HorrorBabble's Weird Creatures: A Collection 

From Benson’s Caterpillars to Smith’s Mother of Toads, let’s see how you fare, in spending an evening with HorrorBabble’s WEIRD CREATURES… NOTE: "Caterpillars" is supposed to end the way it does. Chapters: 0:00:06 - Introduction 0:00:54 - Caterpillars (E. F. Benson) 0:19:52 - The Creeper in the Crypt (Robert Bloch) 0:46:10 - A:B:O. (Walter de la Mare) 1:28:04 - The Beast in the Cave (H. P. Lovecraft) 1:43:26 - Hey, You Down There! (Harold Rolseth) 2:06:16 - Sredni Vashtar (Saki) 2:18:14 - Mother of Toads (Clark Ashton Smith) 2:36:52 - Further Listening Bandcamp link: horrorbabble.bandcamp.com/album/horrorbabbles-weird-creatures-a-collection Narrated by Ian Gordon for HorrorBabble Music and production by Ian Gordon & Jennifer Gill Image by tombud: pixabay.com/users/tombud-1908037 Support us on Bandcamp or Patreon: horrorbabble.bandcamp.com www.patreon.com/horrorbabble HorrorBabble MERCH: teespring.com/stores/horrorbabble-merch Search HORRORBABBLE to find us on: AUDIBLE / ITUNES / SPOTIFY Home: www.horrorbabble.com Rue Morgue: www.rue-morgue.com Social Media: facebook.com/HorrorBabble instagram.com/horrorbabble twitter.com/HorrorBabble

Rainy Saturday night , smoking a pipe and listening to creepy stories , doesn't get better than this , thanks for the work you do Ian

ALWAYS let HorrorBabble sing you to sleep. Best rest ever.

Caterpillars (E. F. Benson) was written before 1912. Many people used to think cancer was contagious and cancer patients were shunned. I met people in the 1950's & 60's who avoided visiting cancer patients because they were afraid of of catching cancer - that last lingering remnants of a cruel superstitious belief.

'Hey, You Down There' was amazing.

My goodness, The Creeper in The Crypt is excellent! "Trees toss their twisted tops to the sky, and stood like furtive conspirators in little groups together"

HorrorBabble RULES!!! I have listened to the stories narrated by Ian Gordon and I can’t pass em up! I’ve gotta listen to them all!

Had this earmarked for later and then it disappeared! Glad it's back up! Cheers mate!

Thank you HorrorBabble! I have just had an annoying scratch on my eyeball ehich got infected, so i had to have closed eyes for most of the time for a week. Your storytelling is uttermost extraordinarily superb.

Sooo RU-vid hasn’t been giving me notifications for any vids so I’m having to catch-up on everything in a night... Elder gods of the bell grant me the power to not miss another video!

Ian thank you guys for this. I was working on some art commissions today and this was what I needed to get through. Appreciate it.

Awesome stories. Reminds me of elementary school when we were lucky enough to have someone visit our class and tell us a story like one of these, right before lunch. Innocence and excitement

It wasn't until hearing this collection for the 2nd time that i remembered i've read "Hey You Down There" before. My class studied it in High School (very many years ago now i'm afraid), for creative writing purposes we were asked to use the text as a jumping off point and write what happens after the story's end.

So glad to see this back up , I could just listen to you 24\7 !! Man of a thousand voices.💯

I was about halfway through when you pulled it. Happy it's back! So enjoyable, thank you.

This is my favorite collection of yours. I never get tired of these.

"Hey, you down there" Was a most excellent story! It has everything one may desire in a tale, especially the happy ending!

Great collection, sir. I confess to a delicious chuckle at hearing "Hey, You Down There!" Give my regards to Glaah, the Master (just don't invite him/her/it/them to any dinner parties)!

The Creeper In the Crypt could have been.a sequel to Pickman's model. Chilling stuff. And ABO a similar tale... just got to Beast in The Cave. 🤔💀

An awesome collection!! Thank you very much!!

Calvin sounds like a real charmer, Dora. Don't let THAT one go!

Always wonderful always fantastic. Gordon is hands down one of my favorite narrators. Thank you for another great selection of stories.

Well, I declare. This was quite a good audio narration.

Hey, you down there. Hands down best story. Started off slow, picked up the pace and finished with a laugh: 7.5/10 awesome and thank HorrorBabble for performance and content. You have done the story justice

I like "Hey, You Down There." Those fools get real real.

1:18:18 I have never heard the devouring of a meal explained with so many terms. I rightly enjoyed that enough to play it over a few times. Too many word to digest of a homeless man on his digest I LOVE how you use other voices in ur narrations it just seals the deal ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've turned my friend, who lives in Derby, England on to Horrorbabble... She's enjoying your tales as much as I do. Much success to you !

