“Dracula” creator Bram Stoker’s new short story was lost for 134 years

A new story by “Dracula” author Bram Stoker is being published for the first time in 134 years.

Amateur historian Brian Cleary was browsing through Stoker’s works in the National Library of Ireland in Dublin, the gothic novelist’s birthplace, when he made the discovery.

“I read the words ‘Gibbet Hill’ and knew it wasn’t a Bram Stoker story I’d ever heard in any of the biographies or bibliographies,” Cleary told Agence France-Presse. “And I was amazed, amazed.”

He continued, “I sat staring at the screen wondering, am I the only person alive who had read it?”

Cleary’s next thought: “What on earth do I do with it?”

Stoker’s biographer, Paul Murray, confirmed the astonishing discovery, pointing out that the work would certainly be. were a “station on his way to the publication of Dracula,” which he began writing in 1890, the same year he published the since-forgotten short story as well as his first novel, the romantic thriller “The Crossing of the snake”.

The news comes ahead of the Bram Stoker Festival in Dublin later this month.

Gibbet Hill is set in the Surrey, United Kingdom village of the same name and follows the story of three outlaws who are tried and hanged for murdering a sailor and left on a gallows to serve as a warning to malicious travelers.

“It’s a classic Stoker story,” Murray said, “the struggle between good and evil, evil manifesting itself in exotic and inexplicable ways.”

Cleary came across the short story in 2021 amid a break from his work at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital due to sudden hearing loss. To pass the time, he read old news clippings and other articles – such as the 1890 Christmas supplement of the Daily Express Dublin Edition where “Gibbet Hill” was first and last published.

Library director Audrey Whitty recalled Cleary’s message to her: “I’ve found something extraordinary in your newspaper archives – you won’t believe it.”

Whitty called it “amazing amateur detective work” – and a testament to their archival program.

“There are really important world discoveries waiting to be found,” she said.

Cleary’s discovery came full circle when he helped broker a deal to see Gibbet Hill take a second step, courtesy of the Rotunda Foundation, the charity associated with Cleary’s employer. Book sales will go to benefit the Charlotte Stoker Fund, named for Bram’s mother, who was, incidentally, an advocate for the deaf community.