“The Upper Berth …is Crawford’s weird masterpiece; and is one of the most tremendous horror stories in all literature. In this tale of a suicide-haunted stateroom such things as the spectral salt-water dampness, the strangely open porthole, and the nightmare struggle with the nameless object are handled with incomparable dexterity.”
— H.P. Lovecraft
So wrote H.P. Lovecraft in his seminal essay, “Supernatural Horror in Literature“, and we won’t argue with the 20th century’s pre-eminent author of weird fiction (in our humble opinion). In fact, we chose The Upper Berth as the very first story we have published in our series of works referenced by Lovecraft as influential in his own writing.
Although Crawford’s short story output was small (less than a dozen tales), it was perfectly formed, and his contemporary success with historical and adventure novels is now eclipsed by his horror fiction, which is still prominently featured in weird fiction anthologies.
The Upper Berth typifies what made Crawford’s horror fiction so hugely influential to early twentieth-century authors; his tales are an amalgam of the ghostly and the grotesque, and they all reside in that liminal zone we call weird fiction. Where Crawford excels is his refusal to shroud the unknown events in the gauzy cerements of Victorian ghost stories; supernatural unease is met and amplified by tangible horrors the reader understands but is instinctively repelled by – the smells, dampness, textures, and repulsion for dead things and dissolution, that threaten to engulf the still-living.
In describing with unflinching detail the realities of death and decay, Crawford built on the tactile sensibilities of Poe’s horror fiction, but his tales amplified the body horror, couching events in physically repugnant but spiritually unknowable terminology.
Fellow author of the weird and ghostly, M.R. James, wrote in his 1929 article “Some Remarks on Ghost Stories”, that “Marion Crawford and his horrid story of ‘The Upper Berth”… is the best in his collection of Uncanny Tales, and stands high among ghost stories in general.”
Lovecraft and James in particular grasped the baton from Crawford and ran with his brand of scaring their readers with a very corporeal flavour of uncanny, and his influence can be seen in more recent authors’ works such as the delightfully gory Clive Barker and his Books of Blood.
Crawford’s horror stories continue to be enjoyed today; weird fiction may be all about mood, but we can all relate to the fear of death, and what lies beyond our own demise, or maybe, the demise of someone else who awaits, vengeful and animated, for the unwary traveller…
Cyclopean Tales 