# Antigonish (poem)

"Antigonish" is a poem by the American educator and poet William Hughes Mearns, written in 1899. It is also known as The Little Man Who Wasn't There, and has been adapted in song under this title.

## History of the verse

Inspired by reports of a ghost of a man roaming the stairs of a haunted house, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, the poem was originally part of a play called The Psyco-ed, which William Hughes Mearns had written for an English class at Harvard University, circa 1899. In 1910, Mearns staged the play with the Plays and Players, an amateur theatrical group, and on March 27, 1922, the newspaper columnist F.P.A. printed the poem in "The Conning Tower", his column in the New York World. Mearns subsequently wrote many parodies of this poem, giving them the general title of Later Antigonishes.

## Editions of the verse

   Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, I wish, I wish he'd go away!
   When I came home last night at three, The man was waiting there for me But when I looked around the hall, I couldn't see him there at all! Go away, go away, don't you come back any more! Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door...
   Last night I saw upon the stair, A little man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today Oh, how I wish he'd go away....

## In popular culture
### Music entries

In 1939 "Antigonish" was adapted as a popular song titled "The Little Man Who Wasn't There", by Harold Adamson with music by Bernie Hanighen, both of whom received the songwriting credits. A 1939 recording of the song by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, with vocals by Tex Beneke, became an 11-week hit on Your Hit Parade and reached #7.
The Danish fusion-rock band Rainbow Band, later renamed to Midnight Sun, recorded a song based on the lyrics on two albums with two different vocalists, first in 1970, then in 1971.
Industrial metal band Psyclon Nine used the poem in their song The Unfortunate from their 2005 album INRI. In 2016, The Odd Chap released an electro swing version using samples from the Glenn Miller Band recording. In 2018, the experimental industrial group The Reptile Skins released an EP entitled Antigonish with the two lead singers having a different interpretation of the poem. In 2019, the YouTube channel Estela Naïad released a song adapted from the poem, with the composition of the main theme and the voice of Estela Naïad, the harmonies and choirs of Priscilla Hernández, and the musical production of Naliam Cantero.
Lil Wayne used a variation of the poem in his song "Pick Up Your Heart". The opening verse is featured on the opening track "Ytterligare ett steg närmare total jävla utfrysning" off the album Halmstad by Swedish band Shining. Other versions were recorded by Mildred Bailey & Her Orchestra, Larry Clinton & His Orchestra with vocals by Ford Leary, and Bob Crosby & His Orchestra with vocals by Teddy Grace.

### Non-music entries
#### Verifiable content

* The poem is used in Stan Dane's book, Prayer Man: The Exoneration of Lee Harvey Oswald, to allude to research that Lee Harvey Oswald was the man standing on the front steps of the Texas School Book Depository and termed the "prayer man", as filmed by Dave Wiegman of NBC-TV and Jimmy Darnell of WBAP-TV during the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy.
* The Coen Brothers film, The Man Who Wasn't There, was given its title based on the poem.
* A paraphrased version of the poem's first stanza is quoted in the introduction to the third part of Stephen King's 2001 novel Dreamcatcher.

#### Unverifiable content
##### Dated entries

* The character Dr. Daniel Westin quotes part of the poem in the 1975 TV series, The Invisible Man (Season 1, Episode 9).
* The poem is recited in the 1998 film, Velvet Goldmine.
* The 2003 movie, Identity, repeats the last verse of the poem at various parts in the movie, replacing its last presented line by the actual last line of the first verse.
* The 2009 horror film, The Haunting in Connecticut, quotes part of the poem.
* The Season 9 (2022), Episode 9 of Father Brown, "The Enigma of Antigonish," features the poem as both inspiration for a criminal plot, and a clue that helps solve the crime.
* In The Times', 19 October 2022 edition, the poem is facetiously used in a cartoon with "man" switched to "PM", in reference to Liz Truss, the former UK Prime Minister.

##### Undated entries

* Episode 85 of The Magnus Archives, entitled “Upon the stair”, includes a full recitation of the poem, as well as multiple further references, to describe an entity in the man-who-becomes-not-there’s house. https://rustyquill.com/show/the-magnus-archives/ (Season 3 MAG 85)
* Midsomer Murders's season 5 episode 2, "A Worm in the Bud" John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby mentions a part of the poem to Daniel Casey as DS Gavin Troy.
* In season 3 episode 5 of Fear the Walking Dead, entitled "Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame", the poem is referenced in the character Phil McCarthy's final words.
* Detective Humphrey Goodman references the poem when identifying the perpetrator in the murder in Season 4, Episode 1 of Death in Paradise, entitled "Stab in the Dark".
* The character Oppenheimer references the poem when blowing up a park in Vienna in the Season 5, Episode 7 of Strike Back, entitled "Legacy".
* The character Jack Frost, a Detective Inspector, recites the first and last paragraph of the poem in A Touch of Frost, the Season 14, Episode 1 entitled "Mind Games".
* Lazarus Long paraphrases the song in Robert Heinlein's Methuselah's Children, after meeting a representative of the aliens known as "The Little People".
* The multiplayer role-playing game, Fallout 76's character, Smiling Man, added in the "Mutation Invasion" update, recites the final stanza of the poem as one of his lines of idle dialogue.
* The poem is paraphrased in serial 4 of Sapphire & Steel.