Eight dark and mysterious tales

The Pied Piper of Hamelin gets a 21st-century retelling in Radio 4’s new drama The Piper, which sees the sinister folk tale rethought in a small, rundown, seaside town in the UK.

When strange music makes a girl vanish, a detective and her daughter uncover a terrifying force. This inexplicable disappearance of vulnerable children in the area can only mean one thing – The Piper has returned and time is running out to stop him.

Orford Ness is a beguiling place – a vast shingle spit on the Suffolk coast which, in the 20th century, was the site of secret military experiments. Abandoned, ominous-looking man-made structures which jut out from the landscape are gradually being reclaimed by nature, and it’s easy to see how this eerie spot captured the imaginations of writer Robert MacFarlane and illustrator Stanley Donwood.

Ness, an illustrated mystery play-come-novella, sees five beyond-human forms voyaging to The Green Chapel, a ruined concrete structure which houses The Armorer, a figure embodying looming nuclear threat. Together, the forces will converge to form Ness, a being created when the landscape comes to life to stop The Armorer and claim back the island.

To inspire you further to read Ness, Listen to The Island of Secrets on Radio 4 – a haunting sound portrait of Orford Ness in Suffolk.

Or listen to a Front Row Special on Robert Macfarlane.

Daisy Johnson’s ghost stories are set in a remote hotel on The Fens. In each episode of this deliciously unsettling series, readers including Nicola Walker, Maxine Peake and Juliet Stevenson tell the hotel’s stories. Why is it only women who are haunted by the hotel? Was the building doomed from the start? What will happen when a restless young girl decides to explore?

Though he had an illustrious academic career, M.R. James is far better known for his chilling ghost stories. The Mezzotint, from his collection "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary", is a particularly unnerving read. The story concerns a seemingly innocuous mezzotint depicting a grand country house. The tale takes a dark turn when the picture gradually changes, and a menacing cloaked figure appears in the frame.

To get a truly haunting reading experience, try taking the M.R. James test: wait until it is dark outside, then sit alone in a lamp-lit room with your back to an open door. See if you can read until the end of the story without hurrying to turn on the main light, or checking on unexplained noises behind you…

This compelling murder mystery, written by one of Japan’s foremost crime writers, is set in 1940s Japan in the aftermath of the death of the head of the Inugami clan. Detective Kindaichi steps in to investigate a series of gruesome murders which begin after the details of the will have been disclosed. Kosuke Kindaichi must uncover the depraved secrets of the Inugami clan in order to lift the curse and put a stop to the bloodshed which plagues them.

Fans of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie can add the mystery novels of Seishi Yokomizo to their reading list.

It’s 1938. In London, young housewife Alma Fielding finds herself, her home and her family haunted by a frightening poltergeist. Teacups fly off her shelves, stolen jewellery materialises on her fingers, and beetles appear from under her gloves. Kate Summerscale’s new book unravels the true story of how Nandor Fodor, the chief ghost hunter of the International Institute for Psychical Research, became obsessed with investigating Alma’s haunting. Nandor turned to the methodologies of Freud to explore Alma’s past and explain her harrowing experience.

Korede is always in the shadow of her confident younger sister Ayoola, who seems to be irresistible to the men of Nigeria. Seemingly the only thing Ayoola finds irresistible about her suitors is her desire to kill them. Protective Korede becomes embroiled in Ayoola’s drama when her sister calls her asking for help in the clean-up operation after stabbing her boyfriend to death.

This isn’t a one-off occurrence, either. The only person in whom Korede feels she can confide is Muhtar, a comatose patient in the hospital where she works. This dark, disturbingly funny novel explores whether the fierce bond of sisterhood has its limits.

What is it about children in horror that is so chilling? Is it the corruption of youthful innocence or the idea that something we normally try to protect can do us harm? Children of the Stones was originally a 1977 TV series that gained cult status, telling the story of an English rural idyll that hides a gruesome secret beneath its cheery surface. Now Radio 4 have brought it back as a seriously creepy drama podcast complete with plenty of unnervingly intelligent, unsettlingly happy children that will give you nightmares.