Ghost Story Review: "The Cedar Closet" by Lafcadio Hearn

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The narrator of this lurid ghost story/love story is an orphan along with her brother, Archibald, with whom she shares a home. A school friend of Archie’s, Robert Dray, proposes to her. She and Archie live in an old parsonage on Robert’s land. She is already well-acquainted with the house she and Robert will share after they are married and has a room—her own room—already picked out. The night before her wedding, she sleeps in the room for the first time. “It was a pleasant south room, wainscoted in richly-carved cedar, which gave the atmosphere a spicy fragrance… It looked bright and cozy as I came in; my favorite low chair was drawn before the fire, whose rosy light glanced and flickered on the glossy dark walls which gave the room its name, ‘The Cedar Closet.’” After she sends her bridesmaids and everyone else away for the night, she curls up on the bed and falls sleep. (Which is more than I did the night before my wedding! I think I slept for about three hours if that much but that’s neither here nor there). She’s suddenly awakened and senses a baleful presence. She hears a low moan followed by cackling, evil laughter. Terrified, she won’t cry out for help. Worst of all, she hear a shuffling step, as if from someone walking with a crutch. The rest of the story plays out in melodrama with a lot of fainting and such, but no surprises. There’s a lot of sadness, a bit of mustache-twirling, all part and parcel of a typical gothic ghost story. This was a disappointment for me because I’ve read stories of great beauty by this author. Yet this, like his other writing, has wonderful description. Can’t hit a home run every time you’re up at bat, I guess. ______ Title: “The Cedar Closet” Author: Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) First published: First published in the magazine Cincinnati Enquirer, March 1, 1874. The text can be found here: