Blogging American Fantastic Tales: What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien

What Was It? By Fitz-James O-Brien

First of all, how about that title? What Was It? Awesome. This little weird tale was the first in the book that had a real pulp vibe to it, which by my personal reckoning is a good thing. For me, pulp means stories that jack up reality a notch or two, where characters jump into the mystery or adventure rather than waiting for it to overwhelm them, and where the strange and the exciting lurk around every corner. Not that this is some sort of action-packed adventure tale. It is more of a ghost story, sort of, and it slips into its weirdness by degrees. But oh what degrees.

The first conceit sets the stage and defines the characters in a manner I've not seen before. We get tales of a haunted house whose residents have fled. Then, the narrator's landlady has a bright idea: “Happening to have in her house a rather plucky and philosophical set of borders, she laid her scheme before us, stating candidly every thing she had heard respecting the ghostly qualities of the establishment to which she wished to remove us.” Yes, that's right, a whole boarding house decides to get up and move into a place more haunted, just for the thrill of it. That, my friends, is pulp.

Once ensconced, we might expect the hauntings to begin, but alas for the adventuresome group, there's nothing. Life is annoyingly normal for them all. The narrator and his closest friend within the house, Dr. Hammond, indulge in one of their normal habits: smoking opium in the back yard on a nice evening, discussing matters philosophic. Written in 1859, I assume readers knew more than enough about opium and its effects, and we are left suspecting that whatever terrifying thing is going to happen next, some naysayer will dismiss it as an opium dream in the light of day. And I don't know about you, but I don't think the subject matter “What do you consider to be the greatest element of Terror,” is the best subject for two stoned dudes to discuss in a haunted house.

Our hero agrees, and heads to bed still high and generally in a disturbed state. Then the “It” about whose nature the story title wonders appears. I'll not ruin the surprise, except to say that It is not something anyone can dismiss as the product of an opium haze. The whole house is witness to its terrifying weirdness, but only our hero and Dr. Hammond have the courage to deal with it. Once they do, the story becomes almost scientific in tone, as they examine It and try, unsuccessfully, to determine Its true nature. In the end, the narrator is left with a lingering mystery and the evidence that it did indeed really happen, a fact that makes it all the more disturbing.

This is a 180 degree turn from the strange inferences and allegories of the Hawthorne and Melville stories that proceeded it. Where Hawthorne's story had the feel of a fable set in days past, What is It? Takes place in modern times and involves modern problems, especially with its scientific turn in the final pages. Like many such shorts, it leaves the reader (and the characters) wondering what exactly just happened, but it satisfies even so. So far, one of my favorites.