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“The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance” is an epistolaryStory written in the form of a series of letters. ghost story by the English medievalist and author M. R. James (1862–1936), first published in the Cambridge Review on 4 June 1913, and later included in A Thin Ghost and Others
Collection of five short stories by the English medievalist and author M. R. James, first published in 1919. (1919) and The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James
Collection of all but four of the ghost stories written by the English medievalist and author M. R. James, first published in 1931. (1931).[1]
The events described occur between 22 and 26 December 1837, and concern the disappearance of a rector, and a mysterious Punch and Judy puppet show. The story is introduced by an unknown narrator who claims that the letters were sent to him or her recently as someone known to be interested in ghost stories, and that there can be “no doubt about their authenticity”.[2]
Synopsis
On 22 December 1837, W. R. writes to his brother Robert to say that he will probably be unable to join Robert and his family for Christmas that year. He explains that their Uncle Henry, the rector of a church in a town referred to only as B–, has disappeared, and his housekeeper has written to W. R. asking him to come to B– to join in the search for the rector.
In his second letter, dated 23 December, W. R. writes from his lodgings at the King’s Head in B– to tell his brother what is known about their uncle’s disappearance, and that few believe he is still alive. He recounts that at about 5:00 pm on Friday 19 December the rector went to visit a sick parishioner in a cottage two miles from the church, leaving at 6:30 pm accompanied part of the way back by one of the sick man’s children, the last time he was seen alive. W. R. adds that the Bow Street men will be arriving by the night coach to assist in the search.
In the third letter, dated 25 December, W. R. recounts a conversation he has had with a travelling salesman also staying at the King’s Head, who enthusiastically recommended that he not miss a Punch and Judy puppet show he had just seen. That night, W. R. dreams that he is sitting in an audience about to watch a Punch and Judy show. The booth serving as the puppet theatre appears larger than usual, and a sign identifies the puppeteers as Kidman and Gallop. W. R. expects the show to begin as usual, heralded by panpipes or a bugle, but instead he hears the single toll of a large bell. There appears to be something Satanic about the yellowish white face of Mr Punch, almost like a vampire. What follows is a series of gruesome scenes in which Punch murders the other puppets, with the stage darkening after each death. The last murder is committed in total darkness, after which Punch reappears with blood on his shoes.
The backdrop then changes to a moonlit grove of trees. The shape of a human figure rises up, dressed in black, its head covered with a whitish bag. The figure crawls towards Punch, who flees in terror. The figure chases after Punch until he falls down exhausted, at which point the figure falls on top of Punch and removes the bag from its head. Then everything grows dark.
The fourth and final letter is dated 26 December. After attending church on Christmas Day, W. R. returned to the King’s Head and did some reading before falling asleep. He was awoken at about 2:30 pm by sounds coming from the market place below. Preparations are being made for a Punch and Judy show, obviously the same one the travelling salesman had seen. A sign above the booth says that the puppeteers are Foresta and Calpigi. W. R. gets a member of the inn’s staff to pay the Punch and Judy men a crown so that they will perform the show facing the window of his room. Despite his previous night’s dream W. R. enjoys the show very much, although the Toby dog repeatedly howls at the wrong times, and eventually runs off. At the climax of the show, when Punch is to be hanged, W. R. sees a “nightcapped head” in the Punch and Judy booth, and it seems as if the arms of one of the puppeteers are pinioned as he is lifted towards the gallows. The booth collapses, and two figures are seen running from the wreckage towards the fields.
The chase ends when one of the puppeteers falls into a chalk pit and fatally breaks his neck, but there is no sign of the second man. He is subsequently found lying dead under the wreckage of the Punch and Judy booth in the market square. Uncle Henry’s body is found in the chalk pit with a cut throat and a sack over its head.
Commentary
The literary journalist Tim Martin has described “The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance” as one of James’s “most frightening pieces”.[3] The literary critic Penelope Fitzgerald has described it as “the best story he [James] ever wrote”.[4]
— M. R. James, 1931[5]
Not one of James’s better known stories, it makes use of several of the tropes found throughout his canon, such as the dark, vengeful figure, and the appearance of seemingly supernatural animated objects.[5]
References
Works cited
External links
- Full text of A Thin Ghost and Others at Project Gutenberg
