Home » Misc » Story of harold

Story of harold


Harold | Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Wiki

in: Scary Stories 3, Stories

View source

Harold is a Scary Story from Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill your Bones. It tells the story of two farmers who make a scarecrow named Harold and over time, the scarecrow comes to life. The story "Harold" is possibly the most recognizable and memorable tale out of all the stories in the Scary Story trilogy for its lengthy storytelling and the unsettling picture of the scarecrow that is associated with the story. It has been featured in the movie adaptation.

When it got hot in the valley, Thomas and Alfred drove their cows up to a cool, green pasture in the mountains to graze. Usually they stayed there with the cows for two months. Then they brought them down to the valley again. The work was easy enough, but, oh, it was boring. All day the two men tended their cows. At night they went back to the tiny hut where they lived. They ate supper and worked in the garden and went to sleep. It was always the same.

Then Thomas had an idea that changed everything. "Let's make a doll the size of a man." he said. "It would be fun to make, and we could put it in the garden to scare the birds."

"It should look like Harold," Alfred said. Harold was a farmer they both hated. They made a doll out of old sacks stuffed with straw. They gave it a pointy nose like Harold's and tiny eyes like his. Then they added dark hair and a twisted frown. Of course they also gave it Harold's name.

Each morning on their way to the pasture, they tied Harold to a pole in the garden to scare away the birds. Each night they brought him inside so that he wouldn't get ruined if it rained.

When they were feeling playful, they would talk to him. One of them might say, "How are the vegetables growing today, Harold?" Then the other, making believe he was Harold, would answer in a crazy voice, "Very slowly." They both would laugh, but not Harold.

Whenever something went wrong, they took it out on Harold. They would curse at him, even kick or punch him. Sometimes one of them would take the food they were eating (which they both were sick of) and smear it on the doll's face. "How do you like that stew, Harold?" he would ask. "Well, you better eat it - or else." Then the two men would howl with laughter.

One night, after Thomas had wiped Harold's face with food, Harold grunted. "Did you hear that?" Alfred asked.

"It was Harold," Thomas said. "I was watching him when it happened. I can't believe it."

"How could he grunt?" Alfred asked, "He's just a sack of straw. It's not possible."

"Let's throw him in the fire," Thomas said, "and that will be that."

"Let's not do anything stupid," said Alfred. "We don't know what's going on. When we move the cows down, we'll leave him behind. For now, let's just keep an eye on him."

So they left Harold sitting in the corner of the hut. They didn't talk to him or take him outside anymore. Now and then the doll grunted, but that was all. After a few days, they decided there was nothing to be afraid of. Maybe a mouse or some insects had gotten inside Harold and were making those sounds.

So Thomas and Alfred went back to their old ways. Each morning they put Harold out in the garden, and each night they brought him back into the hut. When they felt playful, they joked with him. When they felt mean, they treated him as badly as ever.

Then one night Alfred noticed something that frightened him. "Harold is growing," he said.

"I was thinking the same thing." Thomas said.

"Maybe it's just our imagination," Alfred replied. "We have been up here on this mountain for too long."

The next morning, while they were eating, Harold stood up and walked out of the hut. He climbed up on the roof and trotted back and forth, like a horse on its hind legs. All day and all night, he trotted like that. In the morning Harold climbed down and stood in a far corner of the pasture. The men had no idea what he would do next. They were afraid.

They decided to take the cows down into the valley that same day. When they left, Harold was nowhere in sight. They felt as if they had escaped a great danger and began joking and singing. But when they had gone only a mile or two, they realized they had forgotten to bring the milking stools.

Neither one wanted to go back for them, but the stools would cost a lot to replace. "There really is nothing to be afraid of," they told one another. "After all, what could a doll do?"

They drew straws to see which one would go back. It was Thomas. "I'll catch up with you." he said, and Alfred walked toward the valley.

When Alfred came to a rise in the path, he looked back for Thomas. He did not see him anywhere. But he did see Harold. The doll was on the roof of the hut again. As Alfred watched, Harold kneeled and stretched out a bloody skin to dry in the sun.

