The Ash-Tree

by M.R. James

Montague Rhodes James OM, MA, FBA (1 August 1862 - 12 June 1936), who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905-1918), and of Eton College (1918-1936). He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre. James redefined the ghost story for the new century by abandoning many of the formal Gothic cliches of his predecessors and using more realistic contemporary settings. However, James's protagonists and plots tend to reflect his own antiquarian interests. Accordingly, he is known as the originator of the "antiquarian ghost story." James was born in Goodnestone Parsonage, near Dover in Kent, England, although his parents had associations with Aldeburgh in Suffolk. From the age of three (1865) until 1909 his home, if not always his residence, was at the Rectory in Great Livermere, Suffolk. This had also been the childhood home of another eminent Suffolk antiquary, "Honest Tom" Martin (1696-1771) "of Palgrave." Several of his ghost stories are set in Suffolk, including "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" (Felixstowe), "A Warning to the Curious" (Aldeburgh), "Rats" and "A Vignette" (Great Livermere). He lived for many years, first as an undergraduate, then as a don and provost, at King's College, Cambridge, where he was also a member of the Pitt Club. The university provides settings for several of his tales. Apart from medieval subjects, James studied the classics and appeared very successfully in a staging of Aristophanes' play The Birds, with music by Hubert Parry. His ability as an actor was also apparent when he read his new ghost stories to friends at Christmas time. In September 1873 he arrived as a boarder at Temple Grove School, one of the leading boys' preparatory schools of the day. James is best known for his ghost stories, but his work as a medievalist scholar was prodigious and remains highly respected in scholarly circles. Indeed, the success of his stories was founded on his antiquarian talents and knowledge. His discovery of a manuscript fragment led to excavations in the ruins of the abbey at Bury St Edmunds, West Suffolk, in 1902, in which the graves of several twelfth-century abbots described by Jocelyn de Brakelond (a contemporary chronicler) were rediscovered, having been lost since the Dissolution. His 1917 edition of the Latin Lives of Saint Aethelberht, king and martyr (English Historical Review 32), remains authoritative. He catalogued many of the manuscript libraries of the Cambridge colleges. Among his other scholarly works, he wrote The Apocalypse in Art, which placed illuminated Apocalypse manuscripts into families. He also translated the New Testament Apocrypha and contributed to the Encyclopaedia Biblica (1903). His ability to wear his learning lightly is apparent in his Suffolk and Norfolk (Dent, 1930), in which a great deal of knowledge is presented in a popular and accessible form, and in Abbeys (Great Western Railway, 1925). James also achieved a great deal during his directorship of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (1893-1908). He managed to secure a large number of important paintings and manuscripts, including notable portraits by Titian. James was Provost of Eton College from 1918 to 1936. He died in 1936 and was buried in Eton town cemetery.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Classics, Audiobook, Fiction, Ghost Stories, Gothic

ebook

First published January 1, 1904

About the author

Montague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted English mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

M.R.^James

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather old-fashioned and a little creepy, but ultimately completely forgettable. I won't be growing any ash trees outside my bedroom window, though, just in case.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The World Tree of Norse myth is said to be an ash tree, a tree that connects our world with worlds above and below. M.R. James says nothing about this particular myth in his excellent ghostly tale “The Ash Tree,” but he introduces us to a legend about an old member of the ash family, a tree connected to the netherworld at least, if not to a celestial one.

During a witch trial in 1690, Sir Matthew Fell, proprietor of Castringham Hall, testified to having seen Mrs. Mothersole “gathering sprigs ‘from the ash-tree near my house’ where she ‘had climbed into the branches, clad only in her shift.” Sir Matthew saw her “cutting off small twigs with a peculiarly curved knife” and “talking to herself,” but, when he attempted to chase her from the tree, he saw nothing but a rabbit running away toward the village. Mrs. Mothersole was found guilty and hanged. She died filled with rage, and was heard to mutter, “There will be guests in the hall.”

James proceeds to relate a series of mysterious stories concerning the Fell family of Castringham Hall, each with an unfortunate outcome, which culminate in the horrific discovery of what Mrs. Mothersole’s “guests” might be.

This is an absorbing tale, amusing at times, which saves much of its terror for the end. And the end is suitably creepy, viscerally affecting, and well worth the wait.

I was particularly amused by M.R.’s treatment of Sir Richard Fell, the aforesaid Sir Matthew’s grandson. James’ narrator describes him as a “pestilential innovator”:

Before his time the Hall had been a fine block of the mellowest red brick; but Sir Richard had travelled in Italy and become infected with the Italian taste, and, having more money than his predecessors, he determined to leave an Italian palace where he had found an English house. So stucco and ashlar masked the brick; some indifferent Roman marbles were planted about in the entrance-hall and gardens; a reproduction of the Sibyl’s temple at Tivoli was erected on the opposite bank of the mere; and Castringham took on an entirely new, and, I must say, a less engaging, aspect. But it was much admired, and served as a model to a good many of the neighbouring gentry in after-years.

