Contents: The dead hand / Wilkie Collins—The damned thing / Ambrose Bierce—Man-size in marble / E. Nesbit—The leather funnel / Arthur Conan Doyle—Mr. Humphreys and his inheritance / M.R. James—The novel of the white powder / Arthur Machen—The flowering of the strange Orchid / H.G. Wells—The empty house / Algernon Blackwood—Benlian / Oliver Onions.

Contents • Introduction (Tales of the Dark #3) •(1988) • essay by Lincoln Child • An Episode of Cathedral History •(1914) • short story by M. R. James • Caterpillars •(1912) • short story by E. F. Benson • A : B : O. •(1896) • novelette by Walter de la Mare • The Red Lodge •(1928) • short story by H. Russell Wakefield • The Shadow Over Innsmouth • \[Cthulhu Mythos\] •(1936) • novelette by H. P. Lovecraft • The Grey Ones •(1953) • short story by J. B. Priestley • The Curse of Yig •(1929) • short story by Zealia Bishop and H. P. Lovecraft \[as by Zealia Brown Reed Bishop \] • Sweets to the Sweet •(1947) • short story by Robert Bloch • Call First •(1975) • short story by Ramsey Campbell • A Note on the Authors (Tales of the Dark #3) •(1988) • essay by Lincoln Child