Gothic Tales of Terror: Classic Horror Stories from Great Britain, Europe, and the United States 1765-1840

by Peter Haining

The Cask of Amontillado • [Fortunato] • (1846) • short story by Edgar Allan Poe
Leixlip Castle • (1825) • short story by Charles Maturin
The Adventure of the German Student • [Strange Stories by a Nervous Gentleman] • (1824) • short story by Washington Irving
The Ghost and the Bone-Setter • [The Purcell Papers • 1] • (1838) • short story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The Christmas Banquet • (1843) • short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Monk of Horror, or The Conclave of Corpses • (1796) • short story by Anonymous
The Expedition to Hell • (1827) • short story by James Hogg (variant of George Dobson's Expedition to Hell)
The New Melusina • (1816) • novelette by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (trans. of Die neue Melusine) [as by Johann von Goethe]
The Ghost-Seer, or The Apparitionist • non-genre • [Der Geisterseher • 1] • novel by Friedrich von Schiller (trans. of Der Geisterseher 1789) [as by J. F. von Schiller]
The Harp • (1811) • short story by Karl Theodor Körner (trans. of Die Harfe)
The Wild Huntsman! Or The Demon's Skeleton Chase • [Baron Munchausen / Münchhausen] • short fiction by Gottfried August Bürger (trans. of Der wilde Jäger? 1786) [as by Gottfried August Burger]
The Bride of the Grave • novelette by Ernst Raupach (trans. of Laßt die Todten ruhen? 1822) [as by Johann Ludwig Tieck (in error)]
The Field of Terror • short story by Baron Friedrich de La Motte Fouqué? (trans. of Das Schauerfeld 1814) [as by Baron de La Motte Fouqué]
The Bottle-Imp • novelette by Baron Friedrich de La Motte Fouqué? (trans. of Das Galgenmännlein? 1814) [as by Johann Karl August Musäus (in error)?]
The Spectre Barber • novella by Johann Karl August Musäus (trans. of Stumme Liebe 1782) [as by Anonymous]
The Cremona Violin • (1946) • novelette by E. T. A. Hoffmann (trans. of Rath Krespel 1818)
The Fatal Marksman • short story by A. Apel (trans. of Der Freischütz? 1810) [as by Johann August Apel]
The Devil's Ladder • short story by Alois Wilhelm Schreiber (trans. of Die Teufelsleiter 1829)
The Hall of Blood • short story by Julia Pardoe (variant of The Hall of Blood: A Hungarian Tradition 1844) [as by Professor von Kramer (in error)]
The Witch of Eye • short story by Henry Neele [as by Francois Baculard d'Arnaud (in error)]
The Unholy Compact Abjured • (1825) • short story by uncredited (variant of The Heroism of Love 1826) [as by Charles Pigault-Lebrun]
The Wandering Jew's Sentence • short story by Eugène Sue?
The Parricide Punished • short fiction by Anonymous (trans. of Le crime puni 1782)
Louise, or The Living Spectre • short fiction by H. Clauren (trans. of Der Wehrmann 1810) [as by Anonymous]
Jan Schalken's Three Wishes • short story by H. S. Van Dyk [as by Anonymous]
Maredata and Giulio, or The Ocean Spirit • short story by N. G. (variant of Maredata 1824) [as by Anonymous]
Valdrwulf, or The Fiend of the Moor • (unknown) • short story by J. Fitzgerald Pennie [as by Anonymous]
Rip Van Winkle • short story by Washington Irving [as by Anonymous]
Memoirs of Carwin, the Biloquist • (1803) • novella by Charles Brockden Brown
The Strange Guests • (1837) • short story by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (variant of The Two Ghosts, or Hospitality Rewarded 1825) [as by Anonymous]
Hugues, the Wer-Wolf • (1838) • short story by Sutherland Menzies
The Possessed One • short story by uncredited [as by Anonymous]
Ben Blower's Story • (1842) • short story by Charles Hoffman
Shadow, a Parable • [Tales of the Folio Club] • short story by Edgar Allan Poe (variant of Shadow: A Fable 1835)
The Tale of the Mysterious Mirror • (1828) • novelette by Sir Walter Scott (variant of My Aunt Margaret's Mirror)
The Devil's Wager • (1833) • short story by William Makepeace Thackeray
The Astrologer's Prediction, or, the Maniac's Fate • (1972) • short story by uncredited (variant of The Fatalist 1824) [as by Anonymous]
Maddalena, or The Fate of the Florentines • short fiction by G. E. K. I. (variant of An Italian Legend of the Fifteenth Century 1825) [as by Horace Walpole (in error)]
Sir Bertrand • short fiction by John Aikin and Anna Letitia Barbauld (variant of On the Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror; with Sir Bertrand, A Fragment 1773) [as by Mrs. Anne Letitia Barbauld]
The Haunted Chamber • (1794) • short fiction by Ann Radcliffe [as by Mrs. Ann Radcliffe]
The Abbey Of Clunedale • (1804) • short fiction by Nathan Drake [as by Dr. Nathan Drake]
The Anaconda • (1808) • novelette by Matthew Gregory Lewis
The Nymph of the Fountain • (1791) • novelette by Johann Karl August Musäus (trans. of Die Nymphe Des Brunnens 1782) [as by William Beckford (in error)]
The Black Spider • (unknown) • short fiction by Anonymous
The Water Spectre • (1809) • short story by Francis Lathom
Secrets Of Cabalism, or Ravenstone And Alice Of Huntingdon • (1821) • short fiction by William Child Green
The Unknown!, or The Knight Of The Blood-Red Plume • (1826) • novelette by Ann of Swansea (variant of The Knight of the Blood-Red Plume 1...

Genres: Horror

928 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1972

About the author

Peter Alexander Haining was an English journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk. Born in Enfield, Middlesex, he began his career as a reporter in Essex and then moved to London where he worked on a trade magazine before joining the publishing house of New English Library.

Haining achieved the position of Editorial Director before becoming a full time writer in the early Seventies. He edited a large number of anthologies, predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories, wrote non-fiction books on a variety of topics from the Channel Tunnel to Sweeney Todd and also used the pen names "Ric Alexander" and "Richard Peyton" on a number of crime story anthologies. In the Seventies he wrote three novels, including The Hero (1973), which was optioned for filming.

In two controversial books, Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a real historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800, was tried in December 1801, and was hanged in January 1802. However, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims. A check of the website Old Bailey at for "Associated Records 1674-1834" for an alleged trial in December 1801 and hanging of Sweeney Todd for January 1802 show no reference; in fact the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col. Joseph Wall who was hanged 28 January 1802 for killing a Benjamin Armstrong 10 July 1782 in "Goree" Africa and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January 1802. Strong reservations have also been expressed regarding the reliability of another of Haining's influential non-fiction works, The Legend and Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack.
He wrote several reference books on Doctor Who, including the 20th anniversary special Doctor Who: A Celebration Two Decades Through Time and Space (1983), and also wrote the definitive study of Sherlock Holmes on the screen, The Television Sherlock Holmes (1991) and several other television tie-ins featuring famous literary characters, including Maigret, Poirot and James Bond. Peter Haining's most recent project was a series of World War Two stories based on extensive research and personal interviews: The Jail That Went To Sea (2003), The Mystery of Rommel's Gold (2004), Where The Eagle Landed (2004), The Chianti Raiders (2005) and The Banzai Hunters (2007).

He won the British Fantasy Awards Karl Edward Wagner Award in 2001.