2,030 words (8–10 minutes)
Genre(s): Horror, Psychological Thriller
Originally published in Weird Tales, February 1930

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Falred, a rational and skeptical man, volunteers to sit the night watch over the corpse of the churlish recluse Adam Farrel. As darkness cloaks the house, he dismisses the superstitions of the past—until the stillness of the dead begins to gnaw at his senses. With each passing hour, his imagination takes a terrifying hold, distorting the ordinary into the grotesque. Is his fear merely self-inflicted madness, or is something truly lurking in the dark? In this chilling tale of psychological horror, Robert E. Howard explores the primal terror of the unknown and the dreadful weight of solitude.