When you think of classics in the horror genre– and by classics here I mean mostly horror titles that are no longer under copyright– there are names that come easily to mind. Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley, or at least the movies based on their books, are surely familiar to most people. H.P. Lovecraft, in spite of his influence, is a little more obscure to the general public, but most people with even a passing knowledge of horror fiction probably recognize his name. Chances are you can find their works easily, if not actually in the high school classroom, at least in the high school library… and certainly, you should be able to get them at the local public library!

But there are also authors that might surprise you, at least a little. My introduction to Robert Louis Stevenson was A Child’s Garden of Verses. You know,

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

That the author of idyllic children’s verse and such boys’ adventure novels (yes, I know girls read them and love them, too) as Treasure Island and Kidnapped could take the turn of imagination he did to write “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” intrigues me, but as with many other iconic monsters that have taken hold in our own imaginations, Jekyll and Hyde have taken on life of their own, and I suspect the average person hasn’t noticed the author is the same, if they’ve read the original story at all. Stevenson’s imagination turned in this direction more than once, though, and I thought I’d share a story today that the folks at HorrorHomework.com posted online, which illustrates the perils and horrors of trying to impress the wrong teacher, and of bowing to peer pressure. And so I present to you Robert Louis Stevenson’s gruesome and disturbing “The Bodysnatcher”(It’s possible that you may have to listen to Christopher Walken reading “The Raven” as well, but, while it distracts from the reading experience, it’s definitely worth a listen).

Enjoy!