Strange woman (All Souls')

The strange woman appears only twice in the story, each time on All Souls’ Eve. The first time Sara Clayburn overtakes her while returning from a walk. The narrator of the story describes Sara Clayburn’s recollection of the woman’s face as “[…] middle-aged, plain and rather pale.”[1] On the whole, the woman was to Sara “[…] in no way noticeable […],”[2] though she could tell that the woman was an outsider because she was proud of knowing most of her neighbors. Consequently, Sara greeted the strange woman and asked her whether she is on her way to Sara’s house, Whitegates. The woman affirmed this, stating that she wanted to visit one of Sara’s servants. Sara did not consider this answer as unusual and continued walking. She only noticed that the strange woman’s voice was “foreign”[3] and that she “[…] couldn’t say where she came from […].”[4] The second time Sara Clayburn encounters the strange woman was exactly one year later, on All Souls’ Eve, in front of her house. To Sara it appeared as if the woman was angry at meeting her. Nevertheless, she asked her again where she was going and the woman again answered “Only to see one of the girls.”[5] This answer makes Sara angry and she orders her to leave her ground. But the strange woman only laughed. Then it becomes suddenly dark, “[…] as if a sudden storm was sweeping up over the drive […],”[6] the strange woman walks behind a hemlock and, by the time Sara has followed her, had vanished. Consequently, Sara becomes scared and returns to the house as fast as possible. When she reaches the door the darkness vanishes, supporting the idea that the strange woman could be of supernatural origin.

In the last part of All Souls’ the narrator argues that the strange woman was either “[…] a living woman inhabited by a witch […]”[7] or a “fetch.”[8] The strange woman is clearly seen as the character connecting the servants to the supernatural and had possibly summoned them to a midnight coven. A detail which support Sara’s and the narrator’s belief that the strange woman is inhabited by a witch, is that the she apparently controlled the darkness when meeting Sara for the second time. Furthermore, the strange woman can be seen as the catalyst for the strange incident at Whitegates because, following her arrival, Sara broke her ankle, was left alone by her servants and the mysterious thirty-six hours commenced. Moreover, the strange woman precipitated Sara’s escape through sheer terror.

All in all, the strange woman is clearly the most mysterious, and also the most frightening, character. Her pallid and anonymous look and particularly her alien voice make her scary. The daunting impression is strengthened because she triggers the mysterious incident and Sara’s flight. Therefore, she can also be seen as having precipitated the diametric change in Sara’s character. Her possible involvement in the use of witchcraft, to summon the servants to a coven, underlines the occult that appears to be manifest in the strange woman.

[1] Edith Wharton, “All Souls’,” in: The Demanding Dead – More Stories of Terror and the Supernatural, ed. Peter Haining (London: Peter Owen Publishers, 2007), 186.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid., 204.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid., 206.

[8] Ibid.