187 Years Ago, a Gothic Horror Story Beat Edgar Allan Poe to the Locked-Room Mystery

Sheridan Le Fanu's overlooked Gothic horror novel deserves more appreciation. Authors like Bram Stoker (Dracula), Henry James (The Turn of the Screw), and Wilkie Collins (The Woman in White) are considered prominent Victorian-era Gothic horror writers. That said, one must not forget J. Sheridan Le Fanu, who penned Carmilla, a pioneering lesbian vampire novella that predates Stoker’s Dracula by 25 years. Considered one of the best ghost story writers of his generation, Le Fanu is also known for his macabre poetry and his horror story collection, In a Glass Darkly.