Shottle Bop
"Shottle Bop" is a fantasy short story, written by Theodore Sturgeon in 1941, and first published in Unknown.[1] It has been said to be the source of all "odde shoppe" stories; and even if not that, of many.[2]
The protagonist discovers a mysterious shop – "The Shottle Bop", between Twentieth and Twenty-first Streets, on Tenth Avenue in New York City – which has bottles containing all manner of strange things. The proprietor dislikes his pompous attitude, paralyzes him by spraying him with the essential oil from the hair of a Gorgon's head, and only releases him after extracting a grudging apology. The proprietor then mixes up a strange potion, saying it will, when drunk, "cure" him and give him a "talent".
The protagonist returns home and, after initial reluctance, drinks the potion. He discovers that he can now see and talk with ghosts; although they can't see him. (Naturally enough, when he goes back to look for the shop, it isn't there.) He sets himself up as a psychic investigator: a business at which he is highly successful, with the aid of unseen disembodied assistants.
He taunts some of his low-life former associates with his success. They round on him; but he persuades one of them to spend the night in a haunted house, for a bet. That night, the effects of the potion wear off.[2][3]
References
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