The HorrorBabble Podcast: Recent Episodes
HorrorBabble
The official HorrorBabble podcast: a home for horror classics and rare weird tales.
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This Halloween, one winner will receive a rare trio of vintage Panther paperbacks, each showcasing the masters of Weird Tales horror fiction:
- Clark Ashton Smith’s Out of Space and Time: Volume 1 (1974)
- H. P. Lovecraft’s The Haunter of the Dark and Other Tales of Terror (1963)
- Robert E. Howard’s Skull-Face Omnibus: Volume 1: Skull-Face and Others (1976)
These are the very stories that helped shape the heart and soul of HorrorBabble. This is an opportunity to own physical relics of the weird fiction tradition, curated, complete, and haunted by decades of literary dread. If the winner wishes me to do so, I will sign the books.
- Original UK Panther editions
- International shipping included
- Enter from as little as £2
"Red Shadows" is a Solomon Kane story by Robert E. Howard, first published in the August 1928 edition of Weird Tales. Described as follows: "Thrilling adventures and blood-freezing perils—red shadows on black trails—savage witchcraft and the Black God."
"The Aquarium" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Carl Jacobi, first published in DARK MIND, DARK HEART in 1962. "When a painter and her friend move into a spacious London house, the strange aquarium left behind by its former owner begins to exude an influence both unnatural and terrifying."
"Vine Terror" is a short story by Howard Wandrei, first published in the September 1934 edition of Weird Tales. Described as follows: "An unusual weird-scientific tale, about vegetable vampires that lusted for animal and human food."
"The Silver Knife" is a short story by American author, Ralph Allen Lang, which first appeared in Weird Tales in January 1932 -- one of three tales the writer contributed to the magazine throughout the 1930s. The story tells of a man pursued by a wolf across the polar wastes of the far north.
"The Diary of a Madman" is a short story by French author, Guy de Maupassant. The tale is told through a series of diary entries, detailing the intimate thoughts of an undiscovered murderer.
"The Shining Hand" is an 1889 ghost story by Dick Donovan (James Edward Preston Muddock). "On a storm-swept night at a desolate inn near Solway Moss, a travelling merchant loses his trusted servant and a fortune in gold."
"The White Villa" is a horror short story by American author, Ralph Adams Cram, first published in his book, Black Spirits and White, in 1895. The story tells of two travellers exploring southern Italy, who are forced to spend the night in a remote, haunted villa, after missing the last train to Naples.
"The Accursed Isle" is a short story by Mary Elizabeth Counselman, first published in the November 1933 edition of Weird Tales. "A hideous fear clutched the hearts of the seven castaways on that accursed isle as they were slain, one by one."
"Whispers" is a short story by Robert S. Carr, first published in Weird Tales in April 1928. "In the festering swamps of Taggardsville, something unseen stirs in the night."
"The Eighth Green Man" is a weird tale by the Cornish author, Gladys Trenery, writing as G. G. Pendarves. First appearing in Weird Tales in its March 1928 edition, the story was described as follows: "An uncanny horror befell the guests of the innkeeper when the Green Men held their revels."
"Sagasta's Last" is a short story by Carl Jacobi, first published in the August 1939 edition of Strange Stories. "An augmented eye pierces the mist-wall that rises skyward from the grave!"
"The Stranger from Kurdistan" is a short story by E. Hoffmann Price, first published in the July 1925 edition of Weird Tales. "An enigmatic stranger infiltrates a secret gathering of devil-worshipers in the haunted depths of an ancient tower."
"Lens-Shy" is a short story by the one-time Weird Tales contributor, W. M. Clayton. The story first surfaced in the June-July edition of the magazine in 1939, and tells of the odd circumstances surrounding a photographer of the dead.
"The Source of It" is a 1953 Weird Tale by the little-known author, Glen Malin. Appearing in the magazine's July edition, the story concerns the diary entries of a man who believes he is in possession of a very curious power.
"The Witch in the Fog" by Alexander Faust first appeared in Weird Tales in September 1938. The magazine described the tale as: "A brief tale of thuggee—and a beautiful English girl."
“The Man-Trap” by Hamilton Craigie, first snapped its leaves in the November 1925 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. The tale was described as follows: “A monstrous plant makes its kill.”
First published in the May 1943 edition of Astounding Science-Fiction, "Ghost" tells of an attempted exorcism at a centre of science in Antarctica.
"Smith: An Episode in a Lodging-House" is a short story by Algernon Blackwood, appearing in his 1906 anthology, The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories. "There was something very strange about the man who lived on the floor above the doctor."
"Decay" is a short story by the British author and conservationist, John Moore. The story was first collected in The Third Omnibus of Crime in 1934. "Walking between his larches today, Mr. Cotter recognized them all as old friends."
"The Law of the Hills" is a short story by the one-time Weird Tales author, Grace M. Campbell, first published in the August 1930 edition of the magazine. "A tragic, tender tale of the slim white shape that ran with a wolf-pack over the snow."
"The Thing in the Tree" is a short story by the little-known author, Harold Standish Corbin. The story first appeared in the February 1927 edition of Ghost Stories. "What influence could make a tree take on human characteristics?"
"Father's Vampire" is a short story by Alvin Taylor and Len J. Moffatt, first published in the May 1952 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. "Father collected things—but he wasn’t at all in a rut as to what he collected."
"In Terror of Laughing Clay" is the first of four stories concerning the fictional ghost hunter, Mark Shadow. Written by the Scottish author, Robert W. Sneddon, the story first appeared in the October 1926 edition of Ghost Stories. "No scientists experimenting ten thousand years could make a lump of potter's clay live—and yet——"
"The God with Four Arms" is a work of weird fiction by the English writer, H. T. W. Bousfield, first appearing in his 1939 anthology, The God with Four Arms and Other Stories. "A shady man, owed a small fortune, takes his frustrations out on a rare bronze idol, with sinister consequences."
"A Vignette" is the very last short story penned by British author, M. R. James. It tells of a haunted plantation, allegedly influenced by real events experienced by James as a boy.
"The Burned House" is a ghost story by Vincent O'Sullivan, first published in The Century Magazine in its October 1916 edition. In the story, a man recounts his eerie experience in a Lake District village where he witnessed a ghostly house fire and a hanging body, only to find no trace of them the next day.
"The Swooping Wind" is a short story by American author Wilford Allen, which first appeared in Weird Tales in December 1927. The tale focuses upon a scientist who has a strange connection to the winds.
"The Spectre of Rislip Abbey" is an 1899 ghost story by Dick Donovan, published in his TALES OF TERROR anthology. "Then I was still further amazed—I might almost say dumfounded—by seeing a hand, only a hand, slowly draw the panel into its place again."
"The Ordeal of Wooden-Face" is a rare tale by the American author, Hal K. Wells. The story first appeared in Weird Tales back in January 1932, and was described by the magazine as follows: “His dead eyes came to life when he saw the young American stagger into the bungalow like a specter out of the past.”
"The 19 Club" is a mystery story by the English writer, A. J. Alan, first published in Alan's 1932 anthology, A. J. Alan's Second Book. “He asked who we were and the people down below couldn’t tell him because they didn’t know—they said they had no information about us of any kind.”
"The Grinning Ghoul" is a short story by the American author, Robert Bloch. First appearing in Weird Tales back in June of 1936, the story was described as follows: "A story of stark horror in the subterranean depths beneath the tomb."
"Croatan" is a short story by Malcolm Ferguson. First published in Weird Tales in July 1948, Croatan concerns the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony. "Creatures summoned from outer eons, our masters by an eternity of time and progress."
The Lovecraft Vault: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Z8IjQ7GPxte6JIIMbs2Ua
Bandcamp (work in progress): https://thelovecraftvault.bandcamp.com
"The Worm" is a short story by the American writer, David H. Keller. The story was first published in the March 1929 edition of Amazing Stories. "The floor, cut through, disappeared into the Thing's maw and with it the red hot stove."
"The Dark Demon" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Robert Bloch, first published in the November 1936 edition of Weird Tales. “The strange story of a man who communed too closely with things from beyond space.”
"The Phoenix on the Sword" is a Conan the Cimmerian novelette by Robert E. Howard, first published in the December 1932 edition of Weird Tales. "A soul-searing story of a fearsome monster spawned in darkness before the first man crawled out of the slimy sea."
"The Fisherman's Special" is a short story by the one-time Weird Tales author, H. L. Thomson. The story appeared in the August 1939 edition of the magazine. "I caught myself up short when I heard him say 'werewolves'."
"The Second Interment" is a short story by the American writer, Clark Ashton Smith. The story first appeared in the January 1933 edition of Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, and concerns the terrible fate of an ailing figure by the name of Uther Magbane.
"Bitter Gold" is a short story by the little-known author B. C. Bridges. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in December 1931, was described as follows: “The old man and his wife needed money—a brief, grim tale of Siberia.”
"The Decoy" is a short story by Algernon Blackwood and Wilfred Wilson, first published in the 1921 collection, The Wolves of God and Other Fey Stories. “John Burley sought to dispel the ugly superstition that clung to the unlovely house.”
"By One, by Two, and By Three" is a short story by the British writer, Adrian Ross -- aka Stephen Hall (real name, Arthur Reed Ropes). The tale, which first appeared in the December 1887 edition of Temple Bar, concerns a curious character by the name of Angus Macbane, whose dislike of a wealthy uncle is expressed in the most unwholesome of ways.
"Night and Silence" is a short story by the French author, Maurice Level. First appearing in Weird Tales in February 1932, the story was described as follows: “They seemed to personify Age, Night and Silence.”
"The Dark Castle" is one of two short stories penned by the little-known author, Marion Brandon. First appearing in the September 1931 edition of Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, the story was described as follows: “The spirit of Archenfels broods ominously over the two stranded travelers in the deserted castle.”
"The Silver Bullet" is a short story by the American author, P. A. Whitney. First published in the February 1935 issue of Weird Tales Magazine, the story was described as follows: “An eldritch tale of horror, of a terrible adventure on Loon Mountain, and a talisman that was potent in the old days against witches and warlocks.”
"Out of the Sea" is a 1904 horror story by the English author, A. C. Benson. "It was a beast—a beast about the size of a goat. I never saw the like—yet I did not see it clear; I but felt the air blow, and caught a whiff of it—it was salt like the sea, but with a kind of dead smell behind."
"The Sorcerer's Jewel" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Robert Bloch, first published in the February 1939 edition of Strange Stories, under the pseudonym, Tarleton Fiske. “Those forms were spawned in the nightmares and dreams of the Pit."
"The Dead Woman" is a short story by American author, David H. Keller, first published in the April 1934 edition of Fantasy Magazine. “Eerie and flesh-crawling revelations form this shocking kaleidoscope of a mind crying NOT GUILTY.”
"The Graveyard Rats" is a short story by American author, Henry Kuttner. The tale, which first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in March of 1936, tells of a cemetery caretaker, who, unfortunately, has been tasked with the extermination of a colony of monstrous rats.
"The House That Remembered" is a short story by Jonathan Cruise, first published in The 27th Pan Book of Horror Stories in 1986. In the story, a young American couple inherit a decrepit country house in rural Ireland–a house with a questionable history.
"Lost" is a short story by the little-known author, Alice-Mary Schnirring. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in July 1943, takes place on the marshes, by the dark and forbidding Atlantic Ocean.
