The Reflex-Man of Whinnymuir Close by Russell Kirk
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ย. 2023
- Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was an influential American conservative writer and intellectual, best known for his seminal 1953 book 'The Conservative Mind'. This work helped revive interest in traditionalist conservatism in the post-WWII era. Beyond his prominence as a leading conservative thinker, Kirk was also a fiction writer who penned ghost stories and supernatural tales.
Kirk had a lifelong affinity for Scottish culture and history, making him a notable Scotophile. He filled his Michigan home Piety Hill with a sprawling library of over 10,000 volumes, many on Scottish heritage. Kirk connected with intellectuals like Walter Scott and Edmund Burke, and joined Scotland’s Clan Donald Society. Through this passion for Scottish traditions, Kirk advocated principles of stability, community, and continuity with the past.
As a Scotophile, Kirk embodied a romantic view of Scotland’s legacy of clans, romanticism, and tradition. From his ancestral traces to Scotland to his inclusion in Clan Donald’s journal, Kirk’s Scotophilia represented his ideals of localized tradition against encroaching centralization. For the prominent American conservative, Scotland provided continuity with the past and an embodiment of the traditionalist values he espoused. Kirk’s Scotophilia was an integral part of his identity and a lens into his traditionalist worldview.
In summary, Russell Kirk was a leading figure of modern American conservative thought as well as an author of ghost fiction. Beyond his influential writings and role in conservatism, he was a notable Scotophile who vigorously admired Scottish culture and heritage throughout his life and work. His passion for Scotland provided insight into Kirk’s traditionalist beliefs.
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I want to live in that Art work
I was unprepared for this tale. As much as I think it brilliant and well wrought, I am in awe of your performance. This story might never have chilled me had it not been for your extraordinary understanding and telling.
thank you. you are most kind !
I wasn't sure if I was going to like this one at the beginning; but, by the time Culloden moor came, I teared up. Wonderful work.
me too. i had to stop and re do it
So far, that is by far, the best tale told here. Kinkle's (sp?) talk to the young English Lord left me in stitches. What great characters! And a fine tale! IMO, hard to beat! Thank you so much!
Loved this tale! Great accents, and not just a tale of the supernatural but also an action adventure. 5 stars!🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Over the top amazing story, and presentation. Brilliant.
That was a wild ride! Great Narration!
I am stuck in bed with a fever and an infected tooth.
This timing is a blessing. Thanks, Tony. 👻
PS: I much enjoy the character accents in this one. Top notch.
Hope you feel better soon
Get Well Soon ❤
Get well soon.
Feel better quickly 💌☕🛌🧸
Sending you my best wishes, hope you feel better soon sweetie 🙏
Thank you Tony and Gavin! I'm going to listen to it again
Edit:Many Aristocrats wore wigs to cover their hair loss caused by syphilis.
it must have got hot under the wigs
@@ClassicGhostvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvivvuvubvvvv
😲
I love your accents, please do more.
Be careful what you wish for
That was lovely.
Gripping, also this time arround. Love the accents and entertaining "ramblings". Masterful as always, Tony. Thank you.
thanks Marti
We thank YOU for all of yor haard work for us!@@ClassicGhost
Thank you Tony really enjoyed this story
Bree here. Oh, PLEASE Tony, do let us hear some doggie snores. I lost my precious beagle boy in May. I miss so much those snorkels and snores.❤
i have just been listening to them snoring !
You have outdone yourself again! Good Lord! Genius.
this was a divisive one but i liked it
I'm listening to this one again, because I liked it so much. "And yet", I'm shocked some found it somehow unsatisfactory?! Smh!! @@ClassicGhost
This story is truly excellent! Your narration is amazing. I love the Scottish accent. Anyone who does not like it and complains is welcome to play marbles in the road.
Young, arrogant, ne'er-do-well rich guy and his thugs vs. a battle-hardened retired colonel and his retenue of retired veterans. We all know how that always ends.
