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Caleb Strange Special user Manchester UK 676 Posts |
Last night I burnt the midnight oil reading a collection of Maupassant's scary tales. I highly recommend them. To give you a taste of their subtle flavour, I've committed cultural vandalism, and adapted one. Kind of like the Hollywood screenwriter who insisted that the credits read, 'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare, with additional dialogue by...
A young man falls deeply, madly in love. For a few dizzy months he is buffeted by a sweet storm of exquisite emotions. Then cruel and wanton fate steps in. His young lover catches a chill, and she dies. He stumbles like a lost man through the petty administrative fog that surrounds death, bravely he sees her buried, then he hurries off to forget. And the sound of the coffin nails pound into his brain. And the last handful of gravel ever scratches at his heart. However, time heals, after a fashion, and many years later, his grief has settled enough for him to return home. But on entering his bedroom, THEIR bedroom, he is overwhelmed by desperately vivid memories, and he hurries out blindly to wander the city. By what could be chance, his steps lead him to a cemetery, and once more he stands before her grave. Tenderly he clears the weeds, and the debris of time, then reads the simple words on her stone. 'She loved, was loved, and died'. And a strange need takes hold of him. One night, one night more he must spend with her, and he resolves to sleep on the grave. Yet, unsurprisingly, this is not allowed, so, sneakily, he hides in a far forgotten corner of the cemetery, and comes out again only after dark. But, strangely, he can't find her grave. In anguish he stumbles round and round until exhausted he falls before a grave that reads, 'Here lies Jacques Olivant, who departed this life at the age of 51. He loved his family, was honest and kind, and died in peace.' Just then, as the clock strikes twelve, a milky blue shaft of moonlight brushes the headstone, and the original inscription seems to dissolve. Our hero gapes in chilled fascination, as new ghostly words take its place. 'Here lies Jacques Olivant, who departed this life at the age of 51. Through his callous behaviour he hastened the death of his father, because he wanted his money. He tortured his wife, tormented his children, deceived his neighbours, robbed people whenever he could, and died in disgrace'. And, looking up, he sees all about him, the carved happy platitiudes being erased by grim truth. The thought strikes our hero that on HER grave new words might be forming. So he stands up, and heads towards her stone certain now he will find it. And there in the moonlight, where only recently he had read, 'She loved, was loved, and died', now he sees that which before he could not bear to see. Neatly carved, in a precise calligraphy, the inscription delicately catches the moonlight. 'Having gone out one day in order to deceive her lover, she caught a cold in the rain, and died.' In the original story, there is no midnight moon. The skeletal inhabitants of the graves do their own ammending. But you're not sure whether you're seeing the dead rise, or the visions of a man sent mad by grief and a repressed truth. I couldn't capture Mauppassant's brilliant ambiguity, so I used the folk legend of true words appearing on headstones hit by the full moon at midnight. Incidentally, twice I've read of stone masons who claim this story is not entirely removed from the truth. Supposedly, in the flowers and whirls and harps that surround the words, ornamental masons have a secret language that reveals the true nature of the deceased. They carve your flowery words, but the devil is in the detail! So they can walk round a graveyard, and read 'Drunkard, *** monger, thief', where we see 'Loving husband and father'. Apparently this practise continues in some places to this day, and can be seen, if you know what you're looking for, on the graves of the rich and famous. Regards, Caleb Strange.
-- QCiC --
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jbohn Regular user Minneapoils, MN 102 Posts |
Wow...
This begs for an effect to go with it. Jeremiah |
Black Hart Elite user Scottish Highlands 475 Posts |
Interesting...I have a supply of blank gravestone shaped playing cards...
Black Hart
Black Artefacts, manufacturer and dealer of weird, bizarre and psychic magic: www.blackhart.co.uk
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Seance Elite user Talking on the other side with 427 Posts |
Black Hart, that would be a great way to tell the tale with those blank gravestone cards. I can envision how this would work by using minimal moves.
The tale works by itself, but the effect of the changed epitaphs really would enhance it. Dave |
enriqueenriquez Inner circle New York 1287 Posts |
Caleb,
Its a beautiful story and the idea of the gravestone cards seems good. Keep us posted about your progress with this. |
JudgeBean Regular user 125 Posts |
Maybe a tombstone card with the out to lunch principle.
now that would be a nice prop instead of a rubber band, but a nice sterling silver finger like claw? Judge Bean |
Caleb Strange Special user Manchester UK 676 Posts |
Some great ideas here from everyone to develop and thrillingly illustrate de Maupassant's original story!
I also think this story has a bearing on our current discussion about what may constitute a good basis for Bizarre effects. Although de Maupassant's story is set, necessarily, in the past, its themes remain modern. Grief, self-delusion and betrayal are things with which most people, I would guess, are familiar. Now does a story need to be set in the present to be contemporary and meaningful? Regards, Caleb Strange.
-- QCiC --
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jbohn Regular user Minneapoils, MN 102 Posts |
Caleb,
I don't think a story need be set in the present to be contemporary and meaningful- take Poe's "The Cask Of Amontillado" as an example. The tale of revenge and betrayal is as relevant today as it was in Poe's time, and certainly as it was in the era Poe set the story in. Jeremiah |
Xia Loyal user London, England 286 Posts |
Take a look at the 3rd Eugene Burger video for a good elmsly / ghost count routine that has the details on a tombstone change.
"They say time is money...i say time is precious"
"They say the whole is much more than the sum of its Parts...Thats why a man is much more than the sum of his Past!" |
Magyckmyke New user Lafayette La 57 Posts |
Are all of De Maupassant's books in French? Are there any English editions? If so could someone direct me to the ISBN? I can only find French copies.
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
The man was French, and wrote in French.
Quite a while ago too. Also found to be not so original in his stories. Usually read by high-school students here... so yes can be found translated into English.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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Stuart Hooper Special user Mithrandir 759 Posts |
Don't know much about this Maussapant, but came across a quote attributed to him, with regards to Michelangelo's Last Judgement, "the painting looked like something painted for a carnival wrestling booth by an ingorant coal heaver."
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Steve James Veteran user 333 Posts |
The trick with the Tombstone cards on the Burger Video/Dvd is called "The Last Dream" by Robert Neale. Basically its a variation of Alex Elmsley"s "The Four Card Trick" Its Top Notch!
Steve. |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The spooky, the mysterious...the bizarre! » » Guy de Maupassant's 'Tales of Supernatural Terror'. (0 Likes) |
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