This is it! i had been looking for this tale, "Hey, you down there", for months now! I remember having listended it in this channel but i couldnt remember the name of it! i thought i checked every video and compilation in your channel but couldnt find it until now. Amazing tale, love it as i love all this narrations of yours, great job as always! Since i work from home i have your narrations on play on the background all day!

I was halfway through this when you removed it. Glad you re-uploaded it and great compilation!

You down there was the funniest scary story I've ever heard

I am an avid listener of the ctfdn and I was very happy to stumble across this and subscribed straight after 'hey you down there ' thanks guy's.

Listening to stories that were posted before I subscribed. Listening on a Saturday night after watching a sporting event that did not played out as hoped. Thanks for providing such good entertainment that can always be replied upon...Glad to see a Clark Ashton Smith story in the list, this has made up for any disappointment that tonight brought...Love the language used so much more evocative than present day stories...

I love this collection. Nice work!

The Creeper in the Crypt, if you listen closely, is a sequel to "The Hound" by H.P. Lovecraft

Great Post!! A flawless delivery Thanks very much!!

A super channel. Thank you very much. I did not know any of the stories before.

I remember reading The Beast in the Cave back in middle school or early high school, I can't recall, but I do remember that story as my first encounter with Lovecraft's work. The lesson continued on before I finished and afterward I borrowed the book to read the rest. I think that may even have started my fascination with that style of writing. Thank you Horrorbabble, for returning to me a piece of my memory I had thought long forgotten ^^

My mom turned me onto Ian and we both love HorrorBabble. Thank you for doing this, I listen to you every night. ❤

Great collection, guys.

These tales are so awesome! Your narration, as always, is great! I love these stories! They are so darn good! I got a real kick out of "Hey, You Down There!".

Thank you!

I love these anthologies, a bit disjointed but it helps with finding really interesting stories.

Thank you and we'll done. Creepier than any other.

"Hey You down there " is a great Thanksgiving story ^^

"City dinners! Orgies!" Lmfao.. I gotta find more stories by this de la Mare guy...

Very cool, thank you.

clicked on it with no views and no likes... Pretty sweet

Awesome job- great Stories!

Nice artwork.

Send more Turkey, very humours, well telegraphed story that still satisfied 😌 👍 Thanks for something more lighthearted than the usually fare....

I loved every story!

What a classic voice you have good Sir!

Really enjoyed this collection of tales. Nice to listen to when playing Minecraft.

Thanks so much, very enjoyable. I expect you have a lot weird creature stories, how do you ever choose between them all?

This is awesome

Your voice is so sultry especially with the music in the beginning. 💘 horror babble

In "Mother of Toads", I was waiting for Pierre to pull out his sword, or dagger, mace, something! THAT'S why I carry, never know when some toad witch might pop up 🐸😄

Back for my nightly dose 😱😱😱

Its 1:59am ...i need yr help to sleep 💤 again lol...thanks for being here 😊

People wrote better back then. They really know how to turn a phrase with eloquence. IMHO modern writers in this field seem Krause in comparison . These guys probably struggled all their lives to make a living too. It’s so cool they haven’t been lost in time and are entertaining readers today.

I come back for more.

1. Caterpillars (E. F. Benson) 19:57 2. The Creeper in the Crypt (Robert Bloch) 46:01 3. A:B:O. (Walter de la Mare) 1:28:03 4. The Beast in the Cave (H. P. Lovecraft) 1:43:24 5. Hey, You Down There! (Harold Rolseth) 22:50 6. Sredni Vashtar (Saki) 11:58 7. Mother of Toads (Clark Ashton Smith)

I used to listen to a meditation channel when I slept but I started trying these stories the other night. Omg, talk about waking up in the middle of some of weirdest nightmares I’ve ever had! The dialogue was working it’s way into my subconscious and it was scary as hell.

It’s 2am, I have insomnia, and I work 8 1/2 hours tomorrow, this calls for a bedtime story 💀

Hi there, I do love your selection of stories. Its wonderful to hear these forgotten tales, and some of my favourites. One question, relating to the Creeper in the crypt; why was only one leg left behind? I have relistened and cant work it out.

i love the story of Conradine. another piece of toast my darling boy ? 😼😇

Only 10 more years until August derleths and hp lovecraft's lurker at the threshold to be in public domain. I assume you guys are already on top of that.

