Strange Pages from Family Papers
“Among other qualities which have been supposed to belong to a dead man’s hand, are its medicinal virtues, in connection with which may be mentioned the famous ‘dead hand,’ which was, in years past, kept at Bryn Hall, Lancashire… Thus the case is related of a woman who, attacked with the smallpox, had this dead hand in bed with her every night for six weeks, and of a poor lad living near Manchester who was touched with it for the cure of scrofulous sores.”
Though not all chapters have such gruesome subjects as The Dead Hand, all are full of a curious mixture of superstition and local history that will delight and amuse the modern listener. (Summary by David Barnes).
Read by Annika Feilbach, Carl Manchester, Claire Goget, Cori Samuel, David Barnes, Graham Redman, Hugh McGuire, Jennie Hughes, Lizzie Driver, Peter Yearsley, Philippa, Sarah McIntrye, Sarah O'Connor and Stuart Pyle.
Genre(s): Dramatic Readings, Social Science (Culture & Anthropology)
Language: English
| Section | Chapter | Reader | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Play 01 | Fatal Curses | Group | 00:41:20 |
| Play 02 | The Screaming Skull | Group | 00:26:34 |
| Play 03 | Eccentric Vows | Group | 00:37:30 |
| Play 04 | Strange Banquets | Group | 00:29:50 |
| Play 05 | Mysterious Rooms | Group | 00:36:33 |
| Play 06 | Indelible Bloodstains | Group | 00:28:45 |
| Play 07 | Curious Secrets | Group | 00:31:14 |
| Play 08 | The Dead Hand | Group | 00:10:54 |
| Play 09 | Devil Compacts | Group | 00:24:47 |
| Play 10 | Family Death Omens | Group | 00:27:03 |
| Play 11 | Weird Possessions | Group | 00:12:24 |
| Play 12 | Romance of Disguise | Group | 00:32:05 |
| Play 13 | Extraordinary Disappearances | Group | 00:33:57 |
| Play 14 | Honoured Hearts | Group | 00:14:19 |
| Play 15 | Romance of Wealth | Group | 00:24:29 |
| Play 16 | Lucky Accidents | Group | 00:14:16 |
| Play 17 | Fatal Passion | Group | 00:27:41 |