What is it about traveling down a river with a friend that lends itself to all things horrific? I feel like I've been on river trips and the worse thing that happened to me is that we capsized and I lost the Spiderman figure I had glued to the prow of the canoe.
Anyway, as part of my sudden binge on classic horror stories, I just read a collection of them by Algernon Blackwood. (Seriously, did his parents expect him to be anything other than an Edwardian horror writer?)
The best story of the bunch was called "The Willows" and it was H.P. Lovecraft's personal favorite story. I am hardly surprised.
Its about two guys on a trip down the Danube in a canoe who camp overnight on a mysterious island overrun with, no duh, willows. But that's not all - the island is full of strange goings on and genuinely creepy stuff. There is a strong suggestion that the island is some kind of a gateway between this world and something else and that the things in the other world don't like the things from our world very much. I dunno. You should read it. I'll post the link to it below.
It was written in 1907, but it still has real punch. I was honestly creeped out by it and found the narrative suspenseful enough to read it through in one go. It has a light touch where it ought to and never gives away the nature of the particular horrors the characters are up against. That kind of restraint serves it well, and left me satisfied in ways that Lovecraft himself often does not.
In any case, if you have a thing for classic horror stories, you can see for yourself whether this hundred year old short story has the juice:
The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
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