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.

Harold from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: The Story and Origins Behind the Killer Tale

I made a documentary about Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. (Now available to watch.) The three books consisted of over 80 stories of folklore and urban legends. It was impossible to appropriately address each and every story in a single documentary. This website, in part, is a chance to look at individual stories that I researched, tales in which I learned about their origins and social contexts. It’s a chance to examine stories that I ultimately found to be fascinating in some way or another.

This is Harold.

Most scary folk tales are passed down verbally for many years, if not centuries, before a folklorist or writer of some kind records it for posterity. Many folk tales never become well-known or popular. They are recorded as a verbal tale amongst hundreds of others, written down, and forever part of countless collections that are chronicled at a university somewhere.

When Alvin Schwartz included the story “Harold” in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark‘s third book, it just so happens that he gave new life to a relatively unknown story that may have never seen much attention otherwise.

Now, Harold is regarded as one of the greatest boogeymen for generations of kids who grew up fondly remembering the story. So what is the story? And what is the story behind the story?

Advertisement

Table of Contents

The Story of Harold from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

The story was not widely known before 1991, at least not as much as many other tales included in the books.

Although many people reminisce about the illustrations from the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books, Harold is an example of a story that packed quite a punch. For some generations, any scary scarecrow has become synonymous with good ol’ Harold.

Here is the full version of the scary story “Harold” which was in the third of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books, Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill your Bones.

Advertisement

When it got hot in the valley, Thomas and Alfred drove their cows up to a cool, green pasture in the mountains to graze. Usually they stayed there with the cows for two months. Then they brought them down to the valley again. The work was easy enough, but, oh, it was boring. All day the two men tended their cows. At night they went back to the tiny hut where they lived. They ate supper and worked in the garden and went to sleep. It was always the same.

Then Thomas had an idea that changed everything. “Let’s make a doll the size of a man.” he said. “It would be fun to make, and we could put it in the garden to scare the birds.”

“It should look like Harold,” Alfred said. Harold was a farmer they both hated. They made a doll out of old sacks stuffed with straw. They gave it a pointy nose like Harold’s and tiny eyes like his. Then they added dark hair and a twisted frown. Of course they also gave it Harold’s name.

Each morning on their way to the pasture, they tied Harold to a pole in the garden to scare away the birds. Each night they brought him inside so that he wouldn’t get ruined if it rained.

When they were feeling playful, they would talk to him. One of them might say, “How are the vegetables growing today, Harold?” Then the other, making believe he was Harold, would answer in a crazy voice, “Very slowly.” They both would laugh, but not Harold.

The Origins of Harold

The main source for Alvin Schwartz’s version of the Harold story comes from an Austrian-Swiss tale included (among many stories and examinations of them) in Max Luthi’s Once Upon a Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tales (1976).

That version is titled “The Tunsch Baptized by the Cowherds of Goschenen” and as you can probably tell from the title, there are many differences between Alvin Schwartz’s Harold and this tale.

I explored Firestone Library at Princeton, where Schwartz researched much of his stories. Below you can read the actual page that Schwartz would have read and adapted into Harold. And below that I record the text of that story and break down some amazing differences and similarities between the versions.

Advertisement

As noted in the text, it is a “short, simple tale”… even more so than the adaptation by Alvin Schwartz. Here is the text of the story itself:

It is said that ancient chronicles report how, many, many years ago, the mountain pasture began right behind the houses of Goschenen. At that time the hamlet of Abfrutt did not yet exist.

