Tales of Fearful Forests and Wicked Woods - Short Stories of What Lurks in the Deep Dark Places (Fantasy and Horror Classics)

<p><strong>Beyond the treeline lies the ancient hungry darkness.</strong></p><p>This spine-chilling collection takes readers into the heart of the forest--a realm of primal horror forgotten folklore and shape-shifting beasts. Spanning the European continent and its ancient myths these short stories explore the terror that takes hold when civilisation gives way to the deep wild places.</p><p>Werewolves and Lycanthropic Dread:</p><p>The volume is dominated by the terrifying motif of the wolf and the werewolf exploring the dark connection between man and beast:</p><ul><li><p><strong><em>Gabriel-Ernest</em> by Hector Hugh Munro (Saki):</strong> A classic piece of Edwardian menace where the unsettling charm and unnatural grace of a youth hint at a cold predatory <strong>were-beast</strong> beneath a civil exterior.</p></li><li><p><strong><em>The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains</em> by Frederick Marryat:</strong> A grim Gothic tale that uses the German forest setting to explore the psychological and supernatural terror of lycanthropy.</p></li><li><p><strong><em>The White Wolf of Kostopchin</em> by Gilbert Campbell:</strong> A story steeped in Eastern European legend detailing a savage and relentless form of the werewolf curse.</p></li><li><p><strong><em>The Boy and the Wolves or The Broken Promise</em> by Andrew Lang:</strong> A story drawn from folklore emphasizing the moral and often fatal consequences of betrayal when dealing with nature's predators.</p></li><li><p><strong><em>Among the Wolves</em> by Vasile Voiculescu:</strong> A contribution that grounds the terror in the specific chilling folklore of the Romanian forests a land rich in werewolf myth.</p></li></ul><p>Other tales delve into pure supernatural and Gothic horror rooted in deep forests and remote locations:</p><ul><li><p><strong><em>The Midnight Embrace</em> by Matthew Lewis:</strong> From the author of the notorious Gothic novel <em>The Monk</em> this piece promises a scene of intense atmospheric dread and a potentially demonic or spectral encounter.</p></li><li><p><strong><em>The Demon of the Hartz or The Three Charcoal Burners</em> by Thomas Peckett Prest:</strong> A melodramatic pulp-era Gothic story set in Germany's Harz Mountains involving diabolical pacts and folkloric entities.</p></li><li><p><strong><em>The Necromancer</em> by Lawrence Flammenberg:</strong> A classic work of German Schauerroman (shudder novel) this tale focuses on black magic dark rituals and the violation of the grave.</p></li><li><p><strong><em>The Thing in the Forest</em> by Bernard Capes:</strong> A subtle and unsettling piece that uses the dense forest as a backdrop for a mysterious non-human horror--the quintessential thing that should not be.</p></li></ul><p>This collection is a terrifying reminder that the greatest wilderness is not just geographical but supernatural and the woods are always waiting.</p>