Malcolm Malcolmson paid his three months' rent, got a receipt, and the name of an old woman who would probably undertake to "do" for him, and came away with the keys in his pocket. He then went to the landlady of the inn, who was a cheerful and most kindly person, and asked her advice as to such stores and provisions as he would be likely to require. She threw up her hands in amazement when he told her where he was going to settle himself. "Not in the Judge's House!" she said, and grew pale as she spoke. He explained the locality of the house, saying that he did not know its name. When he had finished she answered: "Aye, sure enough -- sure enough the very place! It is the Judge's House sure enough." He asked her to tell him about the place, why so called, and what there was against it. . . . He didn't believe her, of course. Who would take such nonsense seriously? But soon enough, too soon, he wished he had.

Best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel, Dracula, Abraham "Bram" Stoker was better known as the personal assistant of actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.