“Master Sacristan Eberhart. Not Quite a Ghost Story” was written by Sabine Baring-Gould and first appeared in Hurst Johnian (Dec. 1858). Baring-Gould (1834-1924) was a British clergyman and author of a wide range of works, from theology to folklore studies to hymns--he wrote “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” Baring-Gould also wrote horror and ghost stories. “Master Sacristan Eberhart” is an entertaining, sentimental ghost story.

Master Eberhart is the sacristan, or sexton, of the ancient church of S. Sebaldus, and lives, “as others of his profession have done before, and do still on the continent, in the tower, above the big bells.”¹ His duty is to watch for fires in the villages around him, and to sound the church bells if a house or village is on fire. This is a lonely life. Few people ascend the three hundred and sixty-five steps to see him, for he is odd, pious and easily vexed by the other bell ringers, who he finds too earthy. And when the Priest visits, Master Eberhart talks to him “not as if he were flesh and blood, but as if he were a stone man; not a gargoyle exactly, but a church monument.”² Master Eberhart does have one friend, however. His tower has four statues on it: a horse, a dragon, an eagle, and a monk. Master Eberhart does not talk to the horse or dragon or eagle, but he carries on long conversations with the monk, whose nose has been worn away by frost. “On a sunny day, it was so agreeable to sit on the leads, leaning against the battlements, right over against the monk, and discuss the world below.”³ Master Eberhart discusses everything with the stone monk, chanting psalms and hymns with him. One day the Priest comes and reads Master Eberhart the life story of St. Simon Stylites, and as the Priest leaves he says, to the stone monk, “Good morrow, Father Simon,” and from that day forward Master Eberhart calls the stone monk “Father Simon.” One day, however, Master Eberhart notices a long crack on the back of the monk. Panicked, he rings the church bells, and pleads with the church sexton to send a mason at once to fix Father Simon. The next day the mason and his man arrive, and they bring Father Simon into Master Eberhart’s room. Master Eberhart offers to fix him with his life savings, which he points out to the men, but the mason laughs off the idea of reattaching Father Simon to the church, and points out that to do the job right the mason would have to put iron clamps put through the statue.

That night Master Eberhart lights his fire, as usual, and enjoys his bread, which he offers to Father Simon, who does not accept. Master Eberhart begins his evening prayers after he finishes his simple meal.

Long and earnestly did the old man pray, his silver hair trailing over his thin fingers. He said his prayers aloud and sang a psalm or two on his knees, then remained silent for a moment or two. A shadow fell along his book–something cold touched his head–he felt two heavy hands on his hair–like a priest’s, blessing him.⁴

Master Eberhart happily goes to bed, thinking “That is just as it ought to have been.” That night Master Eberhart wakes up and hears Father Simon going down into the belfry, touching the bells, then returning to Master Eberhart’s room and laying himself down on the Sacristan’s bed. Master Eberhart feels how cold the night air is and offers his coverlid to the monk, but the statue does not respond, so the Sacristan wraps the blanket around the monk and goes to sleep. The next day passes ordinarily, and that night the Sacristan lights a fire and warms himself at it. After his prayers he is again blessed by Father Simon. But during the night Master Eberhart awakes to find Father Simon sitting in front of the hearth, his face changed, the features “resolute, inflexible, determined...the monk had some errand to perform.”⁵ After midnight Master Eberhart hears someone crawling into the tower, and is about to see who it is when Father Simon “turned his head cautiously round and beckoned with his stone finger.”⁶ It turns out to be the mason’s assistant, come to kill Master Eberhart and steal his life’s savings. The mason creeps into Eberhart’s room, but

A heavy tread behind him made him turn sharply round, and a fearful shriek broke from him, as his eyes encountered the stone monk leaning toward him, the cold eyes fixed on his, the granite hands extended, the knees bent as if for a leap.⁷

Father Simon’s fingers touch the man’s throat, and then the statue becomes rigid and falls on top of the man, tumbling him down to the belfry.

In the morning Eberhart sees “a heap–the stone monk on top, crouching, one hand on his knee, the other clenched at the mason’s throat.”⁸ The man is dead, and Father Simon is snapped in half.

The old man said gravely to himself, “I daresay that all creatures in nature, or in art, whatever they may be, cheerful flowers, happy birds, or only bits of stone, may become to us angels of good, if we only love them with true heart and reverence.”⁹

“Master Sacristan Eberhart” is manipulative and sentimental, and is the type of story written almost exclusively by Christian apologists and propagandists, but Master Eberhart is such a sweet, unassuming character that the reader will find themselves almost instantly rooting for him. Baring-Gould has an easygoing style which makes “Master Sacristan Eberhart” an agreeable read. Baring-Gould’s style is conversational but also includes the occasional aside which helps leave the impression of the story being something told to the reader by someone else: “Now, the Sacristan was a pious man, although he was odd too–at least, ‘the people down below’ called him so–I think he was very sensible, but as we may differ on the point, I leave you to judge for yourself.”¹⁰ Baring-Gould means for the story to be genial, rather than brutal, so that the pleasant narration works well in the context of the story. But Father Simon’s first movements are chilling rather than reassuring. In other circumstances the addition of horror story elements into a benevolent religious fable would be a mistake, or result in an uneasy combination, but in this story it works.

Print: Sabine Baring-Gould, Margery of Quether and Other Weird Tales. Neuilly-le-Vendin, FR: Sarob Press, 1999.

¹ Sabine Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” in Richard Dalby, ed., Twelve Gothic Tales (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 37.

² Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” 38.

³ Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” 38.

⁴ Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” 41.

⁵ Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” 43.

⁶ Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” 44.

⁷ Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” 44.

⁸ Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” 45.

]⁹ Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” 45.

¹⁰ Baring-Gould, “Master Sacristan Eberhart,” 37.