The Legend of the Mistletoe Bough is a horror story which has been associated with many mansions and stately homes in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. A new bride, playing a game of

hide-and-seek Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chos ...

or trying to get away from the crowd during her

wedding breakfast A wedding breakfast is a feast given to the newlyweds and guests after the wedding, making it equivalent to a wedding reception that serves a meal. The phrase is still used in British English. Nowadays the wedding breakfast is not normally a m ...

, hides in a chest in an attic and is unable to escape. She is not discovered by her family and friends, and suffocates or dies of thirst. The body is found many years later in the locked chest as a skeleton in a wedding dress. Notable claimants for the story's location, some still displaying the chest, include

Bramshill House Bramshill House, in Bramshill, northeast Hampshire, England, is one of the largest and most important Jacobean prodigy house mansions in England. It was built in the early 17th century by the 11th Baron Zouche of Harringworth but was partly ...

and Marwell Hall in Hampshire,

Castle Horneck Castle Horneck is a Listed Building#Categories of listed building, Grade II* listed building, and refurbished Georgian architecture, Georgian mansion to the west of the Cornwall, Cornish town of Penzance. It is currently owned by the Youth Hostel ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

Grotto in Berkshire,

Minster Lovell Minster Lovell is a village and civil parish on the River Windrush about west of Witney in Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,409. Minster Lovell village has three parts: Old Minster, Little Minster and New ...

Hall in Oxfordshire,

Exton Hall Exton Hall is an English country house on the western edge of the village of Exton, Rutland, England, standing in its own extensive park. The Hall It was the family seat of the family of Sir James Harington and later the Noel family, Earls o ...

in Rutland,

Brockdish Brockdish is a village and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England. The village is situated on the River Waveney (south of which is Suffolk), and is about 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Harleston. History Brockdish's ...

Hall in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and

Bawdrip Bawdrip is a village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The village is on the south side of the Polden Hills about north-east of Bridgwater. At the 2011 census the parish had a population of 506. The parish inclu ...

Rectory in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

History

The tale first appeared in print in the form of a poem by

Samuel Rogers Samuel Rogers (30 July 1763 – 18 December 1855) was an English poet, during his lifetime one of the most celebrated, although his fame has long since been eclipsed by his Romantic colleagues and friends Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron. ...

entitled "Ginevra", in his book ''Italy'' published in 1822. In notes on this work, Rogers states ‘The story is, I believe, founded on fact; though the time and the place are uncertain. Many old houses lay claim to it.’ The popularity of the tale was greatly increased when it appeared as a song in the 1830s entitled 'The Mistletoe Bough' written by T. H. Bayly and Sir Henry Bishop. The song proved very popular. In 1859, its 'solemn chanting' was referred to as a 'national occurrence at Christmas' in English households, and by 1862 the song was referred to as 'one of the most popular songs ever written', 'which must be known by heart by many readers'. Further works inspired by the song include a play of the same name by Charles A. Somerset, first produced in 1835, and two short stories:

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

's " The Romance of Certain Old Clothes" (published 1868) and Susan Wallace's "Ginevra or The Old Oak Chest: A Christmas Story" (published 1887). The song is also played in Thomas Hardy's ''A Laodicean'', after the scene involving the capture of George Somerset's handkerchief from the tower.

Kate Mosse Katharine Mosse (born 20 October 1961) is a British novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and Television presenter, broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel ''Labyrinth (novel), Labyrinth'', which has been translated into more ...

reinterpreted the story in her 2013 short-story collection ''The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting Tales''. Film versions of the story include a 1904 production by the Clarendon Film Company, directed by

Percy Stow Percy Stow (1876 – 10 July 1919) was a British director of short films. He was also the co-founder of Clarendon Film Company. He was born in Islington, London, England. He was previously associated with Cecil Hepworth from 1901 to 1903, wher ...

; a 1923 version made by the

British and Colonial Kinematograph Company British and Colonial Films was a British company making predominantly silent films in London between 1908 and 1924. It was also known by the abbreviation B & C. The British and Colonial Kinematograph Company was formed in 1908 by Albert Henry ("B ...

; and a 1926 production by Cosmopolitan Films, directed by C.C. Calvert. The Percy Stow film version of the story can be seen on the BFI player with a new specially commissioned score by

Pete Wiggs Peter Stewart Wiggs (born 15 May 1966) is an English musician and DJ from Reigate, Surrey. Saint Etienne Pete Wiggs is a member of the pop/dance group Saint Etienne (alongside Bob Stanley and Sarah Cracknell) for which he co-writes songs, pro ...

from the band Saint Etienne. The story of the Mistletoe Bough is recounted in the 1948 Alfred Hitchcock film ''Rope'', where it is said to be the favorite tale of the main character, Brandon Shaw. Unbeknownst to the story teller, Shaw has previously murdered his friend, former classmate David Kentley and hidden the body in the chest in front of which they are standing. The story is also recounted in '' The Hand in the Trap'', a 1961 Argentine film directed by

Leopoldo Torre Nilsson Leopoldo Torre Nilsson (5 May 1924 – 8 September 1978), also known as Leo Towers and as Babsy, was an Argentine film director, producer and screenwriter. Born as Leopoldo Torres Nilsson (he later changed his paternal surname from Torres to ...

. In a conversation between the characters Laura Lavigne (

Elsa Daniel Elsa Daniel born Elsa Nilda Gómez Scapatti (13 November 1936 – 25 June 2017) was an Argentine film actress. She entered film in the 1954 classic '' The Grandfather'' and made some 30 appearances in film between then and 1987. Daniel, a blo ...

) and Cristóbal Achával (

Francisco Rabal Francisco Rabal Valera (8 March 1926 – 29 August 2001), better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter born in Águilas, a town in the south-western part of the province of Murcia, Spain. Throughout his career, Raba ...

), Cristóbal refers to the story as Modena's Bride. He tells the tale of a woman who, on her wedding night, played hide and seek with her husband and hid inside a chest. No one could find her. Twenty years later, her skeleton was found wrapped in tulle.

References

External links

Full text version of the Samuel Rogers poem

An early song sheet for 'The Mistletoe Bough'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mistletoe English folklore Premature burials Culture in Hampshire