The Kit Bag

by Algernon Blackwood

"The Kit-Bag" is a short ghost story by the British author Algernon Blackwood. It was first published in the December 1908 issue of Pall Mall Magazine.

The action takes place in London shortly before Christmas. The story's protagonist is a young man named Johnson who works for an eminent lawyer named Arthur Wilbraham. Arthur Wilbrham has been defending a man named John Turk, who was accused of murdering a woman and cutting her body up into small pieces. Johnson is obliged to be in court for every day of the trial, which he finds highly unpleasant. When the trial is over, Johnson is glad that he will not have to see John Turk's face again and is looking forward to going away on a Christmas vacation to the Alps. He asks Arthur Wilbraham to lend him a kit-bag[1] to take with him on vacation. After the requested kit-bag arrives, Johnson passes a fright filled night

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

6 pages, ebook

First published December 1, 1908

About the author

Algernon Henry Blackwood (1869–1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary critic S. T. Joshi stated, "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".

Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill (today part of south-east London, but then part of northwest Kent) and educated at Wellington College. His father was a Post Office administrator who, according to Peter Penzoldt, "though not devoid of genuine good-heartedness, had appallingly narrow religious ideas." Blackwood had a varied career, farming in Canada, operating a hotel, as a newspaper reporter in New York City, and, throughout his adult life, an occasional essayist for various periodicals. In his late thirties, he moved back to England and started to write stories of the supernatural. He was very successful, writing at least ten original collections of short stories and eventually appearing on both radio and television to tell them. He also wrote fourteen novels, several children's books, and a number of plays, most of which were produced but not published. He was an avid lover of nature and the outdoors, and many of his stories reflect this.

H.P. Lovecraft wrote of Blackwood: "He is the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere." His powerful story "The Willows," which effectively describes another dimension impinging upon our own, was reckoned by Lovecraft to be not only "foremost of all" Blackwood's tales but the best "weird tale" of all time.

Among his thirty-odd books, Blackwood wrote a series of stories and short novels published as John Silence, Physician Extraordinary (1908), which featured a "psychic detective" who combined the skills of a Sherlock Holmes and a psychic medium. Blackwood also wrote light fantasy and juvenile books.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must-read classic. Very British. Available here: http://algernonblackwood.org/Z-files/...

[Eloy Cryptkeeper · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Es difícil precisar con exactitud en qué punto comienza el miedo, cuándo las causas del temor no son claras. Las impresiones se acumulan en la superficie de la mente, película por película, como el hielo se acumula en la superficie de las aguas quietas, pero a menudo de una forma tan ligera que la conciencia no las reconoce. Luego, se llega a un punto donde las impresiones acumuladas se convierten en una emoción definitiva y la mente comprende que algo ha ocurrido"

"Notó que la bolsa-maletín era vieja y estaba sucia; la lona estaba desgastada y desteñida y era evidente que había sido sometida a un tratamiento bastante rudo...
regresó a la sala, atizó el fuego y se sentó a pensar. Lo que más lo impresionaba era que la bolsa-maletín ya no estaba donde él la había dejado. Había sido arrastrada más cerca de la puerta..."

Nos situamos en Londres, durante las vísperas de Navidad. Johnson, secretario de un importante abogado y el doctor Wilbraham, acabaron con el proceso de la defensa de John Turk, un hombre acusado de haber asesinado brutalmente a su esposa.
Tras el juicio , Johnson abrumado por el estrés de dicho proceso y de asistir al juzgado todos los días, se dispone a tomarse unos días de vacaciones. Este le pide prestado un maletín a su jefe, ya que necesita uno y Ambos tienen una relación de amistad al margen de lo estrictamente laboral/profesional.
Por error el maletín que obtiene no es el de su jefe , si no que forma parte de una de las evidencias del caso... por su pasado y una noticia que se desvelara al final ,este maletín se convertirá en el instrumento de una serie de hechos sobrenaturales.

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!

boilerplate mission statement intro:

for the past two years, i’ve set december’s project aside to do my own version of a short story advent calendar. it’s not a true advent calendar since i choose all the stories myself, but what it lacks in the ‘element of surprise’ department it more than makes up for in hassle, as i try to cram even MORE reading into a life already overcrammed with impossible personal goals (live up to your potential! find meaningful work! learn to knit!) merry merry wheee!

since i am already well behind in my *regular* reviewing, when it comes to these stories, whatever i poop out as far as reflections or impressions are going to be superficial and perfunctory at best. please do not weep for the great big hole my absented, much-vaunted critical insights are gonna leave in these daily review-spaces (and your hearts); i’ll try to drop shiny insights elsewhere in other reviews, and here, i will at least drop links to where you can read the stories yourselves for free, which - let’s be honest - is gonna serve you better anyway.