"The Terror by Night" is a short story by E. F. Benson, published in his 1912 collection, THE ROOM IN THE TOWER. “Some people call them ghosts, some conjuring tricks, and some nonsense.”
"His Brother's Keeper" is a work of flash fiction by the author and military analyst, George Fielding Eliot. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in September 1931, tells of a not-so-typical case of jealousy between two brothers…
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 12 will air at 8PM (UK) 31/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 11 will air at 8PM (UK) 30/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 10 will air at 8PM (UK) 29/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 9 will air at 8PM (UK) 28/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 8 will air at 8PM (UK) 27/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 7 will air at 8PM (UK) 26/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 6 will air at 8PM (UK) 25/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 5 will air at 8PM (UK) 24/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 4 will air at 8PM (UK) 23/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 3 will air at 8PM (UK) 22/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
Part 2 will air at 8PM (UK) 21/10/2024.
"At the Mountains of Madness" is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September of 1930 and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another planned expedition to return to the continent. The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.
"Guard in the Dark" is a short story by the American author, Allison V. Harding, first appearing in Weird Tales in its July 1944 edition. "There was a reason why the boy demanded toy soldiers, a reason to be found only in the treacherous dark."
"The Late Mourner" is a short story by Julius Long. It was given the following description when it first appeared in the March 1934 edition of Weird Tales: “John Sloan received a shock when he looked upon the face in the coffin…”
"No Eye-Witnesses" is a August 1932 Weird Tale by the American author, Henry S. Whitehead. "Everard Simon had a weird experience in Flatbush when his shoes were caked with blood and forest mold from the slaying of Jerry the Wolf."
"Worms of the Earth" is a Bran Mak Morn short story by Robert E. Howard. As described by Weird Tales in its November 1932 edition: "A grim, shuddery tale of the days when Roman legions ruled in Britain—a powerful story of Bran Mak Morn, king of the Picts, and a gruesome horror from the bowels of the earth."
"The Transition of Juan Romero" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, first published in Marginalia, a 1944 Arkham House collection.
"The Terror" is a horror short story by French author, Guy de Maupassant. The story tells of an individual who has taken the decision to marry due to an overbearing fear of loneliness.
"The Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith that takes place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea. The story, which is the second story to feature the character Satampra Zeiros, was first published under the title, THE POWDER OF HYPERBOREA, in the March 1958 edition of Saturn.
"The House Party at Smoky Island" is a short story by Canadian author, L. M. Montgomery. The tale first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in August 1935. The story revolves around an unusual house party in the wilds of central Ontario, in which ghost stories are exchanged.
"Time-Fuse" is a short story by the English author, John Metcalfe. Published in the 1931 collection "Judas and Other Stories", tells of a séance hosted by a lady with a more than casual interest in spiritualism.
"Up Under the Roof" is a short story by American writer, Manly Wade Wellman, which first appeared in Weird Tales in October 1938. The tale tells of something stalking the space between the roof-peak and the ceiling, in an old, shabby house.
"A Tropical Horror" is a short story by William Hope Hodgson. First published in The Grand Magazine in its June 1905 edition, the tale tells of a ship attacked by a monstrous sea creature.
"King of the Forgotten People" is a short story by Robert E. Howard, first appearing in Magazine of Horror in its Summer 1966 edition, incorrectly titled, VALLEY OF THE LOST. The story tells of Jim Brill, and his strange journey into the hidden city of Khor.
"The Man of Stone" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald. Published in the October 1932 issue of Wonder Stories, it tells of two friends who go in search of several peculiarly life-like stone statues in the remote Adirondack Mountains of New York.
"The Demon of the Flower" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith. First published in the December 1933 edition of Astounding Stories, the story tells of a desperate king's attempt to save his betrothed from an unusually macabre fate.
"The Last of Mrs. DeBrugh" is a short story by the little-known author, H. Sivia. First appearing in the October 1937 edition of Weird Tales, the story was described as follows: "DeBrugh was dead, but he still regarded his promise as a sacred duty to be fulfilled."
"The Man Who Lost His Head" is a short story by the English author, Thomas Burke, first published in the Blue Book Magazine, November 1935. "Something had happened which didn't happen; something out of nature; something against the sun."
"The Creeper in the Crypt" is a short story by American writer, Robert Bloch. First appearing in Weird Tales in July 1937, the story tells of an unusual case of kidnapping in witch-haunted Arkham.
"The Shattered Timbrel" by American author Wallace J. Knapp, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in January 1935. The story tells of a desperate scientist, whose experiments in resurrection yield unfortunate results…
"The Coming of the White Worm" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith that takes place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea. The tale, which was first published in the April 1941 issue of Stirring Science Stories, and sometimes includes the subtitle, "Chapter IX of the Book of Eibon", concerns the victim of a monstrous entity’s scourge, and his quest to unravel the secret of the beast.
"The Music of Erich Zann" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. First published in National Amateur in its March 1922 edition, the story tells of a peculiar musician who occupies the attic room of an ancient house.
Written by British writer, M. R. James, The Mezzotint tells of a strange engraving, with even stranger properties…
"The Testament of Athammaus" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith that takes place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea. The tale was first published in the October 1932 issue of Weird Tales Magazine, described as follows: "The state executioner's story of an incredible monstrosity that struck terror to an entire city."
This is the second HorrorBabble recording of TSoI
Forming part of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH tells the strange story of an unnamed student, whose visit to a decrepit Massachusetts seaport—the crumbling town of Innsmouth—leads to a number of shocking and personal revelations…
Part 5 will follow May 17th at 8PM UK.
This is the second HorrorBabble recording of TSoI
Forming part of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH tells the strange story of an unnamed student, whose visit to a decrepit Massachusetts seaport—the crumbling town of Innsmouth—leads to a number of shocking and personal revelations…
Part 4 will follow May 16th at 8PM UK.
This is the second HorrorBabble recording of TSoI
Forming part of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH tells the strange story of an unnamed student, whose visit to a decrepit Massachusetts seaport—the crumbling town of Innsmouth—leads to a number of shocking and personal revelations…
Part 3 will follow May 15th at 8PM UK.
This is the second HorrorBabble recording of TSoI
Forming part of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH tells the strange story of an unnamed student, whose visit to a decrepit Massachusetts seaport—the crumbling town of Innsmouth—leads to a number of shocking and personal revelations…
Part 2 will follow May 14th at 8PM UK.
This is the second HorrorBabble recording of TSoI
Forming part of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH tells the strange story of an unnamed student, whose visit to a decrepit Massachusetts seaport—the crumbling town of Innsmouth—leads to a number of shocking and personal revelations…
"Piecemeal" is a short story by the British author, Oscar Cook. Published in Weird Tales in February 1930, the following sinister synopsis preceded the yarn: “He slipped in a pool of blood that had dripped from the severed head.”
"The Horror Undying" is a short story by the American author, Manly Wade Wellman. The story first appeared in Weird Tales in May 1936, and was described by the magazine as follows: “A grim and gruesome story of a strange appetite—the tale of a grisly horror.”
"The White Sybil" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith that takes place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea. The tale was first published alongside David H. Keller's "Men of Avalon" by Fantasy Publications in 1934. "He knew that he had seen the White Sybil, that mysterious being who was rumored to come and go as if by some preterhuman agency in the cities of Hyperborea."
"The Evil Clergyman" is an excerpt from a letter written by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft in 1933. After his death, it was published in the April 1939 issue of Weird Tales as a short story. The tale centres around an ancient house, in the attic of which a terrible fate met its former occupant.
"Tzo-Lin’s Nightingales" is a short story by Ben Belitt. Published in Weird Tales in February 1931, it was given the following intriguing synopsis: "It was an unostentatious little Chinese shop, yet it was the scene of an incredible madness and a weird horror."
Penned by American writer, Kurt Vonnegut, "2 B R 0 2 B" tells of a dystopian future, in which death has become a voluntary act.
"Rats" is a short story by M. R. James. The tale, which first appeared in At Random Magazine in March 1929, tells of the mystery surrounding a locked room in an isolated inn on the Suffolk Coast.
"The Door to Saturn" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith that takes place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea. First published in the January 1932 edition of Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, the story was described as follows: "Beyond sea and sky the wizard Eibon pursues his outlandish wanderings."
"The Mist-Monster" is a short story by Granville S. Hoss. Published in Weird Tales in February 1928, it was described as follows: "A weird mist billowed up from the cave—and horrible was the thing that it did."
"The Living Eyes" is a May 1953 Weird Tale by the American author, Justin Dowling. "Mrs. Weir might die; her eyes would live forever..."
"Keeping His Promise", which first appeared in Blackwood's 1906 collection, The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories, tells of an unusual pact, and a visit from an old friend.
"The Urbanite" is a short story by the little-known author, Ewen Whyte. First published in the January 1950 edition of Weird Tales, it was described as follows: “The great City is never still, for even when it sleeps under darkness it stirs unceasingly with nightmare thoughts.”
"Mother of Toads" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith, originally featured in the July 1938 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. The story tells of a young apothecary's assistant and his encounters with an unusual witch in the deep forest.
"An Inhabitant of Carcosa" is a short story by Ambrose Bierce, first published in the San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser, Dec 25, 1886. The story, which tells of the wanderings of a man through a strange desert, introduces several elements to the Cthulhu Mythos.
"The Feast in the Abbey" is a short story by American author Robert Bloch. First published in Weird Tales in January 1935, the story tells of a macabre horror encountered in a strange monastery deep in the woods.
"The Thing From the Grave" is a short story by the American writer, Harold Ward. First published in the July 1933 edition of Weird Tales, the story was described as follows: "A goose-flesh story of the hideous fate that befell a judge who had sentenced a murderer to death."
"The Strange High House in the Mist" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written on November 9, 1926, it was first published in the October 1931 issue of Weird Tales. It concerns a character traveling to the titular house which is perched on the top of cliff which seems inaccessible both by land and sea, yet is apparently inhabited.
"Through the Alien Angle" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Elwin G. Powers. Little is known about the author, nor the publication history of the story, though ISFDB suggests it was written in 1941. The brief yarn tells of a man and his quest for a book that will assist him with a class paper.
"Number 13" is a short story by the British author, M. R. James, from his 1904 anthology, Ghost-Stories of an Antiquary. Something in room 13 is keeping the guests at The Golden Lion awake at night…
"Out of the Jar" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by the American author, Charles R. Tanner. First appearing in the February 1941 edition of Stirring Science Stories, the tale was given the following synopsis: “Are you inquisitive too? Do you want to know things? Too many things?”
"The Immeasurable Horror" is a science fiction horror story written by Clark Ashton Smith. It tells of an expedition to Venus, and of the weird and wonderful flora and fauna encountered there.
"The House of the Nightmare" is a ghost story by the American author, Edward Lucas White. First appearing in Smith's Magazine in its September 1906 edition, the story tells of a man forced to spend the night at a remote country house.
"This is the second HorrorBabble recording of HtS
""Haita the Shepherd"" is a short story by Ambrose Bierce, first published in The Wave, Jan 24, 1891. The story, which tells of the naive worshipper of the god, Hastur, introduces several elements to the Cthulhu Mythos."