This is truly an excellent tale. Ian is an amazing character. He lived quite a life and saw many battles!
Thanks, Tony and Gavin! This story is a true gem. I absolutely love this story.
It was slightly different from my usual but good :)
This was a delight Tony, thank you so much 👏💛
Love your rendition of the obscure language, accents & etymological understanding
Let me say your Scots character impression is pretty darn good. Great job.
that’s nice to hear 👂
My favorite voice to soothe me after stressful day❤
I really enjoyed doing this one too
I loved this❤
Excellent job...really enjoyed. Touching story and fantastic accents.
fabulous reading, thank you so much
This is such a beautiful tale of redemption, honor and fidelity.
Your reading of it is exceptionally rendered. Thank you for for gifting us all with your accents and enthusiasm
I think this is my favorite of all your stories!
I’m glad you liked it
I absolutely agree with you 💯🙏👏
Tony, this was one of your most powerful stories.
I don’t know if I’m just about to cone down with a cold, or the stress of work has got to me or maybe it’s just a brilliant tale.
I wept at the end, grown man of 53, cynical and careworn and I’m still snuffling.
I started weeping when he comes to propose and she misunderstood his intentions. I didn’t stop until the story ended with that cheery wink from Ian.
I see this more as a love story than a ghost story, especially powerful given the two outcasts. Janet who maybe should have known better, but loved her brother no matter what. Ian the aging and misunderstood retainer, but honourable.
This moved me deeply and I think you for that, even the accents I didn’t mind (though I’m not usually a big fan of them) for this story the accents suited the language.
I liked the shift to first person in the supposed manuscript at the end, still proud and undefeated she risked everything for a final glimpse.
I also liked the framing with the story being so powerful and moving yet like all of our own lives lying in some discarded pile of books.
Thank you for a real treat. I’m not given to cry very often, and this may not have been high art - get still it moves….
I had a powerful reaction myself and wasn't sure why until I read your comment and realized, beyond the love story, was that this emotional tale was found in mouldering sheets of paper tied in among bundles of old clothing. No matter how strongly we live, we all end up as nothing but memories until even the memories die and all is hidden.
I didn’t reply to your comment on the Cornish story, and I meant to. It was a great tale. Made me think of the Cats of Ulthar
@@ClassicGhost ah yes - the Luxylian effect. Well the story is completely true and I haven’t added any dramatic effect. Of course it’s ridiculous to imagine the villagers all turn into cats in the summer months and roam around at 5am. I’m sure they just like cats in Luxylian and as this was before GPS my directional certainty (which is usually perfect) was off likely by the fifth time I came to the same street and asked the cats for forgiveness - it was just I hadn’t tried one other route.
The thing that makes me wonder though is that in the moment the idea we all had in the car, was the same - that we were being prevented from leaving. It SEEMED real in that moment, I’m not saying it was. There is also a kicker from this story - as Luxylian is steeped in witchcraft, paganism and various occult ideas and it’s a strange place for sure. The valley is very green for Cornwall and full of large trees and very old woodland - not a place to be on a dark windy night in my opinion. It was in the back lanes of Luxylian valley that is saw what I think is a black shuck - a large red eyed dog, which vanished in front of a bend. It may have been a farm dog, with strange eyes that reflected red and it jumped a 10m hedge to get away out of the road, that is a good skeptics argument - but I promise I as ready to swerve to avoid it and it was gone.
finally in my Luxylian valley tales (and I haven’t even touched on the local tales of where I lived near st Ives and the music in the streams and me and my friends floating over a hill at great speed almost not touching the ground - there was magic in the air in those times). Anyway back to Luxylian which to be clear IS NOT MY STOMPING GROUND - about the boys who went out camping on the island in the river. Near Luxylian there’s a big river and it splits at an island and you can if you are local walk down some fields and find this “secret” island a great spot to wild camp. Anyway this island has some grass covered lumps on it, the remains of a house or chapel perhaps, nobody is sure. They say a hermit lived there in Middle Ages and there were lights on the island and lots of people were seen dancing even after the hermit left, but Cornwall is full of such tales.
