Broadcast Unfriendly, but Very Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher

What with it being Halloween today, we’re thinking about all things spooky, so we wanted to to share some of the things we’ve been watching and listening to this season in the Tulgey Wood.

Given how many stories by the O.G. (original ghoulish) writer Edgar Allan Poe we’ve done for our series Through a Glass, Darkly, we decided to check out the new mini-series The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix.

Hold onto your cask of Amontillado, it was a lot.

It’s definitely not a version you’ll hear us do… or really anything on broadcast radio, but knowing that many of you enjoy some of the horror audio fiction that is similarly not safe on the radio, we share this. And the mini-series, which weaves together a whole host of Poe’s writings into a topical story of a perfectly horrid family that has parallels to the Sacklers and their painkiller empire. Of course, in Poe’s gothic hands, this family has many skeletons in their closet and bricked up behind walls. It’s just TV-MA with all the trimmings.

Really, we can’t understate how “TV-MA” the series is. They almost certainly had a sizeable special effects makeup team and all of them are doubtless exhausted from their extensive labors. Some of the characters’ dialogue isn’t so much sprinkled with profanity as soaking in it. And language isn’t the only vulgar thing. Still, fans of Mark Hamill taking another turn as a villain will be rewarded.

Now, if you’re not up for something grotesque, or if you simply want to refresh your knowledge of Poe, you can check out our dramatic readings of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat,” “The Raven,” and “The Masque of the Red Death.” Frankly, many of these are disturbing and grotesque just in their original 19th century form… and animal lovers may want to steer clear of “The Black Cat,” but at least you will be responsible for the visuals as opposed to what will likely be a soon-to-be award-winning production team.

Stay spooky, dear listeners!

The Tell-Tale Heart: Bonus Interview with Tegan Cohan

With our home radio station, WERA, making sure that producers keep their programs at least 26 minutes long, we’re going back to some of our older episodes and making sure they measure up.

That means all sorts of bonus segments and in the case of our intense version of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” we decided to interview the narrator about her work.

You can check it out that four-minute interview, plus an eight-minute bonus segment as one of our Patreon exclusives.

Listen Online! Through a Glass, Darkly – Episode 9: The Flowering of the Strange Orchid

“The Flowering of the Strange Orchid” by H.G. Wells (first published in the Pall Mall Budget, August 2nd, 1894).

Narrated by William R. Coughlan, with Brooks Tegler as Winter-Wedderburn and Anna Coughlan as his housekeeper.

Edited, mixed and mastered by William R. Coughlan.

Post-production services supplied by Tohubohu Productions, LLC.

Length: 25:01

Rated AD-G. Contains bloodsucking, botany, and an idle British gentleman.

Listen Online! Through a Glass, Darkly – Episode 8: The Black Cat

“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe (first published in the Saturday Evening Post, August 19th, 1843).

Performed by Tal Aviezer, who appears courtesy of Red Monkey Theater Group.

Edited, mixed and mastered by William R. Coughlan.

Post-production services supplied by Tohubohu Productions, LLC.

Length: 24:03

Rated AD-PG, parental guidance suggested. Contains the torture and killing of an animal as well as a human murder.

Listen Online! Through a Glass, Darkly – Episode 7: The Tell-Tale Heart

“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe (first published in James Russel Lowell’s The Pioneer, January 1843).

Performed by Tegan Cohan, who appears courtesy of Howl at the Moon Audio.

Edited, mixed and mastered by William R. Coughlan.

Post-production services supplied by Tohubohu Productions, LLC.

Length: 20:24

Rated AD-PG, parental guidance suggested. Contains murder, dismemberment, and someone who insists they are not mad a bit too much.

Listen Online! Through a Glass, Darkly – Episode 6: The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven

“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe (originally published 1845)

“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe (originally published 1842)

Both performed by William R. Coughlan 

Crew:

Sound editing and final mixing by William R. Coughlan.

Length: 28:18

Rated AD-PG, parental guidance suggested. “The Raven” is essentially typical Poe existential dread which, unless you’ve recently seen Hitchcock’s “The Birds” should be fine. “The Masque of the Red Death,” however, may be upsetting to people hit hard by the global pandemic due to its depiction of the titular disease.

Rated AD-PG (Audio Drama “PG”)

Listen Live! Through a Glass, Darkly – Episode 6: The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven

Join us just about now (4pm ET) for a special Halloween week episode of Through a Glass, Darkly.

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe (originally published 1845)

“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe (originally published 1842)

Both performed by William R. Coughlan 

Crew:

Sound editing and final mixing by William R. Coughlan.

Listen to the Episode Live!

Length: 27:59

Rated AD-PG, parental guidance suggested. “The Raven” is essentially typical Poe existential dread which, unless you’ve recently seen Hitchcock’s “The Birds” should be fine. “The Masque of the Red Death,” however, may be upsetting to people hit hard by the global pandemic due to its depiction of the titular disease.

Rated AD-PG (Audio Drama “PG”)

Listen Live! Through a Glass, Darkly – Episode 3: The Rats in the Walls (Part 2 of 2)

Tune in just about now (4pm ET) for our next installment of Through a Glass, Darkly, our anthology of spookier tales.

Narrator: William R. Coughlan 

Crew:

Sound editing and final mixing by William R. Coughlan.

Listen to the Episode Live!

Length: 28:00

Rated AD-PG, parental guidance suggested. Deals with cannibalism, ancient evils, and includes an antechamber from Hell, so basically, It’s Lovecraft.

Rated AD-PG (Audio Drama “PG”)

Listen Live! Through a Glass, Darkly – Episode 2: The Rats in the Walls (Part 1 of 2)

Tune in just about now (4pm ET) for our next installment of Through a Glass, Darkly, our anthology of spookier tales.

Narrator: William R. Coughlan 

Crew:

Sound editing and final mixing by William R. Coughlan.

Listen to the Episode Live!

Length: 28:00

Rated AD-PG, parental guidance suggested. It’s Lovecraft so we’ve got the existential dread and humans behaving very badly.

Rated AD-PG (Audio Drama “PG”)

Listen Live! Through a Glass, Darkly – Episode 5: The Old Nurse’s Story (Part 2 of 2)

Tune in just about now (4pm ET) for our final installment of this season’s Through a Glass, Darkly, our anthology of spookier tales.

Performer: Carol McCaffrey

Crew:

Sound editing and final mixing by William R. Coughlan.

Listen to the Episode Live!

Length: 27:59

Rated AD-G. We’re talking fairly standard Victorian ghost spookiness, and some likewise Victorian admonitions against youthful folly.

Rated AD-G (Audio Drama “G”)