W. F. Harvey: August Heat

“JAMES CLARENCE WITHENCROFT. BORN JAN. 18TH, 1860.”

“Were you at Clacton-on-Sea last July?”

Well, born as I was in 1948 on January 18th as the same date on the gravestone quoted above, I have also lived in Clacton-on-Sea far longer than I have lived anywhere else and, at my age, that fact is likely to remain the case. The death date recorded in the story as being on the same gravestone I, superstitiously, shall not repeat here but, for those in the know, it is HP Lovecraft’s birthdate, if not the same year. Hopefully, knowing that will lift any curse from me, today, at the very tail end of the hottest July, just before we enter predictably the hottest August ever experienced in Clacton-on-Sea. Any curse, that is, in my having just read this brief WF Harvey story for the first time, a story that somehow seems to teem with synchronicities that usually please me when I am gestalt real-time reviewing. But perhaps not this time!

My other unconnected Horror Story reviews: https://dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2022/07/13/separate-horror-stories-from-many-years-ago/

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6 responses to “W. F. Harvey: August Heat

  1. Pingback: Separate horror stories from many years ago… | The Gestalt Real-Time Reviews of Books

  2. This will remain an anxiety for me! For me alone! It shocked me when I read the story today. But another part of me said PISH!

  3. “‘And you must have seen me somewhere and have forgotten it! Were you at Clacton-on-Sea* last July?’
    I had never been to Clacton in my life. We were silent for some time. We were both looking at the same thing, the two dates on the gravestone, and one was right.”

  4. Pingback: The Frontier Guards by H. Russell Wakefield | Träumtrawler

  5. well, I was zipped up and down roads yesterday (20/8) in two ordinary taxis and a minibus-taxi to a sometimes overwhelming but mainly enjoyable family function in Hollesley, and I am still here today to tell you that fact!

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