Mrs. Hincher is an unpublished short story by

J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in '' ...

Plot

The story centers on a married couple, Frank and Paula Hincher, who are struggling to have a child. Mrs. Hincher convinces herself she is pregnant, and claims she needs bedrest. While her doctors tell her otherwise, she determines she will have a child, and sets up a nursery. Her husband finds her staying in bed and soon locking herself in the room. Weeks go by until a young girl is allowed in and reports there is a little baby in there but it won't talk. Overcome with frustration, Mr. Hincher breaks in the bedroom to find Mrs. Hincher curled in the fetal position in a crib. They decide to go on a vacation to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, where Mr Hincher subsequently has a mental breakdown in the lobby of the hotel and is sent to an asylum.

History

Salinger completed the story in late 1941 and sold this story under the name "Paula" to ''

Stag Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

'' in 1942 but the magazine decided not to publish the dark tale, referenced by himself as his only documented attempt at the horror genre.Kenneth Slawenski.J. D. Salinger: A Life.

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

Digital, Inc., 2011. Salinger's agency was contacted by editors requesting he write a novel, but he was in the army by this time, and could not. In one letter he refers to this story as his only "horror" story. The story is essentially a set of fragments, and is available, as are letters referencing the piece, for a fee and required registration at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, as well as archives accessible only by his

literary agency A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

References

{{J. D. Salinger Short stories by J. D. Salinger