“An Episode of Cathedral History” is a horror story by the English medievalist and author M. R. James (1862–1936), first published in the Cambridge Review in1914 and included in his A Thin Ghost and OthersCollection of five short stories by the English medievalist and author M. R. James, first published in 1919. (1919).[1]
The story concerns the discovery of a long-hidden tomb in the Cathedral of Southminster during renovation work, following which nearby residents begin to fall sick and die after suffering terrible nightmares. It is told as a third-person narrative.
Synopsis
Mr. Lake has been asked to examine and report on the archives of Southminster Cathedral, and as the task will take some time to complete is lodging with the verger, Mr. Worby.
At about nine o’clock one evening, Worby has to go over to the cathedral, and invites Lake to accompany him to see what the cathedral looks like at night. Inside, Worby points out a plain-looking stone tomb with a large metal cross on its north side, the occupant of which is unrecorded, but which Worby says has a story attached to it, which he tells to Lake later that evening, by the comfort of the fire in his sitting room.
Some years earlier, in 1840, a new dean had taken charge of the cathedral. A keen admirer of the Gothic Revival style of architecture, he ordered that the interior should be stripped of everything added after the medieval period, which included the pulpit. The oldest member of the cathedral warned the dean not to disturb the pulpit, telling him that “you don’t know what mischief you may do”. But the pulpit is nevertheless removed, revealing a plain altar tomb, the occupant of which remains unknown.
See also
- M. R. James bibliographyList of the works written by M. R. James.
External links
- Full text of “An Episode of Cathedral History” at Project Gutenberg