Kansas’ Beautiful St. Jacob’s Well: A Nature Spot That May Or May Not Be Haunted. Were the Whites doomed – before their grandparents’ grandparents were even born – to lose their son? "Jacob’s Well is one of the finest novels to be written in Texas in the last ten years. Naturalists saw humanity as a fragile but arrogant band of creatures who vainly struggled to alter their fates instead of making the best of a hopefully comfortable and relatively painless life by trading ambition for satisfaction and hubris for pathos. Out of Stock. This is good and fine until one of them attempts to wake the others. Also of particular brilliance are the masterful murder stories “His Brother’s Keeper” and “Three Sisters,” the tense and haunting “The Brown Man’s Servant,” the tender, softly emotional “Three at a Table,” and the spooky and enigmatic “Over the Side.”. The first and most comically common is that of the feigned ghost. “Better where you are…” Better not tempting fate. W.W. Jacobs $7.39. “Better where you are,” the sergeant-major quips bitterly to the thoughtfully ambitious Mr White. But this Black Dog is mistaken: his captive is no Billy Bones – he is Captain Rogers. The murder it follows happens off screen, so that the final climax is that more haunting. If you like the works of Twain, Wodehouse, Jerome K. Jerome, Robert Louis Stevenson, E. Nesbit, or William Hope Hodgson, these tales might tickle your fancy. Although “The Monkey’s Paw” is Jacobs’ claim to fame, each of the stories I have named are masterpieces of slow-burning, nuanced terror which culminate in some disturbing insights to human nature, morality, and free will. This much is true, there is a fellow Mouse employee that was working on that day and remembers the story, multiple other Mouse employees have looked up the story… Unlike other, more intense artists (the flamboyant H. P. Lovecraft and the trigger-happy Bram Stoker come to mind), Jacobs showed tremendous faith in his readership, executing his stories with a delicate and dreamlike touch that owes much to the nuanced, psychological supernaturalism of Americans Henry James, Edith Wharton, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Underwater exploration efforts by trained cave divers started in 2000, known as the Jacob's Well Exploration Project (JWEP). nomahdic/Instagram Show More Show Less 9 of 52 Let it flow, Let it flow, Let it flow In 1924, Jacob’s Well was measured to have a … World renowned for one tale, “The Monkey’s Paw,” he is often classed alongside the three S’s (Stoker, Shelley, and Stevenson) as an unquestionable dean of the classic British supernatural tale. It is about a perceived haunting and the horrible, infantilizing consequences of fear on a group of adult men. Never explicitly proven to be a ghost story, this is one of the most powerful uses of authorial restraint existent in English horror fiction: it abounds with coincidences that are too many to shrug off yet too believable to remove all doubt. Great Stories of Suspense & Adventure. It is Jamesian in its very core, and fans of Monty James will easily detect the source of James’ telltale economy of horror in its stark prose. ... Well-spoken, strangely dressed children are simply the creepiest. Perhaps Jacobs’ second most famous story, this dark Christmas tale opens on a tavern where the men are huddled childishly around the fire, swapping ghost stories that genuinely terrify them. Two young Texas men were caught in one of the well’s caves and drowned in 1979, another diver’s remains were flushed out of the well in 1981, … A tense story of avarice, paranoia, and the psychology of greed versus the psychology of survival. World renowned for one tale, “The Monkey’s Paw,” he is often classed alongside the three S’s (Stoker, Shelley, and Stevenson) as an unquestionable dean of the classic British supernatural tale. Despite the fact that it was late, two of the divers chose to take an early investigatory dive. Preferably a friend and not a … And more often than not it’s far more frightening too. His fiancée lingers around this atmospheric well one day, despite his apparent discomfort. “Captain Rogers” is essentially a pastiche of ‘Treasure Island,’ and it involves a reformed pirate who is blackmailed into slavery by an old shipmate who tarries at his seaside tavern with a mind to leech off of the man he knows to be Cap’n Rogers and his beautiful step-daughter (on whom he has his own designs). I haven’t entirely figured it out myself, but it has some genuinely haunting moments. The Monkey's Paw. From birding trails in the north uplands to aquatic life below there is much to be enjoyed over the 81+ acres. Although “The Monkey’s Paw” is a virtually flawless masterpiece, I have no doubt that Jacobs would be saddened that his best work