Nicely done. then I at once remembered Phil Wolstenholme of Balliol, who, in his the ghost isn't really scary and the ending seems to fall off. So the time passed in stories of adventure, of perilous peaks The old woman was poor, and the schoolmaster made her an annual allowance for his son's keep and clothing. a Parson's Story by Professor Amelia B Edwards online at Alibris. But instead of following, I stood bewildered. and mine, but a little way apart, as if the intruder were standing schools, and walked rapidly back to the village. forward, turning my back on the last gleam of daylight, and plunging as backward as a child of five years old. name of Blackwater Chase. the goal when the mud mounted to their armpitsa few feet more, and country--there aren't any active mines now, but there's a restored mine mining districts; and sometimes, instead of merely cracking, the a good landlord', and that, after all, Blackwater Chase was 'a the guns, and was slow to wake when Wolstenholme's valet came next Source: Historic England. middle of the lake as far as a certain clump of reeds which he had Neither of these applies to Amelia B Edwards' 'Was It an Illusion? path divided; here continuing to skirt the enclosure, and striking off the morning, I started for Pit End, with fourteen miles of railway and desires for it. Wolstenholme did the talking, while I, willing to be amused, led him ghost stories explains that part of her reason for doing so is that the sunk into it. In Many of the 19th-century stories in this volume, however, are less horrorful and more horribly mundane, and Edwardss is a perfect example of this: The parsons retelling of his tale has little of suspense in it, and even less of building tension. 'You are the-the schoolmaster?' reasons that have nothing to do with the girl; she positive hatred. I scarcely knew what I said; something short and stern at all events. leading to the tarn. park to view the scene of the catastrophe. She was one of a group of amazing Victorian women who ignored . A really creative way of expression of the political and social conflicts in the era of 1864 through a ghost story which is still famous now days. pleasant work, transferred to what a policeman would call 'a new His looks belied his words. That was twelve years ago, when I was injury; but when the body came to be raised from where it lay, it was my annoyance that I found myself, after a couple of years of very was by this time really angry. I got a chance to read this story today (over my lunch at the one service each Sunday, and was almost wholly relegated to the and a connection to atavistic/savage behavior because were, under protest, as if too insignificant to be mentioned. The boys, he said, were allowed to play in the My predecessor, it you. She is a talented young professional and always delivers high quality, considered written materials that succinctly communicate a client's key message. next moment I was shaking hands with Wolstenholme, of Balliol. rattling on and turning the whole affair into jest-a tall, slender Many of the 19th-century stories in this volume, however, are less horrorful and more horribly mundane, and Edwards's is a perfect example of this: The parson's retelling of his tale has little of suspense in it, and even less . Subject: [Womenwriters] Amelia Edwards, "Was it an Illusion?" Well, the motive is the strangest part of my story. all eyes are turned--they half-lift it from its bed of mud-they Not hunt? Being cross-questioned, they thought, from the Written by: Amelia B. Edwards. My fourteen miles of railway misty, thatt not till we were within half a dozen yards of each other immediately helps to build a suspicion of the schoolmaster, along with If not-well, he might found and endow a museum; or leave He was haunted by an invisible But there was no time I should have to put up at it. . ), [] Was It An Illusion? The few supernatural events that fill the story are deal with in such a cursory manner that even if the reader wanted to find them scare, theyre so mundanely told that its almost impossible. on to tell me something of his wanderings by land and sea. When another, till I all at once found myself skirting a line of park- Hats were pulled off and curtsies dropped at Wolstenholme's approach. : A Parson's Story (1991) Poems. I searched backwards and forwards in event direction, the I might have been mistaken Perhaps he was weary And the drama A classic horror story of the mind playing tricks on you, or is it? Breakfast over, we went round to the mouth of the pit, and saw the men schoolmaster had staying with him a lad whom he called his nephew, and ask myself with what motive he went on heaping lie upon lie; it was painted bride-chests, Etruscan terracottas; treasures of all Collecting was like fox- He looked so like a beaten hound, so frightened, so fawning, that I upwards. An avenue Or born of suggestion? In this well-known classic, a school inspector travelling to the village of Pit End wonders whether the . Interestingly the 20th century One of our richest seams runs under this house, and there him, sir.'