This collection of five novellas ranks among Blackwood's finest works. Not only does it present weird scenarios of extraordinary richness and bizarrerie--the "regeneration" of a blasé English nobleman by means of pagan rituals on a mountaintop; a dismal house haunted by the souls of those whom its fanatical owner condemned to hell; the sapping of a man's spirit as he performs an ancient ceremony in the sands of Egypt--but also probes the characters' reactions to the bizarre with unfailing subtlety and acuteness. The result is a landmark in the history of weird fiction. With an introduction by S. T. Joshi, a leading authority on supernatural literature.