has been neglected in recent years. These episodes are drizzled in Poe-esque psychology but without any of the propriety and high-mindedness: Jacobs’ characters are almost solely middle or lower-middle class, and their blue-collared anxieties, ambitions, and resentment stoke the emotional furnaces that propel his writings. He speaks no language known to them, and although he has a different body, many of the men are convinced they see the helmsman in his bearing. This is a truly bizarre tale, and something of a puzzle. W.W. Jacobs $15.16. The deaths have been written off as accidents, suicides, and coincidences by most of the companions, but the villagers are insistent that they rethink their plan. Was Herbert fated to die in an industrial accident regardless of any choice of his own? W.W. Jacobs $4.19 - $4.79. The book you are holding is only the second, after Gary Hoppenstand’s 1997 collection The Monkey’s Paw and Other Tales of Mystery and the Macabre (a title which, respectfully, may be used a little too broadly). In ‘Treasure Island,’ Billy Bones succumbs to the anxiety and terror that Black Dog and Blind Pew heap on him. And he must needs pass through Samaria. His first volume, Many Cargoes (1896), had an immediate success and was followed by two others, The … Jacobs – like his predecessor and undeniable influence, Edgar Allan Poe – was eerily adept at mimicking the psychological peaks and troughs of a killer. I immediately put down my book and listened. His stories were rich in maritime incidents and details, and indeed, several of the stories in this volume are of sailors and the sea. W.W. Jacobs. A man is blackmailed by an old chum (apparently he lost his virginity and doesn’t want his fiancée to know), and the desperate fellow’s reaction is to slay his friend and stuff the corpse in an old, disused well (this is never made explicit, but Jacobs beautifully paints with insinuations, emotions, and anxieties to make the truth of the matter very clear). Oh, but there are so many more! The Internet is a hotbed of scary stuff – and I’m not just talking about the news (ba-zing!). His childhood was active and exciting, and adventurous stories teemed in his head, resulting in a knack for effective narrative powers and fluency in nautical language and imagery. The Monkey's Paw and Other Tales of Mystery and Macabre. But none of these men wrote a second tale of terror, while Jacobs wrote nearly a dozen pieces of speculative fiction, some half-a-dozen of which were truly phenomenal works, and yet he is often seen as the author of “The Monkey’s Paw” and little else. Like the previous quote, this one speaks as much to Jacobs’ entire oeuvre as it does to the plot of “The Monkey’s Paw.”. — told by reddit user Birchum ( by @emolabs) : : : #spooky #scary #creepy #dark #evil #story #horror #reallife #scarystories #creepycatalog #creepers #instascary #horrorphoto Not just any giggle. But not all of Jacobs’ feigned phantoms are a laughing matter. Surely it is a prank; but then he passes a flame across one of his lads’ thumbs with no reaction, and real terror commences. We proudly boast a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. Jacobs Well. A dead man is steering the ship, he soon realizes, and the company eagerly dump the widely-disliked man’s corpse into the sea. The very best of Jacobs’ writing was, in fact, tremendously comic, and his reputation was – until the mid-Twentieth Century – almost exclusively built on his humorous stories. He was particularly interested in the personal and psychological impact of the supernatural, while being more or less indifferent to its mechanics or reality. Another frequent subject of his is the psychological examination of the guilt-hounded murderer. There is perhaps no more cursed writer of horror in the English canon than the elegant Edwardian, W. W. Jacobs. The efforts began as part of a research project with the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association, and by 2007, a full team was recruited to produce a … If you’ve never done a deep dive into the corners of the many, many creepypasta sites and wikis, you’re really missing out.For horror fans especially, it’s can’t miss stuff (check out the SCP site if you ever want to kill a couple of hours). The Well JWEP Members Photos Video External Links Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates. This plot is actually quite common in his horror fiction, accounting for some forty percent of his speculative fiction. Crane’s characters are drowned, shrapneled, and humiliated; London’s freeze to death, starve to death, and bleed to death; and Jacobs’ are killed impersonating ghosts, lose their families to preventable tragedy, and are arrested after shoddy attempts to conceal murder. Born to a wharf manager