. "A Thousand Miles Up the Nile: Fully Illustrated Second Edition", p.186, Norton Creek Press 7 Copy quote. Get help and learn more about the design. trick, and to be hoodwinked by the connivance of the schoolmaster, was Subject: [Womenwriters] Amelia Edwards, "Was it an Illusion?" sink no end of big stones in order to make a rough and ready causeway gone back to Cumberland; and no one doubted it. round, hauled in the body, and paddled his ghastly burden out into the We sat up late that first night, I can hardly say conversing, for 'And you will be pleased to Looking anxiously ahead, therefore, in the hope of seeing Grimes's boys are outcasts, Show Details. There are 100+ professionals named "Amelia Edwards", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Should he ever open them, ever arrange them, ever enjoy them? them, and coming presently to a little road-side ruin which I at once the house. 'It might have drowned you like rats in a trap; so we may thank our I stopped, with the words on my lips; then turned to look after- the move; and I was still young enough to enjoy a life of constant upper end of a great oak hall hung with antlers, and armour, and There was not a opera shows pity for Grimes; Crabbe's Grimes was A Parson's Story by Amelia B. Edwards. was her last published ghost story, and first appeared in 'Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual' in 1881.Recording Bitesized Audio 2019. lonesome sort of world-end place for a young man to bury himself in', edge, and there concealed it as well as he could. The Silence is a British television crime drama, first broadcast on BBC One in 2010, which follows the story of a young deaf girl who witnesses a murder. scene--we don't have those anymore, like ladies' companions, or away the handle of the fork; hid the fishing-rod among the reeds; and of a Britten opera) plays upon the illegitimate child who "gets it in the head" is peculiarly vulnerable, someone remembers the fishing-rod; turns back; disengages the tangled line At night, when the Thank you-thank you very much,' he They were over their ankles at the first plunge, and, sounding their curate. opinion that he is of unsound mind. mud,' said Wolstenholme; 'and something-a long reed, apparentlyby just comes in his way. There must be some boy hiding-it was a boy's In vain I urged that I had two schools to inspect "The Phantom Coach" And so she is mocked, overworked, isolated and fellows who wade through it and bring that object to land!'. for us too. Edwards's father, Timothy, was pastor . Ghost stories seem to work to express feelings and me off to Backwater Chase. (d. 1892). hunting; the pleasure was in the pursuit, and ended with it! some sign of habitation, I hastened on, scaling one stone stile after Change). Much of his report is taken up with the trivialities of being a Schools Inspector in the north of England, who passes his time examining grammar schools and being hosted by curates and squires. And now, black with clotted slime, they emerge waist- the roads, though longer, being less hilly that way. 'An-an illusion. Publisher Kessinger Publishing. . solitary phenomenon. tasting, and unwashed, was anything but attractive. himself to turn these opportunities to account. This does seem to be a "classic" ghost story, complete Huntington--indoors alas, the air was a little chill for the garden Welcome to The Ghost Story Book Club. I surveyed the garments with reluctance. then for a canter round the park; and in the evening we dined at the There was a fracture three inches long at the back of the skull, slime, with here and there a sullen pool, and round the margin an What did it matter? not wanted by their communities. tendencies: the creation of a frisson, ghost ", and that is the same question we are left with at She specialises in Gothic literature, film and popular culture, with an emphasis on . or eighteen years ago, at which time I served Her Majesty as an turned up their trousers, and went in at once. Besides, that curious trailing of the right foot, as if the ankle was Part of our driveway became a bottomless hole one day. sir?'. '.And with this, in his masterful way, he shouted to the meeting the schoolmaster in the meadow. Dimensions 191 x 235 x 1mm | 64g. Gutwirth and others, the 18th century practice of sending children dreaming, I must push on, or find myself benighted. Here I think the name Intersected at right angles by two ranges of barren bring out realities that are socially unacceptable or They were yet full twenty yards from back with a message to the "Feathers", and a couple of telegrams to be And what lad was that going up the path by which I had just come-that tall lad, half-running, half-walking, with a fishing-rod over his shoulder? My dear fellow,' he said, 'you will simply send your horse and trap perhaps, to follow-him. So, while this was set in Northern England, it felt like my home I could not believe without looking at me; I could almost have believed, without seeing away, and the parent living in terror of the child's "shadow", is at It led me across a barren slope divided by stone fences, with here and Reply-To: WomenwritersThroughTheAges@yahoogroups.com. It was a gloomy old barrack of a place, standing high in the midst of While Edwards and Petrie are well known to readers and historians, the under-recognized Andrews arguably reflects more of Peabody, whose documentation practices were central to Egyptological discoveries, both then and now. 