Anyway, it was a popular lads camping spot, as you could camp and then not have any parent come and see you were drinking a few beers etc, because it was in the middle of the river, you needed a canoe or boat to get to it. So plenty of kids locally used this spot and had great times, messing around and so on. I was told this story by a local electrician who heard it from a plumber so it’s well attested.
Anyway sometime in around 1990’s certainly before there eclipse, two lads went to camp there - the parents knew and the lads were around 16 or so and so old enough for this right of passage. Now getting ton the island is a bit of a fuss, as there’s some local voodoo of having to walk widdershins around an oak tree three times and follow a sort of marks on branches to find the spot to launch the canoe from. This seems odd, but as I say not in Cornwall, a home for odd things. Anyway the lads do all of this and they find the island, they make camp. We don’t know much more from them bit we do know is from the parents.
The lads don’t reappear the next day, the father wanders down (as he has also camped there in his youth) to see what’s going on and to surprise them, he suspects they are sleeping in late. It’s a sunny day and he gets to the river side after all the walking around the oak stuff and as he reaches the bank he cannot see anything just a fog that wasn’t there 5 minutes ago. Sure fogs roll in Cornwall all the time, he calls out for the lads, he hears from a long way off a lot of splashes and his sons friend crying out - help, help, help us.
He is now concerned and thinks they are lost in the fog and calls back, the voice doesn’t move any closer but its Jack the friend of his some who says “there’s no ground anywhere and I lost Chris an hour ago, however far I walk on I can’t find the edge of the Island, help me”. So our father goes into survival mode, tells Jack stay where you are and runs off to get some help, Jacks father and a canoe and some rope.
They get back to the bank, still the fog is there and strangely they can’t hear the water. The father tied the rope around a tree and starts walking and amazingly he walks over the water into the fog. He is calling all the time and Jacks calling also and the other father of Chris can hear him. He locates Jack and they grab hold and walk back following the rope. The moment they reach the tree where Chris father is anxiously waiting for news the fog lifts. There is now Chris dad, Jack and Jacks dad on river bank looking around at a fog that’s vanishing fast.
Now the strange part - the fog vanishes and they see in the direction Jacks dad walked the island and a tent and Chris frying up some bacon. Chris waves at them all and says what are you doing land side Jack ? Jack is in shock, as he has been wandering in the fog for hours lost. They get the canoe, go over to Chris and take down camp. Chris says he was really annoyed at Jack for making all that noise last night, he thought Jackie went too far. Lighting all those fires and running around making wears noises, a good friend you are. Jack tells him, he didn’t light any fires and if he did where’s the ashes ? They look around and there are no ashes to be seen.
Anyway they all do get back safely and try to rationalise it as lads having a lark and getting lost and a fog. However that doesn’t satisfy anyone involved and to this day nobody will say how to get to the Island now - its something the community don’t feel safe sharing anymore.
@@thurayya8905 yes I realised this must be why I also had a powerful reaction to this tale. I think the framing was what made it even more poignant, however brightly they lived they all end up as we all do as nothing but dust ….
Hi, Tony! This wonderful presentation is a perfect gift for my birthday. Thank you!🎉❤
Happy birthday!
This is an awesome story and should be made into a movie. Love your accents, too. Great job! It’s amazing how much those Lords got away with back in the day. Good thing this “reflex man” got his revenge.
Wow, that was GREAT!
Really glad you liked it
Well done! And you provided a great overview of his interests and principles! My brother went to Hillsdale College, and Mr. Kirk was a prof there at the time! The students enjoyed his readings of classic tales!
Thanks for sharing!
