Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe
| First published | 1837 |
|---|---|
| Type | Short Fiction |
| Length | Short Story |
"Dominicus Pike, an itinerant tobacco peddler, is informed of the hanging of wealthy old Mr. Higginbotham of Kimballton. He spreads the rumor as he travels, only to have it denied by persons who have seen the old man since his supposed death. Hearing again of the hanging, and being contradicted by Higginbotham's niece, he goes to Kimballton and arrives just in time to save her uncle from actual murder." - The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature
- Though this story of mystifying events is ultimately non-supernatural, it has the atmosphere of a ghost story, and is included in some collections of ghost stories.
- First published in the New England Magazine, December 1834.
| Date | Publication | Publisher | Type | Page | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1837 |
|
Twice-Told Tales | American Stationers Co. | Collection | 149 |
| 1842 | Twice-Told Tales | James Munroe | Collection | |7 | |
| 1906 |
|
Great Short Stories: A New Collection of Famous Examples from the Literatures of France, England and America | P. F. Collier & Son | Anthology | 379|2379 |
| 1907 |
|
Twice-Told Tales | Houghton Mifflin | Collection | 127 |
| 1934 |
|
The Mystery Book | Odhams Press | Anthology | 490 |
| 1937 |
|
The Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne | Modern Library | Omnibus | 912 |
| 1939 | The Story Survey | J. B. Lippincott | Anthology | 44 | |
| 1941 | The Best Known Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne | Literary Classics | Omnibus | 361 | |
| 1945 | Seven More Strange Stories | Art & Educational Publishers | Anthology | 64 | |
| 1950 | Selected Tales and Sketches | Rinehart | Collection | |7 | |
| 1965 |
|
Twice-Told Tales | Airmont Books | Collection | 67 |
| 1970 |
|
Selected Tales and Sketches | Holt, Rinehart and Winston | Collection | 113 |
| 1982 |
|
Tales and Sketches | The Library of America | Omnibus | 188 |
| 1987 |
|
Selected Tales and Sketches | Penguin Books (US) | Collection | 90 |
| October 1989 |
|
Twice-Told Tales | Reader's Digest | Collection | 78 |
| 2001 |
|
Twice-Told Tales | Modern Library | Collection | 78 |
| August 2003 |
|
Great Ghost Stories | Fredonia Books | Anthology | |
| October 2004 | Twice-Told Tales | Project Gutenberg | Collection | 99 | |
| 2007 | Tales and Sketches | The Library of America | Omnibus | |188 | |
| October 2008 | The Snow-Image and Other Stories of the Supernatural | Tartarus Press | Collection | 25 | |
| August 2010 |
|
Twice-Told Tales | Gray Rabbit Publications | Collection | 67 |
| June 2012 |
|
Twice-Told Tales | ReadHowYouWant | Collection | 185 |
| October 2024 | Great Short Stories: A New Collection of Famous Examples from the Literatures of France, England and America: Volume II: Ghost Stories | Project Gutenberg | Anthology | |2379 |