This anthology brings together masterpieces of dark storytelling by traditional and modern authors. Mark Twain, Walter de la Mare, Robert Louis Stevenson, Gustav Meyrink, and others take the reader into the realm of the classic gothic short story. Phantasmagorias, sardonic humor, and that dose of parable that adds timeless social commentary to the atmospheric horror scenarios are as much a part of this world as an encounter with Satan and the hashish experiments of an esoteric stockbroker.