If any of you have been following my articles lately, you would notice that I’ve been on a western kick for the past several weeks. As much as I’ve been enjoying it, I haven’t forgotten my roots as a horror reader/watcher. The western has served as a setting for some horror stories here and there. As a matter of fact, the supernatural or weird story in this kind of setting is referred to as a “Weird Western.” This kind of trope has been around for a long time but hasn’t been widely practiced. This soil is relatively untilled compared to other subgenres, and I think this is something I might want to explore as a fiction writer. We’ll see how that goes but for the moment, I would like to discuss Weird Westerns that I’ve read in the past and lately because they deserve some attention.
The earliest writer of Weird Westerns that comes to mind is Ambrose Bierce. Bierce made a living as a newspaperman who was known for his sharp wit. His contemporaries called him “Bitter Bierce” and that shows in the sardonic tone of writing. Whether it is through misanthropic sense of humor in the Devil’s Dictionary or in dark stories of the Civil War, Bierce had a distinctive writing voice that made him a true original. Many of his horror stories took place in the American West. “The Death of Halpin Frayser” is one of his most vivid and disquieting tales. There’s also “The Secret of Macarger’s Gulch” and several others that take place in the American frontier.
Another prominent example is Robert E. Howard. Although he wrote several straight and comedic westerns, Howard incorporated the supernatural in a few of his tales. “The Horror from the Mound” is an excellent piece of vampiric fiction and “Black Canaan” is one of his best horror stories that he ever wrote. Both of them have dated references to race, but if you can get past that, you’ll be treating yourself to some excellent reading. Other notable works include “Secret of Lost Valley,” “Old Garfield’s Heart,” and “The Dead Remember” (which is actually a more sympathetic story regarding race). Howard’s writing of ethnicities was typical for its time, and although I found it a little annoying, the quality of his storytelling ability won out. Also worth looking into is his poetry. “Dead Man’s Hate” has a distinctive western flavor to it that is worth reading.
Published in 1926 in Western Stories Magazine, Max Brand’s novella Werewolf is almost more of a fable than a supernatural tale. It is about a young man named Christopher who falls in love with a young woman, gets into a scuffle with a creep who wants to go with her instead and Christopher ends up killing him in self-defense. The dead man’s brother has a reputation as a deadly gunslinger and it is only a matter of time before he comes for Christopher. Since he would rather be a coward than dead, Christopher absconds into the woods where he encounters and learns of a terror worse than any mortal man. Brand himself was an excellent storyteller, and he gave us a good one with this story.
Other pulp writers such as Eli Colter and Lon Thomas Williams featured tales in the west with horrific/supernatural themes, but I haven’t had the chance to read them. They are worth mentioning, however, to anyone who is curious.
Dead in the West by Joe Lansdale is about a traveling preacher Jedidiah Mercer, who packs a revolver, and is there to fight against a horde of zombies that came as the result of a curse. Dead in the West was a rarity for a while but was then revised and collected with other novellas featuring Mercer in Deadman’s Road. Just about anything by Lansdale is worth paying attention to and Dead In the West was an early Lansdale for me made a deep impression.
Shadow on the Sun by Richard Matheson is about murder and the presence of a sinister stranger in a small Arizona town. It’s been a while since I read this, but this ranks with Matheson’s best work, reading smoothly and providing a chilling story. Matheson only wrote a handful of westerns, but this one and Journal of the Gun Years are fantastic books.
As far as contemporary Weird Westerns are concerned, I’ve only read a few but it looks like it is catching on. The Hunger by Alma Katsu is a fascinating and well-written piece of historical fiction with a supernatural explanation of what really befell the Donner Party. Just recently, I finished Branches and Bone by C.R. Langille about a Pinkerton investigator Evelyn Horn, who travels to Utah in the 1860s to find a lost friend and finds herself battling witches, crazed cult members, a cannibal, and a cosmic entity that threatens to destroy the world. This book is not only worth reading for its smooth and lean storytelling, but it is also instructive on how Cosmic Horror and the Western can work together as Langille provides us with a touch of Lovecraft and Blackwood.
