Tales of Terror and Mystery
The
idea
that
the
extraordinary
narrative
which
has
been
called
the
Joyce
-
Armstrong
Fragment
is
an
elaborate
practical
joke
evolved
by
some
unknown
person
,
cursed
by
a
perverted
and
sinister
sense
of
humour
,
has
now
been
abandoned
by
all
who
have
examined
the
matter
.
The
most
macabre
and
imaginative
of
plotters
would
hesitate
before
linking
his
morbid
fancies
with
the
unquestioned
and
tragic
facts
which
reinforce
the
statement
.
Though
the
assertions
contained
in
it
are
amazing
and
even
monstrous
,
it
is
none
the
less
forcing
itself
upon
the
general
intelligence
that
they
are
true
,
and
that
we
must
readjust
our
ideas
to
the
new
situation
.
This
world
of
ours
appears
to
be
separated
by
a
slight
and
precarious
margin
of
safety
from
a
most
singular
and
unexpected
danger
.
I
will
endeavour
in
this
narrative
,
which
reproduces
the
original
document
in
its
necessarily
somewhat
fragmentary
form
,
to
lay
before
the
reader
the
whole
of
the
facts
up
to
date
,
prefacing
my
statement
by
saying
that
,
if
there
be
any
who
doubt
the
narrative
of
Joyce
-
Armstrong
,
there
can
be
no
question
at
all
as
to
the
facts
concerning
Lieutenant
Myrtle
,
R
.
N
.
,
and
Mr
.
Hay
Connor
,
who
undoubtedly
met
their
end
in
the
manner
described
.
The
Joyce
-
Armstrong
Fragment
was
found
in
the
field
which
is
called
Lower
Haycock
,
lying
one
mile
to
the
westward
of
the
village
of
Withyham
,
upon
the
Kent
and
Sussex
border
.
It
was
on
the
15th
September
last
that
an
agricultural
labourer
,
James
Flynn
,
in
the
employment
of
Mathew
Dodd
,
farmer
,
of
the
Chauntry
Farm
,
Withyham
,
perceived
a
briar
pipe
lying
near
the
footpath
which
skirts
the
hedge
in
Lower
Haycock
.
A
few
paces
farther
on
he
picked
up
a
pair
of
broken
binocular
glasses
.
Finally
,
among
some
nettles
in
the
ditch
,
he
caught
sight
of
a
flat
,
canvas
-
backed
book
,
which
proved
to
be
a
note
-
book
with
detachable
leaves
,
some
of
which
had
come
loose
and
were
fluttering
along
the
base
of
the
hedge
.
These
he
collected
,
but
some
,
including
the
first
,
were
never
recovered
,
and
leave
a
deplorable
hiatus
in
this
all
-
important
statement
.
The
note
-
book
was
taken
by
the
labourer
to
his
master
,
who
in
turn
showed
it
to
Dr
.
J
.
H
.
Atherton
,
of
Hartfield
.
This
gentleman
at
once
recognized
the
need
for
an
expert
examination
,
and
the
manuscript
was
forwarded
to
the
Aero
Club
in
London
,
where
it
now
lies
.
The
first
two
pages
of
the
manuscript
are
missing
.
There
is
also
one
torn
away
at
the
end
of
the
narrative
,
though
none
of
these
affect
the
general
coherence
of
the
story
.
It
is
conjectured
that
the
missing
opening
is
concerned
with
the
record
of
Mr
.
Joyce
-
Armstrong
’
s
qualifications
as
an
aeronaut
,
which
can
be
gathered
from
other
sources
and
are
admitted
to
be
unsurpassed
among
the
air
-
pilots
of
England
.
For
many
years
he
has
been
looked
upon
as
among
the
most
daring
and
the
most
intellectual
of
flying
men
,
a
combination
which
has
enabled
him
to
both
invent
and
test
several
new
devices
,
including
the
common
gyroscopic
attachment
which
is
known
by
his
name
.
The
main
body
of
the
manuscript
is
written
neatly
in
ink
,
but
the
last
few
lines
are
in
pencil
and
are
so
ragged
as
to
be
hardly
legible
—
exactly
,
in
fact
,
as
they
might
be
expected
to
appear
if
they
were
scribbled
off
hurriedly
from
the
seat
of
a
moving
aeroplane
.
There
are
,
it
may
be
added
,
several
stains
,
both
on
the
last
page
and
on
the
outside
cover
which
have
been
pronounced
by
the
Home
Office
experts
to
be
blood
—
probably
human
and
certainly
mammalian
.
The
fact
that
something
closely
resembling
the
organism
of
malaria
was
discovered
in
this
blood
,
and
that
Joyce
-
Armstrong
is
known
to
have
suffered
from
intermittent
fever
,
is
a
remarkable
example
of
the
new
weapons
which
modern
science
has
placed
in
the
hands
of
our
detectives
.
And
now
a
word
as
to
the
personality
of
the
author
of
this
epoch
-
making
statement
.
Joyce
-
Armstrong
,
according
to
the
few
friends
who
really
knew
something
of
the
man
,
was
a
poet
and
a
dreamer
,
as
well
as
a
mechanic
and
an
inventor
.
He
was
a
man
of
considerable
wealth
,
much
of
which
he
had
spent
in
the
pursuit
of
his
aeronautical
hobby
.
He
had
four
private
aeroplanes
in
his
hangars
near
Devizes
,
and
is
said
to
have
made
no
fewer
than
one
hundred
and
seventy
ascents
in
the
course
of
last
year
.
He
was
a
retiring
man
with
dark
moods
,
in
which
he
would
avoid
the
society
of
his
fellows
.
Captain
Dangerfield
,
who
knew
him
better
than
anyone
,
says
that
there
were
times
when
his
eccentricity
threatened
to
develop
into
something
more
serious
.
His
habit
of
carrying
a
shot
-
gun
with
him
in
his
aeroplane
was
one
manifestation
of
it
.
Another
was
the
morbid
effect
which
the
fall
of
Lieutenant
Myrtle
had
upon
his
mind
.
Myrtle
,
who
was
attempting
the
height
record
,
fell
from
an
altitude
of
something
over
thirty
thousand
feet
.
Horrible
to
narrate
,
his
head
was
entirely
obliterated
,
though
his
body
and
limbs
preserved
their
configuration
.
At
every
gathering
of
airmen
,
Joyce
-
Armstrong
,
according
to
Dangerfield
,
would
ask
,
with
an
enigmatic
smile
:
"
And
where
,
pray
,
is
Myrtle
’
s
head
?
"
On
another
occasion
after
dinner
,
at
the
mess
of
the
Flying
School
on
Salisbury
Plain
,
he
started
a
debate
as
to
what
will
be
the
most
permanent
danger
which
airmen
will
have
to
encounter
.
Having
listened
to
successive
opinions
as
to
air
-
pockets
,
faulty
construction
,
and
over
-
banking
,
he
ended
by
shrugging
his
shoulders
and
refusing
to
put
forward
his
own
views
,
though
he
gave
the
impression
that
they
differed
from
any
advanced
by
his
companions
.
