Charles Dickens Ghost Stories

Episode: "The Trial for Murder"

Host/Narrator: Sir David Suchet (Noiser)
Release Date: December 22, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features Sir David Suchet's dramatic reading of "The Trial for Murder," one of Charles Dickens's most chilling short stories originally published in 1865. The tale is a masterwork of psychological horror and supernatural suspense, through the prism of Victorian justice—a murder trial disrupted by the increasingly undeniable presence of the victim’s ghost. Suchet’s evocative narration, underscored by immersive sound design and original music, infuses new life and terror into Dickens’s spectral narrative.

Key Discussion Points & Story Progression

1. Historical Context & Dickens’s Involvement

• [01:01] The episode opens with a historical anecdote: a young Dickens serving on a London inquest jury in the 1840s, where he empathizes with a woman accused of murder and assists her defense—an experience that informs his enduring preoccupation with the British legal system.
• Dickens’s experience as both a juror and court reporter inspires “The Trial for Murder,” imbuing the story with authentic detail and a sense of haunted judicial order.

2. The Foreman’s Visitations Begin

• The unnamed narrator (modeled on Dickens himself) introduces a philosophical reflection on society’s reluctance to discuss strange psychological experiences:
  • Quote [02:36]:
    “Almost all men are afraid that what they could relate in such wise would find no parallel or response in a listener's internal life and might be suspected or laughed at.”
• The narrator describes his first supernatural vision after reading about a recent murder in his morning paper—a vivid, hallucinatory snapshot of the crime scene and two ominous figures on the street.
  • He notes their peculiar detachment from the living world, especially the follower’s face—“of the color of impure wax.”
  • Quote [08:24]:
    “...no single creature that I could see gave them place, touched them, or looked after them in passing. Before my windows they both stared up at me. I saw their two faces very distinctly, and I knew that I could recognize them anywhere.”

3. The Summons to Jury Duty and Ghostly Encounters

• [12:17] The narrator receives a jury summons, unusual for his social status, and ultimately resolves to attend as a change from the monotony of his life.
• The night before selection, the ghostly second man (the murdered) beckons to the narrator from a dressing room door, witnessed in part through a psychic shock experienced by his loyal valet, John Derrick.
  • Quote [14:55]:
    “Derrick, could you believe that in my cool senses I fancied I saw a--”
    “Oh Lord. Yes, sir, a dead man beckoning.”
• When summoned to serve at the Old Bailey, the narrator recognizes the accused murderer as the first of the two men from his earlier vision.

4. Supernatural Disturbances Among the Jury

• Sequestered in a tavern with the rest of the jury, the narrator experiences recurring visions of the murdered man.
• A chilling anomaly: Whenever he tries to count the jurors, there always appears to be “one too many”—hinting at a ghostly presence.
  • Quote [23:50]:
    “We were always right in detail, but in the gross, we were always one too many.”
• The murdered man’s specter nightly passes each juror’s bedside except the narrator’s, silently observing.

5. Hauntings Intensify During the Trial

• As the trial progresses, the murdered man’s ghost appears at critical moments, forcefully intervening in subtle ways to sway evidence and testimony:

  • Takes possession of the missing miniature of himself and hands it to the foreman, unseen by others.
    [31:30]
  • Mocks the defense’s suggestion of suicide by dramatically miming a throat being cut, visibly rattling the defense counsel.
  • Calls out false witnesses and torments the more obstinate and foolish jury members.

• Quote [34:32]:
  “...the figure with its throat in the dreadful condition referred to...stood at the speaker's elbow, motioning across and across its windpipe, now with the right hand, now with the left, vigorously suggesting...the impossibility of such a wound having been self-inflicted.”

6. Manifest Effects and Trial Resolution

• The presence causes subconscious distress among those it targets—witnesses falter, the judge grows pale and halts proceedings, and a woman in the spectators’ gallery faints.
  • Quote [37:38]:
    “Although the appearance was not itself perceived by those whom it addressed, its coming close to such persons was invariably attended by some trepidation or disturbance on their part.”
• Despite aiding justice, the ghost speaks neither to the murderer nor the foreman after the production of the miniature, until the verdict is reached.

7. The Verdict and the Final Vanishing

• The jury (after comedic delays caused by a particularly obtuse vestryman and his associates) returns a verdict of guilty.
• In the climactic moment:
  • Quote [41:16]:
    “As I gave in our verdict, guilty, the veil collapsed. All was gone, gone. And his place was empty.”
• The murderer, at sentencing, claims his doom was sealed the moment he saw the narrator—a nod to supernatural justice.
  • Quote [42:05]:
    “My lord, I knew I was a doomed man when the foreman of my jury came into the box...because before I was taken, he somehow got to my bedside in the night, woke me, and put a rope round my neck.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote & Context | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:36 | “Almost all men are afraid that what they could relate...might be suspected or laughed at.” | | 08:24 | “Before my windows they both stared up at me...I could recognize them anywhere.” | | 14:55 | “Oh Lord. Yes, sir, a dead man beckoning.”—John Derrick, after sharing a psychic shock. | | 23:50 | “We were always right in detail, but in the gross, we were always one too many.” | | 31:30 | “[The ghost] impetuously started from the crowd, caught the miniature...and gave it to me.” | | 34:32 | “Stood at the speaker’s elbow, motioning across its windpipe...suggesting impossibility...” | | 37:38 | “Its coming close...was invariably attended by some trepidation or disturbance on their part.”| | 41:16 | “As I gave in our verdict, guilty, the veil collapsed. All was gone, gone.” | | 42:05 | “My lord, I knew I was a doomed man...” |

Structure & Flow

• The narration flows with mounting psychological tension—from subtle shivers and doubts to an inescapable sense of ghostly justice presiding over the fate of both murderer and jury.
• Suchet maintains Dickens’s measured, ironic tone, moving from skepticism to terrified conviction as the supernatural intervenes.

Episode Highlights by Segment

• [01:01–11:44] — Introduction, Dickens’s real-life experience, and setup of narration.
• [12:17–23:50] — Setting, ghost’s intrusion into daily life, and the narrator’s summons to jury duty.
• [23:50–31:30] — The haunted jury room; counting “one too many”; first collective supernatural events.
• [31:30–37:38] — The trial proceeds; the ghost intervenes at critical points.
• [37:38–41:16] — Supernatural fallout in witnesses, judge, and finally, the verdict.
• [41:16–42:05] — The murderer’s eerie confession; story concludes with a shudder.

Final Thoughts

Dickens’s tale, as performed by Sir David Suchet, is a powerful warning against ignoring unaccountable, subjective experiences. Beyond gothic chills, "The Trial for Murder" is a meditation on the relationship between truth, law, and conscience—where, sometimes, only a ghost can ensure that justice is done.

Teaser for Next Episode:
Dickens and Wilkie Collins at a haunted inn—don’t miss the next installment!