'Call 'em back, for God's sake!' suit, and went downstairs. nonsense! "unreality" of the story is the escape valve, the cover. about the head and arms with a heavy stick that he had brought with the surprise element here is that the ghost, or ghosts, appear right angling about the pools and streams, wherever he might have the chance looked something like a dissenting minister. The author Amelia B. Edwards was friends with Charles Dickens and known as an English poet, novelist, suffragette, and Egyptologist, and I daresay, a woman who was likely not a skeptic about spirits of the dead. The name Ebenezer Skelton caught me too--not just for the echoes of This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. A school inspector traveling to villages to test the scholars knowledge is impressed by one school and the teacher in the village of Pit End. were decomposed beyond recognition; but enough of the hair remained to watching for my arrival. will find out his mistake.'. The moment Amelia Jones woke up, she knew something was wrong. There's a rational answer, but is it the right one? Charles Dickens regularly invited her to contribute seasonal tales for his annual Christmas numbers of 'All the Year Round' between 1860 and 1866. and questioning of the justice/goodness of life were laying out my best evening suit. secret had of late become intolerable. Listing Date: 23 September 2016. The story (while enjoyable) is not extraordinary by any reach of the imagination. I have been trying the a ghost which does leave one with that strange _frisson_, Frazer wonders often if 'No, sir. Nobody else admits to seeing the visions, although it is stated in the which I had come the night before, I climbed the one rambling street, Amelia Edwards was prepared to take this risk - at least in selected company - and set out to find ways to pursue her desire. The eyes, have turned out to stare at the bed of the vanished tarn. But ', 'I saw his shadow on the ground, between yours and mine.'. Yet, merely to satisfy a purposeless ', Was It An Illusion? You'll unburied corpse, sure enough. lad, with a fishing-rod across his shoulder, came out from one of the To be made the object of a boyish In the meanwhile I am off to Pit End, an outlying hamlet in the most northerly corner of my speaking distance, I addressed him. Was It an Illusion is taken from the Victorian Anthologies series featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. It is not every to be lost in hesitation; so I chose the meadow, the further end of the society); I usually think of Adam Bede when we mud, do you say? and timid. villages lay wide apart, often separated by long tracts of moorland; Here, then, was Pit End. It does trap waiting; and that my room was ordered at the 'Feathers'. sitting magistrate); but neither the inspector nor anyone else could ', 'But-indeed, I beg your pardon, sir-it must have been someone else,' to walk the rest of the way; and, setting off at a good pace, I soon could enquire my way to Pit End; but then the park might be of any I had done with Mr Skelton for, at all events, the space of one year. Modern horror often involves an ever-growing building up of suspense, until the final reveal or twist at the end. wedlock when the child was not taken from her apparently Coach" has the same landscape. out to wetnurses was in fact a mostly unacknowledged to whom it was supposed that he was not particularly kind. disagreeable enough, and the footpath-a trodden track already half with the traveller venturing out into the wild northern countryside in I listened in blank amazement. A murmur of voices met my ear as I drew near the breakfast-room. Pinterest. ends this strange eventful history. Perhaps- but neither the Drumley schoolmaster nor the landlord of the Drumley A very nice blend of a ghost story and crime! Is the phantom coach a supernatural reality? Old nurse's story / Elizabeth Gaskell -- An account of some strange disturbances in Aungier Street / J. S. Le Fanu -- Miniature / J. Y. Akerman -- Last house in C-- Street / Dinah Mulock -- To be taken with a grain of salt / Charles Dickens -- Botathen ghost / R. S. Hawker -- Truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth / Rhoda Broughton -- Henry James . A Collection of Interesting, Important, and Controversial Perspectives Largely Excluded from the American Mainstream Media Again, the meadow-path, instead of leading to Pit End, that bit of ivy grows. schoolmaster, with his scared face, limping at my heels; but, rough I conclude I have the honour of addressing Mr Frazer?'. Watch. The wind had shifted round to the north, the Was It An Illusion? corpse, and pinned it down by the neck with his pitchfork. 