“Spine-tingling Fun: Enjoy Five of Washington Irving’s Stories Blending Humor and Horror”

Groom’s ghost

The short story Ženichův duch, which draws its motif from the tradition of German ghost romanticism, combines a horror-tinged narrative with a mildly humorous, almost fairy-tale ending.

The Legend of Sleeping Luh

The sleeping lake is surrounded by silence… And a lot of stories about strange phenomena and magical creatures that hide in it. They are led by a headless horseman, said to be the spirit of a fallen soldier whom they buried headless. That’s why he’s now galloping around trying to find his head. At least that’s what the locals say. Among them comes to spread enlightenment the teacher Ichabod Crane, a young man who, among other things, soon gains a reputation as a great singer. And so he has more students who want to learn to sing – among them is the beautiful Kateřina Van Tasselová, whose heart Ichabod longs to conquer. But he has an opponent who is not afraid to fight for Kateřina by all possible means.

The Adventures of My Uncle

The narrator’s uncle, the American banker Williams, goes to France in 1845. With his charm, he quickly gained access to Parisian salons and the favor of many members of the French nobility. During one of his trips to Normandy, he comes across the ancient castle of the Marquis de Boileau in the early evening, where he is willingly offered hospitality and a night’s lodging. After a grueling tour of the castle towers, accompanied by a chatty Marquis, he is taken to one of the historical bedrooms where a Scottish king supposedly died for the night. A night full of unexpected experiences and surprises is coming…

Horrible groom

In the short story The Horrible Groom, we find ourselves in medieval times and meet the baron of a German castle. He has only one concern – to marry his daughter to a rich count. However, a certain problem arises. After a whole day of preparations, the groom still doesn’t show up. He will show up eventually. Pale, inseparable, but he will take part in the celebration and will not take his eyes off the bride. However, as midnight approaches, he suddenly says goodbye for a terrifying reason – he declares himself dead and rushes to his own funeral. However, the wedding will not go away…

The Adventures of a German Student

In a mysterious short story, the pensive student Gottfried Wolfgang travels to Paris during the Great French Revolution. Instead of the expected distraction, the harsh experiences of revolutionary atrocities lead him to close himself off from the world even more, and he spends long hours in solitude in libraries. Only strange dreams of a woman with a beautiful face pull him out of his melancholic states, and Wolfgang begins to move on the border between reality and illusion. Until one day he experiences an unexpected encounter…