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Study 175 - Celui-là (Patreon)

Published:
2026-08-14 16:42:10
Imported:
2026-08
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Content

In Celui-là by Eleanor Scott, a hooded figure leaves an incantation in a box on the beach... and the main character reads it out loud! Tune in to see what this fool has wrought!

Special thanks to our reader, Rachel Lackey of Rachel Watches Star Trek!

Info on Eleanor Scott:

The Haunted Library

Human Sacrifice, Haunted Rooms, and Other Rituals of Folk Horror

Next up: The Smoking Leg!

Comments

Ryan Thomas

Chad and Chris, I did some browsing of the titles in the Century's Best Horror. I'm impressed by how many have already been entertainingly read and discussed on your podcast, and by how many more there are to explore. I haven't heard of Birkin's "A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts," but I know the song. "Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head." How scary can they be? They're a penny a pitch.

Kyle Griffiths

Hell yeah, glad i got a shout out in this awesome episode! I loved your description of this story. :)

Ann Knight

This story seemed a little M.R James-ish to me, although I think if it was an MRJ story the protagonist wouldn't have survived. Good stuff. Looking forward to reading Randalls Round.

Kidz Bop Nine Inch Nails

Not sure where all the toad hate in weird literature stems from. In my experience as a zoologist, toads are very pleasant and unobtrusive creatures. Indeed, you might even go so far as to describe them as plump, decent, homely little chaps. Nobody has ever been wronged by a toad (cane toads aside). Unless, of course, you are writing from the perspective of an insect or a small mouse.

Alex Liggett

Same here, kind of an 'Oh Whistle to the Curious'. Dude's lucky he didn't end up with a faceful of gravel. A Podcast to the Curious did an episode on Randalls Round and another on Eleanor Scott. Both worth a listen.

Jack Saul

If homely didnt have the positive meaning in UK English, the Tolkein calling Rivendell "the last homely house" would mean that we should be imagining it as being full of 3 out of 10 looking elves.

CoolToad

No matter how many times it happens, I love to tune in to see what a fool has wrought.

Ann Knight

Toads in folklore are associated with magic, witchcraft, and evil. I agree though, I don't find them particularly scary either.

Jim Cannon

Right? I would go swimming with toads.

Jim Cannon

Love a doctor who prescribes vacation and then volunteers to make housecalls. What a chap!

Jim Cannon

Are you guys opposed to Christianity "working" on the grounds that its boring, a general distaste for Christian trappings, or a dislike of trite good vs. evil narratives? I myself find Christian mythology just as exciting as the Norse or Greek stuff, and the notion that being a cure or vicar gives you demon fighting powers is a fun one. Certainly, everything done in the name of Christ in the past two thousand years (... or the last ten [rimshot]), suggests Christians are not always, or at least not automatically, the good guys. And heck, even Howard Philip had a "The Dunwich Horror" finale in him. Sometimes the only thing that stops a bad guy with a spell is a good guy with a spell. This was a fine story.

Ken Linck

Gentlemen! My understanding of the idiom "entre les chiens et les loups" is that it's the time of day squarely between the daytime, when dogs are about, and the dark of night, when wolves are more comfortable. Of course, idioms are frequently interpreted differently amongst individuals, like when Joey Tribbiani revealed that he thought the idiom was"doggy dog world" rather than"dog eat dog world." who knows? Thank you for one of my favorite episodes of recent memory, and for the opportunity to reinterpret why all those people keep calling me "homely."

Our old pal Brendan Gardiner

A good quality Scooby-Doo / Abbott and Costello moment with Maddox not realizing it was the creature in the room with him at first and not Dr. Foster. All we were missing was the two of them looking in the same direction at the wall such that Maddox ends up conducting a one-way conversation with it and then reaching back and doing the comedic touch-and-gulp.

Steve

It's a bit weird that the expression is recorded in the story as "entre le chien et le loup" because I've only heard it as "entre chien et loup". I looked around for the etymology and found no French quotations with the definite article. However, it was comes from Latin which doesn't have the definite article (possibly Hebrew first). I think Scott was probably tickled by the expression and thus wrote the story.

Stewart

I'm amused by the idea of this creature constantly on the lookout for people walking along the beach so it could make a big show of messing with the sand in the hopes some poor fool would take the bait and dig something up. It must have been thrilling for it when this guy actually took the bait.

HRPrice

I used “homely” in a school assignment when I was young, and the teacher corrected me to “homey”. I have no reason to believe that child-me picked up the word “homely” from British media, but I choose to feel vindicated anyway

Gail Underiner

Reminds me a bit of the 1974 novel (with 1977 film) The Sentinel. Perhaps the priest accepts the role of guarding the area as a potential portal to Hell. Though one would think it would not be a good idea to accept guests recovering from a nervous breakdown.

Our old pal Brendan Gardiner

The malevolent force here may not be the devil. What occurred to me listening to you guys say this is that the *devil* may not be the devil, as the understanding of that figure has come down to us. Given how hazy and culturally constructed the definition of Satan is, not to mention how recent, biblically speaking— he barely registers in the Jewish texts which came to be the Old Testament — it’s fun to think that “the devil” is just a clumsy label we affix to a being that actually is malevolent and active and conniving but exists quite outside the Christian box we have built for it? What if our devil is not the end all be all of evil in opposition to a loving God / generic goodness but rather our bad attempt at capturing something much worse?

Our old pal Brendan Gardiner

I don’t imagine this is a very novel idea. It probably underpins most horror and weird fiction. I’m writing somewhat from the outside looking in as far as that goes.

Saurav Misra

Was just going to remark on "Randalls Round" being on the (lamentably now moribund?) "Podcast to the Curious". Terrific story - can't wait for Chad & Chris to tackle it.

Robby Haentze, a consumer of silliness

Maddox was overworked and worried and nobody knew why? It's easy guys, he worked in retail. As someone who spent a literal decade in retail, I am constantly overworked and worried and people don't know why. Right now, in my current store, we are somehow understaffed and "at work capacity" simultaneously! Like some nights we have more freight hours than man hours! And then the store manager will ask us why we didn't finish everything! And to the point of doing something that seems negative that'll end up being a positive, I know quitting would be best, but I'm terrified of quitting without another job lined up. All-in-all, retail is a horrifying place to work that deteriorates the human body... Anybody hiring?

Alan Ricks

I loved this story! Very much a Jamesian feel to it. I’m still holding out for you to do Evening Primrose by John Collier. We are all close to breaking down and just going to live where the rent is free nevermind the Dark Men waiting to take you.

Mark McGranaghan

Came here to make this exact comment - “oh whistle to the curious” is definitely the vibe (maybe plus a bit of canon alberic?)

It's a Ghost.

Once I was playing a game with some friends, maybe Taboo, and I had to describe the word "homey," but I got confused and described the word "homie" instead.

Eric - Speaker in Digressions

The locals all know to avoid the area, so maybe there's some kind of monster messaging system for when British tourists are around.

Anders D

Great story. "Randall's Round", the title track of the collection, is in my opinion the greatest folk horror story ever written. Hope you guys cover it.

Matthew Heimbecker

Christianity doesn't just oppose the devil. There are plenty of instances where Christianity opposes fairies as well. If you interpret the "herald" figure and Celui-la as fey creatures, the story works just as well. This hit me at a great time, when my interest in the fey is at a peak. Thanks!