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Lô Số 249 [Những Câu Chuyện Hãi Hùng Và Kì Bí - I]
“Khi tôi nhìn lại những sự kiện trong cuộc đời mình, cái đêm kinh hoàng đó sừng sững hiện ra như một cột mốc khổng lồ. Ngay cả bây giờ, sau nhiều năm trời, tôi vẫn chẳng thể nghĩ tới nó mà không khỏi rùng mình.”
Arthur Conan Doyle là nhà viết truyện bậc thầy, với thiên hướng đính kèm yếu tố bí ẩn, đáng sợ, và đôi khi là tàn nhẫn trong các tác phẩm hư cấu của mình. Dẫu rằng ở các câu chuyện về vị thám tử lừng danh Sherlock Holmes cũng có một vài khoảnh khắc rất đen tối, nhưng chính những tác phẩm kì ảo mới là nơi ngòi bút sáng tạo bầu không khí lạnh lẽo và ma quái của ông được thoả sức tung hoành.
Tuyển tập LÔ SỐ 249 gồm mười sáu truyện ngắn được nhà văn Arthur Conan Doyle sáng tác trong giai đoạn từ cuối những năm 1870 đến năm 1894, hé lộ các đóng góp của ông cho thể loại văn học Gothic thế kỉ mười chín: những bóng ma vùng Cực Bắc vắng bóng mặt trời, xác ướp hiểm ác, linh hồn lang thang trong dinh thự cổ, vũ khí bị ám, và kể cả kẻ sát nhân cuồng loạn…
Dù cho thực tế những câu chuyện này đều đã được viết cách đây hơn một trăm năm, nhưng chúng vẫn chưa hề mai một khả năng tạo ra cho người đọc trải nghiệm bứt rứt, bất an khôn nguôi. Luôn luôn tồn tại thứ cảm giác bất định đối với cả độc giả lẫn các nhân vật trung tâm. Chính bản chất của sự e sợ mơ hồ đó khiến ta căng thẳng, lo lắng, và bị cảm giác kinh hãi bao trùm.
Arthur Conan Doyle là nhà viết truyện bậc thầy, với thiên hướng đính kèm yếu tố bí ẩn, đáng sợ, và đôi khi là tàn nhẫn trong các tác phẩm hư cấu của mình. Dẫu rằng ở các câu chuyện về vị thám tử lừng danh Sherlock Holmes cũng có một vài khoảnh khắc rất đen tối, nhưng chính những tác phẩm kì ảo mới là nơi ngòi bút sáng tạo bầu không khí lạnh lẽo và ma quái của ông được thoả sức tung hoành.
Tuyển tập LÔ SỐ 249 gồm mười sáu truyện ngắn được nhà văn Arthur Conan Doyle sáng tác trong giai đoạn từ cuối những năm 1870 đến năm 1894, hé lộ các đóng góp của ông cho thể loại văn học Gothic thế kỉ mười chín: những bóng ma vùng Cực Bắc vắng bóng mặt trời, xác ướp hiểm ác, linh hồn lang thang trong dinh thự cổ, vũ khí bị ám, và kể cả kẻ sát nhân cuồng loạn…
Dù cho thực tế những câu chuyện này đều đã được viết cách đây hơn một trăm năm, nhưng chúng vẫn chưa hề mai một khả năng tạo ra cho người đọc trải nghiệm bứt rứt, bất an khôn nguôi. Luôn luôn tồn tại thứ cảm giác bất định đối với cả độc giả lẫn các nhân vật trung tâm. Chính bản chất của sự e sợ mơ hồ đó khiến ta căng thẳng, lo lắng, và bị cảm giác kinh hãi bao trùm.
504 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1892
38 people are currently reading
1080 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Conan Doyle
15.4k books24.1k followersSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 202 reviews
September 25, 2025
Gotta love mummies!
Abercrombie Smith is a medical student at Oxford University sharing apartments with several others, and among them Edward Bellingham, an Egyptology student that owns numerous ancient artifacts, including a rare hideous looking mummy. When strange occurrences and attacks start happening around campus, suspicions are raised regarding the mummy, that mysteriously seems to disappear sometimes.
Can you believe this is one of the first mummy horror stories ever? Though revived mummies appeared before, we owe it to Doyle to portray them as the evil dangerous fiend we all know today. Remarkable! This was on the whole one entertaining and highly enjoyable short horror story, and just as good as “The Ring of Thoth”, if not better. Recommendable, for the classical horror fan, and Egyptian enthusiasts.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1892] [62p] [Horror] [Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★☆☆ 10. The Complete Sherlock Holmes
★★★☆☆ The Great Keinplatz Experiment and Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen <--
-----------------------------------------------
¡Amor por las Momias!
