Charles B Cory

[lemming13]

Thanks to the wonders of technology, I've acquired a collection titled Montezuma's Castle and Other Weird Tales by one Charles B Cory, published in 1899. Definitely a homegrown author, the tales so far as I've got are not actually that weird, but are fairly ripping yarns of a certain era. Several seem to feature a character called only the collector, a rather unscrupulous and callous chap who procures (or fakes) zoological or archaeological specimens, a sort of nasty Indiana Jones. Others revolve around one Dr Watson, a physician and hypnotist. The contents list (with brief synopses of what i've read so far) is as follows: -
Montezuma's Castle An adventure story in which the collector relates a close brush with death while raiding the tombs of the Pueblo Indians.
The Amateur Championship. Nothing weird in this one, just a dryly comic story of a boxing match and the machinations around it in Arizona.
The Tragedy of the White Tanks. Again, not really weird but a rather black piece of humour concerning a peddler of snake oil and a test of his product.
Too Close For Comfort. The first Dr Watson story, involving a race-horse owner in danger of bankruptcy and a jockey under post-hypnotic suggestion.
The Strange Powder of the Jou Jou Priests. Actually a portmanteau story involving Dr Watson and two colleagues experimenting with the aforementioned Jou Jou powder; their experiences are related as
An Aztec Mummy: quite an interesting and sardonic encounter with a fake mummy and a dead faker of artefacts.
A Lesson In Chemistry: again involving an encounter with the dead, in this case an experimenter with explosives determined to learn from his fatal mistake.
An Interesting Ghost; actually the least interesting tale, in which Dr Watson dreams of a long conversation with a dead physician with some outre theories.
The Mound of Eternal Silence. A rather atmospheric story concerning a pair of prospectors, one of whom winds up dead and seeking revenge in the form of a dog, and a buried hoard in an eerie location. Another one with a rich vein of black humour.
The Story of a Bad Indian. No supernatural elements to this one, but the story of a drunken brute of an Indian and his persecution of a local girl married to a white man is quite impressively chilling, short as it is. And for its day, quite objective in its depiction of native Americans and their interactions with each other and the white man.
A Queer Coincidence. Another Dr Watson story, involving a dying man and the victim of his post-hypnotic suggestion (apparently a favourite topic of Cory's), and the first truly supernatural story of the bunch, without a hint of rational explanation.
Story Of An Insane Sailor
The Elixir of Life.
The Voodoo Idol
An Arizona Episode.
One Touch Of Nature.

The collection is illustrated, too, not profusely but with some quality images, especially in the Story of a Bad Indian.

[lemming13]

Finished them off and the last few are as follows.
Story of an Insane Sailor - another Dr Watson tale, this time involving a manuscript left by a suicidal patient in an asylum.
The Elixir of Life - a wry tale of Dr Watson and a dodgy character peddling the elixir of life. Nothing supernatural, just a nice little comic tale which does play rather neatly on the traditional elements of the Yellow Peril tales of the likes of Rohmer.
The Voodoo Idol - despite the title, nothing actually unnatural occurs in this tale of a man who foolishly steals an idol from a Haitian cult; but it does have some rather good moments of tension in it.
An Arizona Episode - a comic western tale of a gold-digging youth and his scheme to impress his rich prospective fiancee which gets a spanner in the works from a wily stagecoach driver.
One Touch of Nature - a strange note to end on, a sentimental and somewhat desultory tale of a briefencounter in the western wilds between two travellers from a broken-down train and a distressed child. Nothing much happens, but it would have made a great Shirley Temple movie for those who liked that sort of thing (which I admit I don't).

So Weird Stories turns out to be a bit of a misnomer, but I have enjoyed the read, all the same. And if anyone were to put together a collection of horror tales of the western frontier, I think The Story of a Bad Indian might be a good one for it. And Dr Watson could warrant an appearance in a collection themed around detectives on the unusual side of things, just for A Queer Coincidence.

[andydecker]

Charles B. Cory - Montezuma's Castle and Other Weird Tales (originally 1899, this edition Leonaur Ltd, 2009, 120 pages)

Cover found on the net. Thanks to the original scanner.