A Warning to the Curious

A Warning to the Curious is the second short ghost story and the second episode in the A Ghost Story for Christmas BBC tradition. It is adapted from the M. R. James novel A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories of which it is the title story.

Opening lines

Along the coast of Norfolk there persists an ancient legend. It is said that in the Dark Ages when the Vikings where a constant scurge, the three royal crowns of Anglia were lost. The crowns, so the legend runs, had a strange power. No foreign army would invade the kingdom of Anglia so long as at least one of them remained undisturbed. Since that time, the site of one crown has been plundered by thieves and its treasure melted down. Another has been covered by the encroaching sea. Only one crown now remains. Lying somewhere in its royal burial ground.

Plot

A prologue begins with an archaeologist digging in the forest. As he digs, his attention is grabbed by a mysterious man in black with a bad cough who tells him to stop digging. The archaeologist refuses, saying that the landlord gave him permission. The man attempts to stop him physically, but is thrown away. The man then grabs a meat cleaver wedged into a log and hacks the archaeologist to death, yelling "No digging!"

Twelve years later, another archaeologist, Mr Paxton, arrives in the fictional town of Seaburg, Norfolk. He stays in a motel owned by someone called "Boots", a shoeshiner. Paxton borrows a bicycle and rides to the church. In the churchyard he spots the coat of arms that resembles the three crowns. The vicar then appears and tells him about the two lost crowns but of a local family by the surname of "Ager" claiming to know where the remaining crown was buried and how "the oldest male" used to watch to see that it remained undisturbed. William Ager, the last surviving member of the family became obsessed with watching the crown, even refusing to fight during World War I. He eventually died of consumption Paxton then spots his gravestone, the epitaph saying William Ager. Died at Seaburg in 1917 aged 32. May his soul rest in peace. Paxton then spots a black-clad figure watching him from the shoreline.

At an antique shop, Paxton buys a book about the three crowns and also learns about human sacrifice. When cycling through the country, Paxton comes to a small farm where he sees the black figure loitering. There he meets an orphaned girl who tells of how the Ager family were the previous tenants of the farm before her and how people thought William Ager was mentally insane to go out in his condition, even though everyone else Paxton asked knew nothing about William Ager.

Paxton becomes aware of the ghost of William Ager wandering Seaburg, and sets out to dig up the crown. Whilst digging, Paxton finds the hacked-off face of the previous murdered archaeologist as well as several of his tools and finally finds the crown. Paxton runs away from the woods, the Ager ghost pursuing him across the field. He eventually runs into a labourer holding a similar meat cleaver, who also spots the materialized Ager ghost following Paxton down the path.

When Paxton gets back to Seaburg, he finds his book about the three crowns shredded to pieces with his own razor and hears the hoarse cough of the Ager ghost. Paxton eventually runs into Dr Black, a regular visitor to the motel and the only other guest sketching. Back at the motel, Paxton tells Dr Black about when he unearthed the crown but of how William Ager has been stalking him ever since. Dr Black agrees to go with Paxton to bury the crown again.

The next morning, Boots is shining shoes on the beach when Paxton goes for a walk with "Dr Black". However, the real Dr Black shows up just after Paxton has left. Alone on the beach, Paxton loses sight of Dr Black but suddenly catches sight of the Ager ghost pursuing him, having not forgiven Paxton for taking the crown and luring Paxton away with an apparition/doppelganger/duplicate of Dr Black. Ager pursues Paxton through the forest with Dr Black not far behind. Ager finally corners Paxton on a ledge and hacks him to death with the meat cleaver, Dr Black reaching him too late.

The epilogue of the film shows Dr Black taking the train back to Seaburg. A porter opens his door but then apologizes and says "he thought he saw someone", implying that the Ager ghost is now persecuting Dr Black, having been involved in the crown affair. The film concludes with the train driving away and the credits rolling to high-pitched, eerie music. Dr Black's fate remains unknown.

Cast

Peter Vaughan - Mr Paxton

Clive Swift - Dr Black

Julian Herrington - Archaeologist

John Kearney - Ager Ghost

David Cargill - Boots/Arnold

George Benson - Vicar

Roger Milner - Antique Shop Owner

Gilly Fraser - Girl

David Pugh - Porter

Cyril Appleton - Labourer

Notes

Roger Milner, who played the antique shop owner, later played the vicar in the next A Ghost Story for Christmas episode "Lost Hearts".

Dr Black was called Dr White in the original "A Warning to the Curious" story.

In the antique shop, the antique shop owner tells Paxton that the purpose of human sacrifice was that the sacrificers believed that the victim would become an evil spirit and guard the landmark they were killed at. This is incorrect. The real purpose of human sacrifice was to appease the gods.

In Paxton's book it says that William Ager was born in 1885. The epitaph on his gravestone says that he died in 1917. This would make him 32 years old at his death, however, the number on his gravestone looks more like 33 or 38.

When asking the girl about William Ager he says he's wondering if Ager existed at all since no one else had heard of him. Paxton had previously seen Ager's gravestone at the churchyard. Either he was exaggerating to the girl or he had forgotten the grave (though he mentions seeing the grave to Dr Black when he shows him the crown).