The classic horror short story by Captain Frederick Marryat titled The Legend of the Bell Rock was first published in 1836. While today we may see originality in the tale, this was not of Marryat's mind as can be seen from The Legend of the Bell Rock poem and introduction found in a 1825 collection of short stories "Characters Omitted in Crabbe's Parish Register; with Other Tales." As Marryat's fame as a writer grew, The Legend of the Bell Rock was collected into an 1841 anthology Olla Podrida. There is much to be liked in this horror short story that hits on the lengths one will go to for love. In the tale the cagey and compassionate residents of Aberbrothwick place a warning bell on a rocky outcropping to signal ships to avoid the area. M'Clise, the protagonist, seeks the hand of the lovely Katarina but her father requires a large sum of money to buy her favor. M'Clise decides to steal the bell and sell it, only to be driven mad by his quest for money and Katarina. This is the haunting close to the story:
The Bell Rock! M'Clise shuddered, and made no reply. Onward went the vessel, impelled by the sea and wind : one moment raised aloft, and towering over the surge ; at another, deep in the hollow trough, and walled in by the convulsed element. M'Clise still held his Katcrina in his arms, who responded not to his endearments, when a sudden shock threw them on the deck. The crashing of the timbers, the pouring of the waves over the stern, the heeling and settling of the vessel, were but the work of a few seconds. One more furious shock,—she separates, falls on her beam ends, and the raging seas sweep over her.
M'Clise threw from him her whom he had so madly loved, and plunged into the wave. Katerina shrieked, as she dashed after him, and all was over.
When the storm rises, and the screaming sea-gull seeks the land, and the fisherman hastens his bark towards the beach, there is to be seen, descending from the dark clouds with the rapidity of lightning, the form of Andrew M'Clise, the heavy bell to which he is attached by the neck, bearing him down to his doom.
And when all is smooth and calm, when at the ebbing tide, the wave but gently kisses the rock, then by the light of Ihe silver moon, the occupants of the vessels which sail from the Frith of Tay, have often beheld the form of the beautiful Katerina, waving her white scarf as a signal that they should approach, and take her off from the rock on which she is seated. At times, she offers a letter for her father, Vandermaclin; and she mourns and weeps as the wary mariners, with their eyes fixed on her, and with folded arms, pursue their course in silence and in dread.
The lack of originality by Marryat in conceiving of the idea (the seed of novelty that is so greatly cherished by true authors of literary genius) for this classic horror short story puts it higher in this list than it deserves otherwise. Thanks for reading and please visit the homepage for the Best Horror, Ghost, Werewolf and Vampire Short Story Blog.
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