In this pasture lived wanton servants who led a dissolute life, did not say their prayers and scoffed at sacred things and God’s commandments. Once they took some odds and ends and made a Dittitolgg, or as it is also called, a Tunsch, Tunggel, Dittitunsch or Tschungg. They played all sorts of foolish pranks with it, smeared it with cream and pudding and finally went so far as to baptize it. Now it came to life and began to talk. After they recovered from their first shock they resumed their mischief and behaved more and more dissolutely. After some time had passed, the Toggel began to climb up on the roof of the hut at night, where it trotted about like a horse. In the autumn, when the men came down from the mountain pasture, they forgot the milking stool. But when they noticed it, nobody wanted to go back to get it, for they were afraid. So they bast lots, and the task fell to the worst one of them. He returned while the others continued with the cattle. When they got to the top of the hill where Abfrutt stands today, they looked back and saw a ghost stretching out their comrade’s skin on the roof of the hut.

Since that time a dreadful ghost lived there and the pasture could no longer be used.

This is a fascinating origin to the Harold story for so many reasons.

First, from Alvin Schwartz’s backmatter notes of the third Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark he plainly states that “Harold” is “retold from an Austrian-Swiss legend” and gives Luthi’s book. And that is all. So it doesn’t appear that he is addressing any other versions of the story. That means we can logically assume that all other details stem from Alvin Schwartz’s imagination. Mainly, a lot! The actual name Harold is not used in this previous version, as well as other names. And although the same basic events happen, some farmhands bully a “doll” of some sort and it comes to life and skins one of them, Schwartz clearly used this Austrian-Swiss folktale to expand into something he wanted to tell.

There are other clear delineations. Alvin Schwartz is not interested in the Christian message the previous version had. Not surprising. One must always remember that Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a modern series meant for children and to be popular in libraries and bookstores. Storytellers always had to make decisions on how much they would include obvious Christian or pagan themes in old stories that usually included them. Alvin Schwartz was not a particularly religious man (I’ve interviewed family, I know) as well as this was being marketed through a major publisher that wanted a wide audience, not a Christian publisher. So again, it is not surprising that Harold is stripped of its Christian undertones. The story of Harold still remains a cautionary tale, but it is transformed from one about “God’s commandments” and baptizing someone or something when you are not worthy of conducting that sacrament and turns into one more broadly about bullying.

Next we notice the various words used to describe this “living doll” that is given a name by Schwartz, Harold. In “Harold” of Scary Stories fame it is described as a doll, though Stephen Gammell‘s illustration clearly adapts that to mean a traditional American scarecrow. The Austrian-Swiss legend it is described as a Dittitolgg, Tunsch, Tunggel and others.

When you start exploring the tales and fables associated with German terms from the Alpine region like these, you’ll find Sennentuntschi, which is an entire family of stories attributed to Alpine folklore. Breaking down that word, it is separated into Sennen meaning herdsmen who travel to the Alps in the summer and Tuntschi, which is associated with these Alpine dolls that are described in the story. Looked at in that way, we have a series of similar tales that all involve herdsmen who travel seasonally to a place and have this deadly interaction with a doll. Another common version is called “The Guschg Herdsmen’s Doll” which involves turning the doll into a wife that is mistreated.

These stories are the origin of Harold, this collection of stories that can be broadly described as Sennentuntschi tales.

You’ll find that these tales have been adapted in many ways over the years. For example, here is Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps (2010). But in pop culture, especially in the U.S., it is Harold from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark that has become the primary example of such stories.

Finding Meaning in the Harold Story

The Harold legend was adapted in the 2019 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie with a clear connection to bullying, and not only that, a fear of foreigners. The entire film arguably connects it to what I found prominent in the Scary Stories books, and that is fear of or animosity towards foreigners or those who are perceived as different. Tommy bullies not only Harold but also the boy he deems a “wetback” (a racial slur for Mexican people) and Harold clearly is used as a “revenge monster” seeking revenge for this mistreatment. You can browse the many stories I have begun to examine on this website, but it doesn’t take long to find that I found many tales in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (including Harold) to have very similar undertones, from “Sam’s New Pet” and it’s Mexican hairless to “The Drum” and its gypsy girl story. Long story short, it did not surprise me at all when the movie adaptation included this underlying message.

