In 1917, a new novella was published by Mark Twain. The weird part? Twain died in 1910 and the book was purportedly written by his ghost.
In 1917, Mark Twain published a new novella titled “Jap Herron” about a young man from Missouri who left town to become a printer’s devil for a local newspaper. The weird part about all of this? Mark Twain died in 1910… The novel Jap Herron was purportedly transmitted entirely via Ouija board through writer Emily Grant Hutchings and her psychic medium partner, Lola V. Hays. So is it a hoax? Yeah, probably… But join me today as we follow the full story.
I read Emily Grant Hutching’s entire introduction to the novel in this episode, which is LONG. Also, please forgive some of my pronunciation in this episode as I am not from Missouri, and really, some of these are just not real words. (If you want to skip after my introduction, skip to to the 1 hour mark).
Episode Links:
Books in the Wild
Coyote Bones Press
Jap Herron - full text on Project Gutenburg
Jap Herron - about
Jap Herron - the controversy