The Arkham Manuscripts

01. Joseph Payne BRENNAN — The Seventh Spell
Emmet Telkwist discovers an old book, “True Magic,” by a certain Theophilus Wren. He decides to cast one spell from the book—especially since he knows where the sacrificial altar he needs for the sorcery is located...
Time: 00:19:21

02. Stephen KING — The Box
Dexter Stanley, head of the zoology department at one of America’s universities, finds a large wooden box under the stairs with the inscription “Arctic Expedition 1834.” Although almost one and a half centuries have passed since 1834 and the box is covered with nearly a four-inch layer of dust, he has the unsettling feeling that something is moving inside...
Time: 01:25:40

03. Ray BRADBURY — The Courier
Martin is ten. He is ill and doesn’t get out of bed. His courier—to carry messages to the outside—was his dog. The dog, instead of him, ran through the town’s streets and its surroundings—to the river, to a lake, or a stream, to a wood shed, or up to the attic. And it always returned with gifts—scents of sunflower, the smell of the schoolyard’s soot path, or milkweed from the meadows. The dog told stories, and the boy confined to his bed listened and remembered what autumn used to be like when he himself had experienced it. Sometimes the dog tried to bring Martin unusual friends...
Time: 00:22:59

04. Earl PIERCE Jr. — The Rock of Darreyah
An ancient curse hangs over the house of Darreyah, and members of this family cannot stand being near each other, because sooner or later one for the other turns into a victim. Nevertheless, after 20 years, the younger of the Darreyahs decides to bring his dangerous father home...
Time: 00:47:33

05. Guy de MAUPASSANT — The Hand of the Corpse
Young gentleman Pierre, traveling through Normandy, bought at an estate sale a mummified hand—supposedly belonging to a cruel murderer—from an old charlatan-sorcerer...
Time: 00:14:11

06. M. R. JAMES — Rats
Mr. Thomson spent many wonderful days in a lovely provincial hotel, working on a book and enjoying rural scenery. And he would have kept only pleasant memories of that time, if—out of stupidity—he hadn’t entered a room the hotel owners avoided...
Time: 00:19:20

07. Henry HASS — The Horror of Vekra
Vekra. A small village with bad land. Each year, people disappear here—then some people later see them among a hundred other missing faces. Out-of-towners who simply got lost and stayed overnight in Vekra will have to learn the secret of this terrible place...
Time: 01:14:05

08. H. P. Lovecraft, Hazel Held — Out of Time

A strange incident occurs at the Cabot Museum, where a mummy brought from a mysterious island—an island that appeared from the sea for only one day and then went back into the ocean depths—was put on display. Along with the mummy they found a scroll with mysterious writing that cryptography specialists could not decipher, but which suspiciously resembles symbols from certain forbidden books, such as “Necronomicon” and “Nameless Cults.”
Time: 01:07:47

09. Aleksey REMIZOV — The Corpse
In one village, a celebration was going on, and three young men decided to dig up a dead man, drag him into a house, and see what would come of it...
Time: 00:06:36

10. Robert HOWARD — The Screaming Skull of Silence
Kull goes to an old tower-prison called the Skull of Silence. When he opens the door, he releases Silence into freedom, which nearly kills him and his companions...
Time: 00:24:55

11. August DERLETH — The Hand of Glory
Too late Alexander noticed a pale shadow fleeting in the light of a lampada. His neck was squeezed by an unpleasant cold that turned into unbearable suffocation and the sound of a breaking spine. The hand swiftly leapt off the sack-like fallen body and slipped into a crack known only to it. Another night, another victim...
Time: 00:28:42

12. Robert McCAMMON — Wasp Summer
Carla Emerson let out a breath of relief after reaching an old gas station in Capehsho with the kids on a hot day. She didn’t yet realize that this gas station had been chosen by small winged insects with stings...
Time: 00:53:08

13. Clive BARKER — In the Flesh
Clev Smith serving his sentence in prison was unpleasantly surprised when a young man named Billy Tate was brought to his cell.
It turned out that Billy intentionally committed a crime in order to end up in that very prison where his grandfather had been hanged years ago...
Time: 02:25:04

14. Richard MATHESON — A Call from Afar
Poor old Miss Kine is bedridden. A phone call in the middle of the night wakes her, but there is nobody on the line. Nasty pranksters, Miss Kine thinks. The calls keep coming insistently, driving her crazy...
Time: 00:35:05

15. Dan SIMMONS — This Year’s Class Photo
Miss Geiss is one of those who managed to survive the zombie invasion. Now the school where she worked her whole life is surrounded by barbed wire and trenches, and Miss Geiss never parts with her sniper rifle. But the essence of her work hasn’t changed: she teaches children mathematics, drawing, and geography… even if those children are already dead and want not knowledge...
Time: 01:08:24

16. Michael Marshall SMITH — Getting Better
He’s had a very fortunate life. An extraordinary lucky life. Because he knows more than others do—people just like him. Thanks to Manny, he knows who he is and what he exists for. Now he has no intention of tolerating this state of affairs. And even if later there’s anything at all, he will definitely visit his brother.
Time: 00:21:01

17. Gerald DARRELL — The Crossing
One day, a young man comes to a well-known used-book dealer, Peter Letting, asking him to catalog his home library. Soon they become fairly close friends. But the new friend has a family secret, which involves mirrors hung in the large and empty house of his uncle. And someone will soon lift the curtain on that secret—a secret that is better not to reveal...
Time: 02:05:54

18. Dmitry KVASHNIN — Catharsis
For many years now everyone has just called him “the director.” In this new dying world, he puts on performances for which he gives the respectable public what they want most of all: bread and circuses!
Time: 00:26:23

19. Edgar POE — The Raven
In the deep midnight of a cold December, sitting over a pile of learned treatises and volumes, he vainly tries to forget and drown in books the sadness over Lenore, who has perished too soon. A light knock from the street brings even greater confusion, excitement, and anxiety into his soul. But behind the door there is no one—only darkness! And when, tormented by doubts, daydreams, and fears, he pushes open the window shutters, a sacred bird flies into the room!
Time: 00:09:25