Paranormal Stories

All nineteenth century stories about the paranormal are the same...or are they?'

Compare and contrast three or four stories you have read relating to this part of your GCSE course, discussing some of the issues this question raises.

In the nineteenth century people were far more superstitious than today. This is because there were no explanations for the odd things that went on, so they were forced to have superstitious beliefs. Today, we have science and technology that give us answers.

Stories about the paranormal were not necessarily about ghosts. They normally had the same/similar ingredients such as the dark inevitability of fate, eerie settings and atmospheres, symbolism of death and mostly contain simple plots.

The three stories, 'The Signal Man', 'The Monkey's Paw' and 'The Withered Arm' are three examples of stories that allude to the paranormal. Charles Dickens' 'The Signal Man' is about a "gloomy" man who works at a railway track and claims to see specters, whereas W.W Jacob's 'The Monkey's Paw" is about a sergeant major who insists that his relic from foreign climes can grant three wishes. On the other hand Thomas Hardys' 'The Withered Arm' is about the result of a woman's vision that took place in her sleep, about a woman she envied.

'The Signal Man' and 'The Monkey's Paw' both have fairly simple plots; on the other hand, 'The Withered Arm' has a far more complicated story line.

"The Signal Man" - a "sallow" skinned man, who works by the railway tunnel, sees specters that call out to him, with their "left arm across the face" and their "right arm waved" to him. At first, the signalman thought that it was a real person, so he "ran on into the tunnel five hundred yards" to find no one. Six hours after the "appearance" the "memorable accident" on that line took place:

"...and within ten hours the dead and wounded were brought along through the tunnel over the spot where the figure had stood"

After a few months, the Signal man had recovered from the "surprise" and "shock", but just as he had done so, one morning, "as the day was breaking", he saw the specter again. It was calling out the same lines and repeating the same actions as the first time. Once again, after the sight of this spectre, another incident accured in a train that passed by:

"...A beautiful young lady had died instantaneously in one of the compartments..."

In this story, the specter seen is an omen to death. Though the signalman knew this, he did not know that these specters were in fact omens to his own death:

"... No man in England knew his work better. But somehow he was not aware of the outer rail."

The gestures and dialogue that were made by the specters, were made by the same train driver that "killed" the signalman, he did not "clear the way" because he assumed that it was another specter warning him about another accident that would take place, not knowing it would be his own death.

"The Monkey's Paw" has a little more of a complicated plot, but still has a fairly basic story-line. A typical family is given a monkey's paw from a sergeant major who said that it had a "spell" cast on it by a "fakir":

"...He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it"

The family did not believe this myth and slightly mocked the sergeant at first"

"Why don't you have three?"

The "soldier" claimed to have done so but did not suggest that anyone took it from him:

"Don't blame me for what happens..."

Even though the family did not really believe what the sergeant had said, the father wished upon it anyway, he wished for two hundred pounds. The father got what he wished for, but in a way that wasn't expected. Their son had died at work when he fell in the "machinery" and they were sent the money because of his death.

The mother tried to wish for her son back, and that was when a "knock" sounded "on the front door". A louder knock "resounded" making the mother jump up and think it was her son.

She ran to the door but her husband did not want her to open it:

"...For God's sake don't let it in..."

Instead of helping his wife open the "bolt" of the door, he got on his "hands" and "knees", looking for the paw. When he found it, he "frantically breathed his third and last wish" before the door could be opened. The knocking stopped. This makes us think that it was the son that was at the door, yet wished away by his father.

"The withered Arm" is the most complicated of the three stories. This story has a complicated story line and does not have a typical plot structures similar to the other two stories. It has other issues that stand out in the story. The story shows strong signs of a patriarchal society, a male dominated era that was judged by class hierarchy and the rural and poor citizens:

"I shall have to pay him nine pounds a year for the rent of every one of these milchers..."

This story is about a lady called Rhoda Brooke who has an affair with a farmer called farmer lodge. She gets pregnant and has an illegitimate child. Farmer lodge then married a "lady-like" woman called Gertrude. Rhoda had a lot of envy towards Gertrude. One night, Rhoda had a "vision" of Gertrude sitting on her chest showing her the "ring on her finger" whilst "suffocating" her. Rhodda "twists" her arm and falls off the bed.

Six weeks later, Gertrude visited Rhoda and her arm had "faint marks of an unhealthy colour" it looked as though it was "produced by a rough grasp" . These were the marks of her "her own four fingers" . A while passes by, and Gertrude's arm gets worse. She goes to visit Conjurer Trendle (a doctor that examined witch craft). He tells Gertrude that it was done by an "enemy". He set up some apparatus' to show Gertrude the face of the enemy who did this to her arm. It is obvious