# I: The Cursed Damozel explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Manly Wade Wellman.

## What happens

High Private Cole Wickett, a young Confederate cavalryman captured at Shiloh, is taken in by Union Sergeant Jaeger and a chaplain. They question him about his age and lack of a sweetheart, then have him swear on the Bible. He gives his parole until sunrise. That night, a ghostly woman in a bridal dress visits him, attempting to seduce him with hypnotic power. Sergeant Jaeger interrupts with Bible verses, driving her away. Jaeger and the chaplain take Wickett to a graveyard, where they dig up the woman's grave, stake her, and then release Wickett with his parole, telling him to flee westward.

## Themes in this chapter

### Supernatural Evil and Occultism

The chapter introduces a vampire-like creature in a bridal dress who uses hypnotism and is staked with a hawthorn stake, drawing on classic occult lore.

### The Power of Belief and Ritual

Sergeant Jaeger repels the vampire by reciting Bible verses, and the staking ritual is performed with a hawthorn stake and shovel, emphasizing the power of Christian faith and ritual.

### Fear and Control

The vampire exerts control through hypnotism and fear, while Jaeger and the chaplain assert control through military discipline and religious authority.

## Character check-ins

### Cole Wickett

The narrator and protagonist; a 14-year-old Confederate private captured at Shiloh, who becomes the target of a vampire's seduction.

### Sergeant Jaeger

A Union sergeant who captures Wickett, interrogates him, and later leads the vampire-staking expedition.

### Reverend Mr. Jaeger

The Union chaplain who questions Wickett about his virginity and assists in the vampire staking.

### The Martian

The vampire woman in a bridal dress who attempts to hypnotize and seduce Wickett; she is staked in the graveyard.

## Key lines

> If you want to know how I felt, stare for a while at some spot on the wall or floor. After a moment, you’ll have trouble looking away. It’s called hypnotism, or something.

The narrator describes the vampire's hypnotic power as akin to the difficulty of breaking a fixed stare.

_Illustrates the supernatural control the vampire exerts over Wickett._

> Then Sergeant Jaeger opened the door, took one look, and began to say something, very rapidly and roughly. It sounded like Bible verses: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God⁠—' The woman shrieked, high and ear-tingling, like a bat. She let go of me. She was gone.

Jaeger's recitation of scripture drives away the vampire, showing the power of religious words against evil.

_Highlights the theme of belief and ritual as a weapon against the supernatural._

> The stake,' said the chaplain, and passed down a sharp stick like a picket-pin. I judged it was of hawthorn, cut from a hedge somewhere. 'Strike to the heart,' went on the chaplain, 'while I strike at the throat.'

The chaplain and Jaeger perform a traditional vampire-staking ritual using a hawthorn stake.

_Emphasizes the occult and ritualistic nature of the vampire's destruction._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/i-the-cursed-damozel
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters