VICTORIAN
MYSTERIES
“MANY
are the hours in which I have pondered upon the story that is set forth in the these pages. I trust that my instincts are not awry when
they prompt me to leave the account, in simplicity, as it was handed to me. And
the MS. itself--You must picture me, when first it was given into my care,
turning it over, curiously, and making a swift, jerky examination. A small book
it is; but thick, and all, save the last few pages, filled with a quaint but
legible hand- writing, and writ very close. I have the queer, faint, pit-water
smell of it in my nostrils now as I write, and my
fingers have subconscious memories of the soft, "cloggy" feel of the
long-damp pages. I read, and, in reading, lifted the Curtains of the
Impossible, that blind the mind, and looked out into the unknown. Amid stiff,
abrupt sentences I wandered; and, presently, I had no fault to charge against
their abrupt tellings; for, better far than my own ambitious phrasing, is this
mutilated story capable of bringing home all that the old Recluse, of the
vanished house, had striven to tell. Of the simple, stiffly given account of
weird and extraordinary matters, I will say little. It lies before you. The
inner story must be uncovered, personally, by each reader, according to ability
and desire. And even should any fail to see, as now I see, the shadowed picture
and conception of that, to which one may well give the accepted titles of
Heaven and Hell; yet can I promise certain thrills, merely taking the story as
a story”
William
Hope Hodgson: The House on the Borderland
Bram Stoker:
full text of the original vampire tale.
Edgar
Allan Poe: full text Web Site: The Fall of the House of Usher
H. G. Wells:full
text. Web Site: the Invisible Man
Arthur Conan Doyle: Twelve of
the famous detective's cases are here online. Web Site: The Memoirs Of Sherlock
Holmes
Edgar Allan Poe: full text of
the 1841 novel by the master of horror. Poe produced a goodly number of
Victorian horror novels in similar settings. Site: The Murders In The Rue
Morgue
Robert Louis Stevenson: the full
text of the novel, and an ideal study for budding
schizophrenics. The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
H. G. Wells: build and operate a
home made time machine in your Victorian conservatory. The full text of the classic
novel is found here. The Time Machine
The Tunguska Meteorite On
Victorian Adventure Gaming Thursday, 9/6/01, 4:43 AM Victorian Adventure
Gaming including live role playing, HG Wells and other Victorian sci-fi, etc.
The Invisible House: an occult
site with many links; see in particular the link relating to Aleister Crowley,
the noted Victorian occultist. Web Site: The Invisible House
Enigmas of the Past and Present:
including the writings of the great parapsychologist Charles Fort.
Web Site: Enigmas of the Past and Present
Cryptozoology:
Mysterious primates, hominids & others Big Foot, the Yeti, Sasquatch, Chupacabras,
the Loch Ness monster, shape shifters, vampires, and werewolves. Web Site: Cryptozoology
The
mystery of the 'Mary Celeste'
The 'Mary Celeste' was launched
in
The disappearance
of Col. Fawcett
Mysteries of the Victorian
Adventurers Site: the Virtual Exploration Society
Call of Cthulhu is a role
playing game in the occult horror genre laid down by H. P. Lovecraft in his
1930's novels and short stories. With the aid of a referee, participants play
characters, often eccentric (!) who investigate hideous occult goings- on in
various outlandish settings around the world. At much peril to their sanity, it
must be said...... A great game with the webmasters seal of
personal approval. Web Site: Call of Cthulhu web ring
Dating from the nineteenth century, and before its mysterious destruction by fire in
the forties, Borley was 'the most haunted house in
Gothic Literature.
Classic
texts here include the 'Ingoldsby Legends', plus works by authors Edgar Alan
Poe, Henry James, Mary Shelley & Bram Stoker Web Site: Gothic Literature
Gruesome
Victorian murders --- Includes the horrid murder of Fanny Adams in
Alton
“Most Respected Reader, you have
already come far in your Quest for Knowledge, and for that I salute you. But I
must, with Great Regret, inform you that your travels are not over. No, no,
stay your tears, for though your Travails are wearisome, they are ultimately
Edifying and even Healthsome; though your mind is fatigued by all that it must
take in, the End Results will be seen as positive. You are not done, alas, but
though the end of your journey is still far away, it is the traveling, not the
reaching, that is the purpose of your wanderings. Again, I must warn you that
what you see may upset you, or get your blood boiling, for some of the
information is of the kind that no red-blooded Englishman could read without
anger. But most of these sites are Informative, Entertaining, and best of all
True” Web Site: Fantastic Victoriana