My Tussle With the Devil: Written by a Ghost?

My Tussle With the Devil 1st Edition in the Fales Collection at Manhattan College

This short story collection, authored by "O. Henry's Ghost," is enclosed by a dark teal hard cover with gold embossed print. It looks eerie, yet classy, like the darkest depths of the ocean, filled with mystery and beauty. This alludes to the themes inside of death and the Devil, who is often showcased as royal or wealthy-looking, but is still dark and mysterious because he is the Devil. This text claims its author is O. Henry's Ghost, suggesting the inspiration was gained from O. Henry and his work. While the channeler's real name is never included in the actual text, the O'Malley Library at Manhattan College has included a card that states the author's name as William Sydney Porter, the real name of O. Henry. The real author/channeler, however has been noted as Albert Houghton Pratt. This lack of singular author makes this text appealing to readers who want to discover what exactly O. Henry's Ghost would write from the afterlife, as well as also truly portraying the book as something the ghost channeled to the author. This suggests a developing type of writing where authorship did not necessarily credit the person who did the physical writing, but rather the person who created the ideas. Writers and readers in 1918 perhaps were fascinated by the thought of a well-known author continuing his work from the afterlife with the help of a human in the physical world.

An example of a Ouija Board that was used to channel O. Henry in order to write this book

This fascination is something A.H. Pratt appears to have wanted to capitalize on, which may be what led him to write this collection of short stories. Pratt had no prior connection to O. Henry or spirit writing but he claims he was able to channel the dead author with the help of a Ouija board. While there are no Ouija boards illustrated throughout the text, an image of the board is drawn for the reader on the first page, when the author is describing his inspiration behind writing the book. This image is interesting because it served as the vehicle to write this text. These boards are commonly used for spirit writings because they claim to help the living and the dead communicate with each other. They can also be used for things like seances and other attempts to contact the "other world". These boards first appeared at the end of the 19th century, about 20 years before A.H. Pratt would use one to write the text. This demonstrates an evolution in writing technologies, which allowed for more types of writing styles to appear, like spirtualism. Before the creation of Ouija Boards, people needed to use mediums or attend seances in order to get in touch with the dead, which could be expensive or time consuming, limiting the access to those who were of upper class, because they had more free time and money. The invention of the Ouija Board, however, made spiritualism more accessible to all, because it would be used in the comfort of one's home for only the cost of the Board itself.

The late 19th century and early 20th century, also known as the Victorian period, was a huge time for spiritualism, which explains why Ouija boards were so popular. Many people were beginning to channel the afterlife in an attempt to understand it better. Some of these people allegedly include Queen Victoria herself, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This spike in spiritualism's popularity is in stark contrast to the scientific and technological progress that is typically associated with the Victorian period. One of the biggest questions of life has always been: what happens when we die? Ouija boards offered a possible explanation by allowing users to contact those who had passed on to learn about their experiences, something that science and technology was not able to do yet.

This creation of spirit writing also explains another motivation for A.H. Pratt to channel O. Henry in his spirit writing. The lack of full words and only the alphabet featured on the Ouija Board might explain why the author decided to go with short stories and poems instead of a full length novel. If a ghost really was writing this via Ouija Board, it would take much longer to write a novel than it would to write a poem or a short story. O. Henry also mainly wrote short stories while he was alive, so this all worked out nicely in terms of believability and accuracy for the text. Despite this text being a work of fiction, the believability is still crucial, becuase this is what attracts reader's to read this work.