A short story by the famous author of “Dracula”, Bram Stoker, has been discovered in Dublin by a lifelong enthusiast who stumbled upon the work while browsing in a library collection.
Titled “Gibbet Hill”, the story was uncovered by Brian Cleary in the 1890 Christmas supplement of the Dublin edition of the Daily Mail newspaper and remained undocumented for over 130 years.
This rare find, which has never been mentioned in any Stoker bibliography or biography, is now being revealed to the public for the first time in an exhibition in the Irish capital.
The 1897 Gothic, mystical and supernatural vampire novel “Dracula” may have been set in Transylvania and England, but its author, Stoker, was a Dubliner.
“I read ‘Dracula’ as a kid and it stuck with me, I read everything I could about Stoker and about him,” said Cleary, a 44-year-old author and amateur historian who lives in Dublin’s Marino neighborhood. could be found.” The author grew up.
Thanks to “Dracula,” Stoker “had a huge impact on popular culture, but was underappreciated,” Cleary told AFP at Marino’s Casino, a grand 18th-century building near the author’s birthplace that Hosting the exhibition.
‘surprised’
Cleary’s journey of discovery began in 2021 when a sudden onset of deafness changed her life.
While on leave to retrain his hearing after cochlear implant surgery, Cleary visited the National Library of Ireland to further his interest in historical literature and Stoker’s works.
There, in October 2023, he discovered a hidden literary gem, the story “Gibbet Hill”, which he had never heard of before.
Cleary said, “I was astonished to see in the library that I was potentially looking at a lost ghost story of Stoker’s, especially from the time when he was writing ‘Dracula’, in which ‘Dracula’ There were also elements.”
“I was sitting at the screen wondering, am I the only person alive who has read this? After this, what am I going to do with it?”
Cleary conducted an extensive literary search to verify the discovery and consulted Stoker expert and biographer Paul Murray, who confirmed that the story was unknown, lost and buried in archives for over 130 years.
“‘Gibbet Hill’ is very important in terms of Stoker’s development as a writer, 1890 was when he was a young writer and made his first notes for ‘Dracula’,” Murray told AFP.
“It’s a classic Stoker story, the struggle between good and evil, evil that arises in exotic and unexplained ways, and a pathos on his way to publish ‘Dracula.’
drawing
The horrific story tells of the murder by three criminals of a sailor whose bodies were hung on a gibbet or gallows on a hill as a ghostly warning to passing travelers.
To celebrate the discovery, “Gibbet Hill” has been captured in a book featuring cover art and illustrations inspired by the story by respected Irish artist Paul McKinley.
Cleary said, “It’s quite surreal now to be standing next to a picture inspired by three characters from the story.”
McKinley said, “When Brian sent me ‘Gibbet Hill’ there was a lot I could work with.”
His haunting, sometimes macabre depictions include “juicy, wet, oily paintings” of insects inspired by a young character in the story, holding a bunch of earthworms in his hands.
“Creating new images for an old story long buried” was a “fascinating challenge,” the artist said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
