What Was It?
| First published | 1881 |
|---|---|
| Type | Short Fiction |
| Length | Short Story |
| Series | Harry Escott |
Synopsis
A boarding house is haunted by what turns out to be an invisible creature.
Notes
Jessica Amanda Salmonson, in her 1988 The Supernatural Tales of Fitz-James O'Brien, Volume One: Macabre Tales writes: "William Winter altered the story in his [1881] edition, which has been the source of most reprintings. Some editors shortened it even further. This is the first reprinting of the complete text" from 1859.
External Links
Publications (110)
| Date | Publication | Publisher | Type | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1881 | The Poems and Stories of Fitz-James O'Brien | James R. Osgood and Co. | Collection | 390 |
| April 1885 | The Diamond Lens with Other Stories | Charles Scribner's Sons | Collection | 248 |
| April 1885 | The Diamond Lens with Other Stories | Charles Scribner's Sons | Collection | 248 |
| 1889 | What Was It? and Other Stories | Ward & Downey | Collection | 7 |
| 1918 | Great Ghost Stories | Dodd, Mead & Co. | Anthology | 346 |
| July 1918 | Famous Ghost Stories | Thomas Y. Crowell | Anthology | 135 |
| 1921 | Famous Modern Ghost Stories | G. P. Putnam's Sons | Anthology | 253 |
| 1925 | Tales of Terror | Small, Maynard & Co. | Anthology | 74 |
| 1925 | Collected Stories | Albert & Charles Boni | Collection | |8 |
| September 1926 | Ghost Stories, September 1926 | Constructive Pub. Corp. | MAGAZINE | 29 |
| 1927 | Tales of Mystery: Startling Stories of the Supernatural | Hutchinson | Anthology | 177 |
| 1927 | American Mystery Stories | Oxford University Press, USA | Anthology | 93 |
| 1928 | American Ghost Stories | Houghton Mifflin | Anthology | 53 |
| October 1930 | Great Ghost Stories | Herbert Jenkins | Anthology | 97 |
| January 1931 | Great Ghost Stories | Herbert Jenkins | Anthology | 97 |
| 1933 | The Ghost Story Omnibus | Dodd, Mead & Co. | Omnibus | |
| 1933 | Great Stories of All Nations: One Hundred Sixty Complete Stories from the Literatures of All Periods and Countries | Tudor Publishing Company | Anthology | 584 |
| February 1938 | Famous Psychic and Ghost Stories | Blue Ribbon Books | Omnibus | |1135 |
| 1944 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Modern Library | Anthology | 403 |
| 1947 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Hammond, Hammond & Co. | Anthology | 323 |
| 1947 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Modern Library | Anthology | 403 |
| December 1949 | Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1949 | All-Fiction Field, Inc. | MAGAZINE | 106 |
| December 1949 | Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1949 | All-Fiction Field, Inc. (Canada) | MAGAZINE | 106 |
| 1956 | Sleep No More! Famous Ghost and Horror Stories | Vanguard Recording Society | Anthology | |5 |
| 1957 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Hammond, Hammond & Co. | Anthology | 323 |
| 1959 | Ghosts, Ghouls and Other Nuisances | Seven Seas Publishers | Anthology | 128 |
| 1959 | An Omnibus of American Mysteries | Juniper Press | Anthology | 343 |
| 1960 | Invisible Men | Ballantine Books | Anthology | 73 |
| 1961 | Horror Stories | Paul Elek | Anthology | 203 |
| July 1962 | A Century of Science Fiction | Simon & Schuster / SFBC | Anthology | 180 |
| October 1962 | Tales of the Uncanny | Panther | Anthology | |
| February 1963 | A Century of Science Fiction | Dell | Anthology | 195 |
| September 1963 | The Haunters and the Haunted & Other Ghost Stories | Corgi | Anthology | 117 |
| May 1964 | Magazine of Horror, May 1964 | Health Knowledge, Inc. | MAGAZINE | 18 |
| October 1964 | The Masque of the Red Death | Panther | Anthology | 65 |
| October 1964 | The Masque of the Red Death | Anthony Gibbs & Phillips | Anthology | 65 |
| 1965 | Monster Festival | Vanguard Press | Anthology | 13 |
| 1965 | The Arrow Book of Horror Stories | Arrow Books | Anthology | |
| 1966 | A Century of Science Fiction | Pan Books | Anthology | 227 |
| March 1966 | Where Nightmares Are | Mayflower-Dell | Anthology | 72 |
| December 1966 | Invisible Men | Ballantine Bal-Hi | Anthology | 73 |
| October 1969 | Where Nightmares Are | Mayflower | Anthology | 72 |
| 1971 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Hammond, Hammond & Co. | Anthology | 323 |
| 1971 | Great Ghost Stories | Books for Libraries Press | Anthology | 346 |
| 1971 | Tales of Terror | Vanguard Recording Society | Anthology | |11 |
| 1972 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Hammond, Hammond & Co. | Anthology | 323 |
| 1973 | Weirdies: A Horrifying Concatenation of the Super-sur-real or Almost or Not-quite Real | Franklin Watts | Anthology | 192 |
| 1973 | The Supernatural in Fiction | McGraw-Hill | Anthology | 262 |
| 1973 | Where Nightmares Are | David Bruce & Watson | Anthology | 72 |
| 1974 | What Was It? | Frank Hallman & The Oliphant Press | Chapbook | |
| August 1974 | Ghosts, Castles, and Victims: Studies in Gothic Terror | Fawcett Crest | Anthology | 405 |
| 1975 | Weirdies Weirdies Weirdies: A Horrifying Concatenation of the Super-sur-real or Almost or Not-quite Real | Franklin Watts | Anthology | 192 |
| 1976 | Gaslight Tales of Terror | Fontana | Anthology | 105 |