"The Gray Killer" is a short story by Everil Worrell. First appearing in Weird Tales in its November 1929 edition, the story was given the following synopsis: “Through the wards of a hospital slithered a strange, horrifying creature, carrying shocking death to his victims…”
"Beyond the Wall of Sleep" is a science fiction short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in 1919 and first published in the amateur publication Pine Cones in October 1919. The tale tells of a former inmate at a mental hospital for the criminally insane, who claims to have been driven to violence following a series of deep and strange slumbers, in the Catskill Mountains.
"The Artist and the Door" is a short story by the American author, Dorothy Quick. It was first published in the November 1952 edition of Weird Tales. "The house and contents had been exorcised of evil—but maybe the door had been left open, the holy words lost outside."
"Medusan Madness" is a short story by the British author, E. H. Visiak. It was first published in the 1934 anthology, New Tales of Horror by Eminent Authors. "The tall woman continued to stalk in the side-path, looking queer and ghostly in the distance..."
"The Tunnel" is a short story by the British author, John Metcalfe. First published in "The Outlook" in March 1925, the story tells of a man, wrongly imprisoned, who spends years digging a tunnel to freedom…
"The Gong Ringers" by the mysterious author, Hasan Vokine, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in January 1926. The story tells of a band of travellers, who unwittingly stumble upon a trap set by the most unlikely of suspects.
"Casting the Runes" is a short story by M. R. James, first published in his 1911 collection, More Ghost Stories. In the story, a researcher for the British Museum investigates a curse connected to a curious paper on the subject of alchemy.
"Vale of the Corbies" by American author Arthur J. Burks, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in November 1925. The story tells of a man and his terrible nightmares, involving an unkindness of ravens.
"The Chuckler" is a short story by Donald Wandrei. The tale, inspired by Lovecraft's "The Statement of Randolph Carter", first appeared in Fantasy Magazine in its September 1934 edition.
"The Cairn on the Headland" is a short story by the American author, Robert E. Howard. First appearing in Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror in its January 1933 edition, the story tells of a troubled historian, who discovers an ancient, shunned cairn on the outskirts of Dublin.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843. It is told by an unnamed narrator who endeavours to convince the reader of his sanity, while describing a murder he committed.
"Thirteen Phantasms" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith. The work, which first appeared in the March 1936 edition of The Fantasy Magazine, tells of a series of strange visions that torment a sick man.
"Skeleton Lake: An Episode in Camp" is a short story by British author, Algernon Blackwood. In the tale, men on a moose hunting trip in Canada find a dead man washed ashore at Skeleton Lake.
"Sea Curse" by American author Robert E. Howard, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in May 1928. The magazine described the tale as follows: “John Kulrek and Lie-lip Canool felt the baneful force of the old woman’s curse—a weird tale of the sea.”
"In the Dark" by Minnesotan author Ronal Kayser, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in August 1936. The story tells of man's desperate confession in the face of something strange and vengeful.
"The Believers" is a short story by American speculative fiction writer, Robert Arthur, which first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in July 1941. The story tells of a radio host who takes the decision to broadcast a live show from the confines of crumbling, haunted mansion.
"The Resurrection of the Rattlesnake" is an October 1931 Weird Tales by the Californian author, Clark Ashton Smith. “A brief story of the terror that lurked in Avilton’s library and the tragic event that ensued.”
"The Horror in the Museum" is a short story ghostwritten by H. P. Lovecraft for Hazel Heald in October 1932, published in 1933. The tale takes place in a private wax museum that specialises in the grotesque.
"The Secret of Kralitz" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story by Henry Kuttner. The tale, which first appeared in Weird Tales in October 1936, was described as follows: “A story of the shocking revelation that came to the twenty-first Baron Kralitz.”
"Witch In-Grain" is a macabre tale of black magic by the English writer, R. Murray Gilchrist, first published in the National Observer in 1893.
"The Curse of the House" is a short story by Robert Bloch, first published in Strange Stories, February 1939. "Twelve generations of evil incarnate rise to avenge the abode of secrets forbidden!"
"The Underbody" is a short story by the American author, Allison V. Harding. The story first appeared in Weird Tales in November 1949, and was described as follows: “A thing that was not a man, yet could not be anything else…”
"Murder Man" is a short story by Ewen Whyte. First published in the November 1949 edition of Weird Tales, the story was given the following synopsis: "The one perfect thing in an unbelievably imperfect life would be this perfect killing."
"Fire in the Galley Stove" is a horror story of the sea by the little-known author and captain, William Outerson. First appearing in the May 1937 edition of The Atlantic Monthly, the story tells of a terrible attack on the crew of the ship 'Unicorn'.
"The Human Chair" is a short story by Japanese author and critic Edogawa Ranpo. It was published in the October 1925 edition of the literature magazine Kuraku. Text translated by James B. Harris.
"Lupa" is a short story by the American author, Robert Barbour Johnson. First appeared in Weird Tales in its January 1941 edition, the story was described as follows: "Lupa Dzarkas was a tender, lovable woman—but what was that shape of horror that was found dead on the couch in her room?"
"Doom of the House of Duryea" by American author Earl Peirce, Jr., first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in October 1936. In the story, a man and his father are keen to put to rest certain dark legends concerning their ancestry.
"The Shingler" is a short story by the one-time Weird Tales writer, E. L. Wright. The tale first appeared in the magazine in its January 1941 edition. "Next time you have work done on your house, be sure you don’t get the Shingler!"
"The Horror at Martin's Beach" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Sonia H. Greene, which first appeared in Weird Tales in November 1923. The story tells of a horrifying creature killed by sailors at sea, and of the resulting act of vengeance on behalf of the creature’s mother.
"Ghost Hunt" is a short story by the British writer, H. Russell Wakefield. The story first appeared in Weird Tales in March 1948. "Twice before the Ghost Hunters had tried unsuccessfully to find their quarry. This was the third—and LAST—attempt!"
"Demons of the Film Colony" by Theodore LeBerthon first appeared in Weird Tales in October 1932. The story was described by the magazine thusly: "A gigantic hoax was perpetrated on the author by 'Dracula' Lugosi and 'Frankenstein' Karloff."
"Six Flights to Terror" is a short story by Manly Banister. The story first appeared in the September 1946 edition of Weird Tales, with the following description: "It was a dead thing, and dead things should be buried—but how do you bury a building?"
"The Oval Portrait" is a horror short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in a chateau. It is one of his shortest stories, filling only two pages in its initial publication in 1842.
"The Red Balloon" is a short story by Q. Patrick (the pen name of detective fiction writers Richard Wilson Webb and Hugh Callingham Wheeler). The story first appeared in Weird Tales in November 1953. “Only facts would interest the head of the Homicide Bureau; not fantasy.”
"The Dreams in the Witch House" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos cycle. Written in January/February 1932, it was first published in the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales.
"Country House" is a horror story by the little-known author, Ewen Whyte. First published in the September 1949 edition of Weird Tales, the story was described as follows: “A strange rendezvous with the beauty of the country … and the terror of the darkness!”
"Levitation" is a short story by American writer Joseph Payne Brennan. It tells of the final performance of a disgruntled hypnotist, and the fate of his reluctant volunteer.
"The Jonah" by Guy Pain, first surfaced in Weird Tales in its August 1925 edition. It tells of a disreputable bosun, and a murder, with a touch of maritime superstition.
"Blind Man's Buff" is a short story by H. Russell Wakefield, first published in Others Who Returned in 1929. It's a cheap piece of real estate, but there's a very good reason Mr. Cort is getting such a fabulous deal.
"The Haunter of the Graveyard" is a Cthulhu Mythos tale by J. Vernon Shea, first published in Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos in 1969. It tells the story of a TV presenter who encounters a malign spirit in a cemetery.
"A Case of Eavesdropping" is a tale by British author, Algernon Blackwood, from his "The Empty House" collection. In the story, a man, who believes himself to be the only tenant in an old house, continually hears brash and vicious arguments in the room next door.
"Death in Twenty Minutes" is a Weird Tale penned by Charles Henry Mackintosh. The story deals with Doctor Graeme, an individual who could have never known how his death's-head spider plot would redound on his own head.
"Eyes for the Blind" is a short story by the English author, Frederick Cowles. The tale first appeared in his 1936 collection, The Horror of Abbot's Grange and Other Stories. “Who had not heard of John Dangerfield? The monster had been convicted of the most vile crimes. His mania was to attack unsuspecting persons, often children, and gouge out their eyes…”
"The Colour Out of Space" is a science fiction/horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in March 1927. In the tale, an unnamed narrator pieces together the story of an area known by the locals as the "blasted heath" in the wild hills west of Arkham, Massachusetts.
"The Suicide in the Study" first appeared in Weird Tales in its June 1935 edition. It tells of a modern sorcerer, and his efforts to obtain a state of 'dual personality'.
"The Interlopers" is a short story by British author, Saki. The tale takes place in the dramatic Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe, wherein a pair of feuding landowners vow to put an end to one another.
"The Blood Drips: An Unsolved Mystery" is a short horror story by British writer, Dick Donovan (aka James Edward Preston Muddock). The story first appeared in Donovan’s 1889 collection, Stories, Weird and Wonderful, and tells of an old, dilapidated house, haunted by something terrible and mysterious.
"The Furnished Room" is a short story by American author, O. Henry. In the story, the new tenant of a timeworn apartment seeks to discover the identity of its previous occupant.
"Clutching Hands of Death" is a short story by the prolific Weird Tales author, Harold Ward. As described in the March 1935 edition of WT: “A tale of terror—of a weird surgical operation performed in France—and a ghastly horror that stalked by night…”
"The Demon Spell" is a short story by Scottish-born novelist and artist, James Hume Nisbet. The tale tells of a strange seance, a rare coin, and a Kandian dagger.
"The Floor Above" is a short story by the one-time Weird Tales author, M. Humphreys. Having first appeared in the May 1923 edition of the magazine, the story tells, through a series of diary entries, of a man's troubling stay with an old friend.
"Old Bugs" is a short story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, probably written shortly before July 1919. It was first published in the Arkham House book The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces (1959).
"The Look" is a short story by the French writer, Maurice Level. The story, which first appeared in the French publication, Le Journal, in 1906, tells of a dreadful deed committed by a man and his wife…
"The Coat" is a short story by English civil servant, A. E. D. Smith. The tale appeared in Famous Fantastic Mysteries in December 1952, and tells of a curious item of clothing encountered in an old chateau.
"The Voice in the Dawn" (also known as "The Call in the Dawn") is a Sargasso Sea story by the British writer, William Hope Hodgson, first published in The Premier Magazine, November 1920. A strange voice greets the crew at dawn... but from where does it originate?
"The Theater Upstairs" is a short story by Manly Wade Wellman. The work was first published in the December 1936 edition of Weird Tales, and was described as follows: “A weird and uncanny story about a motion-picture show, in which dead actors and actresses flickered across the silver screen…”
Link to the HB Originals Podcast: https://horrorbabbleoriginals.podbean.com
Thanks for listening, folks!
"The Crooked Smile" is a short Weird Tale by the little-known author, Bryan Irvine. In the story, a man seeks retribution, with unfortunate consequences.
"House of the Griffin" is a short story by Will Garth, the 'house pseudonym’, used by numerous Strange Stories authors, including August Derleth, Edmond Hamilton, and Henry Kuttner, to name but a few. The story first appeared in Strange Stories in its October 1939 edition. “Forces of Terror Strike from, the Void to Be Stayed Only by Stronger Forces for Good!”
