Ghost Stories - The Stalls of Barchester / A Warning to the Curious

Lawrence Gordon Clark directs this double bill of horror dramas adaptated by the BBC from two of M. R. James's classic ghost stories. In 'A Warning to the Curious' (1972) Mr Paxton (Peter Vaughan) travels to English seaside town Seaburg hoping to find the last of three Anglo Saxon crowns belonging to the Agers family whose last descendant has recently died.

When he uncovers the crown, however, he finds himself haunted by a ghostly figure. In 'The Stalls of Barchester' (1971) Dr. Black (Clive Swift) is cataloguing the Barchester Cathedral Library when he comes across an old diary belonging to Archdeacon Haynes (Robert Hardy) who died mysteriously.

Whilst reading the entries Black soon discovers that Haynes may have been cursed upon the death of his predecessor after which he was tormented by supernatural goings-on.