1001 Stories Podcast Network with host Jon Hagadorn
NEWSLETTER
August 31, 2025
Enjoy 12 unique storytelling podcasts- all Hand -picked, stories to challenge your intellect, increase your vocabulary, improve your writing skills, and enrich your knowledge of our history and culture.
Hello 1001 Stories Network family
Hello 1001 Fans! The weather is cooling off here on the SE US coast and the humidity is finally beginning to disappear. This is the time when we think about heading for the Outer Banks of North Carolina which I call 'God's country for Beach People'. The tourists are leaving, the beaches are practically empty, the bluefish and channel bass will be moving southward, and Ocracoke Island will no doubt be having their annual Blackbeard Festival. It's just a nice time of year.
1001 Ghost, Chiller & Lovecraft
This week at 1001 Ghost, Chiller,and Lovecraft, beginning at Friday Noon, we will be narrating the second chapter of Nathaneil Hawthrone's 'The House of the 7 Gables' (Gizelle Ericksen is lending her voice and production techniques to that so expect a great story). Hawthorn was a great writer- did you know that he was a grandson of Judge Hathorne (Notice there is no "w" in that name), the judge who was primarily responsible for condemning all those "witches" to death in Salem? After that huge mess no one wanted to be associated with the name "Hathorne", including Nathaniel, who changed his name to Hawthorne. As for this story- that house really does exist in Salem Mass. Here's the story on it:
Hawthorne was infamous for being reclusive during his time living in Salem, in part because Hawthorne himself exaggerated his reputation. He occasionally played whist, for example, with his sister Louisa, his second cousin Susannah Ingersoll, and Ingersoll's adopted son Horace Connolly. Hawthorne was occasionally entertained in the house by Susannah but, by Hawthorne's time, the house had only three gables after a renovation to match more current architectural trends. His cousin told him the house's history, and showed him beams and mortises in the attic indicating locations of former gables. Hawthorne was more inspired by the way "seven gables" sounded than what the house looked like. As he wrote in a letter, "The expression was new and struck me forcibly... I think I shall make something of it." The idea inspired Hawthorne's novel The House of the Seven Gables.
Hawthorne wrote of the house as if it were a living thing. It is described as such in the novel: "The aspect of the venerable mansion has always affected me like a human countenance... It was itself like a great human heart, with a life of its own, and full of rich and sombre reminisces. The deep projection of the section story gave the house a meditative look, that you could not pass it without the idea that it had a secret to keep." In writing the book, Hawthorne compared the process to constructing an actual house. In January 1851, he wrote to his publisher that the book was nearly finished, "only I am hammering away a little on the roof, and doing a few odd jobs that were left incomplete." The House of the Seven Gables was published in April 1851 .
The novel was an inspiration for horror fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft called it "New England's greatest contribution to weird literature. Seven Gables influenced many of Lovecraft's stories, many of which turn New England into a spook fest of horrors.
1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales
'The Griffin & The Minor Canon'
Truly and unusual name for a story but once you understand that a Griffin (remember Harry Potter's Griffindor?") is a mythical winged beast with a horned tail which gets hot when he gets angry, and a Minor Canon is a back-up church priest. pastor- then you have the beginnings of a great story. It seems that a little very rural church was built hundreds of years ago and the stone mason added a griffin over the doorway and placed a few smaller ones around the church for good luck. Well, in a far away land, the griffin of this herd hears that his likeness is decorating a church entrance, and he can't resist making a long trip to check it out. It happens that the Minor Canon is working that day he arrives. It's really a story about the fear and prejudice of the townspeople and some of the stupid things they do while trying to save their own skin.
It's a wonderful tale by Frank Stockton- don't miss this one!!!!