29 pages 58 minutes read

Joseph Sheridan le Fanu

Carmilla

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 2012

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Chapters 13-16

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary: “The Woodman”

During her stay with the General, Mircalla exhibits mysterious habits similar to those of Carmilla. She is found walking among the trees outside in the early morning “looking like a person in a trance” (81). The General thinks she is sleepwalking, but cannot explain how she finds her way out of locked rooms. At the same time, Bertha now begins to have strange symptoms similar to the ones described by Laura: she dreams of a beast at her bed, feels as though needles have pierced her throat, and is rapidly losing her health. The General now breaks off his narration, the party having reached the ruined castle of Karnstein. The General calls over a woodman that he had earlier arranged to meet, and this woodman tells of how this village of the Karnstein’s came to be deserted. He says that “revenants” were returning from their graves and killing villagers (85). A Moravian nobleman managed to kill one of the vampires and asked that he may remove the body of Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, which the villagers agree to allow. The chapter ends with the woodman saying that no one knows where the body of Mircalla is now.