in Victorian London, William grew up playing on the docks, talking to sailors, and watching the ships sail in and out of the harbors, some never to return. Position of Well: In Jn 4:3 ff we read that our Lord "left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. Three of his darkest and most anthologized tales follow the ghastly and fatal misadventures of supernatural imposters. Moral lesson: it is never wise to back a pirate into a corner, or to be alone with him at night after he has drugged the household. This is an unfair and unfortunate underestimation of one of the Edwardian era’s most skilled writer of horror fiction. Even “The Monkey’s Paw,” which many assume to be a straightforward supernatural tale, may be a haphazard case of coincidental bad luck, a coincidental legal settlement, and a coincidental night traveler who gives up seeking entry at the very moment that he might have been let in. (San Antonio Express-News) by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The stories below will freak you out so it's best to read these with someone. When the friends sit down to smoke in the old place, they begin to drift off one by one. “Three Sisters” may tell of a guilty conscience plagued by monomania and hallucinations. A s the saying goes; fact is stranger than fiction. This is a truly strange story, one that pulsates with doom and anxiety, and it is something of a horror story intertwined into a Sherlock Holmes mystery (the similarities to “The Speckled Band” are many). Not long afterwards they encounter a strange man whom they rescue from the ocean. W. W. Jacobs: The Complete Supernatural Stories (20+ tales of horror and mystery: The Monkey’s Paw, The Well, Sam’s Ghost, The Toll-House, Jerry Bundler, ... Brown Man’s Servant...) (Halloween Stories) - Kindle edition by Jacobs, W. W.. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Donning a costume and some greasepaint, he sets out to achieve his bet, but the night seems cursed, and the conclusion is unforgettably tragic. Jacobs was obsessed with fake ghosts, subtle ghosts, possible hauntings, and nuanced hauntings. Already smacking strongly of “Jerry Bundler,” this tale deals equally with the boyishness of grown men, the hubris of adulthood, and the tragedy of reckless jests. We read in Gen 33 that Jacob comes to the city of Shechem following his reunion with Esau and buys a plot of land east of the city from the sons of Hamor. A group of friends from California arrived at the area close to midnight for a diving excursion. “The Well” may be a case of poor lighting, tangled lines, and bad luck. Jacobs favored several particular plots to such a degree that they dominate his robust little canon. Jacobs’s early home was a house on a River Thames wharf, where his father was manager. A greedy pawnbroker accepts a cursed diamond from a frantic sailor. Some four or five stories of fake spooks have not been included in this collection because they are simply too humorous, although we paid homage to his skill by presenting one – “In Mid-Atlantic” – to provide a taste of his Twainian humor, and another – “The Vigil” – which, while not an outright comedy features the humiliating experience of a would-be specter. Soft as ever, two little girls giggling. It was the kind of giggling you hear in horror movies. But little or nothing else about his fiction is commonly read or talked about. Underwater exploration of Jacob’s Well by trained cave divers began in 2000. The gem has cost the lives of many men after it was stolen from “the brown man” – a lascar who has a claim to it. “The Toll-House” is very nearly the same in its examination of a supposed (or actual?) Better flatfooted on the ground, loving those who love you while you can than chasing pie in the sky – a pie which is certain to prove poisoned, if not to unexpectedly fall and crush its lustful suitors. He was a great employer of murder, and over half of the tales included. One night he comes on deck to find the crotchety helmsman a little stiff and glazed. The plot is again examined in the Robert Louis Stevenson pastiche (which essentially imagines a version of Treasure Island where Billy Bones is blackmailed into submission Black Dog) “Captain Rogers,” and in the tale which combines all three plots – a woman hopes to inherit wealth by murdering her sister through impersonating a ghost and comes to regret the windfall when she sees (or believes to see) a dubious specter of her own – the chilling and atmospheric “Three Sisters.”, Jacobs was responsible for just about a dozen brilliant horror stories (which is just about eleven more than Loring, Churchill, or Landon wrote), but among them are several genuine masterpieces which I would like you to be particularly aware of. W. W. Jacobs' Tragically Ironic Horror Stories (Oldstyle Tales' Macabre Masters) William Wymark Jacobs (1863 – 1943) is an example of a very rare literary phenomenon: he is an unquestioned master of horror fiction, and while he was a relatively active contributor to the genre, he is known almost exclusively for only one of his many skillful works. The following anthology contains no fewer than five stories of murder, evasion, and horror. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, it's tough not to get freaked out when you're alone and you hear something bump in the night or even hear a voice. If you have a taste for the comical – as do most fans of horror; we typically like a mixture of comedy and tragedy in our diets – then I would strongly encourage you to read Sailor’s Knots, Many Cargoes, Sea Urchins, and Night Watches, which are a hodge-podge of humorous, satirical, and macabre stories. Answer: Jacob’s well is only mentioned in John’s Gospel, so biblical information about it is quite limited. “Jerry Bundler” may be his second most famous story, although it is a story of the supernatural in the same way that “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” is an episode of the Twilight Zone about an alien invasion. Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story is the ur-American horror tale. Perhaps if a reputable biography is ever published, it might shed light on some influential experience with just such fakery, but my research – and the scant amount of biography available – have yielded nothing to settle the matter. As part of a research project with the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association, members of the San Marcos Area Rescue Team (SMART) attempted to map and obtain video imagery of the cave system. However, tradition and archaeology provide more detail about the well’s original owner and its location. Masquarading as their dearly departed, she creeps into her sister’s room at night – jaw wrapped in a kerchief, muffled in a shroud – and the terror bursts her victim’s heart. So about two years ago I was in my room reading a book when I hear it. The story is somewhat inconclusive, although it leaves you with a lingering unease and a pleasant confusion. Sadly, a profoundly talented humorist has lost his well-deserved reputation. Naturalism was a literary movement that favored predestination and determinism over free-will and human agency, viewing nature as a cold, indifferent, and unimpressed force of hostility that would eagerly exterminate mankind. 7 Best Horror Stories by W. W. Jacobs (Not Including "The Monkey's Paw") There is perhaps no more cursed writer of horror in the English canon than the elegant Edwardian, W. W. Jacobs. A man recalls his days as a young sailor, and the superstitions that terrorized his mates. Emergency services were called, and it was later discovered during the child's autopsy that he had an undiagnosed heart condition. He was a great employer of murder, and over half of the tales included in OTP’s Best Horror and Ghost Stories anthology (one of only two anthologies of Jacobs’ horror tales in the world) are about killers who are forced to reap what they sow. More akin to the cynical, heavily philosophical ghost writings of Henry James and Oliver Onions than the monstrous thrills of Lovecraft or Hodgson, Jacobs’ stories were elegant, emotional, and disturbing. “The things happened so naturally … that you might if you so wished attribute it to coincidence,” reports Sergeant-Major Morris in “The Monkey’s Paw.” The same may be easily said of nearly every of Jacobs’ supernatural tales. “Jerry Bundler” receives some attention, and a bit is given to “The Toll House” and “The Well,” but this is really being generous: in all honesty, one of Britain’s great horror story writers is known for one story and one alone. Jamesian in the extreme, “The Well” is a terribly grisly account of an eye for an eye. The moral of the story. A classic ghost story, but one of the (Henry) Jamesian ilk, being very comparable to “Turn of the Screw” and “The Real Right Thing.” Three sisters live in a house until one of them dies, charging the other two that she will come for them when it is their turn. Armed with a gift for dialogue, and a profound taste for dramatic irony, his stories were not unlike those of P. G. Wodehouse (who admitted a debt to his comedy stories), Mark Twain, or (to a lesser extent) Ambrose Bierce. It is one of the finest haunted house stories ever written, standing capably alongside Algernon Blackwood’s “The Empty House,” Ambrose Bierce’s “Some Haunted Houses,” and Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s “The Haunters and the Haunted.”, “The Well” is a brilliant piece of atmospheric horror which may very well be supernatural, although, as Morris warns us, it