Abercrombie Smith es un estudiante de medicina en la Universidad de Oxford compartiendo apartamentos junto a varias otras personas; entre ellos Edward Bellingham, un estudiante de egiptología que posee numerosos artefactos antiguos, incluyendo una rara momia de aspecto espantoso. Cuando comienzan a ocurrir sucesos extraños y ataques alrededor del campus, sospechas surgen sobre la momia, que misteriosamente a veces parece desaparecer.
¿Podés creer que ésta es una de las primeras historias de terror de momias en la historia? Aunque aparecieron antes momias revividas, le debemos a Doyle retratarlas como el ser maligno y peligroso que todos conocemos hoy. ¡Impresionante! En su conjunto, ésta fue una historia corta de terror muy disfrutable y entretenida, y tan buena como “El Anillo de Thoth”, si no es que mejor. Recomendable, para los entusiastas del terror clásico, y lo egipcio.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1892] [62p] [Horror] [Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
Abercrombie Smith is a medical student at Oxford University sharing apartments with several others, and among them Edward Bellingham, an Egyptology student that owns numerous ancient artifacts, including a rare hideous looking mummy. When strange occurrences and attacks start happening around campus, suspicions are raised regarding the mummy, that mysteriously seems to disappear sometimes.
Can you believe this is one of the first mummy horror stories ever? Though revived mummies appeared before, we owe it to Doyle to portray them as the evil dangerous fiend we all know today. Remarkable! This was on the whole one entertaining and highly enjoyable short horror story, and just as good as “The Ring of Thoth”, if not better. Recommendable, for the classical horror fan, and Egyptian enthusiasts.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1892] [62p] [Horror] [Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★☆☆ 10. The Complete Sherlock Holmes
★★★☆☆ The Great Keinplatz Experiment and Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen <--
-----------------------------------------------
¡Amor por las Momias!
Abercrombie Smith es un estudiante de medicina en la Universidad de Oxford compartiendo apartamentos junto a varias otras personas; entre ellos Edward Bellingham, un estudiante de egiptología que posee numerosos artefactos antiguos, incluyendo una rara momia de aspecto espantoso. Cuando comienzan a ocurrir sucesos extraños y ataques alrededor del campus, sospechas surgen sobre la momia, que misteriosamente a veces parece desaparecer.
¿Podés creer que ésta es una de las primeras historias de terror de momias en la historia? Aunque aparecieron antes momias revividas, le debemos a Doyle retratarlas como el ser maligno y peligroso que todos conocemos hoy. ¡Impresionante! En su conjunto, ésta fue una historia corta de terror muy disfrutable y entretenida, y tan buena como “El Anillo de Thoth”, si no es que mejor. Recomendable, para los entusiastas del terror clásico, y lo egipcio.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1892] [62p] [Horror] [Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
September 21, 2024
Lot No. 249, a short story also known as A Mummy Who Resurrects, recounts the strange events in May 1884 at the venerable University of Oxford.
Abercrombie Smith, William Monkhouse Lee, and Edward Bellingham are neighbors on the peaceful campus. While Smith and Lee devote themselves to medicine, the mysterious and unsympathetic Bellingham, endowed with a bad reputation, is a specialist in oriental languages.
Smith and Lee hear a cry from the orientalist's chambers one evening. They enter and discover in this place filled with heterogeneous antiquities a mummy extracted from a coffin bearing Lot n°249 and their neighbor lying unconscious.
Following this incident, severe and mysterious facts were bound to occur. And Smith thinks of only one thing: the mummy of Lot 249 had endowed with life.
This charming fantasy novel anchored in the temple of knowledge and reason oscillates between rationality and irrationality, logic and fantasy, coincidences and the supernatural.
"'My dear boy, you take things too seriously,' said his companion. Your nerves are already strained by your work and you abuse them. How could something like that pass through the walls of Oxford, even at night, unnoticed?'"
Arthur Conan Doyle does not explain, symbolically leaving us on the doorstep of the apartments of the strange Bellingham. It is up to the reader to decide the power of Egyptian rites or attacks of paranoid dementia.
Abercrombie Smith, William Monkhouse Lee, and Edward Bellingham are neighbors on the peaceful campus. While Smith and Lee devote themselves to medicine, the mysterious and unsympathetic Bellingham, endowed with a bad reputation, is a specialist in oriental languages.
Smith and Lee hear a cry from the orientalist's chambers one evening. They enter and discover in this place filled with heterogeneous antiquities a mummy extracted from a coffin bearing Lot n°249 and their neighbor lying unconscious.
Following this incident, severe and mysterious facts were bound to occur. And Smith thinks of only one thing: the mummy of Lot 249 had endowed with life.
This charming fantasy novel anchored in the temple of knowledge and reason oscillates between rationality and irrationality, logic and fantasy, coincidences and the supernatural.
"'My dear boy, you take things too seriously,' said his companion. Your nerves are already strained by your work and you abuse them. How could something like that pass through the walls of Oxford, even at night, unnoticed?'"
