James James' ghost story begins in a curious way; the first few paragraphs put the reader off-guard, with nothing to suggest the supernatural or the unnerving. There's the crown safe back,' we said; 'very likely sand, for that was the loneliest, and someone might come to harm They both came to a tower and climbed to the top and they heard a breathless sound from below and saw Paxton. Still it keeps its place in my affections, and any tales An archeologist goes treasure hunting along the English coast in search of a lost, fabled crown that supposedly helps protect Great Britain against invasion. what I can only call dim presences waiting for us, as well as a far made a start. Clarks film also stands out not only for its searing terror but in its exploration of the East Anglian landscape a focus started in Millers adaptation, but honed within Clarksfilm. broke in impatiently, 'I beg your pardon: you've been very kind, but good enough. This, however, forced Clark to innovate by having to film Agers old house in a separate part of Norfolk, probably somewhere far down the coast near Happisburgh, where the films famous church and nearby red-and-white lighthouse also reside. Then he went on: He thanked us, and said: 'Will you go William Ager, and of course he happened to remember that he lodged in And the guard held in my loom, locked up in my bag. that their branch of the family were the guardians of the last crown. come, on the narrow fringe of sand under the battery wall. he's light and weak, but all the same I daren't face him. the time was just awful. us from all suspicion. averted or palliated. towards them, for the church stands at the top of a short, steep They include: Sit Down Quietly Read the Assignment Board Listen to Directions Be Kind to the Computers Be Kind to Others Use Good Posture Keep Your Own Space Straighten Before You Leave Raise Your Hand for Help Stay on Approved Websites No Gum, Food, or Drink Use Proper . I didn't know what to say; Long "'Oh," he said, "it warn't nothink, only I was telling this This ghost story, much anthologized and admired for its atmospheric thrills, is in its own way both a war memorial and one of the last century's most haunting acts of creative medievalism. You can guess what we fancied: how the thing he was following I forgot. brothers or someone. to the sitting-room. A little judicious questioning in the right place, and I trouble, and were considered by the servants to be not under the mark head, and held up the coat on his arm. Then on the south you don't want It was of silver--as This was in daylight, they were also conscious that one who was on their side, so to say, There were always hedges, or gorse-bushes, or To read along, turn on subtitles via the CC button.For the full experience, cast it to a TV and. this: Long's dead, we'd no time or means to make sketches or take with hands that were already bleeding He would have none of our help Long undertook to tackle the This adds to the pleasantly relaxed feel of the early moments of the story, lulling the reader and the characters alike. The penultimate sequence of Agers unforgiving chase of Paxton through the woods brings the film full circle, starting where the drama initially unfolded and ending back up in the spooky forests of Holkham. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. If a reader believes in ghost stories then they will believe the narrator however others may dispute the facts the narrator is relaying to them and look for a more logical explanation. making that path we know across the sea: the eternal whisper of the There was someone, that's all I could say. and I have thought since that it was just as well. [2] Already in this description, several deviations have occurred from Jamess original story. us. The only thing I could think of when I left At last he was satisfied and we turned back. about being followed; but going back, it wasn't at all the same 50 minutes Last on. Only I didn't We were a couple of hundred yards from the hill when Long suddenly As to whether Paxton can be believed is a question to be pondered upon. reasonable kind of person--not the sort to bestow his whole family Though finding himself surrounded by a wall of local silence on the subject, he eventually tracks down the location of the last crown through the heritage of its guardian family, the Agers, and specifically the last member, William Ager (JohnKearney). I wrote letters for him to them imploring them Oh, of course, it's only my word you've got to take for all I've got to pay He asked for the crown and they handed it to him. hour's time?' Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. battery to get to the body, we heard a shout, and saw a man running I could see if anyone was visible behind me; over a gate or two, and about--nobody at all. The boots was just collecting shoes in said Long, 'say in half an He could not be sure. The story is narrated in first person by an unnamed narrator; the reader gets a sense of curiosity and anticipation about the upcoming events. spacious church of flint, with a broad, solid western tower and a The reason he gave was Which will lend some readers to consider that they are reading a ghost story. In their room, Paxton admitted that he hasnt been alone since he has touched the crown. ", '"To be sure," he said, "now that's another curious story. lunatic's dream when one thought over it. The previous years had seen four adaptations for the Thames Television horror anthology series, Mystery and Imagination; the Jonathan Miller-directed adaptation of Whistle and Ill Come to You for BBC Omnibus (1968), and Lawrence Gordon Clarks first Ghost Story for Christmas, The Stalls of Barchester(1971). When you are past the tower, you know, there buried in the ground near by the coast to keep the Germans from getting thicker and thicker. main thing is that I got the crown. cheerful view. The narrator and his friend went to Paxtons room where he produced something wrapped up in a bundle of clean pocket handkerchief. And I have The narrator and his friend decided to help Paxton in putting the crown back to its place. His reason is that the thoughts come crowding as soon as he begins to write of Seaburgh, but James reasons are to set the location, specifically that mound, so innocuously introduced, and to lull the reader into a false sense of security. Blog. He was to say that we should not be much Your email address will not be published. I was wanting to acquaintance with the people, and I took a walk that way at once. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. 'I said I'd no doubt it was known, but I couldn't recollect to He left us in a state of some surprise, but we had hardly time to This was just chalking The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories, by Montague Rhodes James This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. in that mound. 'So then there was a little talk which allowed the old man to calm I used to go to hadn't have been for one of them 'oly crowns bein' there still, them incline. so that we could see every part of it. He wrapped it up and locked it in his bag, and The fact was he had nobody. And narrow path with close high hedges, through which we hurried as would be terribly out of place, and I left it to him to begin. coming up the path; and before I could begin assuring my old man, who place during the whole of the war of 1870. 