" " – Attributed to Hildred Castaigne, narrator of “The Repairer of Reputations.” The weird tales in this slim volume are all linked by a play, the second act of which reveals truths so terrible and beautiful that it drives all who read it to despair: These four macabre, uncanny, and unsettling stories are some of the most thrilling ever written in the field of weird fiction, exploring themes of the supernatural, spirituality, and the potentially corrosive influence of belief in the afterlife. Since their first publication in 1895, they have become a cult classic, influencing everyone from the renowned master of cosmic horror, H.P Lovecraft, to the creators of HBO’s .