Arthur Conan Doyle does not explain, symbolically leaving us on the doorstep of the apartments of the strange Bellingham. It is up to the reader to decide the power of Egyptian rites or attacks of paranoid dementia.
June 4, 2021
"la mayoría se inclinará a pensar que es más probable que un cerebro aparentemente sano sufra una sutil deformación en su textura, algún extraño defecto en su funcionamiento, que el hecho de que se haya transgredido el camino de la Naturaleza, a pleno día, en un centro de enseñanza tan afamado como la Universidad de Oxford. Sin embargo, cuando nos paramos a pensar en lo estrecho y tortuoso que es ese sendero de la Naturaleza, en lo confusamente que podemos trazarlo, a pesar de todas las luces de la ciencia, y en cómo surgen misteriosamente de la oscuridad que lo rodea enormes y terribles posibilidades, llegamos a la conclusión de que tiene que ser audaz y seguro de sí mismo el hombre capaz de poner un límite a los extraños senderos laterales por los que puede vagar el espíritu humano."
En la Universidad de Oxford, donde estudian y conviven de forma permanente un puñado de estudiantes. desde que un arqueólogo/egiptólogo adquirió una momia en una subasta comenzaron a suceder extraños acontecimientos puertas adentro de la universidad, lo que genero diversas disputas, desconfianzas y acusaciones cruzadas entre los ocupantes de las instalaciones, todo envuelto en un gran misterio.
Tras la fiebre por la cultura egipcia en el siglo XIX. El terror y la fantasía no estuvieron exentos de incursionar en tramas relacionadas. Y esta historia es una de las precursoras. Refiriéndose a las momias como seres que podrían cobrar vida nuevamente y presentar una amenaza sea por una maldicion o para cumplir algun objetivo de "su controlador". Con detalles que han inspirado muchas obras posteriores de literatura y cinematográficas (probablemente la mas mítica aun hoy en día "La Momia" 1932, encarnada por Boris Karloff)
"la sabiduría de los hombres es escasa y los caminos de la Naturaleza harto extraños. ¿Quién se atreverá a poner un límite a las cosas ocultas que pueden ser descubiertas por los que se dedican a buscarlas?"
En la Universidad de Oxford, donde estudian y conviven de forma permanente un puñado de estudiantes. desde que un arqueólogo/egiptólogo adquirió una momia en una subasta comenzaron a suceder extraños acontecimientos puertas adentro de la universidad, lo que genero diversas disputas, desconfianzas y acusaciones cruzadas entre los ocupantes de las instalaciones, todo envuelto en un gran misterio.
Tras la fiebre por la cultura egipcia en el siglo XIX. El terror y la fantasía no estuvieron exentos de incursionar en tramas relacionadas. Y esta historia es una de las precursoras. Refiriéndose a las momias como seres que podrían cobrar vida nuevamente y presentar una amenaza sea por una maldicion o para cumplir algun objetivo de "su controlador". Con detalles que han inspirado muchas obras posteriores de literatura y cinematográficas (probablemente la mas mítica aun hoy en día "La Momia" 1932, encarnada por Boris Karloff)
"la sabiduría de los hombres es escasa y los caminos de la Naturaleza harto extraños. ¿Quién se atreverá a poner un límite a las cosas ocultas que pueden ser descubiertas por los que se dedican a buscarlas?"
July 16, 2025
Despite a torturous opening page (upon reading I was ready to give up), once underway ACD has a tidy short story about three University students in rooms one above the other. At the top, Abercrombie Smith, below him Edward Bellingham and below him, William Monkhouse Lee.
While Smith our protagonist is a medical student, Bellingham is a languages scholar, who engages in Egyptology and a hobby. In fact he takes his hobby quite seriously, judging by the mummy kept within his room.
Short stories need no more plot outlining for fear of spoiling the whole story, but one can clearly imagine that the mummy, which was purchased at auction (lot 249), is at the centre of strange goings on on campus, and Smith becomes the vigilante to put this to an end.
I do believe I enjoyed this more than some of his Sherlock Holmes short stories.
4 stars.
While Smith our protagonist is a medical student, Bellingham is a languages scholar, who engages in Egyptology and a hobby. In fact he takes his hobby quite seriously, judging by the mummy kept within his room.
Short stories need no more plot outlining for fear of spoiling the whole story, but one can clearly imagine that the mummy, which was purchased at auction (lot 249), is at the centre of strange goings on on campus, and Smith becomes the vigilante to put this to an end.
I do believe I enjoyed this more than some of his Sherlock Holmes short stories.
4 stars.
April 1, 2017
1884 Oxford and a medical student buys up a bunch of Egyptian stuff at an auction – including lot no. 249: a mummy! Shortly after, the medical student’s (laughable) “enemies” start getting attacked by a mysterious assailant. Surely it’s not the mummy, what??
Arthur Conan Doyle may have written some stonking good detective yarns with Sherlock Holmes but his attempt at horror in Lot No. 249 is pretty crap.
