Lost Hearts #685965

Lost Hearts by M. R. James Audiobook is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James, originally published in 1895. It was later collected in his 1904 book Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.

Plot summary
The tale tells the story of Stephen Elliott, a young orphan boy, who is sent to stay with his much older cousin, Mr Abney, at a remote country mansion, Aswarby Hall, in Lincolnshire. His cousin is a reclusive alchemist obsessed with making himself immortal. Stephen is repeatedly troubled by visions of a young gypsy girl and a travelling Italian boy with their hearts missing.

Adaptations:
The story was first adapted for television by ABC and broadcast by ITV on 5 March 1966 as an episode of the Mystery and Imagination series. However, no archive recordings of this episode are known to exist.

"Lost Hearts" was adapted by Robin Chapman in 1973 as part of the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas strand, directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. The shortest of the adaptations, Lost Hearts was first broadcast on Christmas Day 1973 at 11:35 pm. It starred Simon Gipps-Kent as Stephen and Joseph O'Conor as the much older cousin. The adaptation is noted for the distinctive hurdy-gurdy music that accompanies appearances of the two ghostly children. Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite is also featured.