"Oh that Aleister Crowley", my (fictional) grand-aunt usedn't to say, "He was an awful man entirely!"

"Wicked, he was", she usedn't go on, "Pure wicked. The baldy head on him and the bulging eyes. He'd give you a bad dose of the heebie-jeebies. Desperate!"

Have a squint at this if you don't believe her…

Thrill with the lissome lust of the light,
O man! My man!
Come careering out of the night
Of Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan! Come over the sea
From Sicily and from Arcady!
Roaming as Bacchus, with fauns and pards
And nymphs and satyrs for thy guards,
On a milk-white ass, come over the sea
To me, to me!¹

Fortunately for us (and our discussion of, among other things, the great god Pan) this is to be the seventh meeting of our Dreadful Thoughts Story Club. Good old lucky/mystical number seven. It shall, surely, cast its magical net about us and keep us safe from the frolicking and trampling hooves without.

Within this charmed circle we shall be chewing over E. F. Benson's "The Man Who Went Too Far" (1912) – a story that seems (at first glance) to do exactly what it says on the tin.

Terror, joy, suffering, bliss – these meaty ingredients are all here (plus some freaky "bleating" laughter). Time to uncork the nearest bottle o' plonk, light a contemplative pipe, listen to the latest DT mixtape (courtesy of the lovely Niall), and revel in the oneness of all things.

Begin.

1. Aleister Crowley, 1929 – "Hymn to Pan" (excerpt). [back]

Session number seven of our spooky story club sees us bid adieu to devilish monkeys and whisper a panicked hello to the awesome spirits of nature.

Leading us on this (not so) merry dance will be E. F. Benson, and his pagan-tastic "The Man Who Went Too Far".

The coming (Irish) bank holiday rules Monday out as suitable for congregating and discussing, so shall we make it Tuesday, June 3rd, at 9 p.m. instead? Why not.

See you then fright fans.

Story: "The Man Who Went Too Far" (html), (pdf)

Meeting: Tuesday, 3rd June, 9 p.m.