Eugene Johnson [ed.] - Fantastic Tales of Terror

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Eugene Johnson [ed.] - Fantastic Tales of Terror: History's Darkest Secrets (Crystal Lake, 2018)

Luke Spooner

Tony Todd - Introduction

Tim Waggoner - The Deep Delight of Blood
Mercedes M. Yardley - Unpretty Monster
Kevin J. Anderson - The Tell-Tale Mind
Elizabeth Massie - Topsy-Turvy
Bev Vincent - Ray and the Martian
Stephanie M. Wytovich - The Girl with the Death Mask
Christopher Golden - On a Train Bound for Home
Richard Chizmar - The Custer Files
Michael Paul Gonzalez - Red Moon
John Palisano - The Prince of Darkness and the Showgirl
Lisa Morton - The Secret Engravings
Jess Landry - Mutter
Cullen Bunn - La Llorona
Vince Liaguno - The London Encounter
Joe R. Lansdale - Bubba Ho-Tep
Jonathan Maberry - Gorilla my Dreams
Michael Bailey - Articles of Teleforce
David Wellington - Sic Olim Tyrannis
Bentley Little - The Washingtonians
Jessica Marie Baumgartner - Scent of Flesh
Mort Castle - Rotoscoping Toodies
Paul Moore - Lone Wolves
Jeff Strand - The Great Stone Face vs. the Gargoyles
Neil Gaiman - The Return of the Thin White Duke

Blurb:

There are unbelievable things that happen in this world and others. Things that push the boundaries of reality, that touch on the supernatural. These are the tales of those fantastic and horrifying things.
Come discover the lost supernatural stories behind the most famous people and events in history. Explore the secret history that has been hidden in the shadows of the world, and even alternate histories from other world. A young man seeking the secret of immortality from none other than Bela Lugosi; the tragic story of how The Titanic really sank; the horrifying lengths the people of New York City would explore to rise above the Great Depression; and many more fantastic tales.

Mercedes M. Yardley - The Unpretty Monster: A siren falls for a passenger aboard The Titanic — problematic, as her bullying sisters intend feasting upon all aboard once they've lured the ship to its doom.

Kevin J. Anderson - The Tell-Tale Mind: A drunk and demented Edgar Allan Poe struggles to persuade police chief C. Auguste Dupin that Reginald Usher, upstanding pillar of the community & Co., is a murderer whose victims include an old man, a despised business rival, and a niece with lovely teeth.

Tim Waggoner - The Deep Delight of Blood: Hapless vampire obsessive Mike Holland is tutored in the ways of the undead by his idol, sweary Bela Lugosi, until he feels confident to put the bite on a goth co-worker at the movie store. Just his luck that Tiffany has also been taking lessons from a rival screen Dracula.

Vince Liaguno - The London Encounter: Cadogan Lane, Belgravia, