Sixteen spine-tingling tales from the dark side of our nation's literary history include stories by Sarah Orne Jewett, Henry James, Mark Twain, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, and other literary luminaries. The collection begins with Edgar Allan Poe's ""Ligeia,"" a classic Gothic horror tale of a love stronger than death, followed by ""The Gray Champion,"" Nathaniel Hawthorne's fable of a supernatural hero who reappears in times of national danger. Other stories include ""Grayling; or, 'Murder Will Out'"" by William Gilmore Simms; ""The Real Right Thing"" by Henry James; ""Lady Ferry"" by Sarah Orne Jewett; ""My Platonic Sweetheart"" by Mark Twain; Frank R. Stockton's ""The Philosophy of Relative Existences""; ""The Upper Berth"" by F. Marion Crawford; and ""An Itinerant House"" by Emma Frances Dawson. Ambrose Bierce's mystery classic, ""The Moonlit Road,"" appears here, along with ""The Conquering Will"" by Harriet Prescott Spofford; ""The Shadows on the Wall"" by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman; Edith Wharton's ""The Eyes""; ""Consequences"" by Willa Cather; ""Call Me From the Valley"" by Manly Wade Wellman; and Parke Godwin's ""The Fire When It Comes.""