Title: Gabriel-Ernest
Author: Saki (H. H. Munro)
Narrator: Jonathan Dunne
Original Publication: 1909
Public Domain: Yes
Series Placement: Number 55 in the Timeless Terrors series
Description:
Gabriel-Ernest is one of Saki’s most unsettling tales — a quiet yet chilling brush with something wild, feral, and possibly inhuman hiding within the English countryside.
The story begins when a landowner encounters a strange, naked boy in the woods, a youth who speaks calmly of hunting animals… and children. Though outwardly human, the boy’s presence carries an undercurrent of danger, his nature hinted at but never fully revealed. Taken into a household under the name Gabriel Ernest, he quickly becomes an eerie and disruptive force — a creature of the forest wearing the shape of a child.
With its blend of wit, unease, and understated menace, Gabriel-Ernest stands as a prime example of Saki’s ability to inject horror into the everyday. The tension arises not from gore or spectacle, but from the chilling possibility that civilization is only a thin veil over something older and more predatory.
Narrated by Amazon-bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance brings Saki’s atmospheric dread and subtle terror to life. While the text is firmly in the public domain, this narration is an original performance and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne.
Part of Timeless Terrors, a series devoted to resurrecting the masters of the macabre and uncanny, Gabriel-Ernest remains a haunting reminder that not every monster announces itself — some simply walk beside us, smiling.
