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(Another repost from the very earliest days of the channel - but this play has since been repeated on Radio 4 Extra, so the audio source is probably a bit cleaner this time...)
Jonathan Holloway's adaptation of Willa Cather's story is significantly expanded at 90 minutes (you could read the original story in under 20) but the end result is well worth the time, brooding and insidious.
The tale itself is simple, and the ghostly element is one you can find elsewhere in fiction and folklore - a murder solved by the manifesting spirit of the victim. Not to mention, this aspect of the story appears quite late, so there's a good deal of time when the supernatural isn't in play. Nonetheless, this is a compelling story, the characters are well-evoked, and the sinister figure of Mr Freymark is memorably played by Tom Watt.
MYSTERIOUS MAGPIE is a channel devoted to ghost and horror stories on British radio, and to dark tales of every kind.
I have another channel, MYSTICAL MAGPIE, which is all about stories of fantasy, mythology, and adventure: https://www.youtube.com/@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn
If you're interested to learn about the century-long history of ghost and horror stories broadcast at Christmas on British television and radio, you might like to check out HOLLY WRAITHS (and its companion volume HOLLY TERRORS), an A-Z guide available in paperback and ebook from Amazon and Lulu.com.
Holly Wraiths on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Holly-Wraiths-Christmas-Television/dp/B0BT897TMD/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=oohle&content-id=amzn1.sym.a4ac6c4d-6ae7-4d95-b5e0-812c9dcfc72e%3Aamzn1.symc.fc11ad14-99c1-406b-aa77-051d0ba1aade&pf_rd_p=a4ac6c4d-6ae7-4d95-b5e0-812c9dcfc72e&pf_rd_r=CF6ETH6A9J0TFEDWABBE&pd_rd_wg=t7LEC&pd_rd_r=833e0138-ffc5-4857-8493-d4d0fe042128&ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d