Episode 6: The Open Door by Charlotte Riddell

The Open Door by Charlotte Riddell

The Open Door is a classic Victorian ghost story. Or is it? It’s a well-written yarn about a young man who needs to make his fortune and does so by taking a job no one else will: to investigate a haunted mansion in the countryside where a door just won’t keep shut.

The whole mystery turns on whether the ghost is really a ghost. Certainly there are enough hints that there could be a ghost, but then there are also hints that the ghost is a fabrication — a machination to make sure the good Lord Ladlow does not get his deserved inheritance.

The story is almost a template for a Scooby Doo tale, minus the dog. People pretending to be ghosts, skulluggery and an honest lad who is well-rewarded for his honest work, pluck and perseverence.

If it hadn’t been for you pesky kids….

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• If you liked this, why not listen to another Victorian story: The Phantom Coach?

Full Text of The Open Door

Link to Project Gutenberg’s full text of The Open Door by Charlotte Riddell

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