Re: 'Bewitched'- Edith Wharton

Have you ever encountered the story of Mercy Brown of Exeter RI? I think Wharton surely would have been familiar with it (hello from the future).

On Tuesday, April 13, 1999 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
> A la rbadac, note the spoilers ahead!
> I've always liked Wharton's "Bewitched." Kind of the *Ethan Frome* of ghost
> stories, with all those taciturn, dour, hardscrabble New Englanders mumbling
> and shrugging and generally struggling to repress every emotion. I can only
> envy rbadac his first edition (what a find!): I, alas, refer to the Fawcett
> Popular Library paperback of *The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton* ($2.95 back
> in 1982).
> My ability to detect nuance may be sadly rusty from not having re-read
> Aickman recently, but, looking back over "Bewitched," it seems hard to find
> any ambiguity about the specter in the deserted house. As the men go up to
> it they see the bare footprints of a woman in the snow, and Bosworth thinks
> "[N]o live woman would travel with naked feet across that freezing
> wilderness." Rutledge himself claims it's Ora whom he meets. And, after
> Venny's burial, Mrs. Rutledge says her husband will sleep quieter, "and *her*
> too, maybe, now she don't lay alone any longer." I assume she means Ora will
> now have company, and won't need to come visit Rutledge.
> What is a bit puzzling is the suggestion of vampirism--the way Brand's wife,
> then Ora, then Venny, all waste away. One gets the feeling that the community
> may be getting three revenants for the price of one (of course, Mrs. Rutledge
> has the all-purpose remedy: "A stake through the breast!").
> A good, grim story. Got any other Wharton ghouls in that collection? 
> "Kerfol," "Afterward," "Pomegranate Seed," and "Mr. Jones" are other
> favorites of mine.
> Robert
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] wrote:
> > SPOILERS !!!
> >
> > Heh heh. Just thought I'd get that out of the way. If nothing else, it's a
> > guaranteed method to get people to read a post.
> >
> > Okay, quick recap: 'Bewitched' in a nutshell is, woman's husband is consorting
> > with the ghost of his old girlfriend, woman gets old girlfriend's dad, and the
> > Deacon, and some other guy together to tell them about it, the three men go to
> > the alleged place of manifestation, shot is fired, next day news has it the
> > still living *sister* of the old girlfriend is dying of pneumonia, she kicks,
> > funeral, end.
> >
> > Well, I did say 'in a nutshell.' That's why it is necessary to establish all
> > that 'atmosphere'...I read this in HERE AND BEYOND (Appleton; NY & London,
> > 1936, yes I have the first, I got it at a flea market for a dollar, along
> > with the first of XINGU, Scribners; NY 1916, clang-clang went the trolley),
> > and as it just so happens I also have the *video* of the Granada Television
> > production of it, one of those Shades Of Darkness things; they did Hartley's
> > 'Feet Foremost,' too.
> >
> > ANYWAY, when the three men break into the assignation hut where the living
> > man supposedly meets the ghost woman, the story is printed like this:
> >
> > "...the door collapsed like a playing card, and Brand stumbled after it into
> > the darkness of the hut. The others, after a moment's hesitation, followed.
> >
> > Bosworth was never quite sure in what order the events that succeeded took
> > place. Coming in out of the snow dazzle, he seemed to be plunging into total
> > blackness. He groped his way across the threshold, caught a sharp splinter of
> > the fallen door in his palm, seemed to see something white and wraithlike
> > surge up out of the darkest corner of the hut, and then heard a revolver shot
> > at his elbow, and a cry--
> >
> > Brand had turned back, and was staggering past him out into the lingering
> > daylight. The sunset, suddenly flashing through the trees, crimsoned his face
> > like blood. He held a revolver in his hand and looked about him in his stupid
> > way.
> >
> > 'They *do* walk, then,' he said, and began to laugh. He bent his head to
> > examine his weapon. 'Better here than in the churchyard, They shan't dig her
> > up *now.*, he shouted out. The two men caught him by the arms, and Bosworth
> > got the revolver away from him.
> >
> > The next day..." blah blah blah. Brand is, of course, the dad, Bosworth is the
> > other guy.
> >
> > But in the *video* they add this bit as the men stumble out of the hut:
> >
> > Bosworth: That was VENNY ! (Not 'Ora,' the dead sister, he means, but Venny
> > the live one)
> >
> > Brand: It was Ora.
> >
> > Deacon: (confirming) It was Ora.
> >
> > Neither in the story or the video does anyone go back into the hut, and both
> > video and story proceed to the end without significant difference. Venny dies
> > unseen, the funeral takes place, and that's it.
> >
> > Which brings me to my question.
> >
> > Was it Venny or Ora?
> >
> > (signed) Bewildered
> >
> > P.S. Stop whining. The Collected Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton is not at all
> > uncommon. You could go read this if you really wanted to !
> >
> > _______________________________________________________________
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