There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard

by M.R. James

A short ghost story by the British author M.R. James. It was first published in the December 6, 1924 issue of the Eton College magazine Snapdragon.

The title is taken from William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. In Act II scene i of the play, the child character Mamillius begins to tell his mother Queen Hermione a story of "sprites and goblins". He says, "There was a man dwelt by a churchyard", but is interrupted before he can tell any more of the story. In "There Was A Man Dwelt by a Churchyard", M.R. James imagines the ghost story which the boy was going to tell. In his introduction to the tale, James says, "It was not going to be a new story. It was going to be one which you have most likely heard and even told."

The story takes place in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. It describes how a vengeful ghost comes to a man after he steals money from a woman's grave.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Ghost Stories, Shakespeare, Supernatural

24 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1924

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

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this brief ghost story--little more than a joke, really--was published in the Eton Snapdragon in December of 1924, it was perhaps deemed too inconsequential for inclusion in M.R. James fourth volume of stories—A Warning to the Curious (1925)—and first saw hardcover publication in the The Collected Stories of 1931. Its title is derived from the tale almost told by the poor little doomed prince Mamilius in Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale:

Hermione: Come, sir, now
I am for you again: pray you, sit by us,
And tell 's a tale. . .

Mamilius: A sad tale's best for winter: I have one
Of sprites and goblins.

Hermione: Let's have that, good sir . . .
Come on, sit down: come on, and do your best
To fright me with your sprites; you're powerful at it.

Mamilius: There was a man—

Hermione: Nay, come, sit down; then on.

Mamilius: —Dwelt by a churchyard: I will tell it softly;
Yond crickets shall not hear it.

Indeed, it is a softly-told, sitting-down sort of tale that might be ignored even by crickets. But M.R. James is still the master of horror, and manages to disturb the reader with small things:

That night, as he lay in his bed upstairs, a moaning wind began to play about the house, and he could not go to sleep. . . Then he went to the window and looked out into the churchyard. . . .

Have you ever seen an old brass in a church with a figure of a person in a shroud? It is bunched together at the top of the head in a curious way. Something like that was sticking up out of the earth in a spot of the churchyard. . . .

Presently something made a very faint rattling at the casement. . . . He turned his eyes that way. Alas!

Between him and the moonlight was the black outline of the curious bunched head . . . Then there was a figure in the room. Dry earth rattled on the floor. . . .

[✨faith✨trust✨pixiedust✨ Dead Account; Not Coming Back · Rating 5 out of 5]

My brother sat me down to read this, since it's one of his favorite ghost stories. It's basically an amalgamation of various other ghost stories, but told in such a way most of the plot points are via implication, and I loved it! It's very spooky and fun. I'm kind of shocked that it has so few ratings on Goodreads, actually. Definitely go read it, it's only like 1 page long hah. There's a great reading of it on Youtube by Michael Hordern that's only about 7 minutes or so.

[Amina (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ) · Rating 2 out of 5]

he deserved what happened to him! greed is a despicable thing!

[Catherine Pratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was also in the Classic Ghost Stories book. I have never heard of M.R. James before I read this story. This story is kinda sweet, a scary sweet story of it makes sense. After I read this story, I instantly became a fan of M.R. James..

[Manos (hoarding books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are determined enough to be scared while reading this, if it's cold and you are under your blankets, the lights low..it does work!

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

When old Mother Wilkens, a suspected witch by the locals, was buried, the clergyman threw into the grave money she had given to the church. Money the priest felt was tainted. John Poole, known to be a miser who lived by the churchyard and liked to watch the nighttime burials saw the money being buried with her body, later goes and steals the money. Old Mother Wilkens's corpse wrapped in a woolen shroud, bunched at the head, comes to Poole's bedroom to reclaim the money. The tale is told in connection with Mamilius of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a decent enough ghost story about a man who robs a grave, and the deceased who wants her stuff back.

[Paul Narvaez · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first short story I've read from the master of the modern English ghost story. Apparently, many of his stories are similar so this is as good an introduction as any. For many, these stories have some of the characteristics which later came to be known as "folk horror", but there is humor to be found here too.

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short chilling story set in a framework of Shakespeare. I love gothic horror, it leaves its work to the imagination instead of guts and gore. MR James is now one of my favorite authors. Expertly narrated as well.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

available free https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

A very folksy ghost story. It's book-ended by some Shakespeare fan fiction comedy.

[Mark Cain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent short story involving grave robbery and revenge....

[Seshastet · Rating 2 out of 5]

2, 5/5 estrellas

Está bien, no es un relato muy largo así q apenas hace mella.
Si hubiese tenido más páginas creo que habría estado mejor

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very short and to the point ghost story.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really much worth remarking upon.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

an extremely short story by a ghost story master.

[♡nina♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars

This short story was interesting, I liked the ending. I liked how spooky it felt.