"The Middle Toe of the Right Foot" is a ghost story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on April 17, 1890, and was reprinted the following year as part of Tales of Soldiers and Civilians . [1]
The plot was apparently inspired by the front page Examiner news story from November 14, 1888, which described "an improbable duel with bowie knives in a suitably darkened room". [2]
A man named Manton has horribly killed his two children and his wife, the latter of whom lacked the middle toe of the right foot. Ten years later he returns much altered to the neighborhood; and, being secretly recognized, is provoked into a bowie-knife duel in the dark, to be held in the now-abandoned house where his crime was committed.
When the moment of the duel arrives a trick is played upon him; and he is left without an antagonist, shut in a night-black ground floor room of the reputedly haunted edifice, "with the thick dust of a decade on every hand". [3] No knife is drawn against him, for only a thorough scare is intended.
On the next day, Manton is found crouched in a corner with a distorted face, dead of sheer fright at something he has seen. The only clue visible to the discoverers is one having supernatural implications:
In the dust of years that lay thick upon the floor — leading from the door by which they had entered, straight across the room to within a yard of Manton's crouching corpse — were three parallel lines of footprints — light but definite impressions of bare feet, the outer ones those of small children, the inner a woman's. From the point at which they ended they did not return; they pointed all one way.
"The Middle Toe of the Right Foot" has been viewed as the most effective of Bierce's stories built around the idea of supernatural revenge from beyond the grave. [4] [5] According to H. P. Lovecraft, the story is "clumsily developed, but has a powerful climax". [6]
More recently, Donald T. Blume has criticized the story for being "laden with improbabilities" and having a "convoluted narrative structure". [2]
The Return (1973) is a British short film, adapted by Sture Rydman from "The Middle Toe of the Right Foot" and another story, "Nobody's House" by A. M. Burrage. [7]
The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, which have been reanimated by supernatural means, technology, or disease. In some cases, the term also includes incorporeal forms of the dead, such as ghosts.
The King in Yellow is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published by F. Tennyson Neely in 1895. The British first edition was published by Chatto & Windus in 1895.
Hastur is an entity of the Cthulhu Mythos.
"Supernatural Horror in Literature" is a 28,000-word essay by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, surveying the development and achievements of horror fiction as the field stood in the 1920s and 30s. The essay was researched and written between November 1925 and May 1927, first published in August 1927, and then revised and expanded during 1933–1934.
The Black Mass was a horror-fantasy radio drama produced by Erik Bauersfeld, a leading American radio dramatist of the post-television era. The series aired on KPFA (Berkeley) and KPFK from 1963 to 1967, on an irregular schedule. Bauersfeld was the Director of Drama and Literature at KPFA from 1966 to 1991.
Sunand Tryambak Joshi is an American literary critic whose work has largely focused on weird and fantastic fiction, especially the life and work of H. P. Lovecraft and associated writers.
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890) is a short story by American writer and Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce, described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature". It was originally published by The San Francisco Examiner on July 13, 1890, and was first collected in Bierce's book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891). The story is set during the American Civil War and is known for its irregular time sequence and twist ending. Bierce's abandonment of strict linear narration in favor of the internal mind of the protagonist is an early example of the stream of consciousness narrative mode.
Lovecraftian horror, also called cosmic horror or eldritch horror, is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). His work emphasizes themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries, which are now associated with Lovecraftian horror as a subgenre. The cosmic themes of Lovecraftian horror can also be found in other media, notably horror films, horror games, and comics.
"The Unnamable" is a horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in September 1923, first published in the July 1925 issue of Weird Tales, and first collected in Beyond the Wall of Sleep. The corrected text appears in Dagon and Other Macabre Tales,. The story's locale was inspired by the Charter Street Historic District Burying Ground in Salem.
"A Horseman in the Sky" is a heavily anthologized short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was published on April 14, 1889 under the title The Horseman in the Sky in the Sunday edition of The Examiner, a San Francisco newspaper owned by William Randolph Hearst. It is set during the American Civil War and is one of Bierce's best known war stories. Bierce revised the story for his book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians.
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book The Devil's Dictionary was named one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature", and his book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians was named by the Grolier Club one of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900.
"I, Cthulhu" is a short humorous story by fantasy author Neil Gaiman featuring H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, who is dictating an autobiography to a human slave named Whateley. The story reveals much about Cthulhu's 'birth' and early life.
"The Damned Thing" is a horror short story written by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It first appeared in Town Topics on December 7, 1893.
Tales of Soldiers and Civilians is a collection of short stories by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce, also published under the title In the Midst of Life. With a stated publication date of 1891 the stories describe unusual incidents in the lives of soldiers and civilians during the American Civil War. Tales of Soldiers and Civilians was named by the Grolier Club as one of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900, stating "These short stories are among the finest, and best known, in American literature. ... Written in a clear simple style, with each phrase contributing to the total effect, Bierce's tales pointed the way for the American short-story writer." Bierce's famous story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is included in this collection.
"Killed at Resaca" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. First published in The San Francisco Examiner on June 5, 1887, it was later included in Bierce's Tales of Soldiers and Civilians in 1891.
"Beyond the Wall" is a ghost story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was published by Cosmopolitan in December 1907.
"The Boarded Window: An Incident in the Life of an Ohio Pioneer" is a short story by American Civil War soldier and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on April 12, 1891, and was reprinted the same year in Bierce's collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. The setting for the story is the part of Ohio where Bierce's family lived until 1846.
"The Death of Halpin Frayser" is a Gothic ghost story by Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in the San Francisco periodical The Wave on December 19, 1891 before appearing in the 1893 collection Can Such Things Be?
"One of the Missing" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on March 11, 1888 and was reprinted in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891).
"The Spook House" is a Gothic short story of a haunted house by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on July 7, 1889.