Review of “The Kit-Bag” by Algernon Blackwood: Halloween Countdown

Plot:

The successful defense of John Turk, a client of the great Arthur Wilbraham, KC, brings the barrister no joy. His private secretary, Johnson, is glad to be rid of the case. Despite the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, he agrees with the general sentiment that few men were more deserving of the gallows. He tells his boss that he’s happy to see the last of John Turk’s dreadful face.

“It positively haunted me. That white skin, with black hair brushed low over the forehead, is a thing I shall never forget, and that description of the way the dismembered body was crammed and packed with lime into that—”

Wilbraham advises him not to dwell on the case but to enjoy his planned vacation to the Alps.

Johnson then asks to borrow one of Wilbraham’s kit bags (duffel bag). The latter agrees. His servant will bring it around to the secretary’s lodgings later.

When Johnson receives it, he notices that it looks a little worse for wear, but doesn’t think much about it. He begins packing, looking forward to the fresh mountain air, away from the sleet storm London is presently enduring.

It’s a little hard to tell, but he thinks he hears footsteps in the unoccupied rooms below his. Nah—just the storm. The trial must have really gotten to his nerves.

Thoughts:

Poor Johnson keeps hearing things. The top of the half-filled kit bag collapses to look like a human face—John Turk’s face! No, no. It’s just the light in here. And Johnson’s a bit on edge. Surely, he hears the landlady, who might have had a bit too much to drink tonight.

Does he see someone on the landing? In any event, that someone disappears.

Johnson is not one to panic, but sumptin’s goin’ on.

The moodiness of the piece is what makes it. Johnson hears and sees things that don’t quite add up. He at first attributes them to the storm and the nerves from the horrendous trial he’s just witnessed. After all, he’s busy packing for a trip—he needs to shake this all off. But wait! What was that?

While the ending may be a bit of a letdown, it is also unsettling. This story is one to read late at night, wrapped in a warm blanket and sipping a cup of tea.



Bio: Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) was a prolific British writer and broadcaster of mystery, horror, and supernatural tales. Before he turned to writing, he spent time in Canada and the US farming, running a hotel, and gold mining in Alaska. He also worked as a newspaper reporter in New York City. He wrote of this time in a memoir, Episodes Before Thirty (1923/1934).

Many of his writings are atmospheric, heavy with unknown or poorly understood menace, such as “The Willows.”


This story can be read here. Thanks, Tracy!


This story can be listened to here: (35:13)


Title: “The Kit-Bag”
Author: Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951)
First published: Pall Mall Magazine, December 1908
Length: short story