horror

The Red Room

April 8, 2019 By H.G. Wells in Old Stories Tags: horror, ghosts, H.G. Wells, fear

“I can assure you,” said I, “that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.” And I stood up before the fire with my glass in my hand. “It is your own choosing,” said the man with the withered arm, and glanced at me askance. “Eight-and-twenty years,” said I, “I have lived, and never a ghost have I seen as yet.” The old woman sat staring hard into the fire, her pale eyes wide open. “Ay,” she broke in; “and eight-and-twenty years you have lived and never seen the likes of this house, I reckon. There’s a many [Read More]

The Pumpkin Giant

October 31, 2018 By Mary Wilkins Freeman in Old Stories Tags: public domain stories, pumpkin, giants, horror, ghost stories

A very long time ago, before our grandmother’s time, or our great-grandmother’s, or our grandmothers’ with a very long string of greats prefixed, there were no pumpkins; people had never eaten a pumpkin-pie, or even stewed pumpkin; and that was the time when the Pumpkin Giant flourished. Although a children’s story, The Pumpkin Giant is plenty dark, even with its happy ending (no spoilers here!). This text is from a collection of updated tales and legends of the season called The Topaz Story Book: Stories and Legends of Autumn, Hallowe’en, and Thanksgiving, which is available, along with additional season-specific tomes, at [Read More]

The Cask of Amontillado

October 22, 2018 By Edgar Allan Poe in Old Stories Tags: horror, old stories, ghost stories, public domain stories, Edgar Allan Poe

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely settled—but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to [Read More]

An Arrest

October 19, 2018 By Ambrose Bierce in Old Stories Tags: public domain stories, horror, old stories, ghost stories, Ambrose Bierce

Having murdered his brother-in-law, Orrin Brower of Kentucky was a fugitive from justice. From the county jail where he had been confined to await his trial he had escaped by knocking down his jailer with an iron bar, robbing him of his keys and, opening the outer door, walking out into the night. The jailer being unarmed, Brower got no weapon with which to defend his recovered liberty. As soon as he was out of the town he had the folly to enter a forest; this was many years ago, when that region was wilder than it is now. Present [Read More]

The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh

October 18, 2018 By Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu in Old Stories Tags: horror, old stories, ghost stories, public domain stories, Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu

In the south of Ireland, and on the borders of the county of Limerick, there lies a district of two or three miles in length, which is rendered interesting by the fact that it is one of the very few spots throughout this country in which some vestiges of aboriginal forests still remain. It has little or none of the lordly character of the American forest, for the axe has felled its oldest and its grandest trees; but in the close wood which survives live all the wild and pleasing peculiarities of nature: its complete irregularity, its vistas, in whose [Read More]

The Armless Man

October 17, 2018 By W.G. Litt in Old Stories Tags: horror, old stories, ghost stories, public domain stories, W.G. Litt

I first met Bob Masters in the hotel at a place called Fourteen Streams, not very far from Kimberley. I had for some months been trying to find gold or diamonds by digging holes in the veldt. But since this has little or nothing to do with the story, I pass by my mining adventures and come back to the hotel. I came to it very readily that afternoon, for I was very thirsty. Many of these older horror stories rely on the shock of the ghastly revelation for their emotional payoff. “The Armless Man” deploys its revelation to shock [Read More]

At the Gate

October 16, 2018 By Myla Jo Closser in Old Stories Tags: horror, ghost stories, public domain stories, Myla Jo Closser, dog stories

A shaggy Airedale scented his way along the highroad. He had not been there before, but he was guided by the trail of his brethren who had preceded him. He had gone unwillingly upon this journey, yet with the perfect training of dogs he had accepted it without complaint. The path had been lonely, and his heart would have failed him, traveling as he must without his people, had not these traces of countless dogs before him promised companionship of a sort at the end of the road. This shaggy dog tale has been widely published in ghost story collections, [Read More]

An Episode at the Cathedral

October 15, 2018 By M. R. James in Old Stories Tags: horror, old stories, ghost stories, public domain stories, M.R. James

There was once a learned gentleman who was deputed to examine and report upon the archives of the Cathedral of Southminster. The examination of these records demanded a very considerable expenditure of time: hence it became advisable for him to engage lodgings in the city: for though the Cathedral body were profuse in their offers of hospitality, Mr. Lake felt that he would prefer to be master of his day. This was recognized as reasonable. The Dean eventually wrote advising Mr. Lake, if he were not already suited, to communicate with Mr. Worby, the principal Verger, who occupied a house [Read More]

The Horla

October 12, 2018 By Guy De Maupassant in Old Stories Tags: old stories, ghost stories, public domain stories, horror, Guy de Maupassant

May 8th. What a lovely day! I have spent all the morning lying in the grass in front of my house, under the enormous plantain tree which covers it, and shades and shelters the whole of it. I like this part of the country and I am fond of living here because I am attached to it by deep roots, profound and delicate roots which attach a man to the soil on which his ancestors were born and died, which attach him to what people think and what they eat, to the usages as well as to the food, local [Read More]

The Damned Thing

October 11, 2018 By Ambrose Bierce in Old Stories Tags: horror, old stories, ghost stories, Ambrose Bierce, free stories, public domain stories

By the light of a tallow candle, which had been placed on one end of a rough table, a man was reading something written in a book. It was an old account book, greatly worn; and the writing was not, apparently, very legible, for the man sometimes held the page close to the flame of the candle to get a stronger light upon it. The shadow of the book would then throw into obscurity a half of the room, darkening a number of faces and figures; for besides the reader, eight other men were present. Seven of them sat against [Read More]

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