Who Goes There?

Any time I read a book or story which includes a scene set in a hedge maze, I tend to think back on the very grim examples of the maze species to be found in stories such as one of M. R. James's marvelous ghost stories, "Mr. Humphreys and his Inheritance." These are not the well-ordered (if sometimes challenging) mazes to be found on some English estates, such as the Hampton Court Maze. These are more the stuff of nightmare:

"It was a yew maze, of circular form, and the hedges, long untrimmed, had grown out and upwards to a most unorthodox breadth and height. The walks, too, were next door to impassable. Only by entirely disregarding scratches, nettle-stings, and wet, could Humphreys force his way along them..."

---

"he began to be sensible of some Creature keeping Pace with him and, as he thought, peering and looking upon him from the next Alley to that he was in; and that when he should stop, this Companion should stop also, which put him in some Disorder of his Spirits..."

Excerpts from "Mr. Humphreys and his Inheritance," written a century ago for Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. Those are the ghosts which still come back to my memory when I read books like J. J. Connington's Murder in the Maze and Edmund Crispin's Sudden Vengeance, both of which feature nightmarish scenes set inside complex hedge mazes. I am generally not a horror story fan, but there is a place in my heart and on my bookshelves for M. R. James.

Comments

[Peter Reynard]

Every time I hear the word maze, I think of the Laurel & Hardy movie "Chump at Oxford" and that brings out the opposite reaction. I need to read more detective stories set in mazes.

[Les Blatt]

Peter, it's been so long since I saw that one that I don't remember it at all. But if they were let loose in a maze, I shudder to think of the devastation they might have wrought... ;-)

[Bill]

I read a good maze mystery by Catherine Aird but the name escapes me right now. Of the old school ghost story writers I've always found James to be especially keen.

[Les Blatt]

Bill - I think you're right about an Aird with a maze, and I can't remember the name either. If you think of it, please come back and post another comment with the name of the book. And I agree; James was a master at that kind of ghost story.

[Peter Reynard]

Indeed Les, they did create destruction. If I remember correctly, Stan gets hit in the head and undergoes a personality change to become a Don at Oxford. That was when I realized the breadth of his acting. Kinda like the transformation of Mr. Bean in Black Adder.

[Les Blatt]

An interesting side note, Peter: looking up the movie on IMDB, I find that one of the small-part actors (playing a student) was...Peter Cushing, later to play mad scientists, vampire fighters and...Sherlock Holmes. He had quite a career.