Spooky Stuff

The Vampyre is a short novel written by John William Polidori and is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction. The Vampyre is a part of the Monstrous Creatures collection on Lit2Go.

Beowulf is an epic Anglo-Saxon tale of adventure that follows Beowulf as he battles the monster Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and a dragon. This translation, by Professor Francis Gummere, was first published in 1910. Beowulf is a part of the Monstrous Creatures collection on Lit2Go.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a suspense novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating the tale of Dr. Jekyll, and his menacing alter ego Mr. Hyde. The novel is a part of the Monstrous Creatures collection on Lit2Go.

The narrator finds it increasingly difficult to conceal an act of violence from the authorities.

It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognising as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said—

The reader will remember that this mark, although large, had been originally very indefinite; but, by slow degrees—degrees nearly imperceptible, and which for a long time my Reason struggled to reject as fanciful—it had, at length, assumed a rigorous distinctness of outline. It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name—and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared—it was now, I say, the image of a hideous—of a ghastly thing—of the GALLOWS!—oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime—of Agony and of Death….

An old friend is summoned to his childhood friend’s home to comfort him during his final days of an illness only to witness strange and horrifying happenings in the House of Usher.

A priest looks for lodging in the night and is given shelter by an old woman. She goes to gather more wood, and she tells him not to look in the back room. Curiosity gets the better of him, and he looks in the room and sees horrible things.

Dragons, griffins, wyverns and other mythological monsters from the ClipArt ETC website.

Small gallery of Central Burying Ground photos, Boston, from the ClipPix ETC website.