Aleister Crowley

The Testament of Magdalen Blair - British Horror Aleister Crowley

The madness of the living is a thing so abominable and fearful as to chill every human heart with horror; it is less than nothing in comparison with the madness of the dead!

What would you do if you could read minds and thoughts? Magdalen Blair discovered soon that this psychic gift was not a blessing, but a curse. When her husband became extremely ill, she followed the struggle of his mind against dark forces that tried to dominate his whole being. What she saw is nothing but madness and deep darkness. Originally published in 1913 by Aleister Crowley, "The Testament of Magdalen Blair" was considered by the novelist and editor Frank Harris - one of the best friends of Oscar Wilde - the most terrifying tale ever written. This is a scary story about the occult realities of existence; a perfect reading for those long and dark nights.

This tale, which expresses the most ferocious cosmic horror, preceded Lovecraft's writings and helped to consolidate this subgenre that throughout the 20th century would be consecrated by Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, Thomas Ligotti and, of course, by Lovecraft himself. The echoes that influenced the writing of this tale can also be traced in the texts of Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, and, mainly, in the short story "The Facts That Involved the Case of Mr. Valdemar", by Edgar Allan Poe, which has a very similar premise.