I’ve never found Conan Doyle’s writing to be especially standout and it’s very plodding and unexciting here. The drawn-out and unimpressive story is largely dull with little happening and populated with stereotypical English toffs speaking very plummy dialogue, what? And the ending is beyond weak – there are zero obstacles in the way, no tension; I say, it’s the literary equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel, what!
I suppose Conan Doyle should get points for being the first to use mummies as horror figures and the setting is quite atmospheric: musty old rooms filled with Egyptian antiquities in Victorian England. But I found the writing and storytelling style to be very dated and tedious compared to modern horror stories. Lot No. 249’s definitely not among Sir Arthur’s best work.
Arthur Conan Doyle may have written some stonking good detective yarns with Sherlock Holmes but his attempt at horror in Lot No. 249 is pretty crap.
I’ve never found Conan Doyle’s writing to be especially standout and it’s very plodding and unexciting here. The drawn-out and unimpressive story is largely dull with little happening and populated with stereotypical English toffs speaking very plummy dialogue, what? And the ending is beyond weak – there are zero obstacles in the way, no tension; I say, it’s the literary equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel, what!
I suppose Conan Doyle should get points for being the first to use mummies as horror figures and the setting is quite atmospheric: musty old rooms filled with Egyptian antiquities in Victorian England. But I found the writing and storytelling style to be very dated and tedious compared to modern horror stories. Lot No. 249’s definitely not among Sir Arthur’s best work.
November 24, 2018
2.5 / 5
This was read for my Gothic Fiction class. And while I can appreciate how Arthur Conan Doyle was the first person to write a story about an evil mummy (thank you Google), and to do a good representation of how the Victorians were obsessed with mummies and Egypt, I just found this story a little dull/confusing. I'm not sure what could have made this better, but I felt an overall feeling of ehh while reading. And that's, well, eh?
This was read for my Gothic Fiction class. And while I can appreciate how Arthur Conan Doyle was the first person to write a story about an evil mummy (thank you Google), and to do a good representation of how the Victorians were obsessed with mummies and Egypt, I just found this story a little dull/confusing. I'm not sure what could have made this better, but I felt an overall feeling of ehh while reading. And that's, well, eh?
May 4, 2018
Although not horrifying by today's standards, this was still a clever little tale and was an interesting look at where more modern day mummy appearances got their roots.
October 27, 2022
Conan Doyle’s supernatural tale involves an Oxford medical student, Abercrombie Smith, caught up in sinister events after fellow student Edward Bellingham dabbles in arcane magic in an attempt to raise an Egyptian mummy from the dead. Conan Doyle’s eerie story’s set in 1884 not long after British forces occupied Egypt as part of the ongoing imperial project and the expansion of overseas colonisation. Back home, Egyptomania reached new heights, there was a widespread craze for all things Egyptian and a particular fascination with ancient Egyptian burial rites. Scarab brooches were the height of fashion for women in mourning and for men scarab buttons. The roots of this obsession stretched back decades, mummified Egyptian corpses were even plundered from tombs and their mummified remains brought to England, where surgeons who specialised in hosting public, mummy-unwrapping parties, carried out perverted forms of autopsy on their stolen relics.
Conan Doyle’s work is a prime example of Victorian Egpytomaniac fiction. His story is very much centred on upright "Englishman" Smith versus the effete and dissolute Bellingham who’s been far too swayed by the "filthy" ways of the East. Although not outrageously xenophobic, this fits well with a broader imperial narrative asserting the necessity of upholding so-called "British values" to stave off the malign influence of the Eastern "other". There are echoes of the more famous Sherlock Holmes series here too, no-nonsense, man of action Smith bears a similarity to descriptions of Watson in his younger days, although here it’s a willingness to entertain the possibility of unworldly mysteries rather than rationality that wins the day. It’s not a brilliant piece but still entertaining enough to make me keen to read more of Conan Doyle’s gothic-flavoured tales.
Victober 2022 Challenge - short story
Conan Doyle’s work is a prime example of Victorian Egpytomaniac fiction. His story is very much centred on upright "Englishman" Smith versus the effete and dissolute Bellingham who’s been far too swayed by the "filthy" ways of the East. Although not outrageously xenophobic, this fits well with a broader imperial narrative asserting the necessity of upholding so-called "British values" to stave off the malign influence of the Eastern "other". There are echoes of the more famous Sherlock Holmes series here too, no-nonsense, man of action Smith bears a similarity to descriptions of Watson in his younger days, although here it’s a willingness to entertain the possibility of unworldly mysteries rather than rationality that wins the day. It’s not a brilliant piece but still entertaining enough to make me keen to read more of Conan Doyle’s gothic-flavoured tales.
Victober 2022 Challenge - short story
January 1, 2024
The First Mummy Horror
Review of the Penguin Little Black Classics Kindle eBook (March 3, 2016) of the original short story as it first appeared in Harper's Magazine (September, 1892).
