The

CLASSIC HORROR BLOG

Literary Essays on Classic Horror, Ghost Stories, & Weird Fiction

— from Mary Shelley to M. R. James —

by M. Grant Kellermeyer

Oct 2, 202011 min read

Washington Irving's The Devil and Tom Walker: A Detailed Summary and a Literary Analysis

Irving’s most famous horror story – one which makes no excuses for its supernaturalism – comes, as most of his masterpieces do, from a...

Nov 1, 201999 min read

Of Dreams that Wave Before the Half-Shut Eye: A Sleepy Hollow Ghost Story for Hallowe'en

Raw from her parents’ recent deaths and a crushing divorce, an anthropology professor is now faced with losing her chance at tenure and...

Oct 23, 201823 min read

Washington Irving's Wistfully Anxious, Lonesome Ghost Stories

He was the greatest American writer of his time: he was a mentor to Poe, Longfellow, and Hawthorne, his country’s first professional...

Sep 4, 201822 min read

The Truth Behind the Legend: Historical Inspirations for Irving's Horseman-Haunted Sleepy Hollow

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” remains one of the most pervasive and intriguing ghost stories of all time, and the primary reason for this...

Jul 30, 201810 min read

10 Best Ghost Stories by Washington Irving (Other Than Sleepy Hollow)

He was the greatest American writer of his time: mentor to Poe, Dickens, and Hawthorne, his country’s first professional author, and a...