SOLVED. Short story gothic fiction (?) about a man returning home from exile(?) and a woman on a rock is glaring at him with hatred. He finds out a forbear killed the woman or her family [s]

[Linda]

I hope the fact that this is a short story and not a book is not a problem. I hope something gin this description rings true for someone and they can remember the name of the story and the author.

I always thought this story was called the Return of the Native by Nathaniel Hawthorne, but the novel The Return of the Native is by Thomas Hardy and the story I'm thinking of is not a novel. If I do a google search, the Thomas Hardy novel comes up or a biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

It is written in English and takes place in northeastern US. Massachussetts comes to mind, but that may only be because of Massachusetts' connection to witches.

I would have read it in the 1970s, but am not sure how old the story was. As I said, I thought it was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The story is about a man who is walking home towards the town where he grew up. He is estranged from his family for some reason, and he must be coming home to get an inheritance. Maybe is the last in the family line. On the outskirts of the village, he sees a woman, kind of wild looking, standing on a rock and glaring at him with intense hatred. I seem to think there is a rock slide or something that puts his life in danger, but the woman disappears and he survives. That night, when he is talking with the man who he is staying with (a lawyer or doctor, I think) the doctor tells him the story of his family and how his family in some way wronged the woman or her family. I can't remember. The woman is a ghost or witch or something supernatural.

That's it.

A million thanks!

Linda

[Linda]

That's it!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my god. Thank you so much.

[Kris]

Glad you found your short story, Linda. Do you remember which book you read it in?

[Linda]

No I don't remember which book it was in. Sorry.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Does anyone remember what the story/author was? I think the person who suggested it deleted their comment.

[Kris]

Linda, I notice your request is marked Solved. What's the title and author of your book?

[Linda]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Does anyone remember what the story/author was? I think the person who suggested it deleted their comment."

Hi. It was a short story in a book called Dark Encounters, a Collection of Ghost Stories by William Croft Dickenson. The short story in question is called The Return of the Native.

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