I would argue Alvin Schwartz’s version does not make this explicit, but it still remains subtext. Thomas and Alfred journey to the mountains where they are not from, and the farmer they hated (Harold) is likely a local of this other mountainous region. So a bullying and anger towards others of a different region exists in that version.

Other versions of the Sennentuntschi stories involve this doll taking revenge, but just insert whatever message was needed for the audience. If you want a traditional Christian message that involves not being a heathen, look to the version included in Max Luthi’s book. If you want one about women or wives seeking revenge on men, look to many other versions such as the one entitled “The Guschg Herdsmen’s Doll.”

Diving further into such tales, there are clear connections to stories of other cultures and people. Alvin Schwartz in his notes appropriately connects them to Frankenstein as well as the many stories involving golems of the Jewish tradition.

I do a thorough investigation of different types of “revenge monsters” like Harold in this video for website JoBlo. There are clear connections between various versions of such tales, including more modern ones like in Pumpkinhead and Tales from the Darkside, as well as I categorize them according to monsters seeking revenge for a master of some kind, essentially an avatar (the golem, Pumpkinhead) and ones that are searching for their own personal justice (Harold, Frankenstein).

Ultimately the story of Harold is a fascinating example of a story that has a long tradition both before and after the 1991 book Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill your Bones, but it is important to note the importance of that book in both keeping it alive as well as giving him the now-infamous name.

Last Updated on July 5, 2022.

The Complete History of Harold and the Bob-Herbert Tree in Fallout / Sudo Null IT News

Harold was born in 2072 and was only 5 years old when the Great War began in 2077. From the horrors of nuclear war, he was locked up in Vault 29. [1]

Beginning

Harold's new home was originally inhabited by children gathered by Diana. Diana was a human brain connected to a supercomputer. To the inhabitants of the Vault, she became a goddess. In case of internal unrest, Diana chose a test specimen, which was released from the Vault ahead of time. The test specimen was supposed to go back and tell the inhabitants of the shelter about the state of the world around them, and whether it was already possible to leave the Vault. Of course, none of them returned, and this did not contribute to the appearance of volunteers, and everything calmed down again.

Harold was one of these test specimens in 2090. He was released from the Vault, but he was stunned by the security system and taken by a robot to the Sanctuary [2], where Diana was based.


The Sanctuary [2]

In the Sanctuary, he was given a choice: stay with Diana or go exploring the outside world. However, if he decides to travel, Diana will operate on him so that he cannot tell the outside world anything about Diana and the Sanctuary.

Harold agreed to stay with Diana, but was eventually able to escape. During his wanderings, he kept secret information about the Reserve. He felt it was his duty to the world to keep the gift intact until the world was ready.

Merchant career


Old City [3]

Some time later, the doors of the Vault opened, and Harold began a successful career as a merchant traveling in the wasteland. Over time, he became an important member of the Khaba (Old City) collective. Then he noticed how much more often mutated animals began to attack caravans. Frustrated, he decided to deal with these outrages by going on an expedition in search of the causes of a new misfortune.

The expedition began in 2102 when Harold was 30 years old. The group of travelers included Richard Gray, a doctor in the Hub, who was intrigued by strange mutants. They tracked the mutant populations and eventually found the source of their appearance: the old Mariposa military base.


Mariposa Military Base [4]

Inside, most of the travelers were destroyed by mutants and automatic security systems. But a small group of travelers, along with Harold and Richard, managed to break through deep into the base, where they found huge vats of green goo, which seems to be the cause of the animal mutation. That's when the robotic arm threw Richard into one of the vats, where he turned into the Mutant Master (Harold decided that he just died there). Harold was stunned and woke up already in the desert, starting to mutate. There he was picked up by a passing caravan and taken to the Hub, where he settled and began to drag out a miserable existence.

Beggar in the Hub


The hero of Fallout 1 meets him in the Hub when Harold was already a very old, sick beggar. He became eccentric and talkative. Many of his stories are hopelessly outdated, but the hero, in exchange for a trifle, can learn a lot of useful things from him: about the Mariposa military base, the story of Richard Gray, a flock of Deathclaws near the Old City.

