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The lost story of the author of Dracula, discovered after 134 years

2024-10-20 09:30:00, Blog Maia Davies

An amateur historian has discovered a long-lost short story by Bram Stoker, published just seven years before his legendary gothic novel Dracula.

Brian Cleary stumbled upon the 134-year-old ghostly tale while browsing the archives of the National Library of Ireland.

Gibbet Hill was first published in a Dublin newspaper in 1890, when the Irishman began working on Dracula, but has been undocumented ever since.

Stoker's biographer Paul Murray says the story sheds light on his development as an author and was an "important stop on his way to publishing Dracula".

The ghost story tells the story of a sailor murdered by three criminals, whose bodies were hung on a hanging gallows as a warning to passing travelers.

It is located on Gibbet Hill in Surrey, a location also referenced in Charles Dickens' 1839 novel Nicholas Nickleby.

Mr Cleary made the revelation after taking time off work following the sudden onset of hearing loss in 2021, during which he was due to spend time at the national library in Stoker's native Dublin.

In October 2023, the Stoker fan came across an unknown headline in an 1890 Christmas supplement of the Daily Express Dublin Edition.

Mr Clearly told the AFP news agency: "I read the words Gibbet Hill and knew it was not a Bram Stoker story I had ever heard in any of the biographies or bibliographies."

"And I was amazed, amazed. I sat staring at the screen wondering, am I the only person alive who had read it?"

Library director Audrey Whitty said Mr Cleary phoned her and said: "I've found something extraordinary in your newspaper archives - you won't believe it."

She added that his "amazing amateur detective work" was a testament to the library's archives.

"There are really important world discoveries waiting to be found," she said.

After his initial discovery, Cleary contacted biographer Paul Murray, who confirmed that there was no trace of the story for more than a century.

He said that 1890 was when he was a young writer and made his first notes about Dracula.

"It's a classic Stoker story, the struggle between good and evil, evil appearing in exotic and inexplicable ways," he added.

Gibbet Hill is being published alongside artwork by Irish artist Paul McKinley by the Rotunda Foundation - the fundraising arm of Dublin's Rotunda Hospital for which Mr Cleary worked.

All proceeds will go to the newly formed Charlotte Stoker Fund - named after Bram Stoker's mother, who was a hearing loss activist - to fund research into infant hearing loss./ CNA