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Study 029 - The Stains (Patreon)

Published:
2023-02-03 02:59:24
Imported:
2026-06
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Join us as we discuss Robert Aickman's award-winning short story The Stains with special guest, writer/director Jeremy Dyson! Look out for his new novel The Warlock Effect with co-writer Andy Nyman - out this April!

Special thanks to reader Greig Johnson! Grab something from his Etsy page now!

This episode featured music from Lichen, Moss and Wrack by Fordell Research Unit!

Here is Gary Budden's synopsis from A Personal Anthology.

And here's another take on the story from Reading the Weird at Tor.com.

Next up: How Love Came to Professor Guildea by Robert Hichens

Comments

Sanjay Mathew

'professor Guildea' is terrifying. Looking forward to it

Briar Ripley Page

Oh my god, I was just reading this story and thinking about how neat it would be for you guys to cover if you ever did another Aickman month (which you totally should, by the way). Serendipity!

Beanz

The synopsis you gave made me think of the Hodgson story, "The Voice in the Night," which you covered already. I don't have any particular insights to add but it made me think of the husband and wife, the colors and spread of the fungus, ending with them consumed by it. Even the foraging aspect, actually. And the car at the end made me think of these pictures of abandoned cars, overgrown with nature. The picture in this particular article would imply that our protagonist is just *one* of the Father's victims though. Bored Panda: "This Traffic Jam Was Stuck In Belgian Forest For 70 Years" Thank you, brain, for being visually focused and finding connections in my archives but consistently forgetting recycling day. Edit: I wonder if he is actually setting up this life with a supernatural or zombie version of his wife, who continues to decay. Wherein the "father" is a supernatural caretaker. Death, a deity, the devil, or something like that.

Jennifer DeFord

Finally! An opening to beg you to cover some Robert Holdstock on the show! I've been thinking about this since you guys rebranded...

Jim Bassett

This story resonated with me, more than I can recall any other of the history of the podcast. In my case, it was divorce after 28 years. Similar to Stephen, she was a stabilizing force for me, my comfortable safe place. "Adrift" is an apt word to describe how I feel now, much of the time, after a year post-divorce. I may have even had my own "Nell" encounter, with a woman last July during a visit to London (I reside in California). However, unlike Stephen, I am not presently a corpse beside a clear lustrous pool.....that I'm aware of. :-) Thanks for allowing me the safe space to share - Chad & Chris, I'd appreciate it if you did not use my comment in a comment show. (As I've mentioned before, I'm behind in much of my podcasts and other media, but Strange Stories is one I'm current on. Love the stories, love the episodes, I look forward to each and every episode. Thank you!)

Damon Bowles

Began listening to this while out walking the dog and got that odd shiver of synchronicity that Jeremy referred to since I was indeed out on Ilkley Moor. All that talk of little twisty paths and clear pools actually started to flip me out. Anyway, happy ending – I met a nice woman in a fawn shirt and pale green trousers collecting mosses and lichens. She gave me her number and we've arranged a hot date for tomorrow. Fingers crossed guys – she could be the one! :)

Jason Thompson

The ultimate pervy old man’s fantasy— dying in the arms of an inappropriately young woman! And to me at least, there’s this regression-to-youth aspect in how they end up “playing house” in this crumbling ruin, and the comedy aspect that he ends up hiding from her dad, like a teenager. Seriously, loved this story guys.

Mark Simmons

Yay, Aickman! As usual with this author, it sent me scrambling to Google in a vain quest for supplemental insight. But I did learn one thing - the "death knell" was originally the second bell of the death process, rung to announce that someone has just died. I think the modern vernacular usage of "death knell" means that death is imminent, but traditionally that was the job of bell number one, the passing bell. So if Aickman is being old-school about it, going out with a young lady named Nell might mean you're *already* dead and just haven't realized it.

Jeremy Impson

Calling her father a Cold Mortal sounded like a mild/joking insult on Nell's part.

Jonathon Alvis

My impression is that he died early on in the story, when he first looked into the pool, and everything that followed was a “death dream”. I also agree that the name Nell is not coincidental.

David Halstead

Listening to you talk about this story, I kept thinking of the movie Jacob's Ladder.

Patrick W

I got 40k Nurgle vibes from this one.

Adequately Excellent Entertainment

The fact that Aickman was fighting cancer when he wrote this guts me. I think Nell, being the child of death, is life. Specifically the kind of life that is (as repeatedly pointed out during the episode) symbiotic and part of the renewal process. (Que somebody belting out "...the circle of liiiiiife!")

