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He was one of the greatest ghost story writers of all time – but did a gruesome face-to-face experience with a ghost in Suffolk create Mr. James’ fascination with horror?
Bizarre Suffolk Great Livermere Byline: Sonya Duncan Copyright: Archant 2019
– Credit: Sonya Duncan
Write down what you know, the old saying goes, so it stands to reason that after seeing a terrifying specter staring at him through a door, author MR James was destined to become a writer of ghost stories. The author moved to Suffolk at the age of three when his father became rector of Great Livermere, near the Norfolk border. The family made Livermere their home from 1865 to 1909, and the county was close to James’ heart. Some of his most terrifying tales take place in the county: The Ash Tree, A Warning to the Curious and the chilling Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.
A Vignette by Montague Rhodes James, written in 1935 and published after his death in 1936, is said to be based on a real-life experience he had in Livermere as a child. In a nightmare, young James goes to his bedroom window in the rectory and sees a curious movement in the garden, something moving towards the house – just as he hears footsteps on the stairs and a hand on his. door, he wakes up. The dream keeps on coming and he begins to wonder if there is some nasty story related to where he lives and, when he goes to investigate in the garden, he sees a terrifying face staring at him through a hole in the wall. door. Rose, malicious and with wide open eyes, when James fled and looked back he saw a draped figure dragging away among the trees. Never confirmed or denied as a factual observation, researchers have long believed that the story of the gruesome face at the door made young MR James a writer of equally gruesome stories that exploited this terrible creeping sense of unease.
This reed covered corner of Suffolk with its rugged paths and marshes was where James wrote some of his scariest stories, the village cemetery still bears a gravestone with the name Mothersole, borrowed by the author for the ghost of a young woman who haunts the man who executed her for witchcraft. Local resident Beryl Dyson wrote a book about the ghosts of Great Livermere, A Parish With Ghosts, published in 2016, which she says is drawn to the village because of her Mother. In her book there are stories of a ghostly figure of a woman near the cemetery wall, of a ghost cyclist who haunts the village roads, of a ghost woman in red who sets out on the path. oncoming traffic before disappearing and a dog resembling Shuck.
Dyson believes the ghost she saw – the figure of a jester near the rectory gates – might have been the same one seen by Mr. R. James in the 19th century. In an article for the Ghost Club, Beryl wrote that the dogs were scared in some areas of the village and appeared to be afraid of a particular clump of trees growing near where James allegedly saw his ghost. letters and discussions with two of Reverend Dobree’s daughters, who moved into the rectory after the James family left it, “Beryl wrote,” I learned that after a room once used as a nursery in the rectory was turned into a guest bedroom, the guests who used this room experienced the most horrific dreams and nightmares and would not sleep in this room anymore.
Bizarre Suffolk Great Livermere Byline: Sonya Duncan Copyright: Archant 2019
– Credit: Sonya Duncan
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“The two ladies could not recall the exact details of the dreams, but, with great reserve, mentioned events related to the slave trade. Therefore, this coin was not used.”
Bizarre Suffolk Great Livermere Byline: Sonya Duncan Copyright: Archant 2019
– Credit: Sonya Duncan
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