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    Gothic Tales Vol. 3
    Gothic Tales Vol. 3
    Gothic Tales Vol. 3
    Ebook87 pages1 hour

    Gothic Tales Vol. 3

    By Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling and M. R. James

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    About this ebook

    This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales to bear macabre and chilling witness to writers of a most excellent standard. These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, as you sit back, and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you perhaps would rather not visit on your own. Many of these titles are on our audiobook version which can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCopyright Group
    Release dateSep 24, 2013
    ISBN9781780005683
    Gothic Tales Vol. 3
    Author

    Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) reigned unrivaled in his mastery of mystery during his lifetime and is now widely held to be a central figure of Romanticism and gothic horror in American literature. Born in Boston, he was orphaned at age three, was expelled from West Point for gambling, and later became a well-regarded literary critic and editor. The Raven, published in 1845, made Poe famous. He died in 1849 under what remain mysterious circumstances and is buried in Baltimore, Maryland.

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      Book preview

      Gothic Tales Vol. 3 - Edgar Allan Poe

      Gothic Tales Of Terror – Volume 3

      The short story is often viewed as an inferior relation to the Novel.  But it is an art in itself.  To take a story and distil its essence into fewer pages while keeping character and plot rounded and driven is not an easy task.  Many try and many fail. 

      In this series we look at short stories from many of our most accomplished writers.  Miniature masterpieces with a lot to say.  In this volume we examine some of the short stories from our many masters (and mistresses) of terror.

      GOTHIC TALES OF TERROR - VOLUME 3. This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales to bear macabre and chilling witness to writers as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Nesbit and MR James.  These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, as you sit back, and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you’d perhaps rather not visit on your own.  Our stories are Facts of the Case Of M. Valdemar by Edgar Allan Poe, The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling, Man Size in Marble by Edith Nesbit and Casting The Runes by MR James. 

      Many of these stories are also available as an audiobook from our sister company Word Of Mouth.  Many samples are at our youtube channel   http://www.youtube.com/user/PortablePoetry?feature=mhee   The full volume can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores.  They are read for you by Geoff McGivern, Bill Wallis & Richard Mitchley.

      Index Of Stories

      Facts of the Case Of M. Valdemar By Edgar Allan Poe

      The Phantom Rickshaw By Rudyard Kipling

      Man Size in Marble By Edith Nesbit

      Casting The Runes By MR James. 

      Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar By Edgar Allan Poe

      Of course I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for wonder, that the extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited discussion. It would have been a miracle had it not-especially under the circumstances. Through the desire of all parties concerned, to keep the affair from the public, at least for the present, or until we had farther opportunities for investigation, through our endeavors to effect this, a garbled or exaggerated account made its way into society, and became the source of many unpleasant misrepresentations, and, very naturally, of a great deal of disbelief.

      It is now rendered necessary that I give the facts - as far as I comprehend them myself. They are, succinctly, these:

      My attention, for the last three years, had been repeatedly drawn to the subject of Mesmerism; and, about nine months ago it occurred to me, quite suddenly, that in the series of experiments made hitherto, there had been a very remarkable and most unaccountable omission: - no person had as yet been mesmerized in articulo mortis. It remained to be seen, first, whether, in such condition, there existed in the patient any susceptibility to the magnetic influence; secondly, whether, if any existed, it was impaired or increased by the condition; thirdly, to what extent, or for how long a period, the encroachments of Death might be arrested by the process. There were other points to be ascertained, but these most excited my curiosity, the last in especial, from the immensely important character of its consequences.

      In looking around me for some subject by whose means I might test these particulars, I was brought to think of my friend, M. Ernest Valdemar, the well-known compiler of the Bibliotheca Forensica, and author (under the nom de plume of Issachar Marx) of the Polish versions of Wallenstein and Gargantua. M. Valdemar, who has resided principally at Harlaem, N.Y., since the year 1839, is (or was) particularly noticeable for the extreme spareness of his person, his lower limbs much resembling those of John Randolph; and, also, for the whiteness of his whiskers, in violent contrast to the blackness of his hair, the latter, in consequence, being very generally mistaken for a wig. His temperament was markedly nervous, and rendered him a good subject for mesmeric experiment. On two or three occasions I had put him to sleep with little difficulty, but was disappointed in other results which his peculiar constitution had naturally led me to anticipate. His will was at no period positively, or thoroughly, under my control, and in regard to clairvoyance, I could accomplish with him nothing to be relied upon. I always attributed my failure at these points to the disordered state of his health. For some months previous to my becoming acquainted with him, his physicians had declared him in a confirmed phthisis. It was his custom, indeed, to speak calmly of his approaching dissolution, as of a matter neither to be avoided nor regretted.

      When the ideas to which I have alluded first occurred to me, it was of course very natural that I should think of M. Valdemar. I knew the steady philosophy of the man too well to apprehend any scruples from him; and he had no relatives in America who would be likely to interfere. I spoke to him frankly upon the subject; and, to my surprise, his interest seemed vividly excited. I say to my surprise, for, although he had always yielded his person freely to my experiments, he had never before given me any tokens of sympathy with what I did. His disease was if that character which would admit of exact calculation in respect to the epoch of its termination in death; and it was finally arranged between us that he would send for me about twenty-four hours before the period announced by his physicians as that of his decease.

      It is now rather more than seven months since I received, from M. Valdemar himself, the subjoined note:

      My DEAR P,

      You may as well come now. D and F are agreed that I cannot hold out beyond to-morrow midnight; and I think they have hit the time very nearly.

      VALDEMAR

      I received this note within half an hour after it was written, and in fifteen minutes more I was in the dying man's chamber. I had not seen him for ten days, and was appalled by the fearful alteration which the brief interval had wrought in him. His face wore a leaden hue; the eyes were utterly lustreless; and the emaciation was so extreme that the skin had been broken through by the cheek-bones. His expectoration was excessive. The pulse was barely perceptible. He retained, nevertheless, in a very remarkable manner, both his mental power and a certain degree of physical strength. He spoke with distinctness, took some palliative medicines without aid and, when I entered the room, was occupied in penciling memoranda in a pocket-book. He was propped up in the bed by pillows. Doctors D and F were in attendance.

      After pressing Valdemar's hand, I took these gentlemen aside, and obtained from them a minute account of the patient's condition. The left lung had been for eighteen months in a semi-osseous or cartilaginous state, and was, of course, entirely useless for all purposes of vitality. The right, in its upper portion, was also partially, if not thoroughly, ossified, while the lower region was merely a mass of purulent tubercles, running one into another. Several extensive perforations existed; and, at one point, permanent adhesion to the ribs had taken place. These appearances in the right lobe were of comparatively recent date. The ossification had proceeded with very unusual rapidity; no sign of it had discovered a month before, and the adhesion had only been observed during the three previous days. Independently of the phthisis, the patient was suspected of aneurism of the aorta; but on this point the osseous symptoms rendered an exact diagnosis impossible. It was the opinion of both physicians that M. Valdemar would die about midnight on the morrow (Sunday). It was then seven o'clock on Saturday evening.

      On quitting the invalid's bed-side to hold conversation with myself, Doctors D and F had bidden him a final farewell. It had not been their intention to return; but, at my request, they agreed

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