Brian Cleary reading a photocopy of the 1890 short story
Credit: Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival
There is no doubt that horror stories are forever popular with adults and children and two of the most enduring and still popular contain Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula which date back to the 19th century.
Irish born author Bram Stoker wrote a number of books which could be classified as horror and following his death in 1912, his widow published a number of his short stories, but one at least, Gibbett Hill was lost until now.
story forgotten until now
The story was originally written for the Christmas supplement of the Dublin Daily Express in 1890 but until now has never been attributed to his body of work at any time.
unexpected but exciting Bran Stoker discovery
The discovery came about because of the investigation of Stoker enthusiast Brian Cleary who was on the trail of the short story from 2021, when he unexpectedly lost his hearing and following an operation was convalescing so spent some time at the visited the National Library of Ireland (NLI) for something to do.
Amazingly he spotted an advertisement that mention Gibbett Hill from 1891 and digging deeper discovered the now only known version and after much discussion with Stoker experts it was agreed that this was the ‘real thing’ and has laid undocumented and unknown until now.
in time for Bram Stoker Festival and Halloween
Technically a ghost story, it will be read to a selected audience as part of Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival 2024 on Saturday October 26, in time for Halloween and will then be published with observations by the renowned Roddy Doyle (who himself suffered from deafness), with explanations from Mr Clearly as well as Stoker Biographer Paul Murray.
sales of book will help prevent deafness in babies
The book will cost €18.99 with proceeds going to the newly-established Charlotte Stoker Fund, dedicated to research on preventable deafness in vulnerable newborns.