I recently saw the 2023 TV adaptation and wanted to read the original story as well. Conan Doyle's gothic horror is relatively tame, but it still stands as the historic first fiction of the reanimation of a murderous Egyptian mummy. An Oxford occultist & scholar of Middle Eastern languages named Edward Benningham purchases a sarcophagus and mummy at an auction where it was rather anonymously titled "Lot No. 249." A mysterious spell written on an ancient papyrus scroll leads him to unleash a horror on the world and especially on his Oxford University colleagues. Freshman Abercrombie Smith, Doctor in waiting, is forced to act in order to stop the mayhem.
Illustration to accompany "Lot No. 249" in Harper's Magazine September, 1892. Image sourced from Wikipedia by William Thomas Smedley - Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 0085 Issue 508 (September, 1892) page 541, Public Domain, Link.
Trivia and Links
Lot No. 249 was adapted as the 2023 episode of the annual BBC television series A Ghost Story for Christmas which was broadcast on December 24, 2023. Writer/director Mark Gatiss did make several changes to the story, including turning Abercrombie Smith's "friend" into Sherlock Holmes (who uncharacteristically doesn't take up the case). The ending is also tweaked for added dramatic effect. You can see a trailer for the episode on YouTube here. Fans of Kit Harington (Game of Thrones a.o.) and Freddie Fox (Slow Horses a.o.) will enjoy seeing them in different roles.
This edition of Lot No. 249 is part of Penguin's Little Black Classics series of short stories, poems, essays and novel excerpts which currently numbers 127 volumes.
Lot No. 249 is in the public domain and can be read online via various sources such as Project Gutenberg where it is one of the stories in the Arthur Conan Doyle anthology The Great Keinplatz Experiment and Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen.
Review of the Penguin Little Black Classics Kindle eBook (March 3, 2016) of the original short story as it first appeared in Harper's Magazine (September, 1892).
It was such a chamber as he had never seen before—a museum rather than a study. Walls and ceiling were thickly covered with a thousand strange relics from Egypt and the East. Tall, angular figures bearing burdens or weapons stalked in an uncouth frieze round the apartments. Above were bull-headed, stork-headed, cat-headed, owl-headed statues, with viper-crowned, almond-eyed monarchs, and strange, beetle-like deities cut out of the blue Egyptian lapis lazuli. Horus and Isis and Osiris peeped down from every niche and shelf, while across the ceiling a true son of Old Nile, a great, hanging-jawed crocodile, was slung in a double noose.
I recently saw the 2023 TV adaptation and wanted to read the original story as well. Conan Doyle's gothic horror is relatively tame, but it still stands as the historic first fiction of the reanimation of a murderous Egyptian mummy. An Oxford occultist & scholar of Middle Eastern languages named Edward Benningham purchases a sarcophagus and mummy at an auction where it was rather anonymously titled "Lot No. 249." A mysterious spell written on an ancient papyrus scroll leads him to unleash a horror on the world and especially on his Oxford University colleagues. Freshman Abercrombie Smith, Doctor in waiting, is forced to act in order to stop the mayhem.
Illustration to accompany "Lot No. 249" in Harper's Magazine September, 1892. Image sourced from Wikipedia by William Thomas Smedley - Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 0085 Issue 508 (September, 1892) page 541, Public Domain, Link.
Trivia and Links
Lot No. 249 was adapted as the 2023 episode of the annual BBC television series A Ghost Story for Christmas which was broadcast on December 24, 2023. Writer/director Mark Gatiss did make several changes to the story, including turning Abercrombie Smith's "friend" into Sherlock Holmes (who uncharacteristically doesn't take up the case). The ending is also tweaked for added dramatic effect. You can see a trailer for the episode on YouTube here. Fans of Kit Harington (Game of Thrones a.o.) and Freddie Fox (Slow Horses a.o.) will enjoy seeing them in different roles.
This edition of Lot No. 249 is part of Penguin's Little Black Classics series of short stories, poems, essays and novel excerpts which currently numbers 127 volumes.
Lot No. 249 is in the public domain and can be read online via various sources such as Project Gutenberg where it is one of the stories in the Arthur Conan Doyle anthology The Great Keinplatz Experiment and Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen.
July 12, 2025
The mummy is 6'7 feet tall??!!
In Lot No. 249, a couple of Oxford chaps discover that their reclusive neighbor’s interest in ancient Egypt goes far beyond a casual fascination with hieroglyphs. Turns out, his mummy isn’t just for display... it’s for dispatching!!!
The story proves that no matter how many tutorials you attend, there are some things you simply can't prepare for—like your next door neighbor's pet mummy!!
Arthur Conan Doyle writes something else other than Sherlock Holmes!
I was not completely shocked. He probably had to undergo through inferiority complex when Holmes became more popular than his creator🤭🤭🤭
A brilliant gothic, horrific piece!
