Staley Fleming’s Hallucination
Ambrose BierceStaley Fleming sees a dog beside his bed every night, but it vanishes when he sits up.
4 min · Eerie
The story shelf
Follow your curiosity.
A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
What would you like to read about?
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot
Ambrose BierceTwo men agree to fight with knives in a house said to be haunted.
15 min · Foreboding
More details
- Settings
- The home · The countryside
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Haunted house · Duels
The Thing at Nolan
Ambrose BierceA missing farmer is seen miles from home just as his son becomes the chief murder suspect.
7 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Law & justice · Revenge · Family
- Settings
- The countryside · Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
Two Military Executions
Ambrose BierceAfter a private is executed for striking an officer, a battlefield roll call receives an answer no one expects.
4 min · Eerie
More details
- Themes
- Guilt · Law & justice · Revenge
- Settings
- The battlefield
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Ornate
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
An Avenger
Anton ChekhovA betrayed husband enters a gun shop with murder in mind, but every purchase forces him to reconsider the price of revenge.
8 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Revenge · Honor & reputation · Self-deception
- Settings
- Offices & workplaces
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Interior monologue
Hop-Frog
Edgar Allan PoeA captive court jester must design one more masquerade for the king who treats him and his friend as property.
16 min · Chilling
More details
- Themes
- Revenge · Confinement & escape · Friendship
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Occasion
- Festivals & carnivals
- Written for
- For adults
Metzengerstein
Edgar Allan PoeA cruel young baron takes possession of a violent horse that may carry the spirit of his family's dead enemy.
15 min · Foreboding
More details
- Themes
- Revenge · Obsession · Fate & chance
- Settings
- Country houses & estates
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan PoeA connoisseur leads his insulter down into the family catacombs to settle a score over a rare sherry.
11 min · Foreboding
More details
- Themes
- Revenge · Honor & reputation · Guilt
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Ornate
- Pace
- Brisk
- Occasion
- Festivals & carnivals
- Written for
- For adults
The Purloined Letter
Edgar Allan PoeA stolen royal letter remains inside a minister's home despite months of secret police searches, and Dupin asks what they failed to see.
32 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Appearance vs reality · Autonomy & control · Revenge
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Dense · Conversational
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
Thou Art the Man
Edgar Allan PoeA town's most trusted man leads the hunt for a missing neighbor while every clue points to the victim's disgraced nephew.
26 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Law & justice · Revenge · Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- Villages & small towns · The countryside
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Conversational · Ornate
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
A Corsican Bandit
Guy de MaupassantIn a Corsican mountain pass, a traveller hears how a timid orphan became the island’s most feared outlaw.
6 min · Chilling
More details
- Themes
- Revenge · Duty · Honor & reputation
- Settings
- Wilderness
- Tone
- Detached
- Style
- Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
A Parricide
Guy de MaupassantA young joiner on trial for a double murder rejects an insanity defense and demands judgment on his own account.
10 min · Unsettling
More details
- Themes
- Law & justice · Parenthood · Revenge
- Settings
- Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Plain · Conversational
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Orphans & foundlings
A Vendetta
Guy de MaupassantAfter her only son is murdered, an elderly Corsican widow devises a patient and ruthless way to keep her vow of revenge.
8 min · Chilling
More details
- Settings
- Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Detached
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
Moiron
Guy de MaupassantA former prosecutor recalls the admired schoolmaster accused of feeding children sweets laced with glass and broken needles.
10 min · Chilling
More details
- Themes
- Grief · Revenge · Faith & doubt
- Settings
- Schools
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
Mother Savage
Guy de MaupassantIn occupied Normandy, a mother awaiting news of her soldier son shares her isolated cottage with four courteous enemy troops.
12 min · Tragic
More details
- Themes
- War & peace · Grief · Revenge
- Settings
- The countryside
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
Old Milon
Guy de MaupassantA hard Norman farmer faces a Prussian court-martial and calmly explains why enemy scouts have been vanishing.
10 min · Tragic
More details
- Themes
- Revenge · War & peace · Courage & cowardice
- Settings
- The countryside
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Descriptive · Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
Practical Jokes
Guy de MaupassantA veteran practical joker recalls the night suspicion made him his own victim and the chemical prank he played as a boy.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Self-deception · Revenge
- Settings
- Country houses & estates
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
Saved
Guy de MaupassantA young marquise determined to escape her jealous husband hires an expert accomplice to produce evidence no court can ignore.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Marriage · Women’s independence · Revenge
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational · Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story · Told in dialogue
The Hand
Guy de MaupassantA skeptical magistrate recounts an unsolved Corsican murder involving a secretive Englishman and a chained human hand.
10 min · Chilling
More details
- Themes
- Revenge · Appearance vs reality · Superstition
- Tone
- Detached
- Style
- Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
- Motifs
- The mysterious stranger
The Keeper
Guy de MaupassantA landowner’s annual hunting visit exposes a gamekeeper’s private crisis, then turns into a night of fire, flight, and irreversible violence.
12 min · Tragic
More details
- Themes
- Betrayal · Revenge · Law & justice
- Settings
- The countryside
- Tone
- Detached
- Style
- Conversational · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
The Revenge
Guy de MaupassantA divorced man meets his remarried former wife at a hotel and turns their old grievances into a calculated new proposal.
14 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Revenge · Marriage · Autonomy & control
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
The Secret
Guy de MaupassantA marquise arrives laughing with a secret: she has chosen a direct revenge on her jealous, abusive husband.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Marriage · Autonomy & control · Revenge
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
The Wolf
Guy de MaupassantA family’s hatred of hunting begins with two brothers and the immense wolf that turns their winter chase into a private war.
9 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Obsession · Nature & wilderness · Revenge
- Settings
- Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
- Motifs
- Hunts & pursuits
Pollock and the Porroh Man
H. G. WellsAfter crossing a feared secret society, an arrogant colonial traveler finds that revenge follows him from Sierra Leone to London.
28 min · Chilling
More details
- Themes
- Guilt · Revenge · Empire & colonialism
- Settings
- The tropics & colonies · The city
- Tone
- Detached
- Style
- Descriptive · Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults