While reading Dracula by Bram Stoker for one of my university courses, I was taken aback to hear that a new short story of his titled Gibbet Hill was found in an Irish newspaper, the Dublin Daily Express, from 1890. Discovered in Dublin, Stoker’s home city, by Brain Cleary whilst browsing the archives of the National History of Ireland, this story becomes a stepping stone for the novel that was to become Dracula. It takes place in Gibbet Hill, a gallows where three people were hanged for murdering a sailor, following a man who meets three terrifying children.
Whilst reading Stoker’s classic, I found myself enthralled with the anxieties presented at the time. The fear of invasion and sexuality becomes rooted themes throughout the tale as the infamous vampire from Eastern Europe preys on young women, that being Mina Harker and Lucy Westerna. Similarly, Gibbet Hill utilises two young girls from India that are beautiful, yet devilish, to explore similar themes. These young girls are accompanied by a young, white boy as they wreak havoc upon the protagonist of the story. The girls start singing in chants, and Stoker focuses on multiple aspects of the girls that are hauntingly beautiful, such as their eyes and voice. In turn, the foreign-born girls evoke a sense of fear into us as we are both entranced and frightened by them. This same feeling is presented in Dracula by the women vampires who entice Johnathon Harker whilst simultaneously terrifying him.
Stoker was a self-proclaimed fan of Walt Whitman, an infamous poet renowned for his nature writing and optimism, and particularly loved Leaves of Grass, which focuses on the body and the material world. As such, ‘Gibbet Hill’ is a reflection for this love as he perverts nature to illuminate the monstrosity lurking behind every corner. Descriptions of nature are interwoven throughout the story, such as the grandiose hills and grey mist, portraying the chilling atmosphere that we, as the audience, take in line by line. Moreover, the nature found within this short story is emulated within Stoker’s classic, where again we can see how this piece is seminal to his classic.
Thanks to Brain Cleary, this story was published alongside illustrations by Paul McKinley and was presented at the Bram Stoker Festival in Dublin this year. Found in October 2024, it feels as if Stoker came back to life to haunt us one last time during the spookiest month of the year.
Photo by XAVIER PHOTOGRAPHY on Unsplash