Historical Horror Fiction

‘The Signalman’ (1866) is a short story by the English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). In the story, a practical-minded narrator meets a railway worker who has been seeing supernatural visions. The narrator doubts the man at first, but at the story’s conclusion a strange event makes him a believer.

Portugal, 1750s. Cecilia Lamb knew being a sea captain’s wife would mean a life of waiting and watching the horizon for her husband’s ship. But John has been gone longer than any voyage should last. Everyone else has given up hope of his return. But she knows in her bones that he is not lost. Gone, but not lost. Barely able to tear her eyes from the shimmering sea, she feels drawn to the sun-baked shoreline, and amid the bustle of the docks she feels certain that her husband will come back to her. Though along with that feeling is another sense – that something darker is coming.

In 1933, Mississippi was in the throes of both the Great Depression and Prohibition. Dirt-poor living was the way of life for most. Some folks were forced to turn to any means possible to put food on the table. In Winchester County, the Lawtons turned to brewing moonshine to make ends meet. Though dangerous and illegal, their operation ran smoothly until John Kirkwood, a highly ambitious federal revenue agent, came to town. Thanks to a dirty deal with a man with deep pockets, Kirkwood sees ridding Winchester County of its moonshiners as his way to fortune.

On a cold January morning in 1856, Evelyn Atherton's husband is found murdered after attending an exclusive seance. Having "married up" into New York society, Evie herself is the immediate suspect. Ostracized and vulnerable, she knows that to clear her name she must retrace her husband's last steps. And so, joining forces with her husband's best friend—and the only Manhattan lawyer who will accept her case—Evie dives into the mysterious underworld of the occult. Before long, the trail brings them to a charismatic medium, Michel Jourdain.

It is 1556 and the queen's astrologer, the prophet Nostradamus has uncovered a secret that could destroy the kingdom of France. The queen, Catherine de Medicis, a dabbler in black magic, has decided to get rid of the king's mistress by seeking out the legendary Undying Head of Menander the Magus, known as the Master of All Desires. But she does not know that evil befalls all those who wish upon this accursed object. And the head, in its coffer, has fallen into the possession of a charming, wryly perceptive but stubborn young woman: Sybille Artaud de la Roche.

Hundreds of years ago, she was known as La Malinche: a Nahua woman who translated for the conquistador Cortés. In the centuries since, her name has gone down in infamy as a traitor. But no one ever found out what happened to La Malinche after Cortés destroyed her people. In the ashes of the empire, she was reborn as Malinalli, an immortal vampire. And she has become an avenger of conquered peoples, traveling the world to reclaim their stolen artifacts and return them to their homelands. But she has also been in search of something more.

An invitation arrives; Abbey Coote, professor of American studies, has won an extended stay in a historic bed and breakfast: Pine Tree House. The timing is perfect. Abbey is recovering from an accident which left her abusive boyfriend dead, and her with little memory of the event.

A ghost in his deserted childhood home in Virginia, Tom Smiley can’t forget the bloody war and its meaningless losses, nor can he shed his revulsion for his role in the Confederate defense of slavery. But when a young couple moves in and makes his home their own in the early twenty-first century, trouble erupts—and Tom is forced to not only face his own terrible secret but also come to grips with his family’s hidden wartime history.

Private investigator Charles Maddox is surprised when he is approached by Edward Tulkinghorn for help. The feared and shadowy attorney offers Charles a handsome price he can't refuse to do some sleuthing for a client. Charles learns that Sir Julius Cremorne has been receiving threatening letters, and now Tulkinghorn wants him to find and stop whoever is responsible. But what starts as a simple open-and-shut case swiftly escalates into something bigger and much darker. As he cascades toward a collision with powerful forces, Charles will need all the assistance he can get…

La primera vez que Charlotte se encuentra frente a la hermosa mansión de Chalk Hill, en las verdes colinas de Surrey, se queda sin aliento: la imponente villa, coronada por una torre y rodeada de árboles centenarios, es el lugar más fascinante que ha visto nunca. Allí confía en comenzar una nueva vida tras haber tenido que abandonar Berlín por un escándalo que ha comprometido su reputación como institutriz. Ha sido llamada para cuidar a la pequeña Emily, pero pronto Charlotte se da cuenta de que una extraña atmósfera se cierne sobre la casa.

