SEASON 5 : BONUS 2
OCOTOBER 31, 2026
“For many days the boys had been looking forward to the party to be held at Toad Brown's house, but the evening finally arrived and a number of new games were played, although a few things happened which were not on the program.”
This is a 100% family friendly Halloween story from 1916.
More from this episode:
Have you ever threatened your child that new mom/dad was going to come get them?
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INTRO
Hello everyone, welcome to A Good Night for a Murder, a Victorian true crime podcast.
My name is Kim, and Happy Halloween my friends!
This is a special bonus episode to help you celebrate and for the first time ever, I’m sharing a 100% family friendly story with you!
It is absolutely okay to listen to this one with your kids of any age
Tonight I am going to read to you a popular children’s story from 1916 called Halloween at Merryvale
It’s one of 6 short stories in Alice Hale Burnett’s book The Merryvale Boys:
Six real stories for small boys, each complete in itself, telling about the many interesting doings of "Toad" and "Chuck" Brown, and their friends, "Fat," "Reddy" and others.
The books are written so the boy may read and understand them and the action faithfully portrays boy life in a small town.”
The synopsis of Halloween at Merryvale itself reads:
For many days the boys had been looking forward to the party to be held at Toad Brown's house, but the evening finally arrived and a number of new games were played, although a few things happened which were not on the program.
Quick reminder for my grown up fans that today, Halloween, October 31st, is the last day for now that you can sign up for a free 7 day trial to binge the entire back catalog of bonus content on Patreon
After that it’s only $2 a month to keep your access
Also A Good Night For a Murder has merch now and it’s on sale through the end of today as well!
Visit agoodnightforamurder.com to see what we’ve got
Without further adieu I bring you “Halloween at Merryvale”
EPISODE
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17145/17145-h/17145-h.htm
And that is the end of Halloween at Merryvale, written by Alice Hale Burnett and illustrated by Charles F. Lester
Published in 1916 by American Authors Publishing
The full text of that book has been made available for free by Project Gutenberg at gutenberg.org
Please let me know what you thought of this story!
If you listened with your little hobgoblin trick or treaters!
Should I do more family friendly stories?
If you happen to be listening on Spotify you can let me know there, or on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @agoodnightforamurder
I’ve also posted a couple illustrations from Halloween At Merryvale there, as well as in the episode blog on my website along with the source links for this episode at agoodnightforamurder.com
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Please rate and review, and share with friends
Thank you for listening, Happy Halloween
And I will talk to you again soon