The Haunted and the Haunters by Edward Bulwer-Lytton | Unabridged ghost story read by Simon Stanhope

Two men and a dog* attempt to outface the horrors of a London townhouse with an evil reputation, in one of the most famous of all Victorian ghost stories. The story starts at 00:02:00. Note: this is the lesser-known full, unabridged text of the story (most audiobooks and anthologies use a significantly shorter version of the text). See below for timestamps and more information.

*Note: yes, unfortunately the dog faces peril. I know some listeners may strongly dislike this (I understand, I'm a dog lover myself), but please remember it is fiction and no actual dogs were harmed in this recording of the story. If you want to jump past the description of the dog's ultimate fate, you can safely skip the section from 00:55:46 to 00:57:01 without missing any important plot information.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:56 Narrator's note on the text
00:02:00 A Haunted House in the Midst of London
01:01:00 Consultation with Mr. J–; Theories and Investigations
01:26:47 Coda: The Face in the Portrait
01:56:55 Credits, thanks and further listening

Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me (and get access to previews and exclusive content):

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This is the full text of this story. There are several shorter versions in circulation, and the standard short version (11,121 words) is the one which is most familiar to readers today – it is the text included in most ghost story anthologies. My reading here is of the complete original text (15,385 words), which so far as I'm aware isn't available elsewhere on YouTube.

The main additions are: an extended version of the second interview between the narrator and the landlord; more details of their discoveries inside the house on their subsequent visit; and a lengthy coda following the original ending, where more of the background to the haunting and the original perpetrator is explained (this starts at 01:26:47).

About the author: Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–1873) was a British politician and author. He served as an MP from 1831 to 1866, first as a Whig and later as a Conservative, reaching cabinet rank as Secretary of State for the Colonies under Lord Derby in 1858. A friend and contemporary of Charles Dickens, he was not in the same literary league and his output as a writer has fallen into comparative obscurity over the last 150 years. He is best remembered today for coining several popular phrases, including "the pen is mightier than the sword" and "the great unwashed", as well as for the opening of his 1830 novel Paul Clifford: "It was a dark and stormy night", which has become synonymous with cliched writing.

It was through his long friendship with Dickens that Lytton made arguably his most significant contribution to English literature: he persuaded the author to change the ending to Great Expectations, arguing it was too bleak. Dickens took the advice, writing to his friend Forster: "You will be surprised to hear that I have changed the end of Great Expectations... Bulwer, who has been, as I think you know, extraordinarily taken with the book, strongly urged it upon me, after reading the proofs." Several authors at the time and since have taken issue with the change: George Gissing wrote that "Great Expectations would have been perfect had Dickens not altered the ending in deference to Bulwer-Lytton".

The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain was first published (uncredited) in Blackwood's Magazine in August 1859. In the USA it appeared, credited to "Sir E. Bulwer-Lytton" in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in February 1861.

Later in 1861, Bulwer-Lytton began writing A Strange Story, a serial novel which succeeded Great Expectations as the monthly serial for All the Year Round, with episodes running from August 1861 until May 1862. When A Strange Story was published in book form in 1865, The Haunted and the Haunters was added to the volume as a companion piece; it would seem that it was at this point that Bulwer-Lytton took the opportunity to edit and shorten the text of The Haunted and the Haunters, apparently because some of the content had been re-used in A Strange Story. Usually in its shortened form, The Haunted and the Haunters, or The House and the Brain has gone on (under either or both titles) to be much anthologised ever since.

This recording © Bitesized Audio 2025