In October of 1833 a scary ghost story was published in
The Western Monthly Magazine, a publication that was unafraid to publish supernatural stories. The story was simply titled
The Chase and beneath it, it claims to be from "the log book of Richard Mizen, Q. S." I have been unable to find a "Richard Mizen" listed elsewhere in the literature and this captain is likely a fiction. Regardless, "The Chase" is one of the best ship battle stories for the first half of the nineteenth century. The writing is at a high level. The dialogue snaps and feels real. The drama builds to a climatic end and it is one of the best anonymous ghost stories in the countdown of the Top 40 ghost stories from 1800-1849. I hope you enjoy it.
