The Haunted Graveyard of Hopeless Souls

By Fr. Stephanos Anagnostopoulos

Years ago, a young priest told me this amazing story: 

“My mother did not want her son to become a priest; and three years after I was ordained, she died. I did not pay particular attention at her death as a priest; I only did what was necessary and nothing else.

One evening, at dusk, I was walking by the cemetery and I thought: ‘Why don’t I stop and light her oil lamp?’ I lit her oil lamp and sat down on a rock. I didn’t have my stole with me, so I didn’t read a trisagion for her.

After a little while, I felt faint, and I looked up. It seemed like the graves were open, and the bodies of the dead were getting up and screaming: ‘HELP! HELP! Priests of the most high God, help us! Orthodox Christians, help us! Do liturgies, prayers, memorial services, trisagia… HELP us, Christian people!’

Alexandros Papadiamantis and "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells

 

By Vangelis Hatzivasiliou, 
Editor of Eleftherotypia, 4/3/2010

The first translation of H. G. Wells' famous novel "The Invisible Man" in Greece was made, anonymously, by Alexandros Papadiamantis.

What does Alexandros Papadiamantis have to do with science fiction and horror literature? And how can he be connected to an author like H. G. Wells and his famous novel "The Invisible Man", which nurtured generations upon generations of readers and translators, as well as writers and artists?

Papadiamantis was, in an unsuspecting time, the anonymous first translator of "The Invisible Man" in Greece. A translator with imagination, resourcefulness, humor and, most importantly, a strongly sarcastic disposition. This, at least, is shown by today's edition of his text by "Kichli", edited by N. D. Triantafyllopoulos and Lambrini Triantafyllopoulos, who spoke about their find four years ago (with an article in the magazine "Nea Estia"), while the case had already been identified in 1987 by Eleni I. Damvounelli (with her announcement in the magazine "Diavazo").

The Spiritual World: On the Existence of Demons (19)

...continued from part eighteen.

17. Strange Phenomena in Yekaterinburg. 

The newspaper "Ural" published the following description of phenomena observed in Yekaterinburg and taking place in the house of the priest of the village of Loginovo, Father Nikolai.

Father Nikolai has lived in this house for 13 years. Last summer, the house underwent major renovations. Before the renovations, the house was completely quiet, and afterward, the same continued for another two months. But recently, Father began to hear scratching sounds from inside the kitchen floor, sometimes whistling. He carefully examined the floor, peered into the crawlspace, but found nothing there. Three days passed. He said nothing to anyone, afraid to embarrass the family. Then, in addition to the scratching and whistling, he began to hear knocking on the floor, quite loudly. It sounded like someone was scratching the floor with claws; scratching and whistling. Then the entire household heard and recognized it. 

An Anthology of Byzantine Tales of Horror and the Macabre

 

Byzantine historian Anthony Kaldellis compiled this anthology of Byzantine tales of horror and the macabre for his podcast in 2000. 

Learn about foul murders, demonic visitations, the undead, and the criminally insane; also, the Byzantine science of demonology and the spirit world. 

The stories are: "Questions for a woman who killed and ate her mother and daughter"; "Incisive curiosity"; "Desire of the flesh"; "The mummy"; "The murderer who gave himself up"; "Drawn and quartered"; "Wrong address"; "Erinyes of the sea"; "Three Blind Men"; "Taken"; "Possessorix"; "Baboutzikarios"; "Gello"; "Second chance"; "Calling a witness"; and "Killing baby Hitler."

Parallels Between the Legend of the Seven Youths of Ephesus and Gothic Literature

As I was reading some things about the Seven Youths of Ephesus yesterday for their feast, I was noticing some parallels between the story and Gothic literature that I am familiar with, especially when stripped of the hagiographical elements. And as I wondered what a movie or book would look like if the story of these Seven Sleepers was transformed into a Gothic story, I decided to do some research on the internet. Google then provided me with a rough draft of these parallels I noticed through their AI generator, which I thought was worth sharing. Below are three entries on the subject generated by AI, with the last of the three specifically concentrating on the parallels between the story of the Seven Sleepers and Edgar Allan Poe stories.