The Lonely Sand Person

When they climbed down into the hidey-hole I immediately thought of it as a symbolic grave. I think the breathing tube might have been a reference to the 1800s hysteria over being buried alive, and all the lifesaving devices that graves would sometimes be equipped with.

Noah Hyatt

I think the reason that Aickman mentions the Reverend’s son going missing in Nepal is to possibly concisely and subversively explain why Harriet is fussing over Steven like he is his mother, possibly filling the hole left by her son. Also could explain why she dies when Steven is gone for so long, perhaps unable to take losing another child. The purpose of that link is unclear to me but could relate to the story’s constant theme of the dangers of loving someone, just this example is maternal not romantic. In any case thank you guys for covering Aickman again. I discovered him when you guys covered the Hospice and the School Friend awhile back and have been unable to put him down since. Keep it up you guys do fantastic work!

Noah Hyatt

I also find it important to mention how the stains are indeed engulfing everything, but Aickman puts an emphasis on certain items of Elizabeth’s that are becoming engulfed in the stains and the constant mention of time. To me this calls on how the memories of a person eventually fade and become more abstract approximations of what they once were. These past events are being swallowed up by the presence of Nell to the point of being erased entirely.

Billy Launder

The Father snuffling reminded me of truffle hogs. The Father is like a cosmic vampire pig, snuffling around for truffles / lost souls.

Steve

"After Elizabeth ultimately died ..." that's a very creepy way to start.

Steve

Bodies of water are often representative of the unconscious. A bottomless pool even more so as it's confined but also without end.

Steve

"To die will be an awfully big adventure" according to Peter Pan.

Steve

Is Nell a Magic Pixie Dream Girl?

Steve

Sphagnum Moss was used as a bandage in WWI, but it's also used by wargamers for making scenery. It looks like shrubs or tree foliage.

Erik Gordon

Yaaykman! Such a gift on the month of my birth. Had to read this one before and after the show. Powerful story, reader and guest. Definitely going on the greatest hits list.

Rob_Hellfire_Graves (Cult organ donor, wrestler, poet & Satanic Reverend)

I fell behind in December and have just binged the last 2 months of episodes to catch-up. I was very excited to find you had covered some Pratchett, all though his eligibility for the pod mean I have to admit he's gone and will have to read the last 2 Discworld books I'd been putting off. Dahl was also a nice surprise as although I have not read these stories I did watch all 100+ episodes of Tales of the Unexpected over the lockdowns. Follow by great joy to find you had returned to my favorite author of all time Aickman! Having just found out a dear friends of mine's brain tumor has progressed to stage 4 cancer and he may not have long left, I found this story more poignant than ever on a personal level. As some others in the comments I have wondered if this is all a death dream of a non-cognitive man. Perhaps his wife hasn't passed but he is confused to who she is, so thinks he's making love to a young woman but it's his wife, playing the music they used to make love to when they were young and for him it's sparking mixed up memories. The sniffling of the farther could be his wife crying as he passes away. What i love about Aickman is very time I re-read one of this stories I can come away with a different meaning depending on my current emotional state.

Philip Cowan

Something about this story - the rural setting and the innocent young female, perhaps - reminded me of Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan. That made me wonder if Machen's novella or even the original mythology itself (perhaps both?) was the background to this story. A bit of Googling (and browsing Robert Graves' 'The Greek Myths') came up with a few things that convinced me that The Stains has ancient roots: Pan was indeed mortal and was the only Greek god to have died; he has a frightening influence on people, hence the derivation of panic; he had two daughters, one he tried to seduce and who - in an effort to escape his advances - was turned into a reed. She was then cut up into strips to form Pan's pipes, which make a frightening sound; and Pan does like his sleep. All of these elements are infused into The Stains. It is a pessimistic tale; neither nature (represented by the frightening, unforgiving, immoral Pan) nor the soul-destroying monotony of civilisation (represented by the civil service) lead the story's protagonist to ultimate happiness. Thanks again, guys, for introducing us to thought-provoking literature that, I for one, would otherwise have missed. After more than a decade, your enthusiasm - and mine - for the podcast is as strong as ever. Keep up the good work.

Karl Haikara

Very happy to hear you guys cover Aickman again, this story is very haunting one. I was thinking that the nymph maybe is actually something bringing cancer, or some terminal disease which is what the lichen represents. The father is the spirit of death claiming him it seems but it is from meeting the nymph that he begins to have this growing disease of lichen.

Anonymous
>>101846866

I feel that using lichen, which is a symbiotic relationship between moss and algae is to show that life is a part of death and vice versa.

Cacodaemoniacal

I just noticed that when Stephen throws the book, meant for his brother, it lands with a clang. I'm uncertain just how closely I want to pin down the threads to the story. I don't want to ruin the weirdness for myself.