No sooner had I read this passage than I was certain Sir Richard was fated to die a horrible death. For a devoted antiquarian like M.R. James, desecrating an old English house is a serious crime, a crime that must be punished . . . kind of like high school sex in the horror flicks of the 1970’s.

[Hon Lady Selene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I HATE THIS STORY!

I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE IT.

I HATE THE TRICKERY AND WHAT IT LED TO, IT TRICKED ME AND I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE IT.

It's a boggart from Harry Potter, that's what it is. It's a boggart that turned while I was holding it in the majestic palm of my hands and I fucking hate it!

"All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand."

10 stars then and I never want to set my eyes on it ever again. Riddikulus!

[Tom Mathews · Rating 3 out of 5]

A deliciously creepy ghost story from one of the masters of the genre. You can read it online for free at the link below.

http://www.hypnogoria.com/html/ashtre...

[Amina (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was certainly an enjoyable read, but I saw no horror in it :D

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ash tree follows the events following the death of a suspected witch during the witch trials. M R James pulls from local history for this event which adds to the haunting theme. The story is unsettling rather than scary and uses James’ reaccuring themes of rats, creatures almost seen, architecture and hairy things ( read enough James and you will realise supernatural horrors are often covered in hair).
The theme of revenge is quite fun as it generational haunting and ambiguity but again for me it misses the mark.

[LGandT · Rating 5 out of 5]

I caught a BBC version of this with Christopher Lee doing it, I suppose 'nuff said. I loved it.
Even aside from the obvious it was a great little tale, it conjured up images that got into my dreams.

[Melanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read this before, as part of one of James' anthologies, but I just got done with a book where an evil tree grew through a house and was reminded of it.

Just as creepy the second time around.

[Paul Hasbrouck · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of his greatest stories of the supernatural....do not read with windows open.

[Gareth Is Haunted · Rating 2 out of 5]

Your standard run of the mill classic ghost story.

[Jo Berry ☀️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is literally a forgettable tale. This stand-alone short story was listed as ‘finished’ in my audible library, but I was sure I hadn’t listened to it. It was only about halfway through I realised I had listened to it earlier this year, but I only remembered little bits and pieces. It’s quite slow and boring, and I wasn’t quite sure what was supposed to have happened by the end. I’ve never been that impressed by MR James stories. They always seem long, vaguely confusing, and have weak endings. The straightforward narration by David Suchet was fine, but maybe a dramatic performance could have breathed some life into it.

[Julie Brochmann · Rating 1 out of 5]

skip

[Mahayana Dugast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old fashion creepy, enjoyable.

[Latasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the first M.R. James story I was exposed to. I loved it and it terrified me. what came out of the ash tree? omg, burn that thing down!!

[BookmarkedOne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note: if you see your lady neighbor turn into a rabbit late at night, mind your business.

[Ⰰⱃⰿⰰⱀⰴ Ⱆⰾⰴⰵⱃⰻⰽⱁ Ⱅⰵⱄⰾⰰ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful horror novella.
The language is engaging, vivid and atmospheric. It is a dynamically developed text that keeps a strong pace while absorbing all concentration on the pages.
The narrator is heterodiagetic, thus he does not participate in the content directly just as a documentarist bystander.
The creeping of an old curse could in this story be seen as a metaphor for the unbeatable hereditary line. A spiderlike creature and its offspring are connected to a story of a burned witch which through the spiderlike creatures raves revange upon the family that represents the descendants of the man who sentenced her to flames.
It is interesting how the protestant culture and religion burned thousands and thousands witches while the Inquisition of the Catholc Church burned less than one hundred witches in all of the time it existed.
The war on the Catholic Church is astonishing, other heresies united with the transgender and transhumanistic totalitarianism to crush every form of catholicism. The rainbow coalition united in hate and jealousy is fighting to pull down the oldest institution of Tradition in the West.
What can one say. Haters gonna hate. The Catholic Church can only achieve more money and power, not to mention the knowledge which the transhumanist dogma can never even comprehend.
Who is behind feminism, transhumanism and liberalism? Who comes to this world to divide?
Who was throughout history depicted as a hermaphrodite?
While stupid people do not laugh when a sick child like Greta Thunberg throws totalitarian dogma about climate change they do laugh when encountered with the devil. Apperently thousands of years went in vain, all the people from the middle age were wrong, devil does not exist, just like gender does not exist, or nation, or race.
The only thing that exists is feminism and transhumanism, and who disagrees must be shut down.
Well I disagree. Do you disagree?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD3rk...

