The Bowmen

Title: The Bowmen

Author: Arthur Machen

Narrator: Jonathan Dunne

Original Publication: 1914

Public Domain: Yes

Series Placement: Timeless Terrors No. 86

Description:

The Bowmen is one of Arthur Machen’s most influential and unsettling tales of modern supernatural horror—a story that blurs the boundary between history, myth, and collective belief. Set against the grim realities of World War I, the narrative recounts a strange and persistent rumor among British soldiers: that ghostly archers appeared on the battlefield at Mons, answering an ancient prayer in humanity’s darkest hour.

Rather than presenting horror through overt monstrosity, Machen constructs unease through suggestion, testimony, and the gradual spread of belief. Eyewitness accounts accumulate, contradictions deepen, and rational explanations fail to fully dispel the lingering mystery. The story becomes less about whether the vision was real and more about why such a story needed to be believed.

Central to The Bowmen is Machen’s fascination with the power of myth—how ancient symbols can resurface in moments of collective fear, and how faith, nationalism, and desperation can summon forces that feel both comforting and deeply unsettling. The supernatural here is subtle, elusive, and all the more disturbing for its ambiguity.

Narrated by Amazon-bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance captures the story’s restrained dread, historical gravity, and eerie sense of inevitability. The Bowmen endures as a foundational work of weird fiction and wartime horror—one that reminds us that legends do not merely survive history, but may be born from it.