A Night in King's College Chapel, by M.R. James (1892)

 The Idler After Dark’s Chronological Examination of the Works of M.R. James Part 1

 

Quite possibly the first ghost (or at least supernaturally inclined) story James ever tried his hand at (speculated to be dated around 1892), “A Night in King's College Chapel” is a fragment of a tale, written seemingly to coincide with an article on stained glass James also wrote for “The Cambridge Review”.  It is also far more in the vein of humor than horror and quite obviously doesn’t take itself very seriously, making it quite a departure from the tales James is better known for.

The story is short and simple.  A man falls asleep in his chapel while writing an article on the stained glass windows in the place.  When he awakens the door is locked and night has fallen, but worse than all that he hears voices – the voices of the various saints, animals, and assorted characters depicted in the windows as they interact with each other and caper about within the confines of the various windows.

There is no sense of terror from the man, and he recounts what he sees and hears (or dreams he sees and hears) quite calmly, making small jokes and puns at the expense of the Biblical characters depicted.  Other than being startled by the door closing and locking nothing is taken as much out of place (despite the oddness of the encounter) and there is no real threat from the people depicted – whether or not they actually exist, and whether or not they are aware of the living in their midst.

Overall an odd tale with a lot of jokes and puns that will likely fall flat for those not well-versed in Biblical lore and the stories of some of the minor characters that make up the Bible.  There is also a bit of oddness in the writing that doesn’t quite seem like James (mostly in the dialogue of Reuben), though research seems to point to him having written this and the Review article that is mentioned at nearly the same time.

Honestly there isn’t much to recommend any fan of weird fiction reading this on beyond the curiosity of seeing what may well have been the master’s first foray into the supernatural.  The tale itself is short and largely uninteresting, featuring nothing of what one expects from M.R. James, but it may well be what inspired him to write the finest ghost stories in the English (or any other) language, so its importance there can’t be overstated.