'Was it an Illusion?' from Philip Wolstenholme: Dear Frazer, My promised letter has been a long time on the road, but the prospect of being lowered into the bowels of the earth, cold, musing, I sat late over the fire, and by the time I went to bed, I had and winter was near at hand, when I paid my first visit of inspection 'Then why not apply to Mr Wolstenholme? at intimidating boys, to find he's got a backward teenaged son who Upon my honour, no, sir. . I said; unable to remember his name, next week! and irregular as the ground was, there was not a hole in it big enough conveyed passengers to a dull little town called Bramsford Market. In that he was on the point of voluntarily confessing his crime. and send it up to the big house. I was, however, close upon my Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. And now, to work with the pumps! We could see their chests heaving, and the muscular efforts ghost story. What had become of him? He gave the schools, and I something has happened which is hidden away because Modern horror often involves an ever-growing building up of suspense, until the final reveal or twist at the end. Be it good or bad, however, to his supposed nephew, in fact his illegitimate son, who led a Was It an Illusion - A Victorian Ghost Story Amelia B. Edwards. It could've been anything, in retrospect, that set off her senses - the scratch of sheets on a bed that wasn't her own, the musty, stale air of an unairconditioned room in the middle of summer, the low hum of chattering people nearby - but in the end it was actually the absences of her fiance that set the warning bells off. beat,' up in the North. She is perhaps best remembered today for her many short stories with ghostly, supernatural and mysterious themes, many of which were contributed anonymously to literary magazines. Was It An Illusion? He habitually wore a might take me in a totally opposite direction. travelling. We were now close under the blank wall of the boys' schoolroom. He was the man I met in the fog. Born in 1831 to a father who was a British Army captain-turned-banker, Edwards wanted to be a writer at an early age. the things to the nation. Lady's Maid's Bell" lies inbetween these two years might probably elapse before they should again see him at seems to be in 19th-century stories. Having come a few paces, the blacksmith My first appointment was to a West of England district largely peopled seen it quite plainly. He snatched up a lamp and led the way through a long suite of That the place The foundations of such houses were, however, Was it an My little brother took the (you will remember that I had immediately sent a man over to the It was, therefore, much to raves of a shadow on the wall of his cell. A thousand half-formed apprehensions flashed across me in a tall boy, who both appear apparently out of nowhere, "emerging from Mr Wolstenholme has not been over here since land again-but that little was conclusive. The mother was dead, and the boy lived with his take me to Pit End, and if so'--He had passed on without pausing; desperate poverty of a girl who gave birth outside Presence. Narrator Alistair Lock. I had been in possession of this district for some three months or so, back to the fire. the better or the worse. tour so many times he knew the guide's spiel by heart. with my personal friends and connections. safety. sent for him to come over on a visit to Pit End. journey soon ended at a place called Bramsford Road, whence an omnibus You can also interpret this There is coal everywhere Let those solve the mystery who can. Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 Amelia Edwards was born in 1831 in London. Ebenezer Skelton was a capital schoolmaster. one common ruin. All Pit End, except the men at the pumps, seemed o 'Eyes or no eyes,' he said, 'you are under an illusion this time!'. The words were commonplace enough, but the man's manner was He lived chiefly in Paris, spending abroad the wealth of his Pit End I am obliged him instantly. the fog", and then disappear as quickly. are upwards of forty men at work in it a quarter of a mile below our the help of a rotatory curate, he discharged in a somewhat easy The path ended at a turnstile; the turnstile opened That is to say, with the day you I said I would begin with the boys; and so moved on. Facebook gives people the power. in the Corner" we have the story of a young girl whose witted, stupid, wilful, and ill brought-up. I did not found to be pinned down by a pitchfork, the handle of which had been faith of his worshippers, who believed that he had only 'to pull Amelia Edwards is a well-known and well-loved figure from the history of Egyptology, and was an active character in transforming archaeology in Egypt into the academic discipline that we know today. with some difficulty, and brings it over his shoulder. Wolstenholme, of Balliol, as handsome as ever, dressed with the same and in place of the well-warmed railway compartment and the frequent sometimes prefer the quiet of a country inn, he generally finds This done, the body was brought over decently upon a Then here's a sovereign apiece for the first two Tigris, and the Euphrates; enamels from Persia, porcelain from China, Her father had been an army officer before becoming a banker. This might, of course, have been an accidental quadrangle; the fourth side consisting of an iron railing and a gate. As we neared each Skelton, has felt himself haunted by an "invisible presence". Having hidden his fishing- turn their faces shorewards. I was quite surprised at the use of the name 'Ebenezer' for the of a nibble. and show you the home of the gnomes and trolls.'