HAPPY READING, BOOKNERDS!

links to all stories read in previous years' calendars can be found at the end of these reviews, in case you are a person who likes to read stories for free:

2016: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2017: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

scroll down for links to this year’s stories which i will update as we go, and if you have any suggestions, send 'em my way! the only rules are: it must be available free online (links greatly appreciated), and it must be here on gr as its own thing so i can review it. thank you in advance!

DECEMBER 25

The kit-bag lay close in front of him, several feet nearer to the door than he had left it, and just over its crumpled top he saw a head and face slowly sinking down out of sight as though someone were crouching behind it to hide, and at the same moment a sound like a long-drawn sigh was distinctly audible in the still air about him between the gusts of the storm outside.

HAUNTED BAG!!!

okay, i got a day behind in the reviewing of these short stories, and i am too weary to drop two tonight, so i will do two tomorrow. christmas made me a short story grinch, i apologize!

i did READ this one yesterday, if that counts. but i am mini-reviewing it late and everyone's okay with that.

because, you guys, this one was actually pretty spoooky! i KNOW! i was amazed. i really, really liked it. i thought i wasn't a fan of blackwood because of his whole horror is best served IMPLICITLY thing, but this story had a really good creepery mood going on, and it gave me those good DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU vibes.

tomorrow i will be better at everything, i promise, but today i am too depleted to get back on track.

for now,

read it for yourself here:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Ki...

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come to my blog!

[Tom Mathews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another marvelous story by Blackwood, an author with unparalleled skill at ratcheting up the tension. Who else can turn packing for a vacation into a tale of mind-numbing horror?

I chose this story as the December short story selection for the Literary Darkness group. It is a good example of a once popular English tradition, the Christmas ghost story. An online copy of The Kit Bag can be found here. In addition, an audio presentation can be found here.

[Suki St Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

31 Classic Horror Stories Every Fan Should Read in October: A Literary Advent Calender for Halloween: Day 4:
https://www.oldstyletales.com/single-...

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been trying to get into the spirit of Christmas, shall we say, and have been looking around for some Christmas stories. I came across a list called Ghosts of the Nog, five forgotten Christmas stories. And where this tale has very little to do with Christmas, it does take place on the eve and has a very winter theme. The story is about, essentially, a haunted kit bag, and the poor attorney who mistakenly has it. Great atmosphere, a great English christmas ghost story.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was put on my radar via the 31 Classic Horror Story Advent Calendar
https://www.oldstyletales.com/single-...
It has a link for each of the stories.

An excellent short ghost story!

[Pat the Book Goblin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun scary Christmas story.

[Suhasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks I Hate Kit-Bags now 🥶🥶🥶

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as part of the Literary Advent Calendar for Halloween. Includes links to all of the stories.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young assistant named Johnson works for an eminent lawyer named Arthur Wilbraham. Wilbraham for the past ten days has been defending a man named John Turk accused of murdering a woman and cutting her body up into small pieces which he stuffed into a canvas bag. Johnson had been obliged to be in court for every day of the trial, which he found highly unpleasant and mentally troubling. When the trial was finally over, Johnson is glad that he will not have to see John Turk's face ever again and is looking forward to going away on a Christmas ski and skating vacation to the Alps. He asks Arthur Wilbraham to lend him a kit bag which is a large cylindrical fabric bag with a drawstring closure at the top to pack his clothes in. After the bag is delivered and packed, Johnson passes a fright filled night.

[Phil J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very cool psychological horror story about a guilty conscience. Blackwood uses great spooky details like sounds and shadows to ask questions about the main character's perceptions. Is this really happening, or is it all in his mind? Great fun, much in the vein of something Ambrose Bierce might write. Fans of Blackwood's classic The Wendigo might be disappointed that this is a more traditional ghost story and not a proto-Lovecraft creepfest.

[Danyel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic short story about a haunted kit bag. The author build's up the tension and fear very well.

[Plateresca · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Unpleasant, haunting memories have a way of coming to life again just when the mind least desires them—in the silent watches of the night, on sleepless pillows, during the lonely hours spent by sick and dying beds.'

I do not log every ghost story that I read, but I have to tell you about this one: it's really creepy.

It's available online here:
https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/080...
but, sadly, with many typos.
(I myself was reading it here: Winter Night Classics: Literature's Best Christmas Ghost Stories: The Horror Connoisseur's Christmas Reader - and some of the typos have been corrected, but, unfortunately, far from all).

