MORE W.F. HARVEY

I previously wrote an article looking at William Fryer Harvey where I gave a little of his background and looked at some of stories. That post can be found here: https://horrordelve.com/2014/01/19/w-f-harvey/. Seeing as I consider “The Beast With Five Fingers” an absolute masterpiece of the genre, I wanted to check out a few more of his stories. None of these reach the brilliance of “The Beast With Five Fingers”, but “The Tortoise” and “The Clock” are particularly excellent stories.

STORIES:

1. “The Tortoise” (1910) – A servant admires an unusually large tortoise that was found in the garden and taken into the house to serve as a pet for the children. He names it and tries to find things for it to eat. The final line of this tale is brilliantly chilling.

 
2. “Midnight House” (1910) – A traveler has strange dreams while staying at a remote inn involving an evil man trying to deceive his way into enemy fortifications.

 
3. “The Clock” (1928) – A man is asked by an elderly woman, who’s been staying with his aunt after her servants abruptly left her, to retrieve a travel clock from her house since he’s preparing to travel close to it. He agrees, but when he arrives he finds the place unnerving and discovers the wind-up clock still running despite no one being inside for nearly two weeks. He then begins to hear something coming up the stairs toward him. This is a thoroughly unsettling tale of the supernatural, told in a few short pages.

 
4. “Atmospherics” (1951) – This non-supernatural tale deals with a nurse who learns about the subtle, malicious manipulations of a rich family. This story shows how things aren’t always as they first seem.

 
5. “The Arm of Mrs Egan” – A young doctor is cursed by an old widow after he misdiagnosed her son who died as a result. Afterwards, his patients continue dying while under his care, forcing him to change careers and move, but more deaths continue to follow him.

Article by Matt Cowan