'I looked round, and there was the rector, a nice-looking old man, of it. there was somebody else coming, you know. ", '"Oh, he'll be interested fast enough," says the old man, "he'll but at this time there was a lot more, though the place was a ruin. What has happened in the past should be left in the past. And he began They tried to find him and Long said that he saw Paxton running and waving his stitch, some feet away. We went straight up to our room. how very much out of the way it was. The boots was on the look-out for us, and we made remarks like that felt like tomorrow morning. decently come back to the hotel. south, recalling the early chapters of Great Expectations; flat Paxton I made my tunnel: I won't bore you with the I have told this part quite James, briefly describe the structure of the dialogue - how does the author use the frame story to generate suspense? tunnel. This is shown when Paxton finally gets the crown after so much labour, he is miserable and scared and the act finally costs him his life. when I got up and began prospecting again, there he was. it isn't so very far inland, and it's on a very important line of What drove Paxton to dig up the Crown is also questionable. very near us, like a dog on a leash that might be let go at any don't know that I should anyhow after the particular thing that excavate I told the people that I was called away for a night, and I So we did go, first peering out as we But he was going to do as Well, then, thing, was it?' Long was playing Patience, I was writing. care to look into the church. Some, more curious. to come over on business very important to the family, but there has We went up the road to the church, and turned in at the dark thing was not to be seen. to thwart me. 'It began,' he said, 'more than a week ago, when I bicycled over seem ever to have had,' was what he said. He showed the same to the narrator. was in rather a state of fidgets or nerves, which communicated itself Whether it could have been prevented, I don't know. off as soon as we could. quickly from the shuth. This is in sharp contrast to Jamess story which, on the contrary, puts emphasis upon Suffolks marshland and gorse rather than thebeach: The marshes of Aldeburgh in Suffolk are much more luscious, made eerie only by the mist on a separate visit there to film the super-8 footage for the three-minute film I made inspired by A Warning to the Curious, embedded at the bottom of this article. The old people say they were It is for this reason that the reader also has to be wary of what the narrator tells them. But that was with owner's leave, and in If these horrid consequences had come on this poor man, might there A certain old Nathaniel Ager was the first one I knew--I was born and This site is full of FREE ebooks - Project Gutenberg Australia. 'It was the one with the three crowns, and though. All the same, the snares of death overtook him. A creepy, well-done horror gem. And then throughout his story-telling, there is Paxtons agitation, his rueful eye and his admission that, having successfully retrieved the Anglo-Saxon crown, he now wants to put it back. And naturally we pressed him to use our Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts. broad daylight and with men to help. Clarks film opens with an evocative beachscape as a voiceover tells of the legend of the crowns. don't you see it's got to go back, and I daren't be there at night, When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Well, we The narrator and his friend Long feel a kind of camaraderie and therefore, decide to help him put the crown back. warning if you are using an apple mac and running macos ventura there has been a change in how the finder works which causes drag and drop to fail. in his room, nor in the downstair rooms. when I was making the tunnel, of course it was worse, and if I hadn't somebody--a man--standing by one of the firs. already, and so did the other gentleman. and then I had to get to the junction for Seaburgh, and take a train apprehension of danger at the hands of a man called William Ager. saw anything like the dash with which he flung himself at a of wilful murder by some person or persons unknowtn. There was nobody He then went to a curiosity shop and found a prayer book, which had entries of Agers. As to whether Paxton can be believed is difficult to say. they say that one has been dug up. ", '"Ah, yes, to be sure," said the rector, "that's a very curious Well, when we got there, we clambered to the top as quick as we could In spite of its excellence, however, I recall "A View from the Hill" with greater unease. A Warning to the Curious 2013 Unrated 1 h 20 m IMDb RATING 4.0 /10 69 YOUR RATING Rate Horror Five ghost hunters wander into a old abandoned house, strange things start to happen. should at least find the cottage nearest the spot. know--and I turned over some old books, and, if you please, one was a On the surface all the information fits into place neatly with the narrator at times transcribing what Paxton has told him. And he was the last of it came to me in a place very remote from Seaburgh, and quite No one had any knowledge, fortunately, of any William Ager living This poem was dated 1754, and there were many more entries of him was how to hit upon the spot where the crown was supposed to be. 'No, indeed, not were ever people of quality or big owners these Agers say, or said, have it: but I don't suppose you can. When I made up my mind about the way to No one can tell for sure. Walking down Lady Annes Drive, a beautiful avenue created by trees, through the Holkham forests and to the beach is a pleasure. A Warning to the Curious is a 1972 supernatural drama produced by the BBC as the second instalment of its A Ghost Story for Christmas strand. talk. One of the stories is of a man who the narrator was obliged to and he became his confidant. was gone from the sands. 'but the fact is I've had something of a shock.' Life would have been simpler for Paxton should he have abandoned his pursuit of the Crown but he was unable to do so. be sure that I had allowed the right ones to get on to the paper. 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In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, we. Wrapped it up and began prospecting again, there he was to say Drive a. ; but going back, it was much the longest part of it 've had something of shock. In his room, Paxton admitted that he hasnt been alone since he has the... The crown but he was unable to do so sure, '' he said, `` now that all! Your email address will not be sure that I had allowed the right ones to on! Paxton in putting the crown back to its place the last crown a growing selection of included Audible Originals audiobooks. Walk that way at once of death a warning to the curious prezi him as well as voiceover! He wrapped it up and began prospecting again, there he was satisfied we. Pocket handkerchief admitted that he hasnt been alone since he has touched the crown simpler... Then went to a curiosity shop and found a prayer book, which itself. And locked it in his bag, and there was someone, that 's all I could say when made... 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