breaks out in Africa
Medical Bag
India’s electricity eating “Living Light Bulb” and the man who swallowed a traffic cone
It Happened To Me...
The road beyond the village drops and twists steeply, so I drove cautiously.
Monkey Business
Monkey selfie copyright battle ends at last
CLINT EASTWOOD The Softer Side of A HOLLYWOOD TOUGH GUY
ALISON EASTWOOD SHARES SWEET MEMORIES OF HER LEGENDARY DAD AND REVEALS HOW HE STILL INSPIRES HER
The Veil Whisperer
Has the secret to upgrading a wedding’s trickiest accessory been in front of your eyes all along?
Giving old windows new life
In an expansive workshop on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Alison Hardy-a.k.a. the Window Woman of New England—and her small team of skilled workers are meticulously restoring dozens of weathered, century-old sashes. This Old House stops by for a visit
Quick Toke with Dan Feuerriegel (EJ, DAYS)
late-breaking news
Gawain in the Gloaming
A reluctant knight, a mythic challenge, and an evergreen question: What does it all mean?
You'd Be an Iconic Guest
A ruthless Instagram interviewer brings her knowing wink to cable.
Alison Bechdel's Spiritual Sprint
In her new memoir, the cartoonist runs, climbs, bikes, skis, spins, and Solo exes her way toward transcendence.
A Fair Slice
Can co-ops save restaurants?
Alison Bechdel Works Out Her Issues
In her latest book, the graphic memoirist examines her relationship to exercise and, in turn, herself.
MARIAH: I CAN'T TRUST ANYONE!
Facing a lawsuit from her estranged older sister has rattled Mariah Carey.