Horror | Lecturia

H. G. Wells: In the Avu Observatory

“In the Avu Observatory” is a short story by H. G. Wells, published on August 9, 1894, in the Pall Mall Budget magazine. Set in a remote astronomical station in the jungles of Borneo, it narrates the disturbing experience of Woodhouse, a young assistant who is left alone in the observatory while he makes stellar observations. The tranquility of the tropical night, with its distant sounds and the vast darkness of the forest, is transformed into an atmosphere charged with tension and uncertainty when an unknown presence bursts into the enclosure.

Bram Stoker: The Burial of the Rats

“The Burial of the Rats” is a short story by Bram Stoker, included in the collection Dracula’s Guest and Other Weird Stories, published in 1914. Set in the slums of Paris in the mid-19th century, it narrates the disturbing experience of a young Englishman who, driven by melancholy and tedium, decides to explore the dark sectors where those who live off the garbage do so. Fascinated by this marginal world, he enters a labyrinth of waste, shacks, and sinister figures. What starts as a curious excursion soon becomes a disturbing experience of danger and suspense.

Sheridan Le Fanu: Madam Crowl’s Ghost

Madam Crowl’s Ghost is a short story by Sheridan Le Fanu, published on December 31, 1870, in the magazine All the Year Round. Narrated in the first person by an older woman who recalls her youth, it tells of the disturbing experience she had when, as a young girl, she was sent to work at the mysterious Applewale House. In that gloomy and decadent place, inhabited by silent servants and dominated by the disturbing figure of Mrs. Crowl, the young protagonist begins to perceive an oppressive atmosphere, disturbing rumors, and signs of a dark secret surrounding the old mansion.

Robert E. Howard: Skulls in the Stars

Robert E. Howard - Calaveras en las estrellas

Skulls in the Stars is a short story by Robert E. Howard, published in January 1929 in the magazine Weird Tales. The story follows the gloomy puritan Solomon Kane, a solitary traveller who, ignoring local warnings, decides to cross a deserted wasteland on his way to Yorkertown. Despite the villagers’ fears of an invisible horror lurking in the area, Kane ventures into the darkness, where the desolate landscape and the echoes of inhuman laughter announce a supernatural threat. With his sword and faith, he faces a spectral force that will test his courage and determination.

H. P. Lovecraft: The Alchemist

The Alchemist is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, published in November 1916 in The United Amateur magazine. The story is narrated by Antoine, the last descendant of an ancient and ruined French noble lineage marked by a mysterious curse that condemns its members to die young. From childhood, the protagonist grows up isolated in a ruined castle, surrounded by solitude, books, and dark omens about his lineage. As he investigates the origin of the family tragedy, he discovers ancient documents that connect him to a past full of secrets, alchemy, and a dark threat that seems to defy time.

August Derleth: The House in the Valley

The House in the Valley is a story by August Derleth, published in July 1953 in the magazine Weird Tales. Told in the first person by Jefferson Bates, a painter seeking isolation to devote himself to his work, the story begins when he rents an old mansion in a remote valley in Massachusetts near the ancient fortresses of Arkham and Dunwich. The house, marked by a dark past linked to the Bishop family, soon awakens a disturbing sensation of an invisible presence in the protagonist. As he settles in, he perceives subtle hints of a mystery hidden beneath the apparent calm of the place, slowly submerging himself in an increasingly disturbing environment.