"The Seance" is a ghost story by the American author, Ronal Kayser. As the title suggests, the story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in April 1936, tells of an unusual seance conducted by a fake medium.
"The Haunted Dolls' House" is a short story by British author, M. R. James. The tale first appeared in the British magazine, Empire Review, in March of 1923, and tells of an individual who acquires a curiously low-priced antique dolls’ house, complete with a family of ‘ghostly’ figurines.
"The Brain-Eaters" is a short story by the American author, Frank Belknap Long. First published in the June 1932 edition of Weird Tales, the story tells of dead men who sat in a boat, and a weird horror from four-dimensional space…
"The Phantom Coach" is a classic ghost story by English author, Amelia B. Edwards (1831-1892). The tale tells of a young man who becomes lost on the moors during a snow storm. He seeks shelter with a strange and reclusive scientist, who tells him of a stage coach that might be able to take him home...
"The Hunters from Beyond" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith. Highly reminiscent of Lovecraft’s Pickman’s Model, the tale first appeared in the October 1932 edition of STRANGE TALES OF MYSTERY AND TERROR. “Living gargoyles, most hideous, come to the sculptor Sincaul from outland realms of evil.”
"The Green Meadow" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Winifred V. Jackson. The tale, which first appeared in The Vagrant in 1927, tells of a small notebook discovered within a meteorite in Maine.
"A Night of Horror" is a short story by the British writer, Dick Donovan. The tale, which first appeared in Donovan’s 1899 collection, TALES OF TERROR, is a classic ghost story, set in a haunted castle in the remote hills of Wales.
"Hey, You Down There!" is a short story by Harold Rolseth. Little is known about the author. It tells of a peculiar discovery at the bottom of a dried up old well…
"The House of the Golden Eyes" is a short story by the little-known author, Theda Kenyon, first published in the September 1930 edition of Weird Tales. “There was something bloated, parboiled to a dull red, sliding toward him…”
"Return to the Sabbath" is a short story by Robert Bloch. The work, which first appeared in Weird Tales in its July 1938 edition (and published under the pseudonym, Tarleton Fiske), is a tale of Hollywood, and something gruesome that emerged from a burial crypt.
"The Destroying Horde" is a short horror story by the American author, Donald Wandrei. Described as "a tale of giant one-celled organisms spawned in a chemist’s laboratory, and an orgy of hideous death", the story was originally published in the June 1935 edition of Weird Tales.
"The Cats of Ulthar" is a DREAM CYCLE short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in June 1920.
"The Marmot" is a short story by the American author, Allison V. Harding. The work was first published in the March 1944 edition of Weird Tales Magazine, and was described as follows: "Such a harmless looking tiny creature—but animals possess strange abilities beyond our ken!”
"The Fearsome Touch of Death" is a short story by Robert E. Howard. In the story, first published in the February 1930 edition of Weird Tales Magazine, a man spends a night alone with a corpse.
"The Thing in the Weeds" is a Sargasso Sea horror story by the British writer, William Hope Hodgson, first published in the January 1913 edition of The Story-teller.
Written by American writer, Thomas Kent West, The Rose-Colored Glasses is the tale of a mysterious pair of glasses, the wearing of which affects one's perception in a most curious manner...
"A Question of Identity" is a short story by Robert Bloch (writing as Tarleton Fiske). The story, which tells of a man's quest to recall an uncertain past, first appeared in the April 1939 edition of Strange Stories -- "No pang of hunger nor torment of thirst can stifle the questions of who, where and what!"
"The Shadow on the Moor" by Stuart Strauss first appeared in Weird Tales in February 1928. The magazine described the tale as: "A creepy tale of the pre-Druidistic ruins of England—out on the moor were dancing, and strange wild music, and death.”
"In the Vault" is a short story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written on September 18, 1925 and first published in the November 1925 issue of the amateur press journal Tryout.
"The Night They Crashed the Party" is a short story by American author, Robert Bloch, first published by Weird Tales Magazine in 1951. The story tells of a party, in which the guests, expecting to watch a televised wrestling match, are subjected to an unsettling and impromptu live broadcast.
"In the World's Dusk" is a short story by Edmond Hamilton. The story first surfaced in the March 1936 edition of Weird Tales magazine, and was described as follows: “A gripping tale of the last survivor of the human race and his attempts to repopulate the world…”
"What Is It?" is a work of flash fiction by the one-time Weird Tales author, Charles M. Morris. The story first appeared in the magazine in its January 1933 edition, and was described as follows: “Retribution, swift and terrible, struck the man who had committed the sin of Cain…”
"The Man Who Chained the Lightning" is a short story by the American author, Paul Ernst. It is the second story in Ernst's DOCTOR SATAN series (Weird Tales, September 1935).
"The Seeds from Outside" is a short story by Edmond Hamilton. First published in Weird Tales in March 1937, the magazine described the story as follows: “A strange and curious weird-scientific fantasy about two beings that came to earth in a meteor.”
"The Way Home" is a short story by the obscure author, Paul Frederick Stern. In the author’s only published work, we learn of a man suffering from amnesia, wandering a city street after dark, soaked to the skin, searching for answers… First published in Weird Tales, November 1935.
"The Watcher at the Door" is a short story by Henry Kuttner. First published in Weird Tales in its May 1939 edition, the story concerns the horrible dreams of a man called Edward Keene.
"The Malignant Invader" is a short story by Frank Belknap Long. Lovecraftian in flavour, the story tells of a horrifying encounter with a strange creature from the bowels of the earth. First published in the January 1932 edition of Weird Tales.
"The Bed of Shadows" is a short story by the little-known author, Fred R. Farrow, Jr. Having debuted in the May 1929 edition of Weird Tales, the story asks: What lurked above the man in the bed?
"The Hollow Moon" is a work of horror/sci-fi by the great Everil Worrell. First appearing in Weird Tales in May 1939, it was given the following synopsis: “A fascinating tale of a lunar vampire and strange icebergs in the Pacific Ocean.”
"Man in a Hurry" is a classic Weird Tale by Alan Nelson, having first appeared in the magazine in its May 1944 edition. "For 20 years the pudgy little man was always hurrying, as though to some appointment for which he was already late…"
The Impossible Adventure" is a short story by H. T. W. Bousfield. The work first appeared in Weird Tales in November 1940, and concerns a set of curious notes retrieved following the death of a man's uncle.
"The Seeking Thing" by Janet Hirsch, first appeared in the February 1964 edition of Robert A. W. Lowndes’ Magazine of Horror. The story tells the account of a man who runs over something strange in the middle of the road.
"Fog Country" is a short story by the American author, Allison V. Harding. The work was first published by Weird Tales in its July 1945 edition, and tells of a peculiar mist that occasionally settles over a small, coastal town.
"The Treader in the Dust" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith. The story introduces Quachil Uttaus and the Testament of Carnamagos to the Cthulhu Mythos, in relation to the tale of an unnamed character who obtains the forbidden tome from a sinister book-seller.
"Doctor Satan" is a short story by the American author, Paul Ernst. First appearing in Weird Tales in August 1935, the enigmatic Doctor Satan was described as ‘the world's weirdest criminal—an immensely wealthy man, who has turned to crime to satisfy his longing for thrills.’ There are 8 stories in the Doctor Satan series, with the titular character up against numerous challenges, pitted against his nemesis, the criminologist, Ascott Keane. This is the first story in the series.
"A Ghost Story" is a short story by the American writer Mark Twain. The tale is based upon the Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous hoaxes in United States history. It was a 10-foot-tall purported "petrified man" uncovered in 1869, by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. "Stub" Newell in Cardiff, New York.
"Music of the Stars" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by the American author, Duane W. Rimel. The tale, which first appeared in The Acolyte in its Spring 1943 edition, tells of a musician who claims to have discovered an ancient and terrible form of music.
"The Sixth Tree" by Edith L. Stewart was first published in the May-June-July 1924 edition of Weird Tales Magazine, and was described as follows: “This is a tale of the weirdest game that ever was played.”
"Lethe" is a short weird tale by the mysterious author, Harold G. Shane. Page 742 of the June 1936 edition of Weird Tales describes the story as follows: “A bizarre little story about the strange fascination of an old oil painting.”
"They" is a short story by the American author, Robert Barbour Johnson. The story, which was published by Weird Tales in January 1936, tells of a curious horror in a remote canyon.
"A Visitor from Far Away" is a short story by the American author, Loretta Burrough. The story was published by Weird Tales in its February 1936 edition, and tells of the dreadful horror that hung over Mrs. Bowen for two decades.
"Murder in the Grave" is a short story by the American author, Edmond Hamilton. The story was published in Weird Tales in February 1935. The magazine described it as a story of a ‘terrible ordeal’ – a night of terror ten feet below the surface of the ground.
"Return to Death" is a short story by the two-time Weird Tales contributor, J. Wesley Rosenquest. Appearing in the January 1936 edition of the magazine, the story was described as follows: “A brief tale about the ghastly horror that befell the man in the coffin.”
"The Boat on the Beach" is a short story by Kadra Maysi, aka, Katherine Simons, of Charleston, South Carolina. The story first appeared in Weird Tales in December 1930, and was described as follows: "Strange was the woman who came down to the boat at night, and stranger still was the weird event that befell her."
"The Distortion Out of Space" is a cosmic horror story by Francis Flagg. Evidently a nod to Lovecraft’s COLOUR, the tale tells of a strange being that came from outer space in a meteoroid. It was first published in the August 1934 edition of Weird Tales Magazine.
"The Tree of Life" is a short story by the regular Weird Tales contributor, Paul Ernst. The story first appeared in the September 1930 edition of Weird Tales, and tells of a curious tree whose leaves could revivify a corpse.
"The Haunter of the Ring" is a Cthulhu Mythos story featuring the characters Conrad and Kirowan by Robert E. Howard. The story first emerged in Weird Tales in June 1934, and was described as follows: "A strange story of dark powers and occult evil."
"Dusk" is a short story by British writer, Saki. In another look at the darker side of human nature, the tale explores the concept of trust.
"The Chadbourne Episode" is a short story by the American writer, Henry S. Whitehead. It first appeared in the February 1933 edition of Weird Tales Magazine with the following description: “A shuddery graveyard tale of ghastly shapes glimpsed in the moonlight, and little, reddish, half-gnawed bones scattered about the tomb in the Old Cemetery.”
"An Evening's Entertainment" is a short story from M. R. James' 1925 collection, A Warning to the Curious. The tale concerns a number of strange goings-on in an otherwise quiet, English village.
"It Walks by Night" is a classic weird tale by Henry Kuttner. It first appeared in Weird Tales in December 1936, and was described as follows: “A blood-chilling narrative of a ghastly horror that stalked through the crypts beneath the old graveyard.”
"The Ocean Ogre" by American author Dana Carroll, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in July 1937. The story, told through a series of journal entries, tells of a ship stranded at sea, and of the stranger who came to its aid.
Written by American authors, H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald, "Out of the Aeons" focuses on a Boston museum that displays an ancient mummy recovered from a sunken island.
"The Boarded Window: An Incident in the Life of an Ohio Pioneer" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on April 12, 1891 and was reprinted the same year in Bierce's collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians.
