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All myths have some truth at the very center of it when it was first retold around the light of a fire, and usually, it's the most horrible part of it.
Gertrude Bacon is known for her work "The Gorgon's Head," a horror story published in The Strand Magazine in 1899. The story involves Captain Brander recounting a strange and terrifying experience to his passenger, Miss Baker, about an incident that occurred on the island of Zante. Gertrude Bacon was also a British aeronautical pioneer. She achieved a considerable number of "firsts" for women in aeronautics, as well as making contributions in the areas of astronomy and botany.
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There are places that are full of nothing except death, and there's only one outcome for the living when they stumble upon it. Two Swedish youths make an unchaperoned, overnight trip to a nearby village. On the return journey they lose their way and find themselves wandering through a terrifying realm.
"The Dead Valley" is a short story written by Ralph Adams Cram, an American architect known for his work in the Gothic Revival style. The story is part of a collection titled "Black Spirits and White: A Book of Ghost Stories," published in 1895. The protagonist, Olof Ehrensvrd, recounts a chilling experience in a mysterious valley that seems to possess a malevolent consciousness, drawing him to a dead tree at its center and attempting to trap him there as mist seeps from the ground. ![]()
Torturing an enemy is meant to break him in spirit and body, but for some enemies the only result is the resolve to have their revenge one way or another.
William Chambers Morrow, born in 1854 and died in 1923, is an American author renowned for his short stories of horror and suspense. "His Unconquerable Enemy," one of his most famous works, tells the story of a servant seeking revenge against a cruel rajah. ![]()
Arrogance only leads down the road of anguish and despair, and because of the arrogance one only realizes it when it's too late.
Solve -- if you dare -- the grim enigma of the shaggy-browed monster from the dawn of Earth -- who spoke with human tongue... In February 1919 Max Brand published "That Receding Brow" in the magazine "All Story Weekly"---a story of adventures regarding discovery in Africa of a missing link prehistoric caveman. ![]()
Trapped and snowbound on the Arctic wastelands, a crew doesn't know whether to fear the mysterious figure they see in the distance, or their captain which seems to be slowly going mad.
"The Captain of the 'Pole-Star'" is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in 1883. The story is set on a whaling expedition in the Arctic Ocean and is narrated by John M'Alister Ray, a medical student on board the ship Pole-Star, captained by Nicholas Craigie. The crew becomes trapped in the ice, and tension rises due to the captain's erratic behavior and the mysterious apparitions reported by the crew members. ![]()
Even if there's no human to witness an evil deed, you can't outrun a curse that's bound to catch up to you sooner or later.
A truly superb Weird Western from Robert E. Howard, published in Argosy in 1936 and showing the author at the height of his powers. An almost perfect story of vengeance, in the rough and ready world of the 1870s. ![]()
An unusual neighbor that insists on keeping his apartment cold as an ice-box, and when you touch his skin it's colder still, doubtless skulduggery is afoot.
The narrator offers a story to explain why a "draught of cool air" is the most detestable thing to him. His tale begins in the spring of 1923, when he was looking for housing in New York City. He finally settles in a converted brownstone on West Fourteenth Street. Investigating a chemical leak from the floor above, he discovers that the inhabitant directly overhead is a strange, old, and reclusive physician. One of the three stories that Lovecraft wrote during his exile to New York in 1926. ![]()
A lonely boy with an overactive imagination finds something in the attic. Is it a bid for attention from his forgetful parents or a dark family secret?
Written by Ray Bradbury in 1944. He is one of the most celebrated American writers of the 20th century, renown for stories in the fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery genres. ![]()
The Black Island, Being the Narrative of Horvath Blayne" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by August Derleth. | There is an island in the South Pacific that surfaces only at certain times, and it serves as the portal for the ultimate evil.