Sometime between 2162 and 2241, a small tree began to grow on Harold's head. Harold calls him Bob, but at times jokingly teases Bob about Herbert. This is a completely new type of tree, as unique as Harold himself.

Traveler


Harold in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

After the events of destroying the Master and his army, Harold left the Hub and became a traveler, visiting many parts of the wasteland. It is known that he visited Carbon in Texas, where he had fun with a local prostitute, Ruby. Harold was about to leave this city due to the approach of the army of super mutants, but was forced to linger, because as a result of his sexual fun he lost his hand, finger and eye in the city. A Brothers of Steel recruit helped him find the missing body parts, and Harold traveled to the city of Gouley Los around the year 2208. These travels ended in Gekko in 2238.

Gecko Nuclear Plant


In 2241, Harold was still an old but still very active ghoul. Everyone considered him a ghoul, but Harold himself never recognized himself as such. The Chosen One meets with Harold in Gekko, in the town of Ghoul near Vault City. After the destruction of the Necropolis (in the first Fallout), most of the ghoul population migrated far north and formed a new city around the old nuclear power plant built by Poseidon Oil before the Great War.

Anyone would have died from the increased doses of radiation, but the ghouls benefited from the radiation. When Harold arrived there, the power plant was in disrepair and was run extremely carelessly. He quickly took over control from the good-natured but dim-witted Gekko leaders, and restored the reactor to a more or less tolerable state. When the Chosen One arrives at Gekko, Harold asks him for help with repairs.

In his travels, the Chosen One still learned some rumors about Harold. Judging by them, his tree became even larger and even grew one fruit. The seeds of the fruit have proven remarkably resilient, and some have even sprouted in the most barren parts of the wasteland.

Disease

In 2250, Harold fell ill. The tree on his head began to wither from an unknown disease. To his surprise, Harold discovered that Bob's illness was affecting him as well. He doubted that he would die from this, but he felt that "something was wrong in his head."

So he went on a journey in search of a cure. This was not an easy journey. People really did not want mutants hanging around them. He continued his quest until he arrived at the Twin Mothers tribe, formed from the descendants of his old home - Vault 29.

To his surprise, the tribe accepted him as he became. He explained his problem to the leaders, and they went to their goddess for advice. A few days later, a shaman visited him and handed him a mysterious elixir. The drink was disgusting, but it worked. Bob felt better and became happy again.

Touched by Harold, he offered his help to the tribe in any matter. They thanked him with a smile, but declined his offer. Instead, they offered to introduce him to their goddess. Then he was escorted to their sacred temple for a personal audience. He was not much surprised by the hologram of the woman, but was shocked by the suggestion where he could find her - in the Sanctuary nearby. His return to the Sanctuary delighted Diana and Harold himself, as his childhood memories faded over the years.

He spent a lot of time alone. He even considered settling in the gardens of the Reserve for the rest of his days. However, once again he went on a journey further east.

If the Prisoner (the main character in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 game) gives Diana information about the FEV (Master's mutating goop) and the New Plague, then Diana will create a cure for the virus in the form of a small fruit artificially grown from Harold's tree.

Oasis


Over time, Harold became "overwhelmed" by Bob's rapid growth, and one day found himself rooted right to the ground. This happened during his travels in the northern part of the Capital Region. Here he was discovered by several people who began to worship him as a god, forming a small secretive cult of the ancients.

Bob blossomed and many plants grew in the area, creating a unique green corner of life. During this time, Harold developed a mutation that allowed him to see beyond the Oasis through the trees that had grown from Bob's seeds.

Harold used this ability to bring strangers to him in the hope that one of them would end his suffering. Unfortunately, the ancients met all the guests with an obligatory rite of purification through drinking the sacred juice. Many simply refused the dubious offer, and those who agreed lost their sanity. But one day his patience is rewarded (in 2277) and the Lone Wanderer (Fallout 3) comes to him and Harold orders his ancients to let him go.

