Halloween | Lecturia

Edgar Allan Poe: The Pit and the Pendulum

“The Pit and the Pendulum,” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in 1842, is a chilling tale that follows the anguish of a prisoner during the Spanish Inquisition. After being sentenced, the protagonist awakens in a dark and sinister cell, unaware of the fate that awaits him. In this claustrophobic place, he discovers that the punishment he has been assigned was conceived by a twisted and sadistic mind. Faced with various mechanisms of torture, the prisoner is subjected to extreme physical and psychological torment, where terror and despair become his only companions as he struggles to survive in this earthly hell.

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer: The White Doe

“The White Doe” (La corza blanca) is a short story by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, published in June 1863 in La América. The story is set in a small village in Aragon during the Middle Ages. Don Dionís, a retired knight, devotes himself to hunting in the company of his daughter Constanza, renowned for her extraordinary beauty. During one of their expeditions, the hunters encounter Esteban, a shepherd who tells them an unsettling story about the deer of the region and a mysterious white doe. Although the tale is met with skepticism by the hunters, Garcés, a young huntsman, decides to investigate the truth.

Frank Belknap Long: The Hounds of Tindalos

Synopsis: “The Hounds of Tindalos” is a short story by Frank Belknap Long, first published in Weird Tales in March 1929, within the Cthulhu Mythos universe. The story follows Halpin Chalmers, a scholar obsessed with the mysteries of time and space, who decides to carry out a daring experiment to prove his theories. Using a strange Asiatic substance that alters perception, Chalmers intends to travel mentally through time, witnessing the lives of his ancestors back to the very origins of humanity. However, what begins as a fascinating journey soon turns into a horrifying nightmare.

Richard Matheson: Button, Button

“Button, Button” is a disturbing short story by Richard Matheson, first published in Playboy magazine in June 1970. The story follows Norma and Arthur Lewis, who receive a strange package at their New York apartment. Inside, they find a device with a button protected by a glass dome, along with a note announcing a visit from Mr. Steward. When he arrives, he makes them a chilling offer: if they press the button, someone they don’t know will die — and they will receive fifty thousand dollars. This moral dilemma puts to the test the couple’s ethics and their deepest ambitions.

Guy de Maupassant: Fear (First Version)

“Fear” (La Peur) is a short story by Guy de Maupassant, whose first version was published in October 1882 in Le Gaulois. Aboard a ship sailing the Mediterranean, a group of passengers discusses the nature of fear. A mysterious traveler challenges the common understanding, defining true terror as a sensation that rends the soul—something quite different from mere anxiety in the face of danger. To illustrate his point, the man recounts two chilling experiences from his own life: one in the African desert and another in a French forest. These tales, tense and haunting, offer a disturbing reflection on fear and its effects on the human psyche.

Henry Kuttner: The Graveyard Rats

Synopsis: “The Graveyard Rats” is a horror short story by Henry Kuttner, first published in Weird Tales magazine in March 1936. The story follows Masson, the caretaker of an old and neglected cemetery in Salem, where huge, ravenous rats dig tunnels among the graves to steal freshly buried corpses. Their activity threatens Masson’s grim side business—grave robbing. One night, while trying to exhume a body, he discovers that the rats have gotten there first. What follows is a frantic and terrifying chase through the underground tunnels, leading Masson to confront horrors beyond imagination.