The Discovery of Bram Stoker’s Lost Short Story ‘Gibbet Hill’

A Remarkable Discovery of Bram Stoker’s Lost Short Story

Brian Cleary, a dedicated clinical pharmacist based in Dublin, embarked on a fascinating journey through the archives of the National Library of Ireland a few years ago. During this exploration, he made an astonishing discovery: a nearly forgotten short story by none other than Bram Stoker, the esteemed author renowned for his Gothic classic “Dracula.” This particular story, a chilling narrative steeped in the supernatural titled “Gibbet Hill,” had made its debut in a now-defunct Irish newspaper in 1890, yet it had not resurfaced in print or received any scholarly attention since its initial publication.

“I was just gobsmacked,” shared Cleary, who serves as the chief pharmacist at the Rotunda maternity hospital and has long harbored a deep fascination for Stoker. “After finding it, I eagerly checked all the bibliographies, only to discover it was completely absent. I wanted to turn around and shout, ‘Guess what I found!’ but I was surrounded by serious researchers and academics, while I considered myself merely an amateur.”

This remarkable story had eluded inclusion in Stoker’s archival papers and remained a mystery to scholars, as noted by Audrey Whitty, the director of the national library. Although it is not uncommon for unexpected treasures to emerge from the library’s extensive archives, which house over 12 million items, Cleary’s discovery is particularly noteworthy due to the unique way he uncovered it.

Cleary’s journey began when he first encountered a reference to “Gibbet Hill” in a promotional advertisement featured in the Dublin Daily Express on New Year’s Day in 1891. His curiosity piqued, he meticulously traced back to the special section where the story had originally appeared — two weeks earlier, on December 17, 1890 — effectively revealing it from its concealment “hidden in plain sight,” as Whitty aptly described.

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