The Weird Western occasionally steps into film and someday, I might devote an article to it. I already talked about Eastwood’s films Pale Rider and High Plains Drifter a while back. This is fertile ground to grow a story, and I hope to work it until I produce something as good as the few works I described here. See you around.
Written by Nick Montelongo
The earliest writer of Weird Westerns that comes to mind is Ambrose Bierce. Bierce made a living as a newspaperman who was known for his sharp wit. His contemporaries called him “Bitter Bierce” and that shows in the sardonic tone of writing. Whether it is through misanthropic sense of humor in the Devil’s Dictionary or in dark stories of the Civil War, Bierce had a distinctive writing voice that made him a true original. Many of his horror stories took place in the American West. “The Death of Halpin Frayser” is one of his most vivid and disquieting tales. There’s also “The Secret of Macarger’s Gulch” and several others that take place in the American frontier.Another prominent example is Robert E. Howard. Although he wrote several straight and comedic westerns, Howard incorporated the supernatural in a few of his tales. “The Horror from the Mound” is an excellent piece of vampiric fiction and “Black Canaan” is one of his best horror stories that he ever wrote. Both of them have dated references to race, but if you can get past that, you’ll be treating yourself to some excellent reading. Other notable works include “Secret of Lost Valley,” “Old Garfield’s Heart,” and “The Dead Remember” (which is actually a more sympathetic story regarding race). Howard’s writing of ethnicities was typical for its time, and although I found it a little annoying, the quality of his storytelling ability won out. Also worth looking into is his poetry. “Dead Man’s Hate” has a distinctive western flavor to it that is worth reading.
Published in 1926 in Western Stories Magazine, Max Brand’s novella Werewolf is almost more of a fable than a supernatural tale. It is about a young man named Christopher who falls in love with a young woman, gets into a scuffle with a creep who wants to go with her instead and Christopher ends up killing him in self-defense. The dead man’s brother has a reputation as a deadly gunslinger and it is only a matter of time before he comes for Christopher. Since he would rather be a coward than dead, Christopher absconds into the woods where he encounters and learns of a terror worse than any mortal man. Brand himself was an excellent storyteller, and he gave us a good one with this story.
Other pulp writers such as Eli Colter and Lon Thomas Williams featured tales in the west with horrific/supernatural themes, but I haven’t had the chance to read them. They are worth mentioning, however, to anyone who is curious.
Dead in the West by Joe Lansdale is about a traveling preacher Jedidiah Mercer, who packs a revolver, and is there to fight against a horde of zombies that came as the result of a curse. Dead in the West was a rarity for a while but was then revised and collected with other novellas featuring Mercer in Deadman’s Road. Just about anything by Lansdale is worth paying attention to and Dead In the West was an early Lansdale for me made a deep impression.
Shadow on the Sun by Richard Matheson is about murder and the presence of a sinister stranger in a small Arizona town. It’s been a while since I read this, but this ranks with Matheson’s best work, reading smoothly and providing a chilling story. Matheson only wrote a handful of westerns, but this one and Journal of the Gun Years are fantastic books.
As far as contemporary Weird Westerns are concerned, I’ve only read a few but it looks like it is catching on. The Hunger by Alma Katsu is a fascinating and well-written piece of historical fiction with a supernatural explanation of what really befell the Donner Party. Just recently, I finished Branches and Bone by C.R. Langille about a Pinkerton investigator Evelyn Horn, who travels to Utah in the 1860s to find a lost friend and finds herself battling witches, crazed cult members, a cannibal, and a cosmic entity that threatens to destroy the world. This book is not only worth reading for its smooth and lean storytelling, but it is also instructive on how Cosmic Horror and the Western can work together as Langille provides us with a touch of Lovecraft and Blackwood.The Weird Western occasionally steps into film and someday, I might devote an article to it. I already talked about Eastwood’s films Pale Rider and High Plains Drifter a while back. This is fertile ground to grow a story, and I hope to work it until I produce something as good as the few works I described here. See you around.
Written by Nick Montelongo
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