| "The Tractate Middoth" | |
|---|---|
| Short story byM.R. James | |
 | |
 Text available atWikisource | |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Horror |
| Publication | |
| Published in | More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary |
| Publisher | Edward Arnold |
| Publication date | 1911 |
"The Tractate Middoth" is a shortghost story by the English authorM. R. James. It was published in 1911 inMore Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, James's second collection of ghost stories.
Mr. Garrett, an employee of a university library, searches for aMishnaic book -Talmud:Tractate Middoth, with the commentary ofNachmanides - for an impatient library patron named John Eldred. While searching, he encounters a black-cladclergyman who also seems interested in the book. The clergyman's appearance–his head appears to be enshrouded in cobwebs and he smells ofmould and dust–causes Garrett a severe shock and he faints. He is sent home to recover and later decides to recuperate at the seaside.
On the train to his destination, he meets the elderly Mrs. Simpson and her daughter, proprietors of a boarding house who offer him lodgings. Over the course of his stay, they become very friendly. The Simpsons confide in him that they are losing a struggle with a rival heir to the estate of an eccentric clergyman named Rant, who died two decades earlier. As they describe the situation, Garrett realizes that John Eldred is the rival heir. TheTractate Middoth supposedly contains a hidden secretwill and testament by Rant that would supersede an earlier version favouring Eldred. Garrett decides to help the Simpsons by preventing Eldred from destroying this document.
Returning to the library, he finds that theTractate Middoth has been found already and shipped to Eldred at the Rant estate. He follows the book on another train, but arrives too late to stop Eldred from receiving the parcel. As he stalks Eldred back to the Rant mansion, he sees a dark form clutching a mass of cobwebs emerge from the shadows at the side of the road, whereupon Eldred drops dead. Aninquest finds black dust on the dead man's face and in his mouth, but the real cause of death isheart failure. TheTractate Middoth becomes evidence. When it appears that Eldred had been tearing out a page when he died, the missing will is discovered and decrypted, written in a coded script that looks likeHebrew. By its terms, Mrs. Simpson inherits the estate formerly possessed by Eldred, and Garrett and her daughter marry.
"The Tractate Middoth" was first published inMore Ghost Stories of an Antiquary in 1911. In 1931, it was collected inThe Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James in 1931.[1] It has since been anthologised many times, including inThe Supernatural Reader in 1953.[2]
On 7 May 1951, an American television adaptation of "The Tractate Middoth" was broadcast as "The Lost Will of Dr. Rant", as part of theLights Out mystery series. It starredLeslie Nielsen.[3][4]
On 28 April 1959, it was adapted as "A Mass of Cobwebs" by Brian Batchelor for the BBC'sThirty-Minute Theatre. It was produced byRobin Midgley and starredPeter Howell as William Garrett, withEdgar Norfolk as Eldred. It was first broadcast on the Light Programme on 28 April 1959 and received its first repeat 59 years later on 27 August 2018 onBBC Radio 4 Extra.[5][6]
On 26 February 1966, a version of the story adapted by Dennis Webb was broadcast byATV andThames Television as part of theMystery and Imagination series of ghost story adaptations. It starred Giles Block,David Buck, and John Crocker. The episode waswiped after broadcast, and only audio recordings are known to have survived.[7]
On 25 December 2007, the story was read onBBC Radio 4 byDerek Jacobi as part of theM R James at Christmas series.[8]
On 25 December 2013, a version of the story,The Tractate Middoth, adapted byMark Gatiss, was broadcast onBBC2 as part of the long-runningA Ghost Story for Christmas series. It starredSacha Dhawan,John Castle,Louise Jameson,Una Stubbs,David Ryall,Eleanor Bron,Nick Burns, andRoy Barraclough.[9][10]
The full text ofThe Tractate Middoth at Wikisource
The Tractate Middoth public domain audiobook atLibriVox