Introduction to "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1851)

Editorial Team: Samantha Armstrong, Isabel Costa, and Samantha Johnson

Additional editing by Dr. Heidi L. Pennington

 NOTE: This introduction contains spoilers to the story events that take place in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s “An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street.”

 Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s “An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street” is a ghost story that is told by Richard, our reluctant, homodiegetic, character narrator; Richard’s story is now being transcribed at the request of an unnamed narratee and prospective reader. The story, which follows Richard’s contextual set-up, details a nefarious and complex haunting which took place during Richard’s time in medical school. His story revolves around a house on Aungier Street in Dublin that Richard and his cousin Tom are taking up residence in while they are in school together. It is not until they inhabit the house that they realize it is haunted. After much of the story, the pair find out that the ghost is Judge Horrocks, a horrible man of the law put into power by the British Crown. Le Fanu provides details of Horrocks’s actions in life and death through a series of analepses, provided by the servant of the Aungier Street house. It is through the servant that Richard and Tom learn of the fates which befell the native Irish people the judge tormented in addition to the individuals who attempted to take up residence in his house after his death. By drawing clear parallels between Judge Horrocks’s actions in life and in death, Le Fanu invites the reader to view this narrative as an illustration of the all-encompassing harms of imperialism by showcasing the judge’s abuse of power and torture of the Irish community. This claim is further justified by Le Fanu’s existence as a Protestant Irish author during a time when Ireland was still under British control. The judge haunts the native Irish community through unjust court rulings, the rape of his housekeeper, the murder of his illegitimate child, and his posthumous torment that drives others to death.

The purpose of this literary exhibit is to demonstrate how “An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street” can be read as commentary on and critique of imperialism by considering Le Fanu’s use of language, culture, and power as an Irish author. To effectively showcase this imperialist lens, we will discuss the period-specific phrases used to describe the judge and his actions, which posses an explanatory and political double-meaning, the cultural significance of the judge’s position in Ireland as an extension of the British crown, and the lasting effects of control that are immortalized by the judge’s haunting of the house in Aungier Street. With this evidence, we will prove that this narrative, and the character of the judge, can be read as a commentary on and reflection of British imperialism in Ireland. To communicate the impact this story would have had as an oral, fireside ghost story, we have recorded narrations of what we believe to be the most aurally interesting and affecting scenes within the story. We have also included sound effects and illustrations of these scenes to make up for the multimedia loss that occurred when this story was transcribed from an oral production to a printed one. The images are available under “Exhibits” in this Anthology, and the recorded passages are linked in the annotations of the narrative text.

The two main characters in Le Fanu’s ghostly narrative are Richard–who, as we have said, is our narrator–and Tom Ludlow. We are not given much information about Richard and Tom other than the fact that the two men are cousins and studying medicine together (Le Fanu, par. 2). Based on context clues within the story–such as the two men’s ability to attend medical school and Tom’s father owning multiple houses–we can deduce that they are of a relatively affluent class (Le Fanu, par. 2-3). While the cousins were staying in “lodgings,” which we can assume to be rented housing, they decided to stay in one of the unlet houses on Aungier street that Tom’s father owned to “relieve [them] from the weekly charge of rent” (Le Fanu, par. 3). This house is where our story events take place. We can also assume that these two men, as well as Uncle Ludlow, are Protestant because, at the time this story takes place (the 1800s), the vast majority of landowners in Ireland were of English nationality or identified with English culture–such as practicing their religion–due to the “policy of colonisation” put into effect by the British government. The fact that Tom’s father owned land at all marks him as Protestant (“Outline of Irish History”). Additionally, the parks around Aungier Street and throughout Dublin in the early 19th century were “limited and exclusive” to the Protestant middle classes (“2. 1.6. Victorian and Edwardian Dublin”). At the time, the location of the parks in certain neighborhoods was usually an indicator of the class and status of the inhabitants there—parks were not open to everyone. The status of the individuals in an area, in the Irish context, would also have been an indicator of their religious and national affiliations.

The extent of England’s colonization of Ireland is something that can be explored further through the cultural evidence and foreign words used in “An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street”.  Le Fanu’s story incorporates references that may be lost on the modern reader but would’ve been understood in the time it was written, such as French phrases, songs and works that originated in England, and Irish phonetic words. Understanding the mix of cultural phrases and dialects helps the reader to not only understand the story itself, but the context of Victorian Ireland that the story responds to and constructs through fiction. One example of this would be a quotation from William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The inclusion of work from William Shakespeare, an English poet, playwright, and actor, while popular in Ireland, could have been Le Fanu’s attempt at appealing to an English audience. This was achieved by integrating works that an English audience would be familiar with. However, it could have also been a subtle attempt by Le Fanu at social commentary between England and Ireland. Both countries were notably at odds with each other due to England’s imperialistic practices towards Ireland, something that is explored throughout Le Fanu's narrative. The Merchant of Venice could have been chosen by Le Fanu because of the nature of Venice at the time of the play’s publishing, “Everyone in England had to follow the religion dictated by the monarch, but Venice accepted all peoples as long as they abided by the laws of commerce and trade” (“The Merchant of Venice Historical Background”). The added contextual evidence of quotations like this, aided by the translations of unfamiliar phrases, helps readers to understand the cultural connotations in “An Account of Some Strange Disturbances on Aungier Street,” which in turn adds complexity and nuance to the story, more so than simply reading it at face value from a contemporary perspective.

Throughout “An Account of Some Strange Disturbances on Aungier Street,” Le Fanu builds a story of suspense and haunting, emphasizing the underlying commentary on Britain’s imperialist control over Ireland. This is done through the characterization and actions of Judge Horrocks, the systemic and (later) supernatural power the Judge has, how he abuses his power to torment the Irish members of his household and the native Irish members of his community, and the subsequent hauntings of the occupants of his house after his death. Aided by the blending of Irish and British cultures, and the Irish setting itself, Le Fanu creates a complex story of physical and socio-cultural haunting that causes terror and sparks discussion about the relationship between the British Crown and various members and groups in the Irish community.