After drinking the dubious juice, the Traveler faints and wakes up next to Harold, who tells his story of turning into a tree. He begs the hero to finish him off, as standing in one place for decades is a real torture for him. For some time he had fun in the role of the Tree God, giving his followers funny tasks, but this entertainment got bored very quickly.

He asked them to kill themselves, but the ancients refuse to take his words literally, considering that this is such a test of faith. Only two members of the cult (the leader and his wife) interpret his request more actively. The leader believes that the oasis must be kept a secret, and for this to stop its growth. And his wife wants to speed up its growth by spreading life into the Wasteland as quickly as possible. Harold insists on killing him by destroying his heart, which was moved deep into the caves by Bob's roots. Harold can also be burned with the appropriate weapon, but he says the prospect is too frightening.

If the Wanderer decides to end the quest with the option to save his life, then in a subsequent conversation with Harold, he will continue to complain about the painful standing life. However, the Stranger can convince him that he has been granted a unique gift, and with the help of this gift, he saves the lives of very many, and the ancients will perish without it. After that, Harold will realize how selfish his motives were, confer with Bob about this noble goal, and finally find peace of mind.

Now Harold is finally happy.

References

1. Harold's story (eng)
2. Reserve with Diana from Vault 29
3. Hub / Old Town
4. Mariposa Military Base

The Story of Harold Bride, Junior Radio Operator on the Titanic |

January 11, 1890 was born Harold Sidney Bride, one of the heroes of the April night of 1912, who selflessly and until the last minute remained at his post - in the radio room, helping his colleague Jack Phillips to telegraph messages to nearby steamers. He was lucky enough to wrest his life from the tenacious icy hands of death, spending the night on board an overturned boat, waiting for the arrival of the Carpathia.

Since childhood, a new miracle of technology - radiotelegraphy - attracted the boy's interest, and father Arthur John Bride even took him to work several times, where he showed how this new invention works. It is not surprising that after leaving school, Bride went to study as a telegraph operator - he received the appropriate training and became a radio operator for the Marconi company in July 1911. Shortly after that, he went to sea - first he served on the Heaviford, then on the Lusitania, La France", and finally, "Anselme".

Harold Bride in the uniform of a Marconi radio operator shortly before being assigned to the Titanic

Bride boarded the Titanic in Belfast on 2 April 1912 at the age of 22. Together with him, Jack Phillips also rose, who soon became his best friend. As an employee of the Marconi company, he received 2 pounds 26 cents a month - the average salary. The presence of two radio operators on board at once was still a novelty, inherent only in flagship passenger ships, and the radio operators decided to divide the day into two shifts: Phillips was at the apparatus from 8 pm to 2 am, then Bride intervened, who worked until 8 am. During the day, Phillips worked until 2 o'clock, followed by Bride until 8 o'clock in the evening, but within the framework of this agreement, they changed in a way that suited both of them.


Harold Bride in the Titanic's radio room April 11, 1912. Photo by Father Francis Brown

Bride's main duty on the Titanic, especially at night, was to receive reports of the current world situation. Part of the day and night time, the Titanic station received and sent hundreds of various radio messages, including ice warnings and a large number of private messages that were sent or received by the passengers of the ship. This routine was broken only once: on April 13, the transmitter broke down, which Phillips and Bride successfully repaired after 6 hours, resuming the reception and transmission of messages at full power.

Titanic Radio Room (c) Four Funnels Entertainment

On the evening of April 14, 1912, Bride sent and received messages as usual, and then, when his shift ended, he went to bed. In a famous New York Times interview, Bride told what happened next:

“I remember waking up and hearing Phillips talking to Cape Race. Private telegrams were transmitted. I knew how tired he was and got out of bed to take his place. I didn't even feel the push. I hardly understood what had happened, and everything was quiet around.

