A classic "predicament" story which appeared in
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, the foremost C19 purveyor of such tales.
Edgar Allan Poe satirizes said magazine and such works in his "How to Write a Blackwood's Article" and "A Predicament," although the disdain with which he treats such pieces didn't stop him from being
heavily influenced by Mudford's story when he wrote "The Pit and the Pendulum." Other predicament stories include
Wilkie Collins' "A Terribly Strange Bed" and
William Maginn's "The Man in the Bell."
