The HorrorBabble Podcast

"Black Was the Night" / A Rare Haunted House Story by Laurence Bour, Jr.

"Black Was the Night" is a rare weird tale by the little-known author, Laurence Bour, Jr. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in May 1940, tells of a long-awaited encounter in a crumbling, haunted house.

"The Polar Vortex" / An Antarctic Horror Story by Malcolm Ferguson

"The Polar Vortex" is a short story by the obscure American author, Malcolm Ferguson. The story first appeared in Weird Tales Magazine in September 1946. The magazine described the story as follows: "A curiously terrible experiment of blasphemous implications!"

"The Night Ocean" by H. P. Lovecraft

"The Night Ocean" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and R. H. Barlow. Barlow drafted the tale, and handed it to Lovecraft to edit in the summer of 1936. It first appeared in the magazine The Californian, in its Winter 1936 edition. It tells of an unnamed artist, who, whilst vacationing by the beach, becomes increasingly unsettled by the presence of the ocean.

"Candle-Light" by Louise Garwood

"Candle-Light" is a rare tale by the little-known author, Louise Garwood. A classic ghost story, the work debuted in the November 1925 edition of Weird Tales.

"The Green Flame" / A Weird Tale by Donald Wandrei

"The Green Flame" is a short story by Donald Wandrei. The tale, which tells of a strange jewel, debuted in Weird Tales Magazine in July 1930.

"Fessenden's Worlds" / A Weird-Scientific Story by Edmond Hamilton

"Fessenden's Worlds" is a tale of cosmic horror by Edmond Hamilton. The story, which first appeared in Weird Tales in April 1937, was described as follows: “Like a young god, Fessenden created a miniature universe, but his unholy meddling with the lives and destinies of his creations brought about a startling catastrophe…”

"The Thing on the Doorstep" / Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos

"The Thing on the Doorstep" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos universe. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales.

"The Body Snatcher" by Robert Louis Stevenson

"The Body Snatcher" is a short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). First published in the Pall Mall Christmas "Extra" in December 1884, its characters were based on criminals in the employ of real-life surgeon Robert Knox (1791–1862) around the time of the notorious Burke and Hare murders (1828).

"A Neighbour's Landmark" / A Tale of 'Sylvan Dread' by M. R. James

"A Neighbour's Landmark" is a short story by M. R. James, from his collection, 'A Warning to the Curious'. It is often cited as a classic example of 'Sylvan Dread', the inexplicable fear of woods or forests.

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Cask of Amontillado" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him.