"The Mysterious Bell" is a short, enigmatic tale that feels like the beginning of an unfinished story, but I like it. It reminds me a bit of the spooky sea tales of William Hope Hodgson, or of the Belgian writer Jean Ray. It also has hints of what could be science fiction elements.
It came careering over the waters with a rapid motion, and as it drew near, exhibited to our wondering gaze a single black mast, rising from the centre of what seemed a square and solid block of wood, but without yard or sail, nor did any living creature appear upon it.
Science fiction or ghost story or both -- it is not only intriguing for the mystery within the narrative, but as a literary sleuthing puzzle, too.
It took only a little internet search to notice that the story had been floating around U.S. newspapers quite a bit in early-mid 1828, after having appeared in the weekly New-York Mirror and Ladies Literary Gazette for October 20, 1827. The New-York Mirror had this to say:
The following is copied from an old newspaper. We transcribe it for the edification of those who delight in "tales of the wild and wonderful." Of the subject-matter we say nothing; but as a specimen of composition, it is vastly superior to the productions of ordinary newspaper writing.
I found another little burst of publication around mid-1825. Eventually the Library of Congress newspaper archives gave me the earliest version I could find, from The Phenix Gazette, an Alexandria, Virginia (District of Columbia) paper, dated May 10, 1825. This version, titled "The Mysterious Bell: A Fragment" was attributed to The New York Statesman, and signed "B."
And that was as far as I got, because The New York Stateman isn't online. I asked for help from the Facebook group The Classic Ghost Story Tradition, and finally, thanks to Christopher Philippo, we got it:
"The Mysterious Bell -- A Fragment," marked "For the Statesman" and signed "B.", appeared in The New-York Statesman, April 29, 1825.
Beyond that, it cannot be traced. Is this the original publication? Who is "B."? Was this fragment indeed the start of an abortive attempt at a novel or longer story? We may never know.
The spelling of "centre" in the quote from the story above is interesting, as it suggests a non-US origin of either the story and/or of "B." And I will note that I found the story in the Sydney [Australia] Gazette for June 8, 1827 -- well after its original (as far as we know) publication, but before its appearance in The Mirror. This is the only non-US publication of the tale I found in my search.
Thanks to:
- Christopher Philippo, editor of this year's Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories (featuring stories from the New World!), for tracking the earliest-that-we-know-of publication of this story down.
- Alistair Gunn, editor of the Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories series, who found an April 30, 1825 version of the story (credited to the Statesman) in the Daily National Journal, another DC paper.
- Tim Prasil, who has edited quite a few spooky collections, and written some ghosthunter stories, too, for searching Newspapers.com.
- Anyone else from The Classic Ghost Story Tradition group who took a crack at this, for joining along in the fun.
- Thanks also to Vincent Golden, Curator of Newspapers and Periodicals at the American Antiquarian Society, who also tracked down a scan of the New-York Stateman publication for me because I hadn't noticed that Christopher Philippo had already sent me one. Silly me.
The first link in the article above goes to a clean PDF of my transcription of "The Mysterious Bell."