In the story, the protagonist, Horvath Blayne, encounters the Black Island, a mysterious place where Cthulhu is believed to be hidden. The story is notable for its blend of Lovecraftian horror and Derleth's own interpretation of the Cthulhu Mythos. ![]()
The Gorge Beyond Salapunco: The Testimony of Claiborne Boyd" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story by August Derleth, part of his Trail of Cthulhu series. | Everyone has a crazy uncle in the family, but what if your crazy uncle turns out to be an Indiana Jones who sends you a map on where to confront evil beings from another dimension? What then?
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Ignorance is bliss, knowledge brings no happiness or safety when you are confronted with the reality of great evil.
"The Watcher from the Sky" is a novelette written by August Derleth and is part of the Cthulhu Mythos series. It was first published in the July 1945 issue of Weird Tales and later included in the 1962 collection "The Trail of Cthulhu". The story follows Abel Keane, a divinity student in Boston, Massachusetts, who has some experience as a stage hypnotist and has taught himself psychic abilities, including telepathy. One night, Keane returns to his apartment and encounters a mysterious entity. ![]()
You would think that working for an eccentric professor poses only one threat... boredom. Unless he can travel between dimensions and wants you to come along.
"The House on Curwen Street" is a short story by August Derleth, which is the first in his series "The Trail of Cthulhu." It was initially published in the March 1944 edition of Weird Tales under the title "The Trail of Cthulhu" and later reprinted by Arkham House in the collection "The Trail of Cthulhu" in 1962. The story introduces elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, including the Deep Ones and the byakhee, which are creatures that can transport individuals to other times or places through inter-dimensional travel. In the narrative, characters such as Laban Shrewsbury, Andrew Phelan, and Timoto Fernandez are involved. ![]()
What if the missing link is not a primate, but something much slimier?
"The Seal of R'lyeh" is a short story by August Derleth, first published in 1957 under the title "The Seal of the Damned" in the July 1957 issue of Fantastic Universe Science Fiction.2 It was later included in the 1962 collection "The Mask of Cthulhu". The story is part of the Cthulhu Mythos and involves themes of good versus evil. In "The Seal of R'lyeh," Derleth suggests that R'lyeh, the sunken city where Cthulhu is imprisoned, might be an enormous ring-shaped sunken continent that extends from the South Pacific all the way to the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts. ![]()
Selling your soul is easy enough, it's when the time comes to honor your end of the deal that things get dicey.
"The Sandwin Compact" is a novelette written by August Derleth, first published in Weird Tales in November 1940. The story is narrated by Dave, who spends summers at his uncle Asa's house. Uncle Asa exhibits unusual behavior, such as responding oddly to the call of a sea-bird, which Eldon reveals was not a bird at all but something else communicating with Asa. Dave experiences strange dreams and finds the house smelling of fish and with phantom footsteps and vocal sounds. Upon investigating, they find Uncle Asa arguing with something that croaks in an unknown language and the room dripping and wet, leading to Uncle Asa's confession that the Sandwin family has been selling off its oldest sons to Cthulhuoid hordes for generations to maintain their wealth. ![]()
Evil beings from a distant dimension use the most unusual items to punch a hole into our reality.
"Something in Wood" is a short story by August Derleth that was first published in the March 1948 issue of Weird Tales. The story revolves around Jason Wecter, an art critic and collector of weird and macabre artwork, who wishes to obtain a wooden bas-relief that would complement his collection. His friend Pinckney finds a dark and heavy wooden sculpture of an octopoid creature in a second-hand shop in Portland, Maine, and purchases it as a gift for Wecter. The inscription on the base of the sculpture is in an unidentified language and reads: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn". |
Nightshade Diary Podcast MP3 FilesMarleneFrom the pages of Nightshade Diary come the haunting and hair-raising tales of ghosts, murder and mayhem. Who's hiding in the closet? What's under the bed? You'll be asking yourself these questions after you listen to these creepalicious tales that'll have you leaving the lights on when you go to sleep. Sources & Credits
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