The Eve of Samhain

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, Herbert Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Prosper Mérimée, Guy de Maupassant, Washington Irving, Rafael Sabatini, Ambrose Bierce, Edith Nesbit

A collection of classic mystical stories about encounters between humans and the unexplained – ghosts, ancient curses, and the dark side of reality.

Samhain is an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of the dark half of the year. According to beliefs, on this night, the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead becomes thin. It is in such an atmosphere that the stories in this collection unfold: a chance vision turns out scarier than reality, an old house does not let go of its guests, a boarded-up window hides the horror of the night, and a mirror forever traps the soul.

The book includes stories by Edith Nesbit, Guy de Maupassant, Ambrose Bierce, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, Théophile Gautier, Herbert Wells, Prosper Mérimée, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Rafael Sabatini – recognized masters of classical mystique and Gothic prose.