[Becky Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like most of James' stories, The Ash Tree is set in the Suffolk countryside (my home turf) in a grand house with a dark history and family past. A tale of witchcraft and superstition, and a man who unwittingly upsets the past.

I love a classic tale, and M.R James is always a firm go-to author for me. I've read The Ash Tree many times but listening to this version narrated by David Suchet was an utter joy. While James' classic horror and ghost stories may not be terrifying compared to some modern books, they still fulfil the horror need in me, satisfying the creeping, unsettling, subtly gothic nuances that I adore, and in turn, write myself.

[Natalie H · Rating 2 out of 5]

June 2023
Audiobook edition
34m (1.3x speed)

Initially I gave this one three stars but coming back to it, it didn't leave much of an impression on me. All I really got from the story was witch, tree, spiders. It was a short ghost story, that I don't really have an opinion for. It was just there.

[Linda Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy short read for the witchy season!

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most terrifying stories that I have ever read. Period.
Those who callously talk about the impotence of stories in terms of evoking primal dread, haven't read this one. Otherwise they could have never looked at a tree without shuddering.
Must read.

[Namrata · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have resigned myself to the fact that most short stories are merely a tantalising bait to a thousand page novel that doesn't exist. So, this one gets a good rating while I wrestle with my frustration of not finding more information on the Witch and Ash-Tree.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first came across this story when Christopher Lee read it for the BBC at Christmas. (Nothing says Christmas, more than a good ghost story). Great story with a sense of creeping menace.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghost story, a little creepy, but not really horror.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐

This tale tells the tale of Sir Richard Fell, who has just inherited Castringham, a country seat with an unfortunate seemingly cursed history. The house has been cursed since the day his grandfather, Sir Matthew Fell, condemned to hang a woman, Mrs. Mothersole to death for witchcraft. For her last words "all that she is reported to have said was the seemingly meaningless words: 'There will be guests at the Hall.' Which she repeated more than once in an undertone." It is soon discovered that the ancient ash tree outside his bedroom window is the root of this curse.

[Thomas Houghton · Rating 5 out of 5]

As soon as James suggested that a creature ‘with more than four limbs’ was climbing up the eponymous ash tree, I had the inkling it was a spider. However I did not foresee how the story would end, with a cat being savagely eaten by a giant spider, and then it being revealed that there were multiple giant spiders - all seemingly conjured up by a witch who had been executed nearly half a century before. A great short story that, whilst simplistic in its premise, creates such a vivid and chilling atmosphere.

[Carole Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stumbled upon this on Audible and it fits what I as looking for. Something short but spooky.

The story follows Sir Matthew Fell and his grandson Sir Richard. Years previous a woman was found guilty of being a witch and condemned to death because of the testimony given by Sir Matthew. Not long after, Sir Matthew dies in a mysterious and horrific circumstances. Fifty years later, Sir Richard inherits his grandfather's home and he starts realizing that the ash tree might be to root of his problems.

Oh idiots the lot of them. Especially Richard. Even if you don't believe in supernatural stuff...why would you WANT to stay in the room that your grandfather died in. NOT just DIED...but died a terrible and horrific death. Super creepy.

And that tree. *shudders* Creepy tree. Burn that thing down.

This was short, but it worked. If it was longer I think it wouldn't have been so creepy.

My only issue was that the beginning took a little while to warm up. But it was all worth it by the end.

The narrator did a good job and I loved the sound effects. Both added to creep factor.

For sure worth the listen! I'll give this 4 stars.

[Federico DN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.

This was good, but not going to review it.

For the moment at least.

It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1904] [20p] [Horror] [2.5] [Conditional Recommendable]
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★★★★☆ The Mezzotint [4.5]
★★★☆☆ Ghost Stories of an Antiquary <--

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Bueno.

Esto estuvo bien, pero no voy a reseñarlo.

Al menos por ahora.

Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1904] [20p] [Horror] [2.5] [Recomendable Condicional]
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[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful horror listening 🎧
I read this a part of a box set Classic Tales of Horror - 500 + Stories at a great price. The story is about three deaths of owner of a British estate in the same bedroom after each inheritances. I recommend you read this book to find out why. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎧 to novel of all kinds. 📖😎✨🎉 2022

[Olivia Munoz]

I liked it... dark night with the wind roaring and the lights go out type of story gets you blood running, and the goosebumps breaking out.

[Will Granger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good short story. It contains many of the elements we see in modern horror stories and films. Subtle at first before a big conclusion.