manifestation of his past sins—specifically a never
clearly described incident involving an experience
with black magic and suggestions of human sacri-
fice. The manifestation, which generally takes the
form of a long furry caterpillar, follows him when
he travels, and there are even hints that it can oc-
casionally be seen by others.
After encountering a biblical passage that
seems relevant, Marchant discovers that to a lim-
ited extent he can command the creature, al-
though it will not be driven away. Eventually he
hits upon the plan of corrupting a young artist in
such fashion that the familiar will seek out the
younger man’s greater evil in preference to his
own, and after some time it appears that he has
succeeded. The artist, however, commits suicide,
after which the familiar returns to its original mas-
ter, but now transformed into a much more men-
acing and malevolent creature. The author wisely
allows the reader’s imagination to fill in the next
scene. Justice is served and evil determines its own
reward.
“Count Magnus”M. R. James(1904)
This classic horror story is represented from the
outset as an account gleaned from various papers
left by the protagonist, which has since become an
almost certain giveaway that the central character
will not survive the story. Mr. Wraxall has two pas-
sions, his curiosity and his love of travel, and he
marries them happily in his profession of writing
travel guides enhanced by interesting historical de-
tails uncovered during his visits. His latest and last
project was a guide to Scandinavia, in the course
of which he visited Sweden and happened upon
the story of Count Magnus de la Gardie, long since
dead and interred in a mausoleum. The count was
a man known to have engaged in alchemy who
conducted a quest for immortality and who is ru-
mored to have completed the Black Pilgrimage,
about which Wraxall can find no helpful descrip-
tion. Magnus was a cruel man, guilty of murder
and other evils, and there have been long-standing
rumors that his former property is still troubled by
some malevolent spirit. Trespassers there have died
horribly or been driven mad in the past. The
count’s closest companion was a small man who
accompanied him everywhere and who is likewise
interred in the tomb.
This is all grist for Wraxall’s mill, and he ar-
ranges to visit the mausoleum and examine the
count’s casket, which bears unusual and vaguely
disturbing decorations. During his first visit he no-
tices that one of the three padlocks on the coffin is
open and on his return discovers that two are in
fact unfastened, a discrepancy he explains to him-
self as the result of his lack of attention. Unfortu-
nately, he expresses aloud a whimsical wish to have
seen the count in person, and during his final visit
to the tomb, the last of the locks falls loosely to the
floor. Terrified, Wraxall immediately returns to
England, but the damage is done. His notes indi-
cate that he saw shadowy figures that could only
be the count and his companion elsewhere on the
ship and later on land in England. Wraxall stops at
an inn where he is found dead in the morning, his
body so horribly disfigured that it causes a minor
sensation.
“Count Magnus” would seem tame and some-
what predictable if it were to appear today, but M.
R. JAMESwas practically inventing ghost stories
when he wrote this. His basic formula has proven
to be the template for many more tales of terror.Coville, Bruce(1950– )
Almost all of Bruce Coville’s fiction has been for
young adults or children, and much of it is nar-
rated in a deliberately light and playful style. His
earliest books of distinction were young adult hor-
ror, starting with Eyes of Tarot(1983), in which a
teenager defies a family curse by using a tarot deck
to look into her own future, only to be dismayed by
what she finds there, and Spirits and Spells(1983),
in which a group engaged in a role playing game
find themselves trapped in a real and dangerous al-
ternate reality that conforms to the rules of their
fantasy. Waiting Spirits(1984) is an effective ghost
story with a petulant spirit making life difficult for
the protagonist, and Amulet of Doom(1985) is the
suspenseful tale of a cursed object and the desper-
ate attempts of a teenager to escape her fate. Most
of Coville’s subsequent supernatural fiction is
much lighter in tone and directed at a younger au-
dience and includes such titles as The Ghost WoreCoville, Bruce 69