Horror Stories.

The Shunned House by H. P. Lovecraft.  
"The Shunned House" is a horror novelette by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in October 1924 and first published in the October 1937 issue of Weird Tales magazine. 
The story centers on a long-abandoned colonial house on Benefit Street in Providence, Rhode Island, whose unhealthy atmosphere and grim history of causing wasting illnesses, anemia-like conditions, mental deterioration, and premature deaths among occupants since the 1760s have earned it a local reputation as cursed or unlivable. 
The unnamed narrator, fascinated by the house since childhood due to its decaying exterior, foul-smelling cellar filled with grotesque phosphorescent fungi, and persistent rumors of unnatural misfortune, joins his uncle Dr. Elihu Whipple—a physician and antiquarian—in a thorough historical and scientific investigation of the property's past. 
Their research uncovers a pattern of tragedy beginning with the house's first inhabitants, the Harris family, and extending through successive tenants, with no healthy children ever born there and many residents succumbing to progressive physical and mental decline. The trail leads back to an earlier occupant, French Huguenot refugee Etienne Roulet, whose family was linked to disturbing occult associations and folklore reminiscent of vampirism or lycanthropy, including connections to historical figures accused of similar crimes. Rejecting purely superstitious interpretations, the protagonists develop a rational hypothesis positing an extradimensional entity or modified vital force that feeds on human life energy, manifesting through fungous growths and emanations that drain vitality from those nearby. 
This approach exemplifies Lovecraft's fusion of Gothic haunted-house conventions with emerging cosmic horror elements, treating the supernatural as a potentially explicable phenomenon rooted in unknown aspects of reality rather than traditional ghosts or demons. The tale draws direct inspiration from a real 18th-century house at 135 Benefit Street in Providence—where one of Lovecraft's aunts briefly lived—and from 19th-century New England vampire panics, in which communities exhumed bodies to combat tuberculosis attributed to the undead. As a transitional work in Lovecraft's career, "The Shunned House" bridges earlier influences from folklore and Edgar Allan Poe with his later Mythos framework of indifferent, otherworldly threats, and it is often noted for its vivid depictions of decay and its unusually hopeful resolution compared to much of his fiction. 

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The Alchemist by H. P. Lovecraft.  
"The Alchemist" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in 1908 when he was 17 years old and first published in the November 1916 issue of the amateur journal The United Amateur. Set in a decaying chateau in the mountains of France, the gothic horror tale follows the first-person narration of Antoine, the last descendant of the noble Comte de C—— family, whose lineage has been plagued by a curse causing all heirs to die before reaching the age of 32. The story centers on Antoine's discovery of the curse's origins, tied to a 13th-century ancestor's murder of the alchemist Michel Mauvais and the subsequent vengeance enacted by his son, Charles le Sorcier, who masters an elixir granting eternal life.  
As one of Lovecraft's earliest surviving works of fiction, "The Alchemist" exemplifies his youthful engagement with supernatural themes, drawing on gothic traditions of isolated aristocracy and forbidden knowledge. The narrative builds atmospheric dread through descriptions of the family's crumbling estate and the protagonist's growing awareness of his inescapable fate, culminating in a confrontation that reveals the persistence of ancestral sins. Key elements include the alchemical pursuit of immortality and the horror of eternal isolation, motifs that foreshadow Lovecraft's later explorations of cosmic insignificance and human frailty. 
The story's publication in The United Amateur marked Lovecraft's return to creative writing after a period of depression, encouraged by his correspondence with the amateur journalism community. Though not among his most famous works, "The Alchemist" is notable for its Poe-inspired structure and vivid evocation of revenge across centuries, influencing subsequent tales like "The Outsider." Critics have praised its economical prose and thematic depth despite the author's inexperience, highlighting it as a foundational piece in Lovecraft's oeuvre of weird fiction. 

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Nyarlathotep by H. P. Lovecraft.  
Nyarlathotep is a cosmic entity and fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos, created by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft as an amorphous, shape-shifting harbinger of chaos and destruction that actively engages with humanity to induce madness and reveal horrifying cosmic truths. Known by epithets such as the Crawling Chaos and the Mighty Messenger, Nyarlathotep embodies a destructive force tied to primitive cosmic cycles, manifesting in diverse forms ranging from a pharaoh-like human figure to monstrous, featureless entities, and serving as the intermediary between humanity and the indifferent, incomprehensible Outer Gods. Unlike other Outer Gods who remain distant and inert, Nyarlathotep delights in tormenting mortals through direct intervention, experimentation, and the dissemination of forbidden knowledge that shatters sanity. 
Lovecraft introduced Nyarlathotep in his 1920 prose poem "Nyarlathotep", first published in the November issue of The United Amateur, where the entity emerges from ancient Egypt as a dark prophet demonstrating bizarre scientific devices that foreshadow apocalyptic doom and drive observers into despair. In this debut appearance, Nyarlathotep is depicted as a tall, swarthy man of ancient native blood resembling a Pharaoh, who captivates and terrifies crowds in Providence and Boston with shows of otherworldly machinery, ultimately leading a procession into a night of cosmic horror. The poem portrays him as the soul animating the "blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles" of ancient cults, linking him to primordial Egyptian worship and evoking a sense of inevitable, mindless entropy. 
Throughout the Cthulhu Mythos, Nyarlathotep recurs in several of Lovecraft's works, assuming myriad avatars to advance the agenda of the Outer Gods, such as Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth, by sowing discord and preparing Earth for their return. In "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1931), he is invoked as the "Mighty Messenger" to whom all cosmic secrets must be reported, donning human disguises like waxen masks to deceive and manipulate. Similarly, in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927), Nyarlathotep appears as the "soul and messenger of the Other Gods," confronting the protagonist Randolph Carter at the onyx castle atop Unknown Kadath in the dream-realm and embodying infinite malice. Other manifestations include the Black Man of witch cults, underscoring his adaptability and pervasive influence across mythos narratives. 
Nyarlathotep's character draws from Lovecraft's fascination with ancient mysteries, occult parodies, and materialist cosmology, positioning him as a satirical figure who undermines human-centric views of the universe by enforcing a bleak, scientific indifference. His interactions often involve psychological torment, as seen in the sonnet "Nyarlathotep" from the 1930 cycle Fungi from Yuggoth, where he rises from the sea to unleash cataclysmic visions of lost worlds and elder horrors. This entity's enduring role in the mythos highlights themes of inevitable doom and the fragility of human reason against vast, uncaring forces.

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The White Ship by H. P. Lovecraft.  
"The White Ship" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, first published in the November 1919 issue of The United Amateur. It belongs to Lovecraft's early "Dream Cycle" of tales, which explore visionary journeys to otherworldly realms inspired by the works of Lord Dunsany, and centers on a lighthouse keeper's ethereal voyage aboard a mysterious vessel to idyllic yet perilous dreamlands.  
The narrative follows Basil Elton, the solitary keeper of the North Point light, who one night encounters a gleaming white ship crewed by silent, robed figures that beckons him aboard under the light of a full moon. As the ship sails beyond the known world, Elton visits enchanting locales such as the jeweled city of Zar, the twilight-haunted Thalarion, the rose-tinted isle of Xura, the land of pleasures unattained from which a charnel odor of plague wafts, and the blissful valley of Sona-Nyl, where time stands still and sorrow is unknown. Driven by longing, Elton urges the crew to pursue the fabled land of Cathuria, but the ship is ultimately dashed against uncharted basalt pillars in the west, forcing his return to the waking world amid omens of loss, symbolized by a dead bird and a broken spar washing ashore.  
Written in 1919 when Lovecraft was 29, the story exemplifies his early poetic style, blending cosmic wonder with subtle horror and allegorical elements drawn from Platonic ideals of transcendent beauty and the perils of human aspiration. It reflects Lovecraft's fascination with dream mythology, predating more elaborate Dream Cycle works like The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927), and has been analyzed for its exploration of escapism, the boundaries between reality and illusion, and the inexorable pull of the unknown. Though not among Lovecraft's most famous tales, "The White Ship" influenced later weird fiction and adaptations, including musical interpretations and references in broader cosmic horror traditions.

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The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce.  
"The Boarded Window: An Incident in the Life of an Ohio Pioneer" is a short horror story by American author Ambrose Bierce, first published on April 12, 1891, in the San Francisco Examiner and later included in his collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians later that year. Set in the untamed forests near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1830, the narrative centers on Murlock, a reclusive pioneer whose simple log cabin contains a single boarded-up window, the purpose of which puzzles local settlers. Through the recollections of the narrator's grandfather, the story delves into Murlock's tragic past, marked by profound loss and a terrifying nocturnal encounter that explains his withdrawal from society and the cabin's peculiar feature.
Bierce, known for his cynical wit and macabre tales influenced by his Civil War experiences, uses "The Boarded Window" to blend psychological horror with frontier gothic elements, emphasizing themes of grief, isolation, and the blurred line between reality and the supernatural. The story's sparse prose and ambiguous ending exemplify Bierce's mastery of the short form, contributing to its enduring popularity in American literature anthologies.

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The Beast in the Cave by H. P. Lovecraft.  
"The Beast in the Cave" is a short horror story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in the spring of 1905 when he was 14 years old and first published in the June 1918 issue of the amateur journal The Vagrant. Set in the real-world Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the narrative follows an unnamed tourist who becomes separated from his guide during a tour, loses his torch in the pitch-black depths, and encounters an unseen, predatory creature through sounds alone, leading to a desperate struggle for survival. 
The story emphasizes psychological terror derived from sensory isolation and the power of imagination in darkness, as the protagonist's fear amplifies the unknown into monstrous proportions. This early work foreshadows Lovecraft's signature themes of cosmic insignificance and the dread of subterranean horrors, though it lacks the fully developed mythos of his later fiction. Its publication marked Lovecraft's debut as a published fiction writer in an amateur journal, and it remains a key example of his juvenile output, preserved in the autograph manuscript held by Brown University.