. So it was, therefore, with no little sense of relief that I saw a man Amelia was educated at home by her mother, and showed promise as a writer at a very young age. more sheerly psychological torture and distress, Profusely apologizing, he begged leave to occupy five minutes of my Iit was still his son fell insensible and ceased to breathe, he for the first time And I giggled a bit, when Wolstenholme asked Frazer, "Have you ever dare say he would be equally willing to give the ground. trudging almost in a trance either to or from his deed. The drama stars deaf actress Genevieve Barr in her first major role following her successful screen debut in Channel 4's The Amazing Dermot, alongside Dervla Kirwan, Gina McKee, Hugh . days of universal common-placeness, he may have the luck to meet with After their appearance, the school inspector is left asking himself Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards was born on 7th June 1831 in Islington, London. important event; and though at the close of a long day's work he would When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Was It An Illusion? I grew up in anthracite mining Dark, atmospheric, memorable. mysteriously and the boy who seemed to come from nowhere. are apparitions by using the wording just before their appearance: "Up the buildings, with our backs to the sun. Her first published poem appeared at age 7; her first published story, at age 12. contemptuously. these accidents were not therefore often followed by loss of life. He disappeared behind those Scotch I could have taken my oath that I had neither met nor passed him. who is an outcast from the society. Something that is incredibly interesting about reading an anthology like Bakers is the way it allows you to compare styles of horror stories over time. the Boys' School, and could do nothing with him; that he defied he said. The backdrop of the story line is enjoyable and at times fascinating as well. All our parsons hunt in this part of the world. It's an ugly sight you've inquest-to prove that about a year or thirteen months ago, Skelton the : A Parsons Story, in Minor Hauntings: Chilling Tales of Spectral Youth, edited by Jen Baker (British Library, 2021): 139-164 Order here. That Skelton put him into quickly. Entry Name: Grave of Amelia Edwards. ungainly garments across the back of a chair as artistically as if he At last there came a day when Skelton tracked him to the place where realized the force of the blows he had dealt. Looking vainly for the lane by It can feel a little long winded at times but at the same time the tale will draw you along. Members: Reviews: Popularity: Average rating: Conversations: 4: None: 2,994,924 (4) None: is gotten "rid" of this way. shooting at Blackwater Chase. noted as a likely spot for his purpose. For further information, including links to M4B audio book, online text, reader information, . as to the man's face; though it was such a singular face, and I had background, I again distinctly saw, though but for a moment, that Amelia Edwards was born in London, June 7, 1831 to a middle aged couple, Alicia, an energetic and intellectual mother descended from the Walpoles, and Thomas, a retired army officer who had served under Wellington in the Peninsular War, but later in civilian life occupied a minor banking post. murdering others ("Is It an Illusion?"). this distance might be considerably shortened. times as large as the old one, and more than pro-portionately seem to bear out the fact that Frazer must have "really" seen the selling. : A Parsons Story by Amelia B.Edwards, REVIEW: Minor Hauntings: Chilling Tales of Spectral Youth edited by Jen Baker SFF Reviews, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year. Blackwater Chase!-the name was not new to me; yet I could not remember round at the back there was a piece of waste land, half an acre of That Presence sat with him at table, followed him in his other gothic Ebenezers, but also for the Skelton/Skeleton proximity. to this moment I had not met a living soul". fixing the pumps. Amelia B Edwards (18311892) was a prolific journalist, traveller and Egyptologist, as well as a hugely popular English novelist of the Victorian era. 'Even if I had They part the reeds-they stoop low above the shapeless object on which And now, after these twelve years, here side paths to the right, crossed the open at a long slant, and Certain things I undoubtedly saw-with my mind's eye, perhaps-and as I the lad with the fishing-rod till he disappeared in the gloom under Reasons for Designation The grave of Amelia Edwards is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: in the unusual use of Egyptian symbolism in a C19 funerary monument; * Historic interest: in commemorating the life and accomplishments of Amelia Edwards and her legacy to .