The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain

The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain

The narrative unfolds in a remote mountain region, where the titular Witch-Face Mountain looms ominously, its peculiar rock formations resembling a witch's face. The story begins with Constant Hite, a confident mountaineer, who takes a stranger on a journey to view the witch-face. The stranger, an artist, is captivated by the illusion and attempts to capture it through photography and sketches. Their interaction reveals Hite's pride in his rugged lifestyle and the local superstitions surrounding the witch-face, which the townsfolk believe brings bad luck. As the plot progresses, the stranger's identity is revealed to be Alan Selwyn, a man with a lung condition seeking solace in the mountains. He is drawn to the area for its natural beauty and potential for scientific exploration. However, his presence stirs unease among the locals, particularly Hite, who is involved in moonshining. The tension escalates when Selwyn is found dead under mysterious circumstances, leading to an inquest that implicates Hite due to their previous encounter. Narcissa Hanway, a local girl, becomes entwined in the unfolding drama. She witnesses the aftermath of Selwyn's death and grapples with her own feelings of guilt, believing her curiosity about the witch-face may have contributed to the tragedy. The narrative explores themes of superstition, the clash between rural life and modernity, and the consequences of human actions. As the community reacts to Selwyn's death, suspicions arise regarding Hite's involvement, and the local lore surrounding the witch-face intensifies. The story culminates in a series of events that reveal the interconnectedness of the characters and their fates, ultimately leading to a resolution that reflects on the nature of belief, guilt, and the haunting presence of the witch-face itself. The work intricately weaves together the lives of its characters against the backdrop of the mysterious mountain, exploring how folklore and personal ambition collide in a world where the supernatural and the mundane coexist.

By Mary Noailles Murfree · First published 1898 · Genre: Mystery, Adventure, Gothic Fiction · 10 chapters · 43,675 words

First lines

The beetling crags that hang here and there above the gorge hold in their rugged rock sculpture no facial similitudes, no suggestions. The jagged outlines of shelving bluffs delineate no gigantic profile against the sky beyond. One might seek far and near, and scan the vast slope with alert and expectant gaze, and view naught of the semblance that from time immemorial has given the mountain its name. Yet the imagination needs but scant aid when suddenly the elusive simulacrum is revealed to the eye. In a certain slant of the diurnal light, even on bright nights at the full of the moon, sometimes in the uncanny electric flicker smitten from a storm-cloud, a gigantic peaked sinister face is limned on the bare, sandy slope, so definite, with such fixity of lineament, that one is amazed that the perception of it came no earlier, and is startled when it disappears.

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The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain is listed on Textopian as a novel by Mary Noailles Murfree, dated 1898 CE.

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Mountain Fiction · Southern Gothic · Regionalism · American Literature · Folklore · Mythology · Mystery · Thriller · Adventure · Coming of Age · Self-Discovery · Identity Crisis

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More by Mary Noailles Murfree