Alexey Tolstoy is best known as one of the creators of “Kozma Prutkov” - but the books that he published under his own name have gone down in the history of Russian literature. “The Ghoul” is a fantastic story. Its action takes place in Russia, but the origins of the incident lead to Italy, where the listeners are transported by the story of one of the characters. The unreal in the story receives a psychological explanation... which still leaves us the freedom to decide whether this can be or not. The plot of the classic Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy’s story “The Ghoul” revolves around Alexander Andreevich Runevsky, to whom at one of the balls a certain gentleman confidentially informed that the hostess of the celebration, as well as some of the guests, are actually... ghouls!