Moon Mausoleum
An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.
“The Premature Burial” is a horror short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1844 in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. Its main character expresses concern about being buried alive. This fear was common in this period and Poe was taking advantage of the public interest.
“The Pit and the Pendulum” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year’s Present for 1843. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition,
“The Cask of Amontillado” (sometimes spelled “The Casque of Amontillado” [a.mon.ti.ˈʝa.ðo]) is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe’s stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive – in this case, by immurement.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine, then included in the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840. The short story, a work of Gothic fiction, includes themes of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities.
“Eleonora” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1842 in Philadelphia in the literary annual The Gift. It is often regarded as somewhat autobiographical and has a relatively “happy” ending. The story follows an unnamed narrator who lives with his cousin and aunt in “The Valley of the Many-Colored Grass”, an idyllic paradise full of fragrant flowers, fantastic trees, and a “River of Silence”. It remains untrodden by the footsteps of strangers and so they live isolated but happy.
“Berenice” is a short horror story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1835. The story follows a man named Egaeus who is preparing to marry his cousin Berenice. He has a tendency to fall into periods of intense focus during which he seems to separate himself from the outside world.
Penny Dreadful is an old term used during the nineteenth century to refer to cheap popular serial literature. Sort of like pulp fiction. It was also called penny blood, penny awful, or penny horrible. It means a story published in weekly parts, with the cost of one (old) penny. The main plot of these stories were typically sensational, focusing on the adventures of detectives, criminals, or supernatural entities.
This is exactly what Penny Dreadful was, and what it payed homage to. So we found some old stuff the series borrowed or was inspired by. And there is A LOT.
There are countless, countless, COUNTLESS ballads, songs, poems and plays about ghosts and hauntings throughout histories. But to find stories about songs about specific ghosts and hauntings is a bit more tricky. These are the selection we could find, but if you know about more, give notice as we are collecting!