James Worson incident

, written around the time it was set. The story is included in a modern collection entitled "Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories". The legend is often included as fact on lists of unexplained disappearances.

According to the legend, James Worson, a shoemaker who lived in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, undertook a bet, while under the influence of liquor, that he could run non-stop from Leamington Spa to Coventry, a distance of approximately 9 miles. He started to run, accompanied by the unnamed receiver of the bet, Barham Wise, a linen draper, and Hamerson Burns, a photographer, who followed him with their horse-wagons to verify the event. During the race, Worson stumbled and fell, "with a terrible cry", and vanished before he hit the ground. He was never seen again.

Ambrose Bierce himself mysteriously disappeared in October 1913.

References

"Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories", Ambrose Bierce, 2003

External links

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4387 Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories by Ambrose Bierce] - a [Project Gutenberg] etext.
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=6350&pageno=41 Direct link to the page of the book covering the James Worson incident] Websites detailing the event (some details differ from the short story):
* [http://www.harvestfields.ca/horror/003/008.htm harvestfields.ca - account of the James Worson incident] .
* [http://theshadowlands.net/vanish.htm theshadowlands.net - account of the James Worson incident] .
* [http://www.qsl.net/w5www/disappearances.html qsl.net - account of the James Worson incident] .