My end to that horrible Toad Witch story - DON'T READ til you hear the story, and then only if you want another ending. . . He touched a toad "large and heavy as a fat woman." with all the blessed strength strenghth he could possibly muster, he felt for its neck. he scratched and squeezed. he was a tallbaoy and had long fingers. he slid his hands around the thick bumpy neck in the slime and locked his thumbs together! He clenched, he squeezed, he swore, holding his breath for what seemed hours.. His thumbs pressed into the front of the neck. The thing croaked and hacked. it tried to reach him with its short toadish arms. the toads around him were slipping off him. His strength running down he gave one last desperate death embrace and squeezed. its eyes bugged out hideously. Then, almost easily, the neck gave way and the loathsome thing slipped through the slime andmoved no more. the toads vanished in pops of brown slime. He himself almost gave way, his knees starting to buckle, but he shook his head and spit out the slimy water. he blinked his eyes. his legs were still stuck in the mud and he was so very tired. in desperation he reached out his arms in every direction around. totally in incredulity he grasped a tree branch, which he In the struggle they had moved towards. Grasping it he pulled slowly and finally fell exhausted on the bank of the pond. As he lay there, the dense greenish fog drifted up and away and the sun shown down on the trees and grasses turning them fromgrey to dewy greens, flowers bloomed with incredible colors. the pond scum and slime broke up into tin pieces and drifted off to nourish the earth and the water was clear and cool, with lfry swimming around, may flies, water walking buggies appearing. frogs croaked fish jumped through the water. even the little brown real toads were bounding through the grass and weeds. squirrels and rabbits appeared and settled around the young man to keep him warm. after a while his eyes opened, he stretched and looked around him. Where - where was he? he rubbed his eyes. he couldnot believe what he saw. he saw a fox drinking from the pond, he saw swans flying ing in and ducks swimming with their ducklings, birds were singing in the trees. the fox looked at him and trotted away. he went to pond's edge and saw all the fry swimming and water plants with bubbles on their fronds. He drank, he drank the amazing water fro quite a while; then he sat and put his head in his hands and tears ran down his cheeks. He slept again and when he woke up this time, it was dawn. He drank from the crystal pond again, looked at the beauty around him and began to walk hopefully home. and there was a path with berries and fruit along the way as he realized he was very hungry. Free and easy he walked homeward and "He whistled and sang till the green woods rang, for he had the love of a lady. . ."

This is great! I wonder if you guys ever deal with Arkham House for the stories not in the public domain ? Then again are they even a thing still?

Yes it was

"Come at once! Antiquities!" is going to be my new catchphrase.

Just finished listening to "ABO" and couldn't help but chuckle at the description of the narrator and the beggar cowering in the house, the beggar never letting go of the bone he was gnawing before. 🤣

Aw Dora was so sweet😭 got them a lil ham sandwich

❤

I’m late,,, listening from the south bronx ny,,,thers lost souls all over,,thanks for the entertainment,,,I got some real joints for you to hear,,my god is bigger then your god down hear

❤❤

❤😴

What happened to the end of Caterpillars.

Boy, you can talk some stuff smoothly!

Can someone explain "Caterpillars" ending to me? Who... Got cancer? Was it the caterpillars that killed him? The story ended at "but"... At first I thought my TV was the problem.

Wb video, what happened?

Is it me or the Catterpillars story end was snipped?

They just wanted some turkey...

Yeah I think I would have just drank Mother Toad's Viagra ecstasy wine and treated the whole weekend like a trip to Vegas. It just didn't happen. I mean, wisdom is knowing when to fight, and when not to fight, and if you want the horror babble that is your existence to continue, better to just f with the old crone than to f with the old crone.

Aha! I read the first story as a young lad of about 8 (I was a strange little boy) I heard about the caterpillars and I thought if they have claws, I've read this story before. Then pincers were mentioned and I thought, that's the kitty!

Scary-as-shit cool!!!🙂🖤💀☠👻⚰🦇🕷🕸

I think...i have a crush on Dora.

Why does Caterpillars end that way? I know it's supposed to, but....why?

😂😂😂 TURKEY!!

19:48 cuts off early

What happened at the end of the Caterpillars?

M

Weird creatures? Don’t talk about me like that. I’m sensitive.

I’d love to give the weird creatures a cuddle! NOT.... back to my drawing. I wonder if these stories might seep into my art.

Seems like the channels compete to tell the most gut wrenching, blood soaked stories. We've had plenty of that for the last four years with this Lame Duck. Let's clean up our mouths & Hearts & bring in some relief from our past. Respect & trust would be good for starts.

In response to "Mother of Toads"... We've all had a little too much to drink and woke up with unwanted company. Be polite on your way out... or else.

2:18:14 the first date rape drug🤦🏽‍♀️😬

boring

All hail Sredni Vashtar