"The Wood of the Dead" is a short story by British author, Algernon Blackwood, included in the collection "The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories". In the story, a visitor to the West Country comes upon the ghost of an old man, whose appearance is an omen of death, which spells doom for the residents of a small mountain village.
"The Werewolf Snarls" is a short story by Manly Wade Wellman. The story appeared in Weird Tales in March 1937, with the synopsis: “A brief story, with a breath of icy horror in it.”
"Outside the Door" is a short story by the British writer, E. F. Benson. The tale first surfaced in Benson’s 1912 collection, THE ROOM IN THE TOWER, and explores the intriguing and often worrying phenomenon of phantom footsteps heard at night.
"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow fall into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references.
"The Oblong Box" was first published in the Dollar Newspaper, back in August 1844. Quite simply, the story tells of a sea voyage and a peculiar, pine box.
Taken from "The Abominations of Yondo", a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by author Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1960 and was the author's fourth collection of stories published by Arkham House.
"The Black Stone Statue" is a short story by Mary Elizabeth Counselman. It first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in December 1937, described as "An amazing tale of weird sculpture–the story of a weird deception practised on the world by an obscure artist."
"Moxon's Master" is a short story by Ambrose Bierce. First published in the San Francisco Examiner in April 1899, the tale is notable in that it contains one of the first descriptions of a robot to be written in English Language literature. The story itself tells of an inventor, whose curious invention could have profound implications for humanity.
"The Challenge from Beyond" is a work of collaborative fiction by C. L. Moore, A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long. The tale describes the discovery a strange artefact - an unusual stone imbued with the power to transport its possessor to distant worlds.
"The Shadow from the Steeple" is a short story by American author, Robert Bloch, first published in 1950. It completes a series of tales started by Bloch in 1935 with The Shambler from the Stars, and continued by H. P. Lovecraft in 1936 with The Haunter of the Dark. The story concludes the mystery surrounding the "Shining Trapezohedron".
"The Jelly-Fish" is a short story by American author, David H. Keller. First appearing in Weird Tales in its January 1929 edition, the story tells of an obnoxious professor and a wild experiment under the microscope.
"Ghouls of the Sea" is a rare weird tale by the American author, J. B. S. Fullilove. Appearing in the March 1934 edition of Weird Tales, the story asks what it was that came up out of the sea, spreading death aboard the freighter "Kay Marie".
"Grotesquerie" is a short story by the little-known author, Harold Lawlor. First appearing in Weird Tales in its November 1950 edition, the story was described by the magazine as follows: “The inmates of the house scuttled away in the purposely kept dimly lighted halls; the latest comer was never seen about at all.”
"Seedling of Mars", which explores the idea of Martian canals being much more than mere waterways, was first published as THE PLANET ENTITY in the Fall 1931 edition of Wonder Stories Quarterly. The story was the result of an Interplanetary Plot Contest, in which readers of Wonder Stories were invited to outline plots for established authors to develop.
"The Terrible Old Man" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. It was written on January 28, 1920, and first published in the Tryout, an amateur press publication, in July 1921. The tale tells of the fate of three robbers who attempt to burgle an old man's house.
"The Curse of the Fires and of the Shadows" is a short story by the poet William Butler Yeats, it is based on the true story of Sir Frederick Hamilton's burning of Sligo Abbey in 1642. Yeats tells a story of the soldiers who participated being hunted by vengeful sidhe.
From Bierce's "Can Such Things Be?" collection. Haita is a naive shepherd who prays at the shrine of Hastur, god of shepherds, and knows nothing of his origin. When great storms threaten to drown the cities of the valleys, he threatens to abandon his worship, blackmailing Hastur into saving them by transforming the water into the sea. He cares for a holy hermit living an hour away and he enlightens him as to the identity of the maiden he has met.
"From Beyond" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in 1920 and was first published in The Fantasy Fan in June 1934 (Vol. 1, No. 10).
"Sleigh Bells" by the mysterious writer, Hasan Vokine, first appeared in the April 1925 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. The story takes place in deepest Siberia, where two men are besieged by wolves in an isolated hut.
"The Earth Draws" by Norwegian author Jonas Lie, first appeared in his 1893 collection, Weird Tales from Northern Seas. The story tells of a series of strange events surrounding a young salesman’s visit to a remote fishing station.
"The Arctic Death" by American author Wilford Allen, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in June 1927. Out of the North it came, that dread death that touched every living thing with a killing cold.
"The Paradise of the Ice Wilderness" by Swedish author Jul. Regis, first appeared in Amazing Stories in October 1927. The tale tells of the discovery of a frozen mammoth in Northern Siberia.
"The Third Interne" by Welsh-American author Idwal Jones, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in January 1938. The story tells of a surgical horror in the Arctic wastes of northern Russia.
"The Death Watch" is a short story by the British born, American author, Hugh B. Cave. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in its 1939 June-July edition, was described as follows: “What ghastly thing was it that came clumping into the big house out of that wild night of storm?”
"The Derelict" is a short story by British writer, William Hope Hodgson, first published in THE RED MAGAZINE in its December 1st edition, 1912. The classic tale tells of the discovery and subsequent investigation of a mysterious, derelict vessel.
"The Willow Landscape" is a short work by Clark Ashton Smith. The story, which debuted in Weird Tales in its June-July 1939 edition, takes place in China, and concerns the curious nature of an ancient painting.
"A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas", commonly known as "A Christmas Carol", is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843; the first edition was illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. After their visits Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
"A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas", commonly known as "A Christmas Carol", is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843; the first edition was illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. After their visits Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
"A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas", commonly known as "A Christmas Carol", is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843; the first edition was illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. After their visits Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
"A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas", commonly known as "A Christmas Carol", is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843; the first edition was illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. After their visits Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
"A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas", commonly known as "A Christmas Carol", is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843; the first edition was illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. After their visits Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
"Between the Lights" is a Christmas ghost story by the British author, E. F. Benson. It first appeared in his 1912 collection, "The Room in the Tower and Other Stories". What was it that Everard Chandler experienced on the croquet lawn?
"The Curse of Yig" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop in which Yig, "The Father of Serpents", is first introduced.
"The Snowman" is a short story by the American author, Loretta Burrough. The story was first published in the December 1938 edition of Weird Tales. The magazine provided the following synopsis: “Her first husband lay at the bottom of a deep crevasse in a Swiss glacier—but why should a snow image in his likeness strike her with such eery terror?”
"The Red Brain" is a short story by Donald Wandrei, written when he was just 16. It first appeared in the October 1927 edition of Weird Tales Magazine, and tells of a strange, menacing cosmic dust that engulfs the universe.
"The Occupant of the Room" is a short story by English writer Algernon Blackwood. The tale tells of a Englishman on vacation in the Swiss Alps, who attempts to reserve a room at a quiet village inn, only to discover there are no vacancies. He is later offered a room that is 'in a sense engaged', and the rumours voiced by the inn's porter regarding the possible fate of the previous occupant excite his imagination.
"A Dream of Red Hands" is a short story by British writer, Bram Stoker. The story was first published in the London weekly, THE SKETCH, in 1894, and tells the sad tale of a man plagued by terrible nightmares.
"There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard" is a short story by British author, M. R. James. The tale tells of a man whose wandering gaze often falls upon the nightly funerals that take place next to his lonely house by the cemetery.
The Opener of the Way" is a work of horror fiction by American writer, Robert Bloch. Originally published in the October 1936 edition of Weird Tales, the magazine described the story as, "A tremendous tale about the dread doom that overtook an archaeologist in that forgotten tomb beneath the desert sands of Egypt…"
"Dig Me No Grave" is a horror story by American author, Robert E. Howard. The tale was first published in Weird Tales in February 1937. It is sometimes known by the title, "John Grimlan's Debt".
"The Black Cat" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart".
"The Riddle" was written by Walter de la Mare, and was included in his Collected Stories for Children (1947). The story tells of seven children who go to live with their grandmother. They are free to live without rules, as long as they steer clear of a certain chest in the spare bedroom.
"Night Must Not Come" is a short story by Allison V. Harding. It was first published in Weird Tales in September 1943, and was given the following description: “Ever since the birth of time, fires have been kept at night, and man has never allowed complete darkness, for evil things are waiting out there beyond the light.”
"Table for Two" is a short story by Arthur Leo Zagat. First appearing in Weird Tales in its January 1941 edition, the story was described as follows: “Thought you heard something? Don’t be silly. It was just the sea you heard—just the foam on the ebb tide…”
"The Ghost-Writer" first appeared in Weird Tales in May 1940, and tells of an ambitious weird fiction writer, whose insatiable desire for success leads to his doom.
"The Glass Labyrinth" is a short story by the Californian author, Stanton A. Coblentz. It’s a tale of time and dimensions, a true Weird Tale, having appeared in the magazine in its May 1943 edition.
"What Waits in Darkness" by Loretta Burrough first appeared in Weird Tales in March 1935. The magazine described the tale as: "A grim story of a woman’s happiness that was menaced by a dreadful recurrent dream.”
"The Outsider" is a short story by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between March and August 1921, it was first published in Weird Tales, April 1926. In this work, a mysterious man who has been living alone in a castle for as long as he can remember decides to break free in search of human contact and light. "The Outsider" is one of Lovecraft's most commonly reprinted works and is also one of the most popular stories ever to be published in Weird Tales.
"The Strange Island of Doctor Nork" first appeared in Weird Tales in March 1949. A parody of H. G. Wells' "The Island of Doctor Moreau", the story tells of an eccentric doctor, and his 'comically' odd experiments.
"Drowned Argosies" by American author and teacher Jay Wilmer Benjamin, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in July 1934. The magazine described the tale in the following simple terms: “A weird tale of the sea.”
"The Tree's Wife" by Mary Elizabeth Counselman (Weird Tales, March 1950). A curious yarn involving a tryst, and a tree.
"Ye Goode Olde Ghoste Storie" by William A. P. White first appeared in Weird Tales in January 1927. The magazine described the tale as: "The Chilling Chamber of Fantomheath Fields; or, The Winning of Alicia, the Beautiful."
"The Mandarin's Canaries" first appeared in Weird Tales in its September 1938 edition. The story tells of a torture-mad Chinese ruler, and his aptly named Garden of Pain.
"The Epiphany of Death" (also known as 'Who Are the Living?') is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith. The tale, which first appeared in The Fantasy Fan in its July 1934 edition, tells of a shocking revelation in the catacombs of Ptolemides.
"The Horror in the Hold" by American author Frank Belknap Long, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in February 1932. The magazine described the tale as follows: "A tale of the old adventurous days when Spain and England fought for the supremacy of the seas.”
"Mommy" is a short story by American writer, Mary Elizabeth Counselman. The story tells of a little girl in an orphanage, who claims to have been visited by her dead mother. It first appeared in Weird Tales in April 1939.
"The Tree-Men of M'Bwa" by Donald Wandrei first appeared in Weird Tales in February 1932. The magazine described the tale as: "A startling story of Africa, strange monstrosities, and the weird power of the Whirling Flux."
"The Evil Clergyman" is an excerpt from a letter written by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft in 1933. After his death, it was published in the April 1939 issue of Weird Tales as a short story. The tale centres around an ancient house, in the attic of which a terrible fate met its former occupant.
“Vallisneria Madness” by Ralph Milne Farley, first crawled up out of the earth in the May 1937 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. The tale was described as follows: “A strange and curious little story, about the moonlight mating of flowers.”