| 1977 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Book Club Associates | Anthology | 323 |
| 1977 | The Fantastic Tales of Fitz-James O'Brien | John Calder | Collection | 55 |
| 1978 | Spine-Chillers: Unforgettable Tales of Terror | Doubleday | Anthology | 81 |
| March 1978 | Chilling and Killing | Houghton Mifflin | Anthology | 1 |
| August 1978 | The Vampyre: Lord Ruthven to Count Dracula | Gollancz | Anthology | 240 |
| 1980 | Campfire Chillers | East Woods Press | Anthology | 89 |
| August 1980 | 50 Great American Short Stories | Bantam Books | Anthology | 34 |
| 1981 | The Beaver Book of Horror Stories | Beaver Books | Anthology | 120 |
| 1982 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Hutchinson | Anthology | 323 |
| March 1983 | Where Nightmares Are | Severn House | Anthology | 72 |
| 1984 | Campfire Chillers | East Woods Press | Anthology | 89 |
| 1984 | The Beaver Book of Horror Stories | Beaver Books | Anthology | 120 |
| April 1984 | Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Science Fiction Firsts | Beaufort Books | Anthology | 149 |
| October 1984 | Uninvited Guests: Thirteen Unwelcome Visitors | William Kimber | Anthology | 28 |
| October 1987 | The Dark Descent | Tor | Anthology | 864 |
| August 1988 | The Dark Descent | Tor / BOMC | Anthology | 864 |
| July 1990 | The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories | Robinson | Anthology | 440 |
| August 1990 | The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories | Carroll & Graf | Anthology | 440 |
| September 1991 | A Fabulous Formless Darkness | HarperCollins (UK) | Anthology | 262 |
| September 1991 | A Fabulous Formless Darkness | HarperCollins (UK) | Anthology | 262 |
| November 1991 | Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula | Faber and Faber | Anthology | 208 |
| 1992 | A Fabulous Formless Darkness | Grafton | Anthology | 442 |
| January 1992 | A Fabulous Formless Darkness | Tor | Anthology | 364 |
| October 1992 | Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula | Faber and Faber | Anthology | 208 |
| 1994 | The Anthology of Ghost Stories | Tiger Books International | Anthology | 440 |
| 1994 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Modern Library | Anthology | 387 |
| October 1994 | Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Bracken Books | Anthology | 207 |
| October 1994 | Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural | Modern Library | Anthology | 387 |
| 1996 | Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Science Fiction Firsts | Barnes & Noble Books | Anthology | 149 |
| 1996 | Tales of Terror and the Supernatural: A Classic Collection | Leopard | Anthology | 207 |
| November 1996 | Phantastic Book of Ghost Stories | Barnes & Noble Books | Anthology | |
| February 1997 | The Dark Descent | Tor | Anthology | 864 |
| 1998 | Classic Ghost Stories | Dover Publications | Anthology | 102 |
| September 2002 | Phantastic Book of Ghost Stories | MetroBooks | Anthology | 440 |
| 2004 | The World's Greatest Ghost Stories | Barnes & Noble Books | Anthology | 440 |
| 2004 | The World's Greatest Ghost Stories | Magpie Books | Anthology | 440 |
| 2005 | The World's Greatest Ghost Stories | Barnes & Noble Books | Anthology | 440 |
| February 2005 | Famous Modern Ghost Stories | Project Gutenberg | Anthology | |7 |
| October 2007 | American Supernatural Tales | Penguin Books (US) | Anthology | 47 |
| October 2007 | American Supernatural Tales | Penguin Books (US) | Anthology | |
| January 2009 | Short Ghost and Horror Story Collection 1 | LibriVox | Anthology | |14 |
| February 2010 | The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce | Penguin Books | Anthology | 25 |
| September 2012 | The Big Book of Ghost Stories | Vintage Crime / Black Lizard / Vintage Books | Anthology | 601 |
| December 2012 | The Big Book of Ghost Stories | Vintage Crime / Black Lizard / Vintage Books | Anthology | |601 |
| January 2013 | The Second Ghost Story Megapack: 25 Classic Ghost Stories | Wildside Press | Anthology | 378 |
| September 2013 | The Occult Detective Megapack | Wildside Press | Anthology | |
| October 2013 | American Supernatural Tales | Penguin Books (US) | Anthology | 47 |
| October 2014 | Horror Stories: Classic Tales from Hoffmann to Hodgson | Oxford University Press | Anthology | 128 |
| April 2015 | Dreamscapes Into Darkness | Firbolg Publishing | Anthology | |4 |
| April 2015 | Dreamscapes Into Darkness | Firbolg Publishing | Anthology | |
| 2016 | H. P. Lovecraft Selects: Classic Horror Stories | Fall River Press | Omnibus | 202 |
| December 2016 | Scientific Romance: An International Anthology of Pioneering Science Fiction | Dover Publications | Anthology | |5 |
| January 2017 | Scientific Romance: An International Anthology of Pioneering Science Fiction | Dover Publications | Anthology | 43 |
| October 2019 | Doorway to Dilemma: Bewildering Tales of Dark Fantasy | The British Library | Anthology | 13 |
| June 2020 | The Big Book of Ghost Stories | Highbridge / Recorded Books | Anthology | |601 |
| January 2021 | Famous Modern Ghost Stories | Open Road Integrated Media | Anthology | |7 |
| 2025 | Fantastic Tales | Alma Classics | Collection | 161 |