The Reaper's Image

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"The Reaper's Image" is a short horror story by Stephen King, first published in Startling Mystery Stories in 1969 and collected in Skeleton Crew in 1985. The story is about an antique mirror haunted by the visage of the Grim Reaper, who appears to those who gaze into the glass.

[edit] Plot

The story concerns a visit by antique collector Johnson Spangler to the Samuel Claggert Memorial Private Museum, a mansion estate full of Claggert's assembled possessions and "98 percent blatant junk", in attempt to buy the legendary DeIver's looking-glass. The museum curator, Mr. Carlin ushers Spangler through the building, recounting the storied history of the rare Elizabethan mirror, which has been plagued by incidents of attempted destruction, and placed out of public view in the attic.

Carlin tells the skeptical Spangler the image of the Reaper is rumored to appear in the mirror, as a figure cloaked in black, standing behind the viewer. Spangler scoffs, but feels unnamable horror when he looks into the glass. As Carlin relates the history of a boy named Bates who saw the Reaper and disappeared without a trace, Spangler becomes ill and rushes out of the attic. Carlin stands alone, transfixed by the mirror (which is revealed to have been responsible for Judge Crater's famous disappearance), not expecting to see Spangler again.