Dave's Anatomy: My History As a Writer #58: Ghost Stories: "The Understudy"

Steven King once wrote that ghost stories are not a sub-genre within short stories; the opposite is true:  short stories—literary short stories—arose from ghost stories. Ghost stories predated the literary version of that kind of literature.  King may be overstating, but ghost tales have been with us ever since people told stories around the tribal campfire. Ghost stories are, and were, a big part of literature. And everyone from Poe to Henry James and onward has written them. My first ghost story, "The Understudy," was written a little ways into my career as a writer. After going through several revisions it finally got printed in a journal and then by a company that sold online books. That company seems to have gone defunct, though the journal is still in print. Every writer has a story that he or she likes but not many other people seem to like, and this story is one of them. The company that printed the story folded and I have not been able to find any other publishers interested in a reprint.

Ghost light burning on a dark stage

The idea for this story came from an old theater superstition. Theaters always keep a light burning backstage. The reason: if you don't, you will get a ghost. Actors can be superstitious. They won't say "Macbeth," and refer to it as "the Scottish play." And the same with the stage light. I played guitar in a pit orchestra at an evangelical Christian college a couple of times  (played for productions of The Sound of Music) and noticed they kept a light burning backstage. One would think evangelical Christians would not believe in ghosts, but apparently they do—or at least kept the light burning for the sake of tradition.

In "The Understudy" my on-going character Sossity Chandler gets a role in a stage play that requires a character who can sing and play guitar. The hard-driving director has instituted a cost-cutting program. Part of the cost-cutting got rid of the stage light—despite the objections of the actors. Sossity comes in early one night and encounters a woman wandering on the stage, looking bewildered, and greets her, thinking she is a cast member. The woman introduces herself as Elaine Boswell. They talk and, when Sossity momentarily looks away and then looks back at the woman, she is gone. The next day she goes to the theater and sees the woman, who vanishes. Upset, Sossity goes to Adrienne (the director's) office and sees a photograph of Elaine hanging on the wall with shots of the other actors who have performed there over the years.

She learns Elaine's story:  a celebrated actress with a rising career, she returns her home town of Grand Rapids, Michigan, to play a role celebrating the remodeling and expansion of City Theater. This is during the Prohibition Era. She and her boyfriend are drunk one night and her boyfriend kills her. He is eventually executed for murder and Elaine is trapped as a stage ghost. The light has kept her away for several decades. When Adrienne has it removed, she returns.

She is a benevolent ghost—for the most part. But when she gets angry, she turns into a frightening wraith with bloody hands, chains, green skin, and flaming hair. Sossity knows that ghosts haunt places because they are connected to them by bad memories. And if they can do something to disconnect, they will go to their rest. After a while, Elaine says she is attached to the theater because she never got to the play the role that meant so much to her. If she could act in a play on the stage, she would be free. But, she says, that would be impossible.

Sossity isn’t so sure.

In my "ghost universe," ghosts have bodies at night. They are transparent and specter-like the rest of the time. Since Elaine is corporal enough to play on stage during the hours the play is being performed, Sossity arranges for an audition and she gets a minor part. There are, of course, complications, dangers, obstacles to be overcome, but Elaine acts the part. Afterwards, she is free to go.

After the final performance, the two of them stand in the snow outside of the theater. Elaine thanks Sossity and asks her if her career as a singer is going well. She says it is not. Elaine assures her things will go better and, once more when Sossity is looking away, vanishes. But she leaves behind a scarf with her initials embroidered in it. Sossity takes it home with her. It is implied this good-luck object, given in gratitude for what Sossity has done for Elaine, will be what she needs to see her career as a singer pick up.

The Understudy was published in Bewildering Stories, a journal still alive and well after many years. Read it here.

 For more tales of the undead (vampires, not ghosts), pick up a copy of Sinfonia: the First Notes on the Lute.  Nelleke Reitsma is a world-renowned guitarist and lutenist. She should be:  she has had 300 years to practice. And after concerts at night, her passion for music is changed to a different set of passions and desires.

For additional titles, check out my Writer's Page.  If you are interested in the many anthologies I've printed stories in, look me up on Amazon, starting with my Amazon Writer's Page. Lots of good stuff to read.

I would love to hear your comments.

Do you like ghost stories?

Have you ever really been scared by one? Scared somebody else?

Read and keep reading.