Stephen Bagby (1894-1969)

Pseudonym of Charles Meriwether Stephens
Author, Newspaper Editor, Advertising Man
Born August 28, 1890, Atlanta, Georgia
Died December 11, 1969, Little Creek Hospital, Knoxville, Tennessee

In February 1925, one hundred years ago this month, Weird Tales had its fourth issue after the revival of November 1924 and its second of the new year. That year would be full, with twelve issues in all, the first full year of "The Unique Magazine."

The cover story of that February issue is "Whispering Tunnels" by Stephen Bagby. According to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database and The FictionMags Index, Stephen Bagby was a pseudonym of Charles M. Stephens. Bagby, of New York City, wrote a letter to "The Eyrie" published in May 1927. Knowing that leads to a Charles M. Stephens who was born on August 28, 1890, in Atlanta, Georgia, and who worked, in 1942, in Manhattan in the publication division of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. This Charles M. Stephens' parents were James McConnell Stephens (1849-1924) and Zipporah Bagby Stephens (1860-1907), and so I think we have our man.

The Stephens family was a large one. The children included Alice, Nannie B. (B for Bagby), James M., Charles M., Robert G., Grace, and Francis Stephens. In 1933, Francis Stephens (1901-1963), the youngest, married Louis Hasselmans (1878-1957), conductor of the New York Metropolitan Opera orchestra from 1921 to 1936. Nannie Bagby "Nan" Stephens (1883-1946) was a songwriter, playwright, and librettist. She wrote songs and plays based on black music and black southern dialect. Her play Roseanne (1923-1924) was first performed by white actors in blackface, then by black actors, including Paul Robeson. She also wrote the libretto for the opera Cabildo (1932), with music by Amy Beach.

Charles Meriwether Stephens was born on August 28, 1890, in Atlanta, Georgia, making him just eight days younger than H.P. Lovecraft. Presumably he had some college: although he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private, he was appointed as a second lieutenant on June 30, 1917. On September 20, 1917, he was promoted to first lieutenant and afterwards received a temporary promotion to captain. Stephens served in the Panama Canal Zone; at Fort Meyer, Virginia and Camp Merritt, New Jersey; and in the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France, from December 30, 1917, to October 20, 1919. His story, "Whispering Tunnels," is about what was then called the Great War. In it, the main character, Miles Cresson of New Orleans, returns to France in August 1923 to search for a vanished comrade-in-arms. Those fictional events took place in the first year of Weird Tales and in the month that Stephens turned thirty-three years old. On June 17, 1925, four months after his first story appeared in "The Unique Magazine," he married Lillian C. Luther in Port Washington, New York.

Writing as Stephen Bagby, Charles M. Stephens had three stories in Weird Tales: "Whispering Tunnels" (Feb. 1925), "The Witches' Sabbath" (two-part serial; July-Aug. 1928), and "The Rosicrucian Lamp" (June, 1929). The letter that has led me to find him in his true identity was in the May 1927 issue. Writing as Charles M. Stephens, he had two more letters in "The Eyrie," in November 1927 and November 1928. He also had one letter in Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror in June 1932. According to a list in The FictionMags Index, that was the sum total of his output published in fiction magazines.

In addition to writing stories and letters published in pulp magazines, Charles M. Stephens was apparently a newspaper editor, for a man of that name was in the right place and at the right time to be managing editor of The Huntington (Long Island) Times, launched on October 13, 1928. He later worked in advertising and the publication division for the Metropolitan Life Company. Maybe those were just one job. Charles M. Stephens, aka Stephen Bagby, died on December 11, 1969, at Little Creek Hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee. His body was returned to New York for burial. His wife survived him, and apparently he died without issue.

Stephen Bagby & Charles M. Stephens' Stories & Letters in Weird Tales
plus one letter in Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror
"Whispering Tunnels" (Feb. 1925)
Letter to "The Eyrie" (May 1927)
Letter to "The Eyrie" as by Charles M. Stephens (Nov. 1927)
Letter to "The Eyrie" as by Charles M. Stephens (Nov. 1928)
"The Witches' Sabbath" (two-part serial; July-Aug. 1928)
"The Rosicrucian Lamp" (June, 1929)
Letter in Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror as by Charles M. Stephens (June 1932)

Further Reading
"Stephens Brothers, of Atlanta, Do Effective Work Against Huns," Atlanta Constitution, September 10, 1918, page 12 (below)

"A black cloud seemed to fill the center of the red circle. Suddenly, both men saw it. A great, shapeless creature was taking the form of a man, so tall that the head was bent against the ceiling. Two burning, baleful eyes were fixed on the pair, as a snarling issued from its great black mouth, lined with long, jagged teeth. The creature's body was covered with scales; its powerful arms and toes were armed with long, razorlike claws. Littlejohn steeled his will, to prevent the thing's efforts to overcome him with the noxious stench it emitted. It was the beginning of a deadlock of wills, which lasted for minutes in that room of damp stone."

From: "Whispering Tunnels" by Stephen Bagby, Weird Tales, February 1925. Cover art by Andrew Brosnatch.

"Whispering Tunnels" is a story of an occult detective, Dr. Arthur Littlejohn of New York, but it is also a story of an exorcism of a demonic spirit, also carried out by Dr. Littlejohn. The scene above happens in tunnels under Fort Vaux, at Verdun. It's a somewhat long story and maybe a little melodramatic, but you might want to have a look.

From the Atlanta Constitution, September 10, 1918, page 12.

Original text copyright 2025 Terence E. Hanley