[Shuggy L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Captures the criminal world of the early 20th century; set in Bloomsbury, London. Ironically, a newly released murderer returns to haunt one of the defense - a young man (Johnson) about to go on holiday to the Alps over the Christmas break.

By telling us about Johnson's household experiences...

- including Johnson's packing of his vacation bag with his ski equipment after he returns home from the unsettling criminal trial -

...the author depicts the lonely boarding house life of the less wealthy professional with its impersonal neighbors and uneducated landladies.

Individualizes the working class criminal by associating the criminal’s kitbag with his female companion and, in the process, pointing the way to some of the social issues of the day.

Reminiscent of Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and the social reporting of the era

[Books from Faeries]

“𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴”.

This is a perfect reading for the Christmas season, and you know that during the English Victorian Era, ghost stories at this time of the year were very popular and welcome.

• Algernon Blackwood's "The Kit-Bag" features the supernatural and fear, but it has Christmas references. Also, it has deeper layers that reflect on justice, the law, and guilt. And gender expectations regarding masculinity.

✶⋆ I did some graphics on my Instagram to explore the themes of this book, you can see them
here

Bookstagram ᛒᚠ @booksfromfaeries

[Kow · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It is difficult to say exactly at what point fear begins, when the causes of that fear are not plainly before the eyes. Impressions gather on the surface of the mind, film by film, as ice gathers upon the surface of still water, but often so lightly that they claim no definite recognition from the consciousness. Then a point is reached where the accumulated impressions become a definite emotion, and the mind realizes that something has happened."

"And it was at this precise moment that the nervousness he had hitherto experienced leaped the boundary line, and entered the state of fear, almost of acute unreasoning fear. Before it turned into terror there was a further boundary to cross, and beyond that again lay the region of pure horror."

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of these stories that makes you wonder whether there really is a ghost or the main character was just imagining the spooky happenings. I was very curious because the narrator was talking about being in the Alps the very next day, and I wondered whether the boat to France and the train up to the Alps could really take him there that quickly. Of course, today with air flights, that would be no problem. But back in 1908, was it really possible? Did the author actually make that trip himself and was familiar with the timeline?

[Richard Dominguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fresh from working on a gruesome murder trial, Johnson is looking forward to Christmas skiing in the Alps. But as he stays up late packing his borrowed kit-bag for the journey, he finds the memory of his recent case difficult to shake off – and he increasingly senses that a sinister presence has joined him in his lonely top-floor chambers...

This is a very eerie/creepy story. Well written, read with a completely new twist on the whole haunted/ghost theme. Well worth a listen and/or read.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in the day, Christmas ghost stories were a tradition. This is a tradition that needs to come back instead of endlessly rehashing 'A Christmas Carol'. There is definitely room for both. While this story has very little to do with Christmas, it is a creepy, scary tale that evokes a sense of dread in the simplest of tasks. A man is packing for a much needed vacation after defending a murder suspect.

[Mads ✨is balls deep in the Animorphs reread✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

🎒 creates a delightful atmosphere of terror and threat. then bottles it all in the denouement when nobody dies except the murderer, by his own hand, backstage. BOOORRING!!!

😤 why even mention the KC at the beginning at all if he isn't going to be brutally dismembered and packed into his own kit bag by the very murderer he helped get off scot free!!! where is the sense of poetry!!!!!

[Tim Pendry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dark little horror tale that is as much psychological as supernatural. You can hear the end coming before it comes but this does not detract from Blackwood's skill at creating unease. Not to be read by the light of a flickering candle alone late at night.

[Nekochimachan (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's scary as h*ll because the poor lawyer's kit-bag got switched from the murderer and he experienced nightmares from that man. You won't be able to asleep at night but if you want to listen it in podcast then go to Parcast (Haunted Places: Ghost Stories).

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining horror listening 🎧
I listened to this as part of the Horror and Ghost Classics 500+ Stories. The get the killer is convicted of murder. The lawyer goes on vacation he takes the kit bag and is haunted by the dead body of the killer . 2023

[Punk Pup · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the slow build up of the ghost part of this story and it was a bit funny in parts due to the main person trying to pretend things were fine even though there is a full scale haunting going on. X3

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short story.

A murderer who killed his victim and stuffed her in a kit bag. One of the prosecutors is leaving on a skiing vacation to try to get the imagine of the murderer out of his mind but has a frightening evening while packing for his trip.

[111thsabari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hi I’m there for you I the go check

[Rachel Boni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect cozy good old fashioned ghost story, love it!

[Anetq · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real victorian ghost story - in true gore and horror!
(Find it here: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0801... )

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5