Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Mankey.

Listener discretion is advised.

Since it's the week of Halloween, let's start with a scary story.

This is one called The Leather Funnel, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

It was written during one of the many periods in his life he was exhausted with writing stories

about his famous detective Sherlock Holmes and somewhat resentful of how successful

that one character had become.

Like all good scary stories, this one begins with a visitor coming to stay at the mysterious

residence of a distant eccentric friend.

As soon as the guest arrives, the host apologizes profusely.

He doesn't have a spare bedroom, but he does have a wide, comfortable couch in his library.

Our guest is, of course, enchanted by the idea of an evening kept company by a low crackling

fireplace and the warm, parchment smell of books.

And he readily agrees.

But as soon as the men enter the library, the guest realizes that there are more than

just books there.

As it turns out, the host is a collector.

And his library is where he displays his treasures, strange and macabre historical objects, most

of which the guest can't even identify.

One such object in particular catches his interest.

A large, dark funnel, constructed of leather with brass accents, maybe a foot long at

it's widest diameter.

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