Episode 01 – Robert Bloch’s Shambler From the Stars

Listen On Your Favorite Player

Our pilot episode Shambler From the Stars is one of the very first stories written by the legendary author and screenwriter Robert Bloch. Bloch went on to create the iconic character Norman Bates in his Psycho series. Psycho became the source material for Alfred Hitchcock’s film of the same name and, more recently, A&E Network’s Bates Motel.

 Shambler was first published in the September 1935 issue of Weird Tales. This story chronicles a young writer very much like Bloch himself, and his search for forbidden knowledge. Robert Bloch, only 18 at the time, was encouraged to follow his interest in writing by H.P. Lovecraft and was the youngest member of Lovecraft’s venerable circle of colleaguesBloch wrote Shambler From the Stars as an homage to his mentor. 

Just before his death, Lovecraft penned Haunter in the Dark as a sequel to Bloch’s story. It was Lovecraft who finally dubbed the main character Robert Blake and dedicated in return to his young protege. Haunter in the Dark is the last known work of H.P. Lovecraft and his final tale in the Cthulhu Mythos.

Shambler From the Stars kicks off our anthology in the grand tradition of supernatural horror. It is the first installment in a three-episode “thrillogy” that unites Shambler From the Stars and its sequel Haunter in the Dark.

The Cast Includes:

  • Matthew Hobin
  • Katherine Muise
  • Jeremy Pezza
  • Jonathan Pezza

Score Written By: Gustav Holtz and performed by the U.S. Airforce Heritage of America Band

To read the original stories, learn more about the author, and support the podcast at the same time you can purchase the suggested reading below.