I was just standing near Phillips, offering him to go to bed, when the captain looked into the wheelhouse. “We hit an iceberg,” he said, “and I will inspect the ship to find out how serious the damage is. You better be ready to signal for help. But don't send him until I give the order." The captain left, and after 10 minutes, as it seemed to me, he returned. We heard the sounds of confusion outside, but this was not an indication that there was some kind of trouble. The radio transmitter worked great. “Send a signal for help,” said the captain, barely looking in. "What signal should I use?" Phillips asked. “The signal for help provided for by the rules. Only him". Then the captain left. Phillips started sending CQD.

We exchanged jokes while he tapped out the signals with the key, and continued to do so for about five minutes. Then the captain returned. "What are you sending?" - he asked. "CQD," Phillips replied. Here I made a small remark that made all three of them laugh: "Send an SOS," I said, "This is a new signal, and maybe this is your last chance to send it." Phillips laughed and changed the signal to SOS.

Soon, however, the seriousness of the situation dawned on both young people. Imprisoned in the radio room, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride spent more than an hour and a half without interruption transmitting texts of radiograms asking for help, not imagining what was happening outside their cramped closet on the boat deck.

Around 1:50 am, the weakening steamer finally lost its electrical power, Phillips left the wheelhouse in desperation to see firsthand the position of the Titanic. A minute later, the alarmed senior radio operator returned to his colleague. The "well" is already under water, they put women and children in boats. There is a list to the port side, ”he said curtly to Bride, who gave way to his senior colleague.

The captain looked into the radio room. “You have done your duty,” he officially released the radio operators from their duties, wished them luck and advised them to try to escape. But Phillips did not go anywhere: after 10 or even 15 minutes after that, he continued to send signals for help.

Realizing that he would not be here for long, Bride went to the next room, where he decided to collect everything necessary for himself and his friend. But then he saw that an unfamiliar stoker approached Phillips and began to remove from him the life jacket in which he was sitting. Bride, full of hatred, did not lose his head, grabbed something, hit this stoker and, apparently, dealt with him rather harshly:

where to get it. I suddenly realized that this man did not deserve the usual death of a sailor. I wanted him to be sent to walk on a tightrope or on a plank. But I did what I had to. Hope I finished it. I don't know for sure. We left him lying on the floor of the radio room and he didn't move. "

The water was already inside. Both radio operators ran out onto the boat deck, where they heard the orchestra playing their last ragtime. "Phillips ran towards the stern - and that was the last time I saw him," - so Bride said goodbye to his friend forever.

For Bride, however, the attempt to escape was just beginning. On the boat deck he saw dozens of men trying to launch a collapsible boat. Q:

“But then a big wave lifted the boat and carried it away. I held on to her oarlock, and I was carried away along with the boat. I ended up in a boat, but not quite: I was in a boat, the boat turned upside down, and I was under it.

There was not enough air under it, and soon Bride managed to get out from under the bottom of the inverted B - he did not remember at all how this happened. Clinging to the bottom, the junior radio operator observed, in his words, "a bewitching picture" of the sinking Titanic. Sparks and smoke escaped from its pipes, an explosion sounded and soon, “like a duck diving under water”, the ship disappeared under water.

On a folding boat In the meantime, the struggle for life continued. Bride managed to stay on the very edge of it, someone sat down and strongly squeezed his legs - but he did not have the strength of mind to ask him to get off them. “There was a terrible scene around us - men tried to swim and drowned. Others swam up to the boat, but no one held out their hands to them.

Soon only the most resilient remained on the boat. Someone continued to mutilate Bride's legs - and this will lead to his long recovery in the hospital. At some point, the second mate Lightoller discovered the junior radio operator, and Bride told him what the last ships the Titanic had communicated with and which of them should come to the rescue. "Carpathia" is the closest.

On the morning of the rescue, Bride barely had the strength to try to climb aboard the rescue ship, literally every movement of his legs caused him unbearable pain. He was lifted up in a suspended cradle and the last thing the radio operator saw in front of him was someone's female hands outstretched towards him, rubbing his face, after which he lost consciousness.