In Lot No. 249, a couple of Oxford chaps discover that their reclusive neighbor’s interest in ancient Egypt goes far beyond a casual fascination with hieroglyphs. Turns out, his mummy isn’t just for display... it’s for dispatching!!!
The story proves that no matter how many tutorials you attend, there are some things you simply can't prepare for—like your next door neighbor's pet mummy!!
Arthur Conan Doyle writes something else other than Sherlock Holmes!
I was not completely shocked. He probably had to undergo through inferiority complex when Holmes became more popular than his creator🤭🤭🤭
A brilliant gothic, horrific piece!
June 29, 2020
Maio, 1884, Abercrombie Smith um estudante na universidade de Oxford, juntamente com mais dois amigos, moram em quartos separados numa ala da universalidade . Na ala de baixo da universidade habita um estudante de línguas orientais chamado Bellingham. Ele adquiriu num leilão um sarcófago, em cujo interior havia uma múmia. Logo sons estranhos são ouvidos em seu quarto e ele é encontrado em estado inconsciente. Com o passar do tempo, vários ataques começam a acontecer nas ruas. Poderia ser ... a múmia?!?!?! Sim o estudante consegue trazer a velha múmia de volta à vida e a torna um ardil egípcio para se vingar de quem nutria rancor ou raiva...
Como podemos ver , Conan Doyle, o criador de Sherlock Holmes não escrevia apenas novelas criminais. Ele escrevia sobre múmias, escrevia poesia e obras de não- ficção etc.
Dizia-se que Rudyard Kipling brincou que a história lhe deu seu primeiro pesadelo em anos.
É interessante notar que até a publicação desse livro, as múmias eram retratadas como gentil e até românticas . Mas a partir de então, as múmias começaram a serem retratadas como más ,começando com esse livro onde uma múmia é trazida de volta à vida por um estudante universitário de Oxford através do uso de magia egípcia antiga e enviada para atacar todas as pessoas contra as quais o estudante tem ressentimento.
Então esse é um livro importante .A história marcou um ponto de virada na representação da múmia que a partir de então seria retratada como um assustador cadáver reanimado. Com isso as múmias egípcias antigas seriam sinistras e figuras predatórias presentes em revistas especializadas em fantasia, ficção científica, mistério e ocultismo, além de filmes.
Ótimo Livro. Recomendo.
Como podemos ver , Conan Doyle, o criador de Sherlock Holmes não escrevia apenas novelas criminais. Ele escrevia sobre múmias, escrevia poesia e obras de não- ficção etc.
Dizia-se que Rudyard Kipling brincou que a história lhe deu seu primeiro pesadelo em anos.
É interessante notar que até a publicação desse livro, as múmias eram retratadas como gentil e até românticas . Mas a partir de então, as múmias começaram a serem retratadas como más ,começando com esse livro onde uma múmia é trazida de volta à vida por um estudante universitário de Oxford através do uso de magia egípcia antiga e enviada para atacar todas as pessoas contra as quais o estudante tem ressentimento.
Então esse é um livro importante .A história marcou um ponto de virada na representação da múmia que a partir de então seria retratada como um assustador cadáver reanimado. Com isso as múmias egípcias antigas seriam sinistras e figuras predatórias presentes em revistas especializadas em fantasia, ficção científica, mistério e ocultismo, além de filmes.
Ótimo Livro. Recomendo.
October 3, 2021
3.5 stars
such a strange little story!
but defiantly unique and very nicely told.
clearly it’s not for everyone but i think hat if you enjoy a different story with supernatural elements sprinkled into it this will entertain you.
i will reread this in the near future when i want a nice mummy story!
such a strange little story!
but defiantly unique and very nicely told.
clearly it’s not for everyone but i think hat if you enjoy a different story with supernatural elements sprinkled into it this will entertain you.
i will reread this in the near future when i want a nice mummy story!
November 26, 2019
3.5*
Victorian ghost stories have this quintessential Englishness about them. This example from Doyle is a good one, featuring a mummy :0) Not really horror, and this is from someone who is rubbish at horror, but it works, and I think that’s because the setting is as important. It did remind me a little of M.R. James, but I guess that’s normal.
I just realised that I have lots of these Penguin Little Black Classics (http://www.littleblackclassics.com/list) and that I really should get through them! Could make it part of my intention to read at least one ‘Classic’ a month.
Victorian ghost stories have this quintessential Englishness about them. This example from Doyle is a good one, featuring a mummy :0) Not really horror, and this is from someone who is rubbish at horror, but it works, and I think that’s because the setting is as important. It did remind me a little of M.R. James, but I guess that’s normal.
I just realised that I have lots of these Penguin Little Black Classics (http://www.littleblackclassics.com/list) and that I really should get through them! Could make it part of my intention to read at least one ‘Classic’ a month.
