The Phantoms of the Footbridge and Other Stories

by Mary Noailles Murfree

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Library Binding

First published January 1, 1895

About the author

Used the pseudonym Charles Egbert Craddock.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection was first published in 1895 and is constituted entirely of novelettes and novellas. I was hoping for more ghost stories, but most of these tales are of the real, with providence being the closest to supernatural in most of them. The pacing is a bit long for modern sensibilities, and quite often I wish these inhabited a compact space much closer to Ambrose Bierce. However, anyone doing regional research on daily activities and the Appalachian setting would be well served to read these stories, as they are rich and evocative. While the regional descriptions are strong, there’s something akin to whiplash when transitioning from the narrator’s erudite diction to the phonetic dialogue.

“The Phantoms of the Foot-Bridge” has some spooks in it that provide gentle regional chills.

‘His "Day In Court"’ contains no supernatural elements. In Act 1 we follow brothers waiting to take out the courtier from the wrong side of a blood feud that’s a bit more Hatfield and McCoy than Montague and Capulet. I like how the women are presented as true and pure and want to make things right, while the pride of men spoil all the possible opportunities for reconciliation and rebuilding relationships. Ultimately, this is a story of two mountain clans that quarrel over the custody of a child, going back and forth until there is reconciliation in a manger on Christmas Eve.

“'Way Down In Lonesome Cove” contains debatable supernatural elements, but I would contend that the “visions” of two of the characters whereof one lady seeing another lady who strongly resembled herself, while the other was struck by the synchrony on Christmas Eve of a child in a manger with an animal feeding nearby. Mostly this was a story about Luke, a jealous man who has been courting Eugenia, but instead she chose another, Tobe. Luke becomes convinced that Tobe has stolen not only his preferred prospective wife, but also his horse. Luke proceeds to organize a Lynch-mob but is turned away at the last moment by guilt and thoughts of Jesus. Tobe shows Luke how the horse was legally purchased after being lost, and then they become chums. Much like “His Day in Court” this story spends a lot of time documenting the local politics and offices and local election policies and procedures. Also like that last story, it relied on the women to be level-headed and take action to keep the men from doing outrageously foolish things. This story also has some really insightful discussion of courting and the dangers of a bad pick that would benefit from further historical and feminist analysis.

“The Moonshiners At Hoho-Hebee Falls” has characters wrestling with the sinfulness of fiddle music while turning a blind eye to whether one should love an adopted orphan as much or more as one’s own children who died. Then we get into an elaborate scheme to get unqualified into a post office assignment, and trying to hide with moonshiners in the mountain caves and avoid the Revenue Men. This is wryly humorous musing of sin and letting the reader decide for themselves what are the biggest sins - enjoying music, indolence, charlatanry, moonshining, or Revenuing.

There’s a nice sequence that is as close as we get to the supernatural in this story: “The shadows of the men, instead of an unintelligible comminglement with the dusk, were now sharp and distinct, and the light grotesquely duplicated them till the cave seemed full of beings who were not there a moment before—strange gnomes, clumsy and burly, slow of movement, but swift and mysterious of appearance and disappearance. The beetling ledges here and there imprinted strong black similitudes of their jagged contours on the floor; with the glowing, weird illumination the place seemed far more uncanny than before, and Leander, with his face pensive once more in response to the gentle strains slowly elicited by the bow trembling with responsive ecstasy, his large eyes full of dreamy lights, his curling hair falling about his cheek as it rested upon the violin, his figure, tall and slender and of an adolescent grace, might have suggested to the imagination a reminiscence of Orpheus in Hades.”

The Riddle Of The Rocks is an interesting story that creatively transitions perspectives. We start with Roger Purdee who has two large limestone blocks on his mountainside. In the mineral streaks on the surface he sees that they’re the writings on the tablets of the Ten Commandments. We then shift to a neighbor Job Grinnell who is envious of the attention Purdee receives in church for his piousness. Children from the Purdee family then visit and after a long conversation, very creatively and entertainingly call the Grinnell baby ugly. We learn that the two families have been feuding for generations. We also learn that church may or may not be at the blacksmith’s shop with a jug of moonshine. Grinnell sermonizes and gets everyone to trek to the stones on the mountain to humiliate Purdee, while also accusing him of sinning by claiming land that belongs to the Grinnells. Purdee loses his faith and becomes unable to read the rocks. His despair turns to rage when he learns of the accusation of theft or property. The county surveyor is summoned and paid, and we learn that the Grinnell homestead and fields are actually on Purdee property. Purdee goes to the Grinnell house to consider eviction, but seeing the “ugly” baby compels him to consider making this baby homeless and sleeping in a barn on Christmas Eve. Faith is restored, ability to read the stones returned, and a generational feud is ended by a Christmas Miracle.

The sorghum-making detail is excellent, and we need more preservation of traditions like this. I also really liked the details of the surveyor chains, and honestly would have liked a little more detail about the challenge of surveying mountainsides.

This book is in the public domain and available for free at Gutenberg.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining listening 🎶🔰

Another will written Appalachian Mountains adventure thriller short story by Mary Noailles Murfree. I had a hard time listening 🎶 to this story. Give it a try it may work for you. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening to books 📚. 2022