But Bride did not have long to rest and recover. The news of the death of the largest ship shocked the world, and about every person on land wanted to receive news from the Carpathia. However, by order of Captain Rostron, only messages could be sent from the Carpathia - and these were the lists of the rescued. There was a lot of work that Harold Cottam could not cope with alone, and Bride soon joined him - and worked in shifts, interrupted only for sleep and lunch, until the ship arrived in New York.


Carpathia's radio room

When Guglielmo Marconi himself entered the radio room in the port, Bride didn't even notice him at first - he didn't even seem to realize that the ship had already moored and everyone got off at the pier. Marconi listened for a few seconds to what Bride was sending, and then walked up to him and said, "There's no need to send this anymore, son. "

Bride looked at him and saw his main idol in front of him. He grabbed his hand, but the only thing he could say was, “Mr. Marconi, Phillips is dead. He died". The fact of the death of a friend still could not fit in Bride's mind.

Guglielmo Marconi testifies at a meeting of the American commission to investigate the causes of the sinking of the Titanic. To his left is Harold Bride

A long recovery in the hospital awaited him - and worldwide fame after his New York Times interview. But this glory soon began to only irritate him - the trauma he experienced did not allow him to calmly recall the events of that night.


Harold Bride being carried off the Carpathia in his arms due to injuries inflicted on his legs

After leaving the hospital, Harold Bride returned to England and continued to work as a radio operator throughout the First World War. In 1919 he married Lucy Johnstone Downey, with whom they had three children, it was a happy family.

Bride did not like to discuss Titanic because of the negative experience he had, especially with the loss of his colleague and friend Jack Phillips. He did not like the fame he had gained as one of the survivors of the disaster, so he moved to Scotland with his family, where he worked as a traveling salesman.

Again, he broke his silence only once, in 1936, when he got into a heated argument with another Titanic survivor and former colleague, Charles Lightoller. He had just released his famous book, The Titanic and Other Ships, where he rather unequivocally laid the responsibility for the death of the Titanic on Jack Phillips - he, according to the officer, allegedly did not deliver a particularly important radiogram from the Mesaba ship to the bridge. Lightoller argued in his book that if this message had been delivered to the bridge in time, appropriate measures would have been taken and a collision could have been avoided.

Some time later, the newspaper that first published the book received a letter from Harold Bride. He was outraged by the fact that in the book, Charles Lightoller blames Jack Phillips for not delivering a "vital message about the ice" to the bridge. However, the telegram was not intended for the captain (there was no necessary MSG prefix), which should have accompanied all important navigational messages, this was an oversight of the Mesaba radio operator, which gave Phillips the right to attend to his immediate duties and not deliver another, far from first, a message about the ice.

Bride's letter was published in the newspaper:

"Vital telegram
Radio operator's reply to Captain Lightoller
To the editor of the Telegraph and Post.

"Sir, after your publication of an article written by Captain Lightoller about the sinking of the Titanic, I would like to add a few words in order to explain to your readers the circumstance described by him as a "vital telegram."

Jack Phillips, Titanic's Senior Telegrapher, was one of the most talented and experienced operators to serve with the Marconi Company, so his job on the Titanic (with me as junior operator) involved highly competent handling of issues. wireless connection.

During the investigation conducted by the Department of Commerce, which I believe is considered the source of official and reliable information, it was not proven that the message from the Mesaba was received by the Titanic at all. If the Titanic had received this telegram, I sincerely assure readers that Jack Phillips would have realized the importance of this message and would have immediately transmitted it to the bridge so that the coordinates of the ice would not remain a mystery to the officers in charge of navigation.

If Captain Lightoller knew about Mesaba's report, as he claims, why did he not report it to the Department of Commerce and wait until today to voice his doubts about the professional responsibility of the courageous gentleman who died trying to save Captain Lightoller and 701 other surviving passengers?

Jack Phillips would have denied in the first place that he had done anything amazing or heroic, but it was his silent labor that ensured that all the survivors made it to New York safely.

Learn more