Oh, cool! A fellow Michigander, although he’s a Troll. There is a bit of a disconnect between Trolls and Yoopers. Speaking of my neck of the woods, I saw a cougar in my backyard the other day! I live in town, too! I’ve heard it a few times in the last couple years, but I just finally saw it. Anyway, this was absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing this. Also I adore the accents, all of them! These ones were particularly good though.
Great story. Wonderful performance 😊
Your use of accents makes the characters come alive. I certainly wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if i had just been reading the paper copy.
Excellent narration! Thank you 😊
That was a braw tale indeed.. really enjoyed hearing that today. Thank you for a great reading 🙂
Definitely A different kind of story. I really enjoyed your accents. ❤
I love listening to your narrations, and especially enjoy your accents. If any have a problem with then oh well, the way I see it you are putting wonderful tales out there for our enjoyment, as my mother would have said if they don't like it they can go chase themselves.
Wonderful story! I usually multi-task (as many women do) whenever listening, but this one I had to "listen hard." I loved it and your reading.
The accents are always great!
Well
at least you and I think so :))
I was really Taken by the reading please keep it up j from the U SA Maryland❤
That was a fun one
The characterisations are fantastic. You have added so much to an amazing story.
Thank you so much!
Interesting how some reacted to this in comments - mostly positive but some clearly don’t like this.
I’m guessing that such folk only like to eat one meal, a nice bland porridge with lots of sugar.
It must be the case as they likely are mythos hounds or horror buffs.
For me this was not only superbly written, linguistically engaging but also drew me in most powerfully.
I write in another comment about this - but I cried tears in the last ten minutes.
I’m probs an old softy and also loving the use of my faculties as one disgruntled commenter mentioned !
I thought it was very true to the period it was set in, which did feature the kind of violence and language that are described. There was nothing "smutty" about it to me, just realistic.
Thank you, Gavin and Tony! BTW, I love your voice.
Thanks for listening
Awesome story, Mr. Tony 👍
Thanks Tony
thank you 🙏
Just listened on our tv. Love it!!
No complaints from me! I love your various accents ❣
That was a fun one to do
Excellent work ❤
Thanks a lot 😊
Wow! You certainly pulled out all the stops for this one!! 😄
Absolutely brilliant! Thankyou muchly..🙏
Glad you enjoyed it
Please do Kirk's "There’s A Long, Long Trail A-Winding" my absolute favorite story of his.
i’ll put it on my (long) list!
Great as always ❤
💜
fantastic accents really well done. You and Jasper L'Estrange should have an accent battle.
That would be fun
I think the upvote button is broke system wide. Unreal how old and unsophisticated this app is and yet they still keep breaking it to make it even worse, every couple months. That’s an interesting strategy, Cotton.
Maybe before I die I’ll be able to alphabetize my playlists.
I cannot understand 75% of what's spoken in the Scottish accent lol. Reminds me of every first meeting when I went to Scotland
Scots accent? You are great at accents. Although I never listen to the stories when you do American. After Trump I didn't want to hear Americans.
ALSO Canada let me in!!! 2 years of Canada and Britain can't keep me OUT!!!
Can't blame them for not wanting to hear Americans where they live, can we? They wouldn't let me in either :)
It's a bit much blaming all of us for him.
This story contains the following CW: Threats of SA, Attempted SA and I stopped there - sharing for those who can benefit from content warnings. Thanks
I had autoplay on, and this popped up. Now youtube is going to think I want more of this.....bla.
Your reading is very nice....it's the subject matter that is unappealing to me.
Did he just call gay people faggots? That's messed up.
Just remove it from your history. TH-cam will forget.
Commenting is only going to reinforce that, you know. Just FYI
@@maryeckel9682 Yeah, I suspect that's true....so goes life.
Not a fan of the smutty content of this one.
This was reality for women. It’s not smutty. Jeez. Women still get assaulted for no reason to this day with no brother to punish the scoundrel who hurt her.
Second