The bloody-minded Montresor leads the pompous Fortunato deep into the wine vaults and catacombs, crowning in a climax that is delightfully sinister. Edgar Allan Poe, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.

Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening.

This is our first Vintage Episode of The Classic Tales Podcast. We'll be releasing two Vintage Episodes each week, so be sure to check your feed regularly. New episodes will be available every Friday.

We've got a special treat for you. Head on over to Nancy Peterson's TikTok channel @nancy_peterson_narrates, and you can see her recording an episode or two of The Classic Tales Podcast LIVE. In October, she and I will be doing a duet narration of The Closed Cabinet. You can watch her record her portion live on her TikTok channel, and even chime in! Nancy is an Audie Award-Winning narrator, a world class individual, and great friend. Check out her TikTok channel, and you'll have a ball. A link is in the show description.

This episode of The Classic Tales Podcast was originally released on June 22, 2007, along with The Speckled Band, by Arthur Conan Doyle, and Part One of Barbara of the House of Grebe, by Thomas Hardy.

The recording of Basil Rathbone recording The Cask of Amontillado changed my life. It really did. Up until that time, I couldn't understand the heavier language of the classics. I never really understood Poe until I had an actor help me with it. But when I heard this recording, the world opened up for me. I listened to it over and over again, until I practically memorized it. Then I discovered other audiobooks, and learned how to really read. I could understand these amazing stories that were up until that time, hidden from me. I can't emphasize how deeply this impacted my life. We named our first-born son Basil.

So, after I listened to a few hundreds of audiobooks over a dozen years or so, I heard about podcasting, and I had an idea for one. The Cask of Amontillado had to be the first episode. I cobbled together an old computer, borrowed some recording equipment, and threw three episodes together.

Now, 17 years later, I record audiobooks as my full-time job.

Let's start the journey again.

And now, The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe.

Follow this link to see Nancy Peterson record a Classic Tales Podcast episode, and other stuff:

The Adventure of the Speckled Band: Part...