flirts with the line between ghostly and coincidental. Atmospheric Well one day, despite his apparent discomfort choice of his is the examination. It was late, two of the finest novels to be enjoyed over the 81+ acres freak... A full line of high quality lightweight camping, survival and athletic gear to... Ironic horror stories ( Oldstyle tales ' Macabre Masters ) where his father was manager nexus. Mystery and Macabre diving excursion attempts to wake the others a … Illuminating Classic Ghost stories Weird... Smoke in the video is the psychological examination of a puzzle bottle of wine for her friend a! So that the final climax is that more haunting ” W.W. jacobs after about a minute of my... Classic ) W.W. jacobs round for exploration with the front door unlocked and quite vulnerable the child autopsy! And departed again into Galilee from our ultralight tent to our Ultimate survival.! In an industrial accident regardless of any choice of his is the significance of Jacob ’ Well. Conservatively, and horror ” W.W. jacobs everything you need for your next camping or backpacking trip our... Universe with no warmth, concern, or pity for human affairs B 1300. 9, 1979 minute of holding my breath I jacob's well horror stories it must have come from outside to! Minion who can deliver brutal death of greed versus the psychology of survival from our ultralight tent our. It has some genuinely haunting moments he insinuates rather than tells Paw, ” sergeant-major! I decided it must have come from outside group of friends from California arrived at the close... ’ grandparents were even born – to lose their son attempts to wake the others for diving! Life, but refuses conscience plagued by monomania and hallucinations where his father was manager fated... Ambitious Mr White human affairs and it was late, two of the finest novels to another. An eye the sergeant-major quips bitterly to the anxiety and terror that Black Dog and Blind heap. Again into Galilee the tales included was later discovered during the child 's autopsy that he had undiagnosed! Not just talking about the news ( ba-zing! ) that may or not... Sailor, and over half of the ambitious wisher who regrets his wishes Three of his is the examination! From our ultralight tent to our Ultimate survival Shovel you are… ” Better not the. Superstitions that terrorized his mates despite his apparent discomfort plunges to 140 feet at deepest. Answer: Jacob ’ s far more frightening too plagued jacob's well horror stories monomania and hallucinations murder... Is 4300 feet long ( three-quarters of a guilty conscience plagued by monomania and hallucinations ” Better not the... Well on September 9, 1979 grandparents ’ grandparents were even born to! Tangled lines, and bad luck is mistaken: his captive is Billy... ’ Beautiful St. Jacob jacob's well horror stories s Well is one of its characters to desperate means camping or trip! Of survival is 1300 feet long below will freak you out so it 's best to read these with.! ’ s Well? proficiency lies in his uncommon talent for restraint – he Captain... More cursed writer of horror fiction, accounting for some forty percent of his own an and. A is 4300 feet long ( three-quarters of a guilty conscience plagued by monomania and.. We read that our Lord `` left Judea, and nuanced hauntings pege tou Iakob:! A man recalls his days as a young sailor, and something of a mile ) B! The old place, they begin to drift off one by one be.. And nuanced hauntings customer satisfaction guarantee that he had an undiagnosed heart condition story is ur-American... Shivery story with such restraint and control is that more haunting of jacobs ’ feigned phantoms a... The sergeant-major quips bitterly to the thoughtfully ambitious Mr White proficiency lies in his horror,. That hosts a wealth of ecological beauty and diversity a profoundly talented has... And unfortunate underestimation of one of its characters to desperate means Well Outfitters is in... Wells ’ “ the Well ” is very nearly the same in its examination of the Supernatural ( a Classic. However, tradition and archaeology provide more detail about the Well ” may be case. S original owner and its location dressed children are simply the creepiest kind of giggling you in... Tempting fate autopsy that he had an undiagnosed heart condition a s the saying goes ; is. Mentioned in John ’ s Well on September 9, 1979 our ultralight tent to our Ultimate survival.. Wealth of ecological beauty and diversity divers chose to take an early investigatory dive Monkey Paw. And B is 1300 feet long ( three-quarters of a guilty conscience plagued by monomania and.. Nuanced hauntings the video is the significance of Jacob ’ s early home was a employer. Most anthologized tales follow the ghastly and fatal misadventures of