"The City of Lost Souls" by Genevieve Larsson first appeared in Weird Tales in October 1928. This is how the magazine described the tale: "Weirdly terrible was the punishment of the twelve who avenged a brutal murder in a spectacular way."
"The Seed from the Sepulchre" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith. The tale, which first appeared in Weird Tales in October 1933, was described by the magazine as follows: “A horror tale of the Venezuelan jungle, and a diabolical plant that lived on human life.”
"The Drone" is a short story by Abraham Merritt. The tale explores two rather unusual cases of metamorphosis.
"The Spirits' Mountain" is a story by Spanish author, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, included as part of his collection, "Romantic Legends of Spain." In the tale, a young man is tasked with the retrieval of a scarf from a haunted mountain.
"The Transgressor" is a short story by Henry Kuttner. The tale, which first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in its February 1939 edition, tells of an individual whose curious invention proves to be terribly successful.
"The House of Living Music" is a short story by the regular Weird Tales author, Edmond Hamilton. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in January 1938, was described as follows: “A strange weird-scientific story with a tragic denouement—about a great composer who could re-create all living things in sound.”
"The Pale Man" is a short story by American writer, Julius Long. The story tells of the eccentric behavior of a strange guest in a country hotel. It first appeared in Weird Tales in September 1934.
"The Glamour of the Snow" is a short story by British author, Algernon Blackwood. It tells of a writer who falls in love with a ghostly ice-skater in the Valais Alps.
"The House of the Worm" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by the American author, Mearle Prout. It first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in October 1933. The story tells of two men, and their struggle against an otherworldly blight that originated in a bleak forest.
"I, the Vampire" is a horror short story by American author, Henry Kuttner. The story first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in February of 1937. It tells of a vampire loose in Hollywood, feasting on the stars of the silver screen. But is there more to this vampire than simple bloodlust?
"The Hounds of Tindalos" is a short story by Frank Belknap Long. It first appeared in Weird Tales (Volume 13, Issue 3) in 1929, and was later published in the collection, The Hounds of Tindalos, in 1946. The story tells of Halpin Chalmers, an author and journalist, who, following the consumption of the Chinese drug Liao, encounters extra dimensional creatures, referred to as The Hounds of Tindalos.
"Smee" by British author, A. M. Burrage, is a classic ghost story, in which a group of youngsters decide to play a game of hide and seek in an old, haunted house. It was first published in Nash’s Pall Mall Magazine, in December 1929.
"The House of Shadows" is a short story by Mary Elizabeth Counselman. First published in Weird Tales Magazine in April 1933, the story tells of a family whose images would not reflect in the mirror.
"A Terribly Strange Bed" is a short story by Wilkie Collins, first published in 1852 in Household Words, a magazine edited by Charles Dickens. It was written near the beginning of his writing career, his first published book having appeared in 1848. Collins met Dickens in 1851, and this story was the first contribution by Collins to Dickens's magazine Household Words. After several more pieces for the magazine, he became a paid member of staff in 1856.
"The Red God Laughed" by American author Thorp McClusky, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in April 1939. The story tells of the extinction of the human race, and of he who came to survey the Earth following our demise.
“When the Flame-Flowers Blossomed” by Leslie F. Stone, first sought sunlight in the November 1935 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. The tale was described as follows: “A bizarre fantasy about strange life found on Venus by two explorers from Earth.”
“Till A’ the Seas” is a post-apocalyptic short story by H. P. Lovecraft and R. H. Barlow. The story, which describes a dying world, was first published in The Californian in 1935.
"Evening Primrose" is a short story by British-born author, John Collier. It tells of a poet who seeks solace and privacy in the forgotten corners of a department store. To his horror, he discovers that he is not alone.
"The Space-Eaters" is a short story by American writer, Frank Belknap Long. It first appeared in the July 1928 edition of Weird Tales. The story explores the concept of the 'ultimate horror', as viewed from the perspective of a short story writer, and his closest friend.
"The Three Marked Pennies" is a classic horror story by Mary Elizabeth Counselman, first published in Weird Tales in August 1934. The magazine provided the following synopsis: “A strange destiny awaited the holders of the pennies, with doom for one and weal for the others.”
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. The story introduces the Mi-go, an extraterrestrial race of fungoid creatures.
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. The story introduces the Mi-go, an extraterrestrial race of fungoid creatures.
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. The story introduces the Mi-go, an extraterrestrial race of fungoid creatures.
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. The story introduces the Mi-go, an extraterrestrial race of fungoid creatures.
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. The story introduces the Mi-go, an extraterrestrial race of fungoid creatures.
"The Ninth Skeleton" is an early work by the American author, Clark Ashton Smith. In the story, which debuted in Weird Tales in September 1928, a man has a bizarre encounter with a procession of skeletons in an otherwise familiar setting.
"The Fire Vampires" is a short story by American writer Donald Wandrei. It first appeared in Weird Tales in February 1933, and was described by the magazine: "Out of the sky struck a dread electric scourge that burned the life out of countless thousands and left charred skeletons to mark its passing."
"Creeping Fingers" is a short story by American author, Loretta Burrough. It was Burrough's first published story, appearing in Christine Campbell Thomson’s 1931 collection, AT DEAD OF NIGHT. The tale tells of a weary guest, left with no choice but to spend the night in a hotel room with a questionable reputation.
"The Bell-Tower" is a short story by American author, Herman Melville. It tells of an enigmatic architect whose unconventional aspirations result in tragedy.
"The Picture in the House" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft. It was written on December 12, 1920, and first published in the July issue of The National Amateur, 1921. In the tale, a genealogist seeks shelter from an approaching storm in an apparently abandoned house.
"The Corpse Light" is a short story by British writer Dick Donovan (aka J. E. Preston Muddock). It's the tale of a sceptical physician, and a windmill known as 'The Haunted Mill'.
"The Mark on the Wall" is a short story by British author, Virginia Woolf, in which a trivial observation triggers a tidal wave of introspection, and self-reflection. The story first appeared in 1917 as part of the collection, Two Stories.
"The Transfer" is a short story by Algernon Blackwood. The tale, which was first published in the magazine, Country Life, in 1911, tells of a child’s fascination with a barren patch of land in a big garden known as the Forbidden Corner.
"The Sunken Land" by George W. Bayly was first published in the May-June-July, 1924 edition of Weird Tales. It is the story of a strange journey into the heart of Canada's Northwest Territories.
"Sweets to the Sweet" is a short story by Robert Bloch. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in March 1947, tells of an eight-year-old girl with uncanny abilities.
"Afterward" is a short story by Edith Wharton. It was first published in the 1910 edition of The Century Magazine and in her books, The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton and Tales of Men and Ghosts, 1910. It is an ironic ghost story about greed and retribution. The ghost comes for one of the main characters long after a business transgression where the character wronged another.
"The Lady in Gray" is a short story by the American author, Donald Wandrei. The tale first appeared in Weird Tales in its December 1933 edition, and was described by the magazine as follows: “The story of a strange woman and a loathsome gray slug that came to a sleeper in his dreams..."
Written in French by Russian author, Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy in 1839, The Family of the Vourdalak tells a tale of vampirism in rural Serbia.
"Rats" is a short story by the British author, F. A. M. Webster. First published under a pseudonym in the 1931 anthology, At Dead of Night, the tale tells the story of Mike Halliday, a man determined to make the most of a problematic holiday in dreary England.
"The Unnamable" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. In the tale, the antiquarian Randolph Carter tells a close friend the tale of an indescribable entity that allegedly haunts a dilapidated house near an old cemetery.
"Dread Summons" is a short story by the regular Weird Tales contributor, Paul Ernst. The tale was given the following synopsis back in November 1937: “The old butler heard a scream, muffled by the street noises from outside, and when he investigated he found that a dread summons had been answered.”
"The Creeper in Darkness" is a short story by Frank Belknap Long, which first appeared in Strange Stories in April 1939. The tale tells of a disturbing encounter with a witch's familiar.
"Black Bargain" first appeared in Weird Tales in May 1942, and tells of a situation involving a man who is quite literally afraid of his own shadow.
"The Imp of the Perverse" is a short story by 19th-century American author and critic Edgar Allan Poe. Beginning as an essay, it discusses the narrator's self-destructive impulses, embodied as the symbolic metaphor of The Imp of the Perverse.
"Nobody's House" is a short story by the British writer, A. M. Burrage. In the story, which first appeared in his 1927 collection, SOME GHOST STORIES, a prospective homebuyer visits an old house, eager to hear of its haunted history.
"The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is a short novel by H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927. The novel, set in 1928, describes how Charles Dexter Ward becomes obsessed with his distant ancestor, Joseph Curwen, an alleged wizard with unsavory habits.
"The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is a short novel by H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927. The novel, set in 1928, describes how Charles Dexter Ward becomes obsessed with his distant ancestor, Joseph Curwen, an alleged wizard with unsavory habits.
"The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is a short novel by H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927. The novel, set in 1928, describes how Charles Dexter Ward becomes obsessed with his distant ancestor, Joseph Curwen, an alleged wizard with unsavory habits.
"The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is a short novel by H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927. The novel, set in 1928, describes how Charles Dexter Ward becomes obsessed with his distant ancestor, Joseph Curwen, an alleged wizard with unsavory habits.
"The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is a short novel by H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927. The novel, set in 1928, describes how Charles Dexter Ward becomes obsessed with his distant ancestor, Joseph Curwen, an alleged wizard with unsavory habits.
"The Mortal Immortal" is a short story from 1833 written by Mary Shelley. It tells the story of a man named Winzy, who drinks an elixir which makes him immortal. At first, immortality appears to promise him eternal tranquility. However, it soon becomes apparent that he is cursed to endure eternal psychological torture, as everything he loves dies around him.
"The Seven Seas Are One" by American author Allison V. Harding, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in September 1944. The magazine described the tale as follows: “The Captain knew that somehow, some day his fate was coming—out of the sea and the wind!”
"The Supernumerary Corpse" is a short story by the American author, Clark Ashton Smith. The tale, which first appeared in Weird Tales in November 1932, was described by the magazine as follows: “Jasper Trilt was dead—but what was the thing in his likeness that lay supine on the floor of the laboratory?”
"It All Came True in the Woods" is a short story by American author, Manly Wade Wellman. If first appeared in the July 1941 edition of Weird Tales Magazine... “If you should speak in the woods of Amasookit, your words are clothed with flesh and blood. So the Indians believed…”
"Black Was the Night" is a rare weird tale by the little-known author, Laurence Bour, Jr. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in May 1940, tells of a long-awaited encounter in a crumbling, haunted house.
"The Polar Vortex" is a short story by the obscure American author, Malcolm Ferguson. The story first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in September 1946. The magazine described the story as follows: "A curiously terrible experiment of blasphemous implications!"
"The Night Ocean" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and R. H. Barlow. Barlow drafted the tale, and handed it to Lovecraft to edit in the summer of 1936. It first appeared in the magazine The Californian, in its Winter 1936 edition. It tells of an unnamed artist, who, whilst vacationing by the beach, becomes increasingly unsettled by the presence of the ocean.
"Candle-Light" is a rare tale by the little-known author, Louise Garwood. A classic ghost story, the work debuted in the November 1925 edition of Weird Tales.
