#LetrasMacabras: The Monkey's Paw. One of the most retold stories in film, television, music, and other arts.

By: Casandra Vicario

The short story "The Monkey's Paw" by William Wymark Jacobs, published in 1902, is one of the most retold stories in film, television, music, and other arts, a fact that has undoubtedly given its author immortality. Let's recall some of these appearances.

Jacobs was born in 1863 in London, worked for his country's government, and lived on a wharf near the River Thames; as a result, many of his stories dealt with themes related to the sea and its people, and comedy also marked much of his writing, but in "The Monkey's Paw," the writer departed completely from his usual style.

Jacobs's story reached our country and other parts of Latin America thanks to Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares, and Silvina Ocampo, compilers of "Antología de la Literatura Fantástica," a recommended read for genre fans, first published in 1940.

For anyone unfamiliar with Jacobs's text, and without giving away too much of its plot, "The Monkey's Paw" is about a withered monkey's paw that has been endowed with magical powers by a fakir: whoever possesses it can have three wishes granted. Have you seen or heard this story somewhere before?

Within a year of its publication, Jacobs's story began leaving its mark on popular culture: in 1903, Louis Parker wrote a play based on it.

where Detective Mulder discovered the secrets held by the famous monkey's paw

We also can't forget the series "Tales from the Crypt," whose episode titled "Last Respects" tells the story of three siblings searching for the famous monkey's paw to save their business from bankruptcy.

one of the segments in a Halloween special of "The Simpsons" was called "La Mano de los Deseos" ("The Wishing Hand"),

Film was no exception, with adaptations including "Carnival of Sinners" (1943) by Maurice Tourneur, "The Monkeys Paw," directed by Norman Lee in 1948, and a new version made in 2013 under the same title, directed by Brett Simmons.

and in "Wish Upon" ("Siete Deseos") by John Leonetti (2017), a young woman finds a box that grants wishes.

One of the "Tales from the Crypt" (1972) feature-length stories is titled "Wish You Were Here," in which it isn't exactly a monkey's paw that grants wishes, but a Chinese figurine.

Special mention goes to the Mexican film "Espiritismo" (1962), starring Elsa Aguirre, which combines Jacobs's story with séances; it's an adaptation very close to the original story, directed by Benito Alazraki.

In music, in 2009 Jonathan N. Krupper composed an opera based on this fiction. The Electric Hellfire Club, on their album "Witness de Millenium," included a song titled "La Pata del Mono," and The Misfits also had a song on the subject on their 2011 album "The Devils Rain."

Do you know of other adaptations of this story?

Under the bright winter sun, the following morning, during breakfast, Herbert laughed at his fears. The Monkey's Paw. W. W. Jacobs (1902)

Sources: Ruiza, M., Fernández, T., and Tamaro, E. (2004). "Biografía de W. W. Jacobs." In Biografías y Vidas: La enciclopedia biográfica en línea. Barcelona (Spain). https://www.tierraadentro.cultura.gob.mx/la-pata-de-mono/