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Study 030 - How Love Came to Professor Guildea (Patreon)

Published:
2023-02-09 11:00:03
Imported:
2026-06
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Happy Valentine's Day! Let's get together and discuss How Love Came to Professor Guildea by Robert Hichens!

Lots of love to reader Greig Johnson! Grab something from his Etsy page now!

Next up: our Feedback episode on Roald Dahl and the vampiric "Meeting Mr. Millar" by Robert Aickman!

Comments

Matthew Henry

When I download the podcast it is always named "1.mp3". I rename it every time, but is that something you can fix on your end or some weird quirk of patreon.com?

witchhousemedia

I'd hit up Patreon about that - it appears they've made some download changes recently. We always name the files on this end. Maybe they'd download better from a podcast app? Your private feed address is on the membership tab. Sorry about that!

Jason Thompson

One of my favorite horror stories ever. I didn’t realize Hichens was gay and I wonder how how much homophobia or repressed homosexuality can be read into the story — the unwanted creature isn’t clearly described as man or woman, though I remember I assumed it was a woman the first time I read this when I was younger. Alternately, it could be read as the conflict between asexuality and undesired affection (aka harassment). It is certainly a tale which has a strong feeling of DISGUST without ever describing anything explicitly disgusting. Lastly, I always assumed that what killed Guildea at the end was getting a glimpse of “the thing”, that it was one of those horror creatures so gross that merely seeing it will drive you insane or kill you. Awesome story.

Ben Gilbert

Makes me think of At My Back I Always Hear by David Morrell (First Blood), another supernatural stalker story. Though that one is a more straightforward tale.

Adequately Excellent Entertainment

Well this is horrible. “I’m experiencing unwanted attention, including physical touch. It’s creepy and horrible and I want it to stop please help me.“… well have you tried enjoying it? Have you considered you’re being punished?” The butler is not the only one who failed Guildea as a man and a brother, just at least TRY perform the exorcism dude!

Markus Grönqvist

The doctor's remarks in the end, that he died of "failure of the heart" and that it could had been prevented if he had "lived very differently" (more care, less work), reminds me of the end of "A man called Ove" (recently adapted in the U.S. as "A man called Otto"). In it (spoiler alert!), Ove dies of having an enlarged heart, which works as a metaphor for him being a very loving person. Futhermore, he is always "haunted" by the memory of his dead wife; she's like a ghost that he is constantly clinging on to. I guess that Ove is the absolute reversal of Professor Guildea.

Karlandos

I can’t help but think the force may be a spirit that senses he is going to die and is giving something that it sees the person lacking in spite of it not being wanted.

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

I had not heard of this weeks story but if good enough for my favorite fellow Robert it good enough for me. This would be a great story to read alone in a dark grand house, not that I'll in a grand house, it's hard to get spooked in a tiny terrace house. I look forward to hunting down and exploring the works of Robert Hichens. Roberts for the win!

Steve

Makes Celine Dion even more creepy, if that's possible.

Jim Cannon

I think you got yourself a nice trilogy going with this, "The Damned Thing" by Bierce, and "What Was It?" by Fitz-James O'Brien.

It's a Ghost.

Although Guildea certainly wasn't looking for the creature in the beginning, I think this story could fall into the category of "A Warning to the Curious." The less curious believer might go the exorcism route from the outset or might just run away before the thing could attach itself fully; but Guildea instead chose to study and investigate the nature of the thing, and in the end it didn't end well for him.

Markus Lauerer

Great purchase, Chris, "Black Water" is the single best strange fiction anthology I've ever come across. Many of these anthologies just collect the same handful of stories over and over again, but this one really tries to give a more global scope (while still having some of the classics). There's even a just as moldy, just as thick "Black Water 2", which is also highly recommended. It has the rather obscure but great Aickman story "The Visiting Star".

Aaron La Vene

Holy Bajeezles Batman! What an incredible take on the ghost haunting story. And such amazing subtext when you consider the sexual orientation of the author. Such a twist on a current trope. To think that Hachin already found a way to not only put a completely different take on the haunting stalker trope from being a malicious entity killing u with fear and hostility, to killing you with love and ‘nuzzling’. Taking that and then to incorporate LGTBQ struggles in the subtext. 2023 is the new 1900 am I right? Also Idk just my take. I think the actual haunting was his ghostified feelings for the butler that he had denied to his friend… and in the same night saw a man on the bench that he thought could be his butler but then dismissed it fast “oh it could be anyone” in denial… he went out to greet it for no one to be there. I think he wanted it to be the butler. I think he loved his butler and that’s what killed him. His love for the butler and the longing for that love that he detested so much. At first being away from the butler allowed him some respite, but eventually. He could no longer stop thinking about him even away from home. And when the butler said he wouldn’t help him, straight up denied his advance and then ghosted his ass…. He couldn’t take it anymore. The ghostly feelings gave him mercy from the heart break with a literal heart break. Brilliant.

Pagurus

Very compelling story! Lots of stories appeal to the readers' own experience of having themselves unrequited love for another person. Probably about half of all the world literature provides you with (more or less helpful) scripts on what do do and how to feel in that situation. But the reverse is very seldomly explored - the pain or at least discomfort of being loved and not loving back. Like many great horror stories, this one takes a very real life fear and turns it into something supernatural.

Rafe Ball

The Coastguard’s terrible secret? He couldn’t swim!!! With the mention of the ghostguard, my mind naturally went, as any sane person’s would, to whether Baywatch had ever done a ghost episode. Of course it did - and it was a two-parter! Coronado del Soul, Part 1 Stephanie, C.J., Matt and Summer take a weekend vacation to San Diego to demonstrate water rescue procedures while staying at the famed Hotel del Coronado. Summer correctly begins to think that her hotel room is haunted, when she's a haunted by the ghost of a wealthy businessman who mistakes Summer for his lost love from a doomed love affair back in 1943. Coronado del Soul, Part 2 C.J. thinks about her future as she spends more time with Keith and helps to rescue a stranded dolphin. Meanwhile, the ghost who haunts Summer's hotel room, named Rupert, takes her to be the love of his life who betrayed him and plots to reenact the tragedy that drove him to suicide 50 years ago. Maybe something for some spoooooky bonus content once you run out of Manimal episodes ;-)

Pam Winkler

Listening to the story, I really characterized Professor Guildea as aromantic asexual. The interesting thing is that Murchinson is chaste, and may also be aromantic asexual, but probably not repulsed by humanity in the same way. I doubt he’d appreciate the ‘love’ either.

Thylacine

I was so excited to see when you all did this episode and then put off listening to it for two-and-a-half years ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That said, I loved that you all covered this! I find this story so interesting. Is Guildea being haunted by the ghost of heteronormativity? There are just so many ways to look at the story.