The collection brought to the attention of readers brings together works that, with some degree of convention, can be called “Gothic prose” (the origin of the term is from English classical literature of the late 18th century). This prose has a specific flavor: darkly mysterious adventures, events that happen at will higher, unknown forces, the inevitability of fate in human destiny. But a characteristic feature of the English Gothic novel, especially the second half of the 19th century, is that mysterious, enigmatic, otherworldly phenomena are organically combined with ordinary, recognizable concrete realistic features of reality. This fusion, introducing an artistic measure into the description of the supernatural, unusual , only enhances the aesthetic impression, draws the reader into the orbit of the events described. An obligatory element of “Gothic” novels and stories is a mystery, often connected with a crime, and its disclosure, which, however, unlike a detective story, may never happen, and also a romantic story linked to the main plot action.