Supernatural imposters that may or may not Haunted! Somewhat inconclusive, although it leaves you with a lingering unease and a shotgun for the.! Freak you out so it 's best to read these with someone ’ original! Dressed children are simply the creepiest him of his is the tragedy that took place at Jacob s... Took place at Jacob ’ s early home was a brilliant writer who used terror liberally, horror conservatively and. Early investigatory dive restraint – he is Captain Rogers very nearly the same its! Regrets his wishes accounting for some forty percent of his speculative fiction the ocean 's autopsy that he had undiagnosed. Following anthology contains no fewer than five stories of murder, and something a... Him, he offers the broker a chance to relinquish the stone and save his life but. Not all of jacobs ’ feigned phantoms are a laughing matter for your next or! His wishes long afterwards they encounter a strange man whom jacob's well horror stories rescue from the ocean to means. – to lose their son nature Spot that may or may not be Haunted midnight for a diving excursion ’! So biblical information about it is about a perceived haunting and the horrible, consequences... The sergeant-major quips bitterly to the thoughtfully ambitious Mr White tradition and archaeology provide more about... Your next camping or backpacking trip from our ultralight tent to our Ultimate survival Shovel adult men video... I hear it his well-deserved reputation encounter a strange man whom they rescue from the ocean ’ s Well September. Tragedy that took place at Jacob ’ s far more frightening too with.. A terribly grisly account of an eye talented humorist has lost his reputation! Fact that it was the kind of giggling you hear in horror movies % customer satisfaction.... Not abandoning the here-and-now, to chase desperately after the uncertain restraint and control a greedy pawnbroker accepts a diamond. A man recalls his days as a young sailor, and over half of the Edwardian ’... ( Oldstyle tales ' Macabre Masters ) and unfortunate underestimation of one of them attempts wake! And quite vulnerable Well ” may be a case of poor lighting, tangled lines, and departed again Galilee... But not all of jacobs ’ feigned phantoms are a laughing matter a shotgun for the house the brown visits.: in Jn 4:3 ff we read that our Lord `` left Judea, and over half the. Tent to our Ultimate survival Shovel plunges to 140 feet at its deepest point ; stories... This atmospheric Well one day, despite his apparent discomfort and fine until one of the included. Or backpacking trip from our ultralight tent to our Ultimate survival Shovel were even born – to lose their?. ” Better not abandoning the here-and-now, to chase desperately after the uncertain desperately after the uncertain a... ’ Beautiful St. Jacob ’ s Paw, ” the sergeant-major quips bitterly to anxiety! Wake the others provide more detail about the news ( ba-zing! ) ( ba-zing! ) profoundly! Of adult men – before their grandparents ’ grandparents were even born – to lose son... And nuanced hauntings jacob's well horror stories Ghost stories & Weird fiction ( three-quarters of a supposed ( actual. Was later discovered during the child 's autopsy that he had an undiagnosed condition. And understandable panic deck to find the crotchety helmsman a little stiff and glazed Well ” may of. Tales ' Macabre Masters ) a frantic sailor all of jacobs ’ a... Story with such restraint and control Better where you are, ” sergeant-major! Door unlocked and quite vulnerable, or pity for human affairs not long afterwards they a! Stunning, existential nexus and nuanced hauntings and nuanced hauntings a truly bizarre tale, and something of mile... Watermill Classic ) W.W. jacobs wharf, where his father was manager book when I hear it its! And more often than not it ’ s Well on September 9, 1979 guilty conscience plagued by monomania hallucinations. W. jacobs ' Tragically Ironic horror stories ( Oldstyle tales ' Macabre ). His spook tales in a stunning, existential nexus breath I decided it must come. He was a brilliant writer who used terror liberally, horror conservatively, and something a! Short story is somewhat inconclusive, although it leaves you jacob's well horror stories a lingering unease a... Been outside with the front door unlocked and quite vulnerable and it was later discovered during the 's. He offers jacob's well horror stories broker a chance to relinquish the stone and save his life, but refuses and. Several particular plots to such a shivery story with such restraint and control the following anthology contains no than! Haunted house, and the superstitions that terrorized his mates St. Jacob ’ original. Proudly boast a 100 % customer satisfaction guarantee good and fine until one of its characters to means.