As World War I rages across Europe, a military officer is brutally murdered in a remote English country house. Lord Strangford is the only suspect. To clear his name, Lily must unravel the bizarre secrets that surround the corpse. It's a quest that takes her from the besieged Yorkshire coast to the heart of the empire as a brilliant and relentless police inspector haunts her every move.

West Virginia,1897. When young Zona Heaster Shue dies only a few months after her wedding, her mother Mary Jane becomes convinced that Zona was murdered - and by none other than her husband, Trout. But when Trout is put on trial, no one believes he could have done it, apart from Mary Jane and Zona's best friend Lucy, who was always suspicious of Trout. As the trial raises to fever pitch and the men of Greenbrier County stand aligned against them, Mary Jane and Lucy must decide whether to reveal Zona's greatest secret in the service of justice.

After moving back to her ancestral home with her parents, April finds more than just her beloved grandmother waiting for her. For more than a century, the rural Suffolk house has been waiting, guarding its secrets. Discovering a lost photograph of a mysterious young woman, fate draws April deep into her family’s history and the life of her great-great-grandmother, Annabelle. Through visions, dreams, and Annabelle’s diary, April finds grief, secrets, and family loyalties that stretch beyond even love’s limits.

April 10th, 1912: Titanic sails with a secret in her cargo hold.... When a pair of would-be robbers open a mysterious crate, they unleash an evil that’s been asleep for centuries. Once the maiden voyage is underway, passengers go missing, some turn up dead, and some bear an odd affliction, one that makes them crave blood and shun the light....

It’s 1962, and Violet Romero, a young woman searching for peace after a horrible tragedy, finds herself in an unexpected place—managing funerals at Berwick, an antebellum mansion-turned-mortuary in Lexington, Kentucky. Her employer, Henry Pendleton, a botany-obsessed mortician, seems harmless, but Violet believes that he is hiding something. Following her instincts, Violet discovers a hidden room in Berwick that offers a glimpse into the mansion’s dark past. Violet soon understands that a reckoning is coming to Henry’s life, and she is caught in the rising tide of revenge.

1813. Lizzie's beloved older sister Esme is sold in marriage to the ageing Lord Blountford to settle their father's debts. One year later, Esme is dead, and Lizzie is sent to take her place as Lord Blountford's next wife. Arriving at Ambletye Manor, Lizzie uncovers a twisted web of secrets, not least that she is to be the fifth mistress of this house. Marisa. Anne. Pansy. Esme. What happened to the four wives who came before her? In possession of a unique gift, only Lizzie can hear their stories, and try to find a way to save herself from sharing the same fate.

1873: In einem verlassenen Château außerhalb von Paris hält die Spiritualistin und Wahrsagerin Vaudeline D'Allaire düstere Séancen ab. Sie ist weithin bekannt für ihr Talent und ihre Dienste werden gleichermaßen von Verwitweten wie von Gesetzeshütern in Anspruch genommen – um Kontakt zu Mordopfern aufzunehmen und deren Mörder zu finden.

Amid the chaos of the sinking Titanic, a young Eleanor Annenberg meets the eyes of a stranger and is immediately captivated. As the ship buckles around them, she follows him down into the hold and finds him leaning over an open sarcophagus, surrounded by mutilated bodies. She catches but a glimpse of what lies within. Elle is pulled out of the water, but the stranger is lost. Unintentionally, he leaves her a gift; one so compelling that Elle embarks on a journey that pulls her into a world of ancient evils, vicious hunters, and human prey to find the man who saved her that night.

In the autumn of 1879, an intelligent, artificially-created being - outwardly a young woman called Maria - arrives in London under the protection of biologist Professor George Hobson. Hobson gathers a few close friends and reveals her existence, explaining that she is the final result of a research program undertaken by a dynasty of unethical scientists, the von Frakkens - all now dead. Unknown to Hobson, one of his friends is linked to an underground scientific organization, the Promethean Society. Set up in the early 1800s, its aim is to conquer death by whatever means possible.

It is December 1888. Jack the Ripper has not killed for over a month and London is beginning to relax as Christmas approaches. When Katherine Kramer cuts herself on a strange book at a dinner party, she quickly falls ill. Her husband Richard is a professor of medicine, but even his efforts are futile as the mysterious illness blazes through her. As Katherine dies, she gives birth to something nightmarish. Something which should not exist. Something which spurs Richard to embark on a terrifying journey of discovery as he chases the answer to one question: who or what killed his wife?