Halloween Month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with this 19th Century short story about an Egyptian mummy.
MR. GRUBBE’S NIGHT WITH MEMNON (1843) – Written by Albert Smith and republished in 1857, this tale centered around one Mister Withers Grubbe, an elderly inhabitant of the western part of London. Grubbe is an enthusiast when it comes to ancient history among other topics and visits a London Museum to see their new exhibit of Egyptian antiquities.
After spending time marveling at assorted statues of various sizes and a mummy identified as Memnon, Withers finds a quiet corner to sit down for a rest. He falls asleep and when he wakes up, he discovers it is long past closing time and somehow he was overlooked when the museum was locking up.
Our main character tries all the doors and finds himself trapped until the next morning in the Egyptian wing. Grubbe is uneasy at the thought of spending the night among the ancient Egyptian relics and before long he realizes his uneasiness is more than merited. Continue reading
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