"The Green Flame" is a short story by Donald Wandrei. The tale, which tells of a strange jewel, debuted in Weird Tales Magazine in July 1930.
"Fessenden's Worlds" is a tale of cosmic horror by Edmond Hamilton. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in April 1937, was described as follows: “Like a young god, Fessenden created a miniature universe, but his unholy meddling with the lives and destinies of his creations brought about a startling catastrophe…”
"The Thing on the Doorstep" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos universe. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales.
"The Body Snatcher" is a short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). First published in the Pall Mall Christmas "Extra" in December 1884, its characters were based on criminals in the employ of real-life surgeon Robert Knox (1791–1862) around the time of the notorious Burke and Hare murders (1828).
"A Neighbour's Landmark" is a short story by M. R. James, from his collection, 'A Warning to the Curious'. It is often cited as a classic example of 'Sylvan Dread', the inexplicable fear of woods or forests.
"The Cask of Amontillado" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him.
"The Night Wire", by American author, H. F. Arnold, tells of two night wire operators, one of whom receives a disturbing report of a mysterious fog enveloping a small, unfamiliar town by the name of Xebico.
This "Special Edition" production is a reworking of our original 2017 recording, including sound effects and ambient music.
Sound Design by Jennifer Gill Narration and Ambient Music by Ian Gordon
"The Magic Mirror" is a short story by the British author, Algernon Blackwood. The tale, which first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in September 1938, tells of a stranger from Tibet, and a peculiar devil-mirror famed for bringing both death and riches.
"The Lure of Atlantis" by the five-time Weird Tales contributor, Joel Martin Nichols, Jr., debuted in WT in its April 1925 edition. The story tells of an expedition into the heart of the lost city of Atlantis.
"The Horror in the Lighthouse" is a finished version of Poe's last work, "The Light-House". Robert Bloch, who quite literally picked up where Poe left off, completed the story and saw it published in the magazine FANTASTIC in 1953. The 2019 movie "The Lighthouse" began as an attempt to adapt Poe’s fragment.
"Uneasy Lie the Drowned" is a short story by Donald Wandrei. The tale, concerning a troubling lake crossing, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in December 1937.
"The Nameless Offspring" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith. The tale, which first appeared in Strange Tales of Mystery in Terror back in June 1932, tells of a man's troubling stay at a remote property in the English countryside.
"The Uncharted Isle" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith. The tale tells of a sailor lost at sea, who happens upon an island previously unknown to man. The story first appeared in the November 1930 issue of Weird Tales.
"The Rats in the Walls" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in August–September 1923, it was first published in Weird Tales, March 1924. The story tells of an American named Delapore, who restores an ancestral estate in rural England following the death of his son in the First World War. Unfortunately, and to the dismay of his neighbours, Delapore—with the exception of his cat—isn't the priory's only occupant...
"Warning Wings" by the mysterious author, Arlton Eadie, first appeared in the September 1929 edition of Weird Tales. In the story, a man recounts an experience he once had involving a seemingly insignificant white moth.
“Suzanne” by J. Joseph-Renaud, first started to bloom in the April 1930 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. The tale was described as follows: “A grisly plant horror was spawned in the steaming vapors of Dr. Salzmann’s nursery—a giant, man-eating Nepenthes.”
"Abductor Minimi Digit" is a short story by the little-known author, Ralph Milne Farley. It first appeared in Weird Tales in its January 1932 edition, described as “A peculiar little story about a man who learned how to move his left little toe by will-power.”
In this story, first published in the February 1928 edition of Weird Tales Magazine, a terrified individual recounts the details of a strange, recurring nightmare.
"The Nameless City" is a horror story written by American writer H. P. Lovecraft in January 1921 and first published in the November 1921 issue of the amateur press journal The Wolverine. It is often considered the first Cthulhu Mythos story.
"The Grave" by the one-time Weird Tales contributor, Orville R. Emerson, tells of a soldier who finds himself buried alive in Flanders. The story appeared in the first ever edition of Weird Tales magazine, in March of 1923.
"The Damned Thing" is a horror short story written by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It first appeared in Tales from New York Town Topics on December 7, 1893.
"The Gorgon" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith. The tale, which first appeared in Weird Tales back in April 1932, was described as follows: “A thrill-tale of the snaky-locked Medusa and a fantastic adventure in modern London.”
Penned by British writer, William Hope Hodgson, The Voice in the Night tells of a schooner at sea, approached in the middle of the night by a small rowboat. The passenger aboard the boat, who refuses to bring his boat close alongside and requests that the sailors on the schooner put away their lanterns, tells a disturbing tale.
"The Parasitic Hand" is a short story by the author and editor, R. Anthony. A work of body horror, the tale first appeared in Weird Tales in its November 1926 edition.
"The Open Window" tells the tale of Framton Nuttel, a nervous man, who has come to stay in the country for his health. His sister, who thinks he should socialise while he is there, has given him letters of introduction to families in the neighbourhood whom she got to know when she was staying there a few years previously. Framton goes to visit Mrs Sappleton and, while he is waiting for her to come down, is entertained by her fifteen-year-old, witty niece. The niece tells him that the French window is kept open, even though it is October, because Mrs Sappleton believes that her husband and her brothers, who were killed in a shooting accident three years before, will come back one day.
"The Horla" is an 1887 horror story by French author, Guy de Maupassant. In the tale, a man is haunted by an invisible presence, an entity with attributes and motivations beyond his capability to comprehend.
"Dark Mummery" is a short story by the American author, Thorp McClusky. It first appeared in Weird Tales in November 1944, and was given the following synopsis: "Beware of a 'reputedly' haunted house. The reputation may be well earned."
"The Shadow over Innsmouth" is a horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in November–December 1931. It forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using its motif of a malign undersea civilization, and references several shared elements of the Mythos, including place-names, mythical creatures, and invocations. The Shadow over Innsmouth is the only Lovecraft story which was published in book form during his lifetime.
"The Shadow over Innsmouth" is a horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in November–December 1931. It forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using its motif of a malign undersea civilization, and references several shared elements of the Mythos, including place-names, mythical creatures, and invocations. The Shadow over Innsmouth is the only Lovecraft story which was published in book form during his lifetime.
"The Shadow over Innsmouth" is a horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in November–December 1931. It forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using its motif of a malign undersea civilization, and references several shared elements of the Mythos, including place-names, mythical creatures, and invocations. The Shadow over Innsmouth is the only Lovecraft story which was published in book form during his lifetime.
"The Shadow over Innsmouth" is a horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in November–December 1931. It forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using its motif of a malign undersea civilization, and references several shared elements of the Mythos, including place-names, mythical creatures, and invocations. The Shadow over Innsmouth is the only Lovecraft story which was published in book form during his lifetime.
"The Shadow over Innsmouth" is a horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in November–December 1931. It forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using its motif of a malign undersea civilization, and references several shared elements of the Mythos, including place-names, mythical creatures, and invocations. The Shadow over Innsmouth is the only Lovecraft story which was published in book form during his lifetime.
"A Hunger Artist" (German: "Ein Hungerkünstler") is a short story by Franz Kafka first published in Die neue Rundschau in 1922. The story was also included in the collection A Hunger Artist (Ein Hungerkünstler), the last book Kafka prepared for publication, printed by Verlag Die Schmiede after Kafka's death. The protagonist, a hunger artist who experiences the decline in appreciation of his craft, is an archetypical creation of Kafka: an individual marginalized and victimized by society at large. The title of the story has been translated also to "A Fasting Artist" and "A Starvation Artist".
"The Silver Coffin" by American author, Robert Barbour Johnson, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine back in January 1939. The story tells of an ancient, metal coffin, and the legend surrounding what lies within.
"In Amundsen's Tent" is a short story by American writer, John Martin Leahy. It first appeared in Weird Tales in January 1928. Highly reminiscent of "The Thing", the tale tells of a horrifying discovery in the wilds of Antarctica.
"The Diary of Alonzo Typer" is a horror short story by H. P. Lovecraft and William Lumley. It tells of an occult researcher, who, following a journey to an abandoned, isolated house in upstate New York, disappears without a trace.
"The Hand" is a short story written in 1883 by French author, Guy de Maupassant. The story centres around the death of an Englishman, who kept a severed hand attached to the wall of his drawing room.
"The Malice of Inanimate Objects" is a short work by British author, M. R. James, first published in the magazine The Masquerade, June 1933. The work explores a rather interesting and unusual idea: the notion that 'inanimate objects' are out to harm us, in a variety of ways.
"The Hall Bedroom" is a short story by American author, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman. It's the tale of a peculiar room in a boarding house, told through the journal entries of a missing boarder.
"Masquerade" is the third published tale by the mysterious author, Mearle Prout (author of THE HOUSE OF THE WORM). This one, which appeared in WT in February 1937, was described by the magazine as follows: “A brief tale of a struggle against stark horror in a lantern-lit garden.”
"The Ensouled Violin" is a work of horror fiction by Russian occultist and Theosophy founder, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. In great depth, the story explores the relationship between man and music, and the enduring concept of entering into a bargain with the devil to achieve mastery of a musical instrument.
"House of Hate" is a short story by the American author, Allison V. Harding. The story first appeared in Weird Tales back in January 1944, and was described as follows: “An evil house begets evil dwellers—and silently revels in the black deeds perpetrated within its walls.”
"The Demon Lover" is a story by Irish novelist and short story writer, Elizabeth Bowen. The tale tells of a lady, who, during the Second World War, discovers a letter, reminding her of an appointment she made with a soldier many years earlier.
"In the Walls of Eryx" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Co-written with the American physician, Kenneth Sterling, the tale revolves around the experiences of a prospector on Venus who becomes trapped within an invisible, mazelike structure.
"The Last Incarnation" by the American science fiction author, Wallace West, first appeared in Weird Tales in October 1930. The story tells of an evil presence lingering close to the dying form of a little boy.
"The Abyss" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story by Robert W. Lowndes. The story was described by Stirring Science Stories back in February 1941 as follows: “A tale of a ghastly journey down a little strip in the center of a rug!”
"Vulthoom" is a short story by the American author, Clark Ashton Smith. In the story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in September 1935, two Earthmen on Mars find themselves trapped in the heart of a vast, underground city.
Penned by American writer, Philip K. Dick, The Hanging Stranger tells of Ed Loyce, an ordinary salesman who happens upon a body suspended from a lamppost on his way to work. The story was adapted by Dee Rees into the episode "Kill All Others" or "K.A.O." for the 2017 television series, Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams.
"The Black Crusader" by British author, Alicia Ramsey, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in January 1926. The story tells of a furtive thief, who, following his despoiling of a legendary tomb, is about to be appropriately punished for his crimes.
"The Invaders" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story by Henry Kuttner. Written under the pseudonym Keith Hammond, it was first published in the February 1939 edition of Strange Stories. The tale tells of a unique writer, who accidentally unleashes the hellspawn of a forgotten age upon the Earth.
"Church in the Jungles" is a tale of a fortuitous discovery in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest.
"The Black Kiss" is a short story by Robert Bloch and Henry Kuttner. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in June 1937, tells of the thing that swam in the black waters off California. It is notable, in that it's the second story by Kuttner to feature the occultist, Michael Leigh (the first, being THE SALEM HORROR which you can find over on HB's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94sW00FhX48&t=0s)
"Lukundoo" by American author Edward Lucas White, first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in November 1925. In this terrifying tale of body horror, an intrepid explorer incurs the wrath of a witch doctor, in deepest Africa.
"Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder" is a collection of occult detective short stories by English writer William Hope Hodgson.
"The House Among the Laurels" A deserted mansion in Ireland displays signs of haunting, including what appears to be blood dripping from the ceiling, and several men have been found dead in the house. Is it a prank or a haunting?
"Lost Hearts" tells of a young orphan boy, summoned by an older cousin to live with him at a remote country mansion. The boy begins to question his cousin's intentions, following a spell of mysterious visions.
"The Cat-Woman" is a short story by American author, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, first published in Weird Tales in October 1933. The tale involves an unusual case of anthropomorphism in a quiet boarding house.
"The Statement of Randolph Carter" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in December 1919, it was first published in The Vagrant, May 1920. The story tells of the antiquarian, Randolph Carter, and the strange disappearance of his friend in an ancient graveyard.
"The Thing in the Cellar" is a short story by American author, David H. Keller. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in March of 1932, tells of a terrified little boy, and his fear of what might be lurking in the basement.
"The Trap" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and the regular Weird Tales contributor, Henry S. Whitehead. The story, which first appeared in the publication, Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, in its March 1932 edition, tells of a curious mirror, and the boy who took an unfortunate interest in it.
"Far Below" is a short story by the American author, Robert Barbour Johnson. The story, which first surfaced in the June-July 1939 edition of Weird Tales, tells of dreadful creatures burrowing up into the New York subway.
"The Red Lodge" is a classic ghost story by British author, H. Russell Wakefield, which first appeared in his 1928 collection, THEY RETURN AT EVENING.
"The Disinterment of Venus" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith. The tale, which first debuted in Weird Tales in its July 1934 edition, tells of a curious statue unearthed in the grounds of a monastery.
"The King in Yellow" is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published in 1895. The book comprises ten individual tales, several of which are thematically linked by a controversial play with which the novel shares its title.
"The King in Yellow" is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published in 1895. The book comprises ten individual tales, several of which are thematically linked by a controversial play with which the novel shares its title.
"The King in Yellow" is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published in 1895. The book comprises ten individual tales, several of which are thematically linked by a controversial play with which the novel shares its title.
"The King in Yellow" is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published in 1895. The book comprises ten individual tales, several of which are thematically linked by a controversial play with which the novel shares its title.
"The King in Yellow" is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published in 1895. The book comprises ten individual tales, several of which are thematically linked by a controversial play with which the novel shares its title.
"Sredni Vashtar" is a short story written by Saki between 1900 and 1911 and initially published in his book The Chronicles of Clovis. The tale tells of a sickly boy by the name of Conradin, who keeps a curious secret locked away in the garden shed.
"The Festival" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft written in October 1923 and published in the January 1925 issue of Weird Tales. It is considered to be one of the first of his Cthulhu Mythos stories.
Penned by American writer, Ray Bradbury, The Pendulum tells of an unusual punishment bestowed upon a scientist responsible for the deaths of his contemporaries.
Written by British writer, A. M. Burrage, The Waxwork tells of a journalist who chooses to spend the night alone in a wax museum.
"In the Forest of Villefére" is a tale of lycanthropy by Robert E. Howard. One of Howard’s earliest offerings, the story first appeared in Weird Tales back in August 1925.
Written by French author, George G. Toudouze, the story tells of a lighthouse keeper's terrifying ordeal whilst stationed at a remote light on the infamous rock, Three Skeleton Key.
"The Signal-Man" is a short story by Charles Dickens, first published as part of the Mugby Junction collection in the 1866 Christmas edition of All the Year Round. The tale tells of a railway signal-man who relates the details of a ghost that has been haunting him.
"The Screaming Skull" is a short story by American author, Francis Marion Crawford, first published in the magazine, Collier’s, in 1908. The story, told in first-person, tells of a curious, haunted skull, and of the teller’s possible link to it.
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature"; and was written by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. Originally published by The San Francisco Examiner on July 13, 1890, it was first collected in Bierce's 1891 book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. The story, which is set during the Civil War, is famous for its irregular time sequence and twist ending. Bierce's abandonment of strict linear narration in favor of the internal mind of the protagonist is considered an early example of experimentation with stream of consciousness.
"The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis" is a short story by the American author, Clark Ashton Smith. In the story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in May 1932, a group of explorers on Mars venture into the subterranean passages of a long-abandoned city ... with unfortunate consequences
A traveler in Sweden stumbles upon the history of a mysterious and ominous figure, Count Magnus.
Penned by American writer, Andre Alice Norton, All Cats Are Gray tells the story of Steena of the Spaceways, and her search for the derelict pleasure-ship, the Empress of Mars.
Penned by American writer, Clark Ashton Smith, The Dweller in the Gulf tells of three earthmen exploring a mysterious cave system on Mars.
Penned by Welsh writer, Arthur Machen, The Shining Pyramid tells of mysterious stones that begin to appear in unusual arrangements on the edge of a man's land.
"It Will Grow on You" is a short story by Donald Wandrei. A peculiar tale of body horror, the story first appeared in Esquire Magazine in its April 1942 edition.
Written by British writer, Edith Nesbit, The Ebony Frame is the story of a beautiful and curiously carved picture frame, imbued with a mysterious allure.
"The Empty House" is a ghost story by Algernon Blackwood. In the tale, a young man and his elderly aunt explore an abandoned house with a nefarious history.
"A:B:O." is a short story by Walter de la Mare, written under the pen name, Walter Ramal. The story first appeared in The Cornhill Magazine in the late 1890s. It tells of the discovery and excavation of a strange, metallic chest.
Written by American writer, Philip K. Dick in 1953, the tale tells of a boy who has befriended the native inhabitants of an alien planet conquered by human beings. But his relationship with the beetle-like creatures is about to be tested.
"The Alchemist" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in 1908. The tale, which first appeared in the magazine, United Amateur, in 1916, centres around a man’s quest for answers with regards to the mysterious deaths of his ancestors, all of whom died at approximately thirty-two years of age.
"Demons of the Sea" is a short story by British author, William Hope Hodgson. The tale tells of ship’s terrifying encounter with something altogether monstrous, in the humid, sea mists.
"The Death of Halpin Frayser" is a short story by American author, Ambrose Bierce. The tale tells of a man, who, out in the wilderness, apparently dies at the hands of his deceased mother.
"Caterpillars" is a short story by British author, E. F. Benson, from his 1912 collection, The Room in the Tower and Other Stories. The story tells of the Villa Cascana in Italy, in which a former guest recites a tale involving the truly terrible things he witnessed belonging to a certain room on a certain landing.
"An Unnatural Feud" by British author, Norman Douglas, first appeared in The Cavalier in December 1908. The tale tells of a toxic relationship, between mother and son.
"The People of the Pit" is a short story by American writer Abraham Merritt. The story first appeared in All-Story Weekly in January 1918. It tells of an individual who descended much too deeply into the heart of the Earth.
"The Hound" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft in September 1922 and published in the February 1924 issue of Weird Tales. It contains the first mention of Lovecraft's fictional text the Necronomicon.
"To Build a Fire" is a short story by American author Jack London. This is the 1908 version, an oft-cited example of the naturalist movement that portrays the conflict of man vs. nature.
"Catnip" is a short story by American author, Robert Bloch, first published by Weird Tales Magazine in March 1948. The story tells of a young boy, who accidentally burns down the house of an evil old woman.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" is a short story by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. It is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's health, both physical and mental.
"A Suspicious Gift" is a short story by Algernon Blackwood, included as part of his collection, 'The Empty House', first printed in 1906.
While investigating a Templar ruin for a colleague, a Cambridge professor stumbles upon a whistle bearing two unusual inscriptions. What should happen if he blows it?
"The Black Stone" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by American author, Robert E. Howard, first published in the November 1931 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. Notably, it marks the first appearance of the fictional work, the Unaussprechlichen Kulten, by Friedrich von Junzt. The story tells of an occult researcher's pursuit of a curious, sinister monolith in the mountains of Hungary.
"The Crawling Chaos" is a short story by American author, H. P. Lovecraft, based on a dream once described to him by fellow-author, Winifred V. Jackson, in which the consequences of dabbling with opium were experienced. It was first published in the 1943 collection, Beyond the Wall of Sleep.
"Chickamauga" is a short story by American author, Ambrose Bierce. A child strays into the forest, only to become embroiled in something beyond his comprehension.
"The Thing From the Barrens" is a short story by the American author, Jim Kjelgaard. The tale, which first appeared in Weird Tales in September 1945, tells of a strange entity that made its way into a small town in Northern Canada.
In this tale, first published in the May 1932 edition of Weird Tales Magazine, we learn of a screaming fear, let loose from bondage after having been buried for more than three hundred years.
"Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder" is a collection of occult detective short stories by English writer William Hope Hodgson.
"The Gateway of the Monster" - In an ancient mansion, the bedroom known as the Grey Room was the site of a grisly murder generations ago. Carnacki is summoned to investigate a noisy spirit that tears off the bedclothes and slams the door(s).
"The Lurking Fear" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November 1922, it was first published in the January through April 1923 issues of Home Brew.
"The Mandrakes" is a short story by American horror fiction writer Clark Ashton Smith, first published in the February 1933 issue of Weird Tales Magazine.
"Stranger at Dusk" is a short story by the little-known author, Malcolm Kenneth Murchie. The story, which first emerged in the November 1949 edition of Weird Tales, follows the plight of a small boy who is visited by a mysterious stranger in black.
"Mr. Hyde—and Seek" by American author Malcolm Ferguson, is the second story to feature Thomas Chadwick, a character inspired by William Hope Hodgson’s paranormal investigator, Thomas Carnacki. The story, which appeared in the May 1950 edition of Weird Tales, concerns paranormal activity in a New England farmhouse.
"A Ghost" is a short story by French author, Guy de Maupassant. The tale tells of a suspected case of haunting in a remote, deserted chateau.
"The Specter Priestess of Wrightstone" is a rare weird tale by the little-known author, Herman F. Wright. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in January 1925, tells of a ghostly legend surrounding a haunted, English castle.
"The Red Room" is a short gothic story written by H. G. Wells in 1894. It was first published in the March 1896 edition of The Idler magazine. An unnamed protagonist chooses to spend the night in an allegedly haunted room in Lorraine Castle. He intends to disprove the legends surrounding it. Despite vague warnings from the three infirm custodians who reside in the castle, the narrator ascends to "the Red Room" to begin his night's vigil.
"The House of Cards" by American author Malcolm Ferguson, introduces the character, Thomas Chadwick, inspired by William Hope Hodgson’s paranormal investigator, Thomas Carnacki. The story, which appeared in the September 1947 edition of Weird Tales, tells of a curious series of incidents revolving around a particular set of tarot cards.
"The Dance of Death" is a short story by British writer, Algernon Blackwood. The story of a frail young man, who, despite warnings from his doctor, attends a dance, with inevitable consequences.
"Two Black Bottles" is the result of a collaboration between H. P. Lovecraft and Wilfrid Branch Talman. It was first published in Weird Tales Magazine in August 1927. In the story, the narrator, Hoffman, recounts a trip into the Ramapo Mountains of New York, following the death of his uncle.