Dark Side of the Net's "Dark Literature" links were some of the most difficult (and fun) to maintain. Rare short stories (difficult to find pre-Google) often disappeared from servers, so I kept multiple links to each story in the archive whenever possible. Sometimes people emailed me to complain that the extra links made the page longer to load. But I'm glad I did it since so many of the links on this page were dead, with only one copy of certain stories. I don't like having to stop and go Google something I'm looking for when I should supposedly have it right at my fingertips.
I liked going through this page in the fall and reading short stories late at night with candles lit and one of my cats curled up on the couch next to me.
1. The Beckoning Fair One
Oliver Onions' highly regarded ghost story.
2. The Black Cat
By Edgar Allan Poe. A naughty wife-murderer is avenged by his wife's tattletale cat.
3. Carmilla
Joseph Sheridan leFanu's infamous vampire lesbian story, originally published in 1871. Not really very creepy actually, but I couldn't neglect to list it here!
4. The Damned Thing
Ambrose Bierce's story about the demise of Hugh Morgan.
The Damned Thing, at Wikipedia
5. Death and the Woman
Gertrude Atherton's short ghost story.
6. Dracula's Guest
Bram Stoker's short story, excised from the original manuscript of Dracula which was deemed to be too lengthy.
7. The Ensouled Violin
A demonic performance leaves the violinist dead and the audience fleeing in terror. By Madame Blavatsky.
Madame Blavatsky, at Wikipedia
8. The Evil Clergyman, by H.P. Lovecraft
A newcomer to a village finds himself oddly changed.
9. The Judge's House
Another creepy story by Bram Stoker.
10. The Lady's Maid's Bell
A new housemaid senses all is not well in the Brympton household. By Edith Wharton.
11. The Outsider
This is the story that made me a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's writings. So beautifully written!
12. The Red Room
H.G. Wells' story of a man spending a night in a haunted room in Lorraine Castle.
13. The Seed From the Sepulcher
The ending of this Clark Ashton Smith story grosses me out!
--Carrie Carolin
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