Horror | Lecturia

August Derleth: The Drifting Snow

“The Drifting Snow” is a vampire story by August Derleth, published in February 1939 in Weird Tales magazine. The story takes place in an old house in Wisconsin during a winter storm. Clodetta, who has just arrived with her husband, begins to sense an unsettling tension in the family atmosphere, marked by Aunt Mary’s rigid character and her strange prohibition against opening the curtains on the west side of the house after sunset. The mysterious rules imposed by the old woman make sense when Clodetta thinks she sees a figure in the snow.

Bram Stoker: Dracula’s Guest

“Dracula’s Guest” is a short story by Bram Stoker, published in 1914 in the collection Dracula’s Guest and Other Weird Stories. Originally conceived as the first chapter of the novel Dracula, it was discarded by the author and published independently after his death. Set in the vicinity of Munich, the story follows a young Englishman who, ignoring the warnings of his coachman, ventures into a desolate landscape on Walpurgis Night. As the snow falls and the surroundings become increasingly threatening, the traveler finds a forgotten mausoleum and begins to sense strange presences that herald the approach of a dark power.

H. P. Lovecraft: The Music of Erich Zann

“The Music of Erich Zann” is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, published in March 1922 in The National Amateur magazine. The story follows a young metaphysics student who, searching for cheap lodgings, moves into a dilapidated boarding house on Rue d’Auseil, a steep and strangely inaccessible street. He meets Erich Zann, a mute violinist living in the highest attic room. Fascinated by the disturbing music he hears every night from his room, the narrator tries to get closer to the mysterious musician, unaware that behind each note lies an alien and terrifying reality.

Bram Stoker: The Secret of the Growing Gold

“The Secret of the Growing Gold” is a disturbing Gothic short story by Bram Stoker, published on January 23, 1892, in the magazine Black and White. The story takes place at Brent’s Rock, an old country mansion where the arrival of Margaret Delandre scandalizes the community. After breaking up with her family, Margaret moves in with the aristocrat Geoffrey Brent in a relationship that many consider inappropriate. The relationship between the two is stormy and violent. In an atmosphere of resentment and overflowing passions, an intrigue full of secrets develops, in which the past threatens to resurface in unexpected ways.

Horacio Quiroga: The Decapitated Chicken

“The Decapitated Chicken” (La gallina degollada) is a short story by Horacio Quiroga that was first published on July 10, 1909, in the magazine Caras y Caretas and later included in the collection Cuentos de amor locura y muerte (1917). It tells the story of Mazzini and Berta, a married couple whose first four children suffer a mysterious deterioration in their development that causes them severe cognitive limitations. The parents, caught between despair and love, are plunged into a cycle of anguish temporarily alleviated by the birth of their fifth daughter, Bertita, who grows up healthy and vigorous. However, the family’s apparent normality is only a facade, and a tragic event reveals the deep fractures that remain within it.

H. G. Wells: The Valley of Spiders

“The Valley of Spiders” is a short story by H. G. Wells, published in March 1903 in Pearson’s Magazine. It tells the story of three horse riders who are pursued across an inhospitable landscape, searching for a pair of fugitives. After several days of marching through a barren and lonely landscape, the men enter a wide, silent valley that appears uninhabited but soon senses an unsettling presence. As the wind intensifies, an unexpected threat emerges from the sky, transforming the hunt into a struggle for survival in an increasingly hostile environment.