Something Macabre: 13 Classic Gothic Horror Stories and Their Origins Explained

Rediscover some of gothic horror's greatest tales—and the real fears that inspired them.

Gothic literature is full of monsters and mayhem, abandoned mansions, the supernatural, and plenty of death. Yet the characters and plots in each of these stories often are drawn from real history, science, world mythology, news headlines, and the complexity of the human mind. The heroes, villains, and settings are all comparable in one way or another to something from real life experience, creating a fe...