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The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce/A Baby Tramp.  
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – circa 1914) was an American journalist, short story writer, and satirist whose acerbic prose critiqued human folly, war, and social hypocrisy.  
Born into poverty as the tenth of thirteen children to farming parents in rural Ohio, Bierce enlisted in the Union Army at age nineteen, serving with distinction in the 9th Indiana Infantry during the Civil War, where he was wounded at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864.  
His frontline experiences profoundly shaped his literary output, including the realist war tales in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891, later retitled In the Midst of Life), which depicted combat's psychological toll with unflinching detail, influencing later authors in the genre. After the war, Bierce pursued journalism in San Francisco, gaining notoriety for his "Prattler" column in William Randolph Hearst's Examiner, where his invective against politicians, corporations, and literary rivals earned him both acclaim and enmity. Bierce's crowning satirical achievement, The Devil's Dictionary (originally serialized as The Cynic's Word Book from 1881–1906), redefined over a thousand terms with mordant wit—such as "Marriage: the state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two"—exposing pretensions in language, religion, and authority.  
Other notable works encompassed supernatural fiction like "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," probing themes of illusion and mortality, and essays reflecting his avowed pessimism and disdain for optimism. In late 1913, at age 71, Bierce announced plans to witness the Mexican Revolution firsthand; his final letter, dated December 26 to his niece, indicated travel southward, after which he vanished without trace, spawning unverified theories of execution by revolutionaries, suicide, or fabricated demise amid the chaos. 

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A Dream of Red Hands by Bram Stoker.  
A Dream of Red Hands is a short story by the Irish author Bram Stoker, first published on 11 July 1894 in the London periodical The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality. The narrative follows a first-person account of an encounter with Jacob Settle, a depressed moorland farmer haunted by a vivid, recurring dream involving blood-stained red hands, which symbolizes deeper themes of guilt and moral reckoning. Though not part of Stoker's most famous work Dracula, the story exemplifies his interest in psychological horror and the supernatural, blending elements of folklore with introspective storytelling. 
Included posthumously in the 1914 collection Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories, the tale is noted for its atmospheric setting on the Yorkshire moors and its exploration of redemption through confession. Critics have described it as a morality play rather than outright horror, emphasizing human frailty and the consoling power of faith. The story's concise structure and evocative imagery have contributed to its enduring place in Stoker's lesser-known oeuvre, often anthologized alongside his other gothic tales.

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A Dream of Red Hands by Bram Stoker.  
A Dream of Red Hands is a short story by the Irish author Bram Stoker, first published on 11 July 1894 in the London periodical The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality. The narrative follows a first-person account of an encounter with Jacob Settle, a depressed moorland farmer haunted by a vivid, recurring dream involving blood-stained red hands, which symbolizes deeper themes of guilt and moral reckoning. Though not part of Stoker's most famous work Dracula, the story exemplifies his interest in psychological horror and the supernatural, blending elements of folklore with introspective storytelling. 
Included posthumously in the 1914 collection Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories, the tale is noted for its atmospheric setting on the Yorkshire moors and its exploration of redemption through confession. Critics have described it as a morality play rather than outright horror, emphasizing human frailty and the consoling power of faith. The story's concise structure and evocative imagery have contributed to its enduring place in Stoker's lesser-known oeuvre, often anthologized alongside his other gothic tales.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/horror-stories--7425161/support.

This episode includes AI-generated content.

A Dream of Red Hands by Bram Stoker.  
A Dream of Red Hands is a short story by the Irish author Bram Stoker, first published on 11 July 1894 in the London periodical The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality. The narrative follows a first-person account of an encounter with Jacob Settle, a depressed moorland farmer haunted by a vivid, recurring dream involving blood-stained red hands, which symbolizes deeper themes of guilt and moral reckoning. Though not part of Stoker's most famous work Dracula, the story exemplifies his interest in psychological horror and the supernatural, blending elements of folklore with introspective storytelling. 
Included posthumously in the 1914 collection Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories, the tale is noted for its atmospheric setting on the Yorkshire moors and its exploration of redemption through confession. Critics have described it as a morality play rather than outright horror, emphasizing human frailty and the consoling power of faith. The story's concise structure and evocative imagery have contributed to its enduring place in Stoker's lesser-known oeuvre, often anthologized alongside his other gothic tales.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/horror-stories--7425161/support.

This episode includes AI-generated content.