An amateur historian has discovered a long-lost short story by Bram Stoker, published just seven years before his legendary gothic novel Dracula. Brian Cleary stumbled upon the 134-year-old ghostly tale while browsing the archives of the National Library of Ireland.

Gibbet Hill — set in a notorious crime hotspot in the English countryside and published as Bram Stoker was beginning work on Dracula — is rediscovered by an amateur historian passing the time in the National Library of Ireland.

The work by Bram Stoker, previously unknown to scholars, will be read and included in a book launched during Dublin’s annual Bram Stoker Festival.

A short story by Bram Stoker, the legendary author of "Dracula", has been unearthed by a lifelong enthusiast in Dublin who stumbled upon the work while browsing in a library archive.