Tales of terror

Tales of terror by Dick Donovan is a collection of short stories written in the late 19th century. The volume blends crime, the uncanny, and psychological dread, with vivid narrators confronting eerie, often lethal phenomena. The opening tale centers on Dr. Peter Haslar’s struggle to save his friend Jack Redcar from Annette, a mesmerizing, vampire-like woman whose “oily eyes” exert a fatal power. The opening of the collection follows Dr. Haslar as he answers a desperate plea from Maude Redcar and learns how Annette first ensnared Jack during the honeymoon, insinuated herself into their home, and seemed to bring ruin—including the loss of their child. Haslar tracks the pair to Spain, where Annette dominates Jack and subtly weakens the doctor, until he witnesses her feeding on Jack in the mountains; a final confrontation ends with Jack’s death and Annette’s disappearance, while an inquiry clears Haslar. A sequel chapter then compiles “official records,” tracing Annette’s earlier life as Isabella Ribera of Andalusia—born with unnerving eyes, precociously cold, and drawn to blood—through a string of aliases across Europe and America. In each locale, men who fall under her spell sicken with strange anemia and a small neck mark, while courts fail to prove poison and observers note her hypnotic “oily” eyes and silvery voice. The segment closes as this dossier nears the period of her meeting with Redcar, reinforcing the sense of a human vampire leaving a trail of inexplicable deaths.