Pigeons from Hell

"Pigeons from Hell"

Author	Robert E. Howard, adapted by Joe R. Lansdale
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror, short story, Southern Gothic
Published in	Weird Tales
Publication type	Pulp magazine
Publication date	May 1938

"Pigeons from Hell" is a short story by Robert E. Howard written in late 1934 and published posthumously by Weird Tales in 1938. The story title derives from an image present in many of Howard's grandmother's ghost stories, that of an old deserted plantation mansion haunted by ghostly pigeons. Recently it was re-written and adapted by Joe R. Lansdale with art by Nathan Fox and published in four issues by Dark Horse Comics, starting in April 2008.^[1]

Synopsis

The story opens as two New Englanders, John Branner and his brother Griswell, are travelling in the South and spend the night in a deserted plantation manor. Griswell awakens from a troubled sleep to see Branner walking up the stairs in a trance. He is horrified when Branner returns, no longer alive but an animated corpse gripping the bloody axe that had split his skull. Griswell flees the house in a blind panic and runs aimlessly into the woods.

In his headlong flight he meets the county's sheriff, Buckner, who investigates the house and finds Branner cold and motionless on the floor. Griswell is implicated in his friend's murder, but the sheriff gives him the benefit of the doubt and doggedly attempts to clear him. Buckner is inclined to give some credence to Griswell's bizarre tale due to the ominous reputation of the manor. It was once the residence of a family from the West Indies, the Blassenvilles, who were known for their cruelty. One night in 1890 the last of the Blassenvilles, Elizabeth, fled from the house and never returned. The manor has lain deserted ever since and is shunned by the local black folk. The pigeons of the story's title are ghostly birds that sometimes flock mysteriously about the decaying manor. Legend has it that they are the souls of the Blassenvilles let out of Hell.

The following evening Buckner and Griswell go to the hut of an ancient voodoo man, Jacob, seeking information about the house and the Blassenvilles. Jacob tells of the extinct family and of Celia Blassenville, who mistreated her mulatto maid Joan. He then begins to ramble incoherently about voodoo, the god Damballah, and about zombies and their female counterparts, zuvembies. Finally he tells how "she" participated in voodoo rites. While reaching for firewood, Jacob is bitten by a poisonous snake, meeting the very fate he feared it would overtake him for revealing the secrets of Damballah. Buckner and Griswell conclude that Joan transformed herself into a zuvembie to exact vengeance on Celia Blassenville and her nieces. They resolve to spend the night in Blassenville Manor to learn the truth.

Comments

"Pigeons from Hell" is one of several regional horror stories by Howard set in the Piney Woods of the ArkLaTex region of the Deep South. Other stories include "The Shadow of the Beast", "Moon of Zambebwie", "Black Hound of Death" and "Black Canaan".

In 1983, Stephen King, writing in Danse Macabre, considered "Pigeons from Hell" to be "one of the finest horror stories of our century". The horror historian R. S. Hadji included "Pigeons from Hell" on his list of the most frightening horror stories.^[2] With its decaying Southern family, sexual sadism, gruesome murder, and evil psychotic spinster, it is reminiscent of the works of William Faulkner and other writers in the Southern Gothic tradition.

Adaptations

The story was the basis for an eponymous episode of Boris Karloff's Thriller television series, airing in June 1961.^[3] In 1988, the story was adapted into a graphic novel by Scott Hampton for Eclipse (ISBN 0913035688). More recently, it has been turned into a four-issue comic book mini-series and trade paperback.

References

↑ Lansdale & Fox talk "Pigeons From Hell", Comic Book Resources, April 9, 2008
↑ R. S. Hadji, "The 13 Most Terrifying Horror Stories", Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine, July–August 1983, p. 63.
↑ "Pigeons from Hell". Thriller. Season 1. Episode 36. June 6, 1961. Retrieved June 16, 2013.

External links

Pigeons from Hell at Faded Page (Canada)
Publication history (including early draft)
Joe R. Lansdale's Official website

Works by Robert E. Howard

Adventure

El Borak	"Blood of the Gods" "The Coming of El Borak" "The Country of the Knife" "The Daughter of Erlik Khan" "Hawk of the Hills" "The Lost Valley of Iskander" "North of Khyber" "Son of the White Wolf" "Three-Bladed Doom"

Fantasy

Conan	"Beyond the Black River" "Black Colossus" "The Black Stranger" "Cimmeria" "The Devil in Iron" "Drums of Tombalku" "The Frost Giant's Daughter" "The God in the Bowl" "The Hall of the Dead" "The Hand of Nergal" "The Hour of the Dragon" "Iron Shadows in the Moon" "Jewels of Gwahlur" "The People of the Black Circle" "The Phoenix on the Sword" "The Pool of the Black One" "Queen of the Black Coast" "Red Nails" "Rogues in the House" "The Scarlet Citadel" "Shadows in Zamboula" "The Snout in the Dark" "The Tower of the Elephant" "The Vale of Lost Women" "A Witch Shall be Born" "Wolves Beyond the Border" "Xuthal of the Dusk"
Solomon Kane	"The Right Hand of Doom"
Kull	"By This Axe, I Rule" "Exile of Atlantis" "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune"
Bran Mak Morn	"The Children of the Night" "Worms of the Earth"

Comedy

Sailor Steve Costigan

Breckinridge Elkins

"A Gent from Bear Creek"

Horror

John Kirowan	"The Children of the Night" "The Haunter of the Ring" "The Black Stone"

Other

Other stories	"Almuric" "Black Canaan" "Pigeons from Hell" "Post Oaks & Sand Roughs" "The Shadow of the Vulture" "Skull-Face" "The Sowers of the Thunder" "The Twilight of the Grey Gods"
Other characters	Cormac Fitzgeoffrey James Allison Red Sonya Dark Agnes de Chastillon Steve Harrison Turlogh Dubh O'Brien Kirby O'Donnell The Sonora Kid
Poetry	Echoes from an Iron Harp (1972)
See also	List of works by Robert E. Howard List of poems by Robert E. Howard "The Hyborian Age"

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