Wellbrook High is the school that needs no introduction. After the infamous events of 1993, it has become synonymous with unexpected – and unexplained – tragedy.

 

While what happened thirty years ago is still being unpicked by Internet conspiracy theorists, however, the lives of the handful of survivors are a matter of public record. In this recreation of the fabled Yearbook of ’93, some of the best emerging writers of horror and strange fiction revisit the years that followed the tragedy, and the lives of those who walked away on that fateful day.

 

Some might say they were the lucky ones. The reality is not so clear.

Dan Coxon was kind enough to speak to us about the anthology in the interview below…

So the story of this anthology starts with an unusual charity shop find – can you tell us a bit about it?

It was a second-hand bookshop rather than a charity shop, but yes, that’s right. It probably won’t surprise you to hear that I have a couple more books out this year, and I was midway through working on those – so I really wasn’t looking for another project! But when I came across a battered copy of the Wellbrook High yearbook, I just knew I had to do something with it. The owner clearly didn’t know what he had – it was sandwiched between copies of old Viz and Beano annuals – so I bought it and scurried home with it, already making plans in my head. At that point, though, I had no idea where it would lead me.

The Wellbrook High tragedy scarred a generation of Brits – was this project an act of catharsis, for both the public and the survivors?

I guess it was catharsis, but also curiosity. Having grown up with the news story about Wellbrook High in the background – for what seemed like years – I knew enough to know that it had never been solved. Shortly after the event at Wellbrook, The X-Files came to our TV screens, and it almost felt like an episode of the series – we could have used a British Mulder and Scully! I saw it as a very British mystery, like the Mary Celeste of the Home Counties. I wanted to know what had happened, and thought we might be able to dig out the truth. What we uncovered became something stranger, though.

How difficult was it to track down the survivors?

Some were easier than others. In this day and age we assume that everyone’s online, but I guess if you have significant trauma in your past – especially something as public as Wellbrook – then it’s probably safer to stay out of view. Having said that, some of the survivors were fairly visible, if you knew where to look. James Brooke obviously had his YouTube channel a few years ago, so he was simple to find, and he had contact details for a few of the others. From there one thing led to another.

You’ve included the original message in the yearbook from Headmaster John D. Maitland, a name that through sheer bad luck has passed into tabloid infamy. Was he willing to talk about his experiences for the book?

Maitland is probably my one big regret in pulling this anthology together. I’d hoped to get him on board – or at least to speak to him – but he avoided us at every turn. As soon as there were threats of lawsuits and restraining orders, I decided to call it a day. He made it pretty clear that he wanted his tenure as headmaster consigned to the history books. I guess you have to respect that.

You’ve assembled some of the most exciting names in weird fiction to tell the survivors’ stories. Were you able to get everyone on board that you wanted? Were there any conflicts between the survivors and the writers who are telling their stories?

I’m so excited by the writers we have involved in this! It was always my intention to approach emerging writers rather than big bestsellers, for this to act as a yearbook of sorts for the writing scene as well as a recreation of a literal yearbook – and I think we achieved that. Obviously some names are better known than others (I’m particularly excited for the collaboration between Helen Marshall and Malcolm Devlin – a first, I believe), but I hope everyone finds a new favourite writer. As for conflicts with the survivors, all our authors were as sensitive and supportive as you’d expect, even when… Well, let’s just say that a couple of the survivors still have issues they’re working through. None of them have led an easy life.

The anthology as a whole deals with trauma, the legacy of it and how we never really escape it but we can live with it. What about these themes makes it feel particularly relevant to our lives today?

I think we’re still living in the shadow of Covid, aren’t we? I know there’s a collective social pressure to leave it behind us, almost pretend it didn’t happen – but it changed the world in ways that we’re only just starting to realise. There’s a whole generation of kids who’ve spent a large slice of their school years confined to their houses. That has to affect people. In many ways, Wellbrook was a precursor to what we’d all come to experience in the pandemic – the fear, the anxiety, the lack of information or leadership. Thankfully, most of us were spared the wholesale tragedy that those kids lived through, however.

Everyone our age remembers where they were when they heard about Wellbrook High – I was a schoolkid hiding in my room the whole evening so I only heard the news the next morning. What’s your Wellbrook High memory?

I’d actually left school, and was starting my first year at university. Like most uni freshers, I was spending all my spare time (and half my lecture time) in the pub or at parties, so I was probably slow to recognise what had happened. I do remember coming back to my halls of residence, though, and there being students crying in the corridors. Someone knew a relative of one of the dead kids. It hit the whole country hard.

The anthology is being published by Black Shuck Books. What was the reception when you pitched it – were they worried about fanning the flames of all the Wellbrook High conspiracy theories you see on the web?

Steve at Black Shuck is a legend – he’s been so supportive throughout the process. I first talked to him about it in the queue for the bar at a convention, so it just goes to show that those bar-con chats can sometimes be productive! It was actually his idea to present it as a reproduction of the yearbook I’d found, and he’s done an incredible job. If you’ve seen the photos (and video) of the original that I’ve shared online, you’ll agree that it’s uncanny.

The survivors’ stories naturally reflect our present day of the internet and mobile phones, but also recall the year of ’93 when the Event happened. The 90s are beginning to feel like a long time ago, what are your thoughts on that happening to a time we lived through?

It’s weird, isn’t it. I put on a Ride EP to play a song to my kids yesterday, and realised that I bought it in 1990 – thirty-four years ago, and three years before the Wellbrook tragedy. To them it was ancient history, but for me it felt like something I’d only bought a couple of years ago. The story of Wellbrook High is like that – both way back in time and incredibly close, somehow in the same moment. Hearing the survivors’ stories only makes it seem more present. I guess for them, it never went away.

Will we ever know the full story of what happened at Wellbrook High?

Maybe one day, but I doubt it. I have half a hope that this anthology might spark new interest in it, that a modern investigation might uncover new facts… but it seems unlikely. And honestly, some things are better left buried. Something very strange happened at that school back in 1993. If we dig too deep, we run the risk of awakening it again.

Dan Coxon is an award-winning editor and writer based in London. He has been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Awards and the British Fantasy Awards (six times), with Writing the Uncanny (co-edited with Richard V. Hirst) winning the British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction 2022. His anthology Being Dad won a Saboteur Award in 2016.

His short stories have appeared in various anthologies and magazines, including Shakespeare Unleashed, Beyond the Veil, Fiends in the Furrows III and Great British Horror 7: Major Arcana. His latest fiction anthology – Isolation – was published by Titan Books in September 2022.

The second book in the Writing series, Writing the Future, was published in September 2023, and the third, Writing the Mystery, is forthcoming in 2024.

He runs a proofreading and editing service, working with both publishers and private clients.