January 19, 2024
"If there is real reason for warning, no promise can bind you. If I see a rascal about to blow a place up with dynamite no pledge will stand in my way of preventing him."
It moved in the shadow of the hedge, silently and furtively, a dark, crouching figure, dimly visible against the black background. Even as he gazed back at it, it had lessened its distance by twenty paces, and was fast closing upon him.
What the heck did I just Read?
It is a short story about a mummy that resurrects and is used as an agent of terror by a medical student.
When you read Arthur Conan's books you expect a sane explanation for even the most insane turn of events. But there wasn't, That's why this book felt a little incomplete to me, even though I enjoyed the book.
Who should Read this book?
If you're looking for a short spooky story that can engage you in just a few pages then this is it.
It is also a great book to get out of a reading slump.
It moved in the shadow of the hedge, silently and furtively, a dark, crouching figure, dimly visible against the black background. Even as he gazed back at it, it had lessened its distance by twenty paces, and was fast closing upon him.
What the heck did I just Read?
It is a short story about a mummy that resurrects and is used as an agent of terror by a medical student.
When you read Arthur Conan's books you expect a sane explanation for even the most insane turn of events. But there wasn't, That's why this book felt a little incomplete to me, even though I enjoyed the book.
Who should Read this book?
If you're looking for a short spooky story that can engage you in just a few pages then this is it.
It is also a great book to get out of a reading slump.
May 14, 2025
I used to be obsessed with mummies and ancient Egypt in the past, but somehow never came across this short story. Anyways, the plot had great promise and perhaps if the ending wasn't this weak and anticlimactic I'd have some good things to say about it.
January 1, 2025
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works do not reside in my printed book collection, probably because I have never been a fan of mysteries, let alone of Sherlock Holmes. However, spurred on by the BBC’s A Ghost Story For Christmas TV series, I have been trying to catch up on some of the various short stories, this one prompted by the 2023 telecast. If Doyle wrote some of his other supernatural tales as he wrote this one, I may spend more time on his works.
The main setting is the Old College in Oxford, where three students have taken lodging in different apartments in a corner turret of exceeding great age. One is good-natured but timid, one is singularly devoted to his studies and is formidable when driven to action, and the last is a strange one, a master of Eastern languages and obsessed with ancient Egypt. Described as reptilian by other students, he mostly keeps to his room. Everything seems normal until the strange one has a fit and is brought back to consciousness by our hero of the story, the formidable medical student. As the strange one tries to enter into his saviour’s life, the hero begins to understand that something isn’t quite right.
When another Oxford student is almost drowned and then the timid student is almost garroted, our courageous hero’s suspicions go on high alert. For he lives above the strange one and has been hearing noises at night, but his belief about what the extra noise is, almost costs him his life. For when he makes a weekly visit to a friend down the road, he is followed by something huge and monstrous and exceedingly fast.
It moved in the shadow of the hedge, silently and furtively, a dark, crouching figure, dimly visible against the black background. Even as he gazed back at it, it had lessened its distance by twenty paces, and was fast closing upon him. Out of the darkness he had a glimpse of a scraggy neck, and of two eyes that will ever haunt him in his dreams. He turned, and with a cry of terror he ran for his life up the avenue. There were the red lights, the signals of safety, almost within a stone’s-throw of him. He was a famous runner, but never had he run as he ran that night.
This was the first of the mummy revenge plots, written at a time when the world was learning more about the ancient Egyptians and their ways. Even if the reader doesn’t suspect anything, there is still a chill air about the paragraphs. Best digested with a glass of brandy before you turn the lights out at night.
Book Season = Autumn (lonely footpaths)
The main setting is the Old College in Oxford, where three students have taken lodging in different apartments in a corner turret of exceeding great age. One is good-natured but timid, one is singularly devoted to his studies and is formidable when driven to action, and the last is a strange one, a master of Eastern languages and obsessed with ancient Egypt. Described as reptilian by other students, he mostly keeps to his room. Everything seems normal until the strange one has a fit and is brought back to consciousness by our hero of the story, the formidable medical student. As the strange one tries to enter into his saviour’s life, the hero begins to understand that something isn’t quite right.
When another Oxford student is almost drowned and then the timid student is almost garroted, our courageous hero’s suspicions go on high alert. For he lives above the strange one and has been hearing noises at night, but his belief about what the extra noise is, almost costs him his life. For when he makes a weekly visit to a friend down the road, he is followed by something huge and monstrous and exceedingly fast.
It moved in the shadow of the hedge, silently and furtively, a dark, crouching figure, dimly visible against the black background. Even as he gazed back at it, it had lessened its distance by twenty paces, and was fast closing upon him. Out of the darkness he had a glimpse of a scraggy neck, and of two eyes that will ever haunt him in his dreams. He turned, and with a cry of terror he ran for his life up the avenue. There were the red lights, the signals of safety, almost within a stone’s-throw of him. He was a famous runner, but never had he run as he ran that night.
This was the first of the mummy revenge plots, written at a time when the world was learning more about the ancient Egyptians and their ways. Even if the reader doesn’t suspect anything, there is still a chill air about the paragraphs. Best digested with a glass of brandy before you turn the lights out at night.
Book Season = Autumn (lonely footpaths)
August 10, 2021
DNF at Page 57. It's a story about a 4,000-year-old mummy that is resurrected by an Oxford student. The plot didn't make me feel terrified at all. Perhaps at the time this short story was written, this topic would be interesting, but here Arthur Conan Doyle's writing wasn't brilliant as in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Scribd.com English text, and translation for Portuguese + audio in English from Google Translate.
December 20, 2021
Another fantastic story from Conan Doyle. He does the spooky and unsettling oh so well.
January 17, 2016
I was kinda disoppointed in the end, it was really easy and without any difficulties or complications.
November 6, 2014
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories and the Lost World, but he also wrote a few horror stories, among which are about mummies. And the story "Lot No. 249" is probably his best short story, and a creepy one at that.
With old Oxford University as the setting, this tale is about a group of students sharing the same building for their lodgings. One is a medical student, the other's course of study unmentioned, and the third with an interest in Eastern languages and in possession of a very sinister-looking Egyptian mummy. Conan Doyle's superb storytelling is very much evident here, with the spooky prose and a sinister air of mystery that is best read during a stormy evening.
With old Oxford University as the setting, this tale is about a group of students sharing the same building for their lodgings. One is a medical student, the other's course of study unmentioned, and the third with an interest in Eastern languages and in possession of a very sinister-looking Egyptian mummy. Conan Doyle's superb storytelling is very much evident here, with the spooky prose and a sinister air of mystery that is best read during a stormy evening.
May 14, 2024
'But the wisdom of men is small, and the ways of Nature are strange, and who shall put a bound to the dark things which may be found by those who seek for them?'
A horror short story by Conan Doyle in the style of M. R. James. A bit predictable, but still quite exciting.
And if you're wondering about the recent BBC adaptation,
You can read it for free on Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32777
A horror short story by Conan Doyle in the style of M. R. James. A bit predictable, but still quite exciting.
And if you're wondering about the recent BBC adaptation,
You can read it for free on Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32777
March 1, 2021
Primera vez que leo algo relacionado con las momias, y debo decir que me gusto bastante. Los personajes son entrañables, me cayeron en gracia desde el primer momento, en cuanto a la historia es atrapante y coherente, me hubiera gustado un poco más de desarrollo: sobre la historia de la momia, pero es solo un gusto mío.
September 23, 2017
The best of the little black classics so far!
July 4, 2019
Absolutely loved this book...very quick read, but thoroughly enjoyable.
December 28, 2020
চেনা প্লট, তবু দারুন লাগলো শুনতে। ইউটিউবে সানডে সাসপেন্স সার্চ দিলে পাওয়া যাবে।
January 24, 2020
This was a fun little gothic horror story that I had no idea even existed until recently. I love this author’s Sherlock Holmes so had great expectations from this book. This is about three young men who are students of Oxford University and one of them who is an Egyptologist owns a mummy. Then some strange creepy events start happening involving this supernatural mummy.
The back of the book says that this is the first ever tale to feature a supernatural Egyptian mummy. I loved it.
The back of the book says that this is the first ever tale to feature a supernatural Egyptian mummy. I loved it.
February 28, 2019
One of the underrated and less-appreciated classics of ACD, this story has actually acted as a template for lots and lots of works based on this particular genre.
Which genre?
Sorry Sir. Telling that might ruin your pleasure. However, my humble advice to you would be to read this classic story of horror as soon as possible, especially since it's available free online!
Recommended.
Which genre?
Sorry Sir. Telling that might ruin your pleasure. However, my humble advice to you would be to read this classic story of horror as soon as possible, especially since it's available free online!
Recommended.
November 25, 2020
Doyle surprises me again with this short story. With a compliment and small foreword, H.P. Lovecraft gives praise to Doyle's use of verbiage in the art of horror. A short story about a mummy that comes to life, it was purchased at an auction. It is so old, it no longer has any indication of a name or who it was, so it just goes by Lot No. 249. Creepy and totally not something I should have read right before bed, it reminded me of my days as a teen, when I used to stay up all hours of the night, with a flashlight and a Stephen King book, unable to put it down. Thought I was past getting scared by horror, by I found my heart racing at all the appropriate spots and it was a refreshing change from the Christmas stories I've been reading lately. Highly recommended, even though I should have known, as Doyle never disappoints.
May 13, 2023
I learned of this story only recently, even though it was written in 1892 during the same time Doyle was writing Holmes stories, and it's delightfully creepy. Evidently this is the first horror story featuring a reanimated mummy as a villain, so kudos for Doyle for breaking all kinds of literary ground in his lifetime.
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