Halloween Reading: "In the Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka
Added 2023-10-27 22:23:57 +0000 UTCA Traveler has arrived at a penal colony to observe a strange manner of execution: a device that takes twelve hours to kill the offender. Its biggest proponent, an Officer still loyal to an old regime, fanatically explains the devices's intricacies while preparing a Condemned Man for slaughter. Then, he reveals his plan to implicate the Traveler in its further operation.
No stranger to existential horror, this is Franz Kafka's most viscerally upsetting story. "In the Penal Colony" brings a twisted Saw-like sense of justice and clockwork machinery into contact with his normal domain of fussy clerks and bureaucrats who exist to reveal religious epiphanies but never experience them for themselves.
Other Halloween Readings:
- "The Repairer of Reputations" by Robert W. Chambers
- "This Band Could Be Your Life" by Gary Butterfield
- "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- "The Mask" by Robert W. Chambers
- "The Tower" by Marghanita Laski
- "The Prodigy of Dreams" by Thomas Ligotti
- "In the Court of the Dragon" by Robert W. Chambers
Comments
Another awesome reading, great job Kole! The disdain every time the commander says "The ladies..." is 10/10
Matt Nolan
2023-11-03 09:23:49 +0000 UTCHehehe... Kole said "penal" In all seriousness, another wonderful Ghoultide reading. Thank you for keeping this a tradition.
Andrew (andyk250) Koch
2023-11-02 15:04:46 +0000 UTCWow, what a ride, in every sense! First time checking out the Halloween reading, and now I have to go hear the years I’ve missed. Great work, Kole
Patric Fallon
2023-11-01 16:34:16 +0000 UTCI look forward to this every year. I cannot stress enough that if this were a regular show, I'd be *so* happy. You always do a great job with this, Kole. Thank you!
Patrick O'Donnell
2023-10-29 02:49:52 +0000 UTCSo great! Another classic. More please!
Shane W
2023-10-29 01:41:18 +0000 UTCyessss a treat i look forward to every year :)
tundacct
2023-10-28 18:53:47 +0000 UTCThis rules, Kole. My first genuine spook of the season ❤
Max Taylor
2023-10-28 14:23:10 +0000 UTCEvery year I am delighted to see these pop up in my feed
Zac
2023-10-28 00:03:17 +0000 UTCIs this a hint that you are covering Resident Evil Revelations 2 soon?
Jonathan
2023-10-27 23:46:57 +0000 UTCMy favorite duckfeed tradition. I would legit buy an audiobook of short horror stories read by Kole
Kevin Fitzgerald
2023-10-27 23:13:50 +0000 UTCIn another life Kole is a prolofic audible voice actor! Excellent work my dude!
Matthew Shaffer
2023-10-27 22:33:08 +0000 UTCOmigosh, I have been given a treasure trove of Halloween readings to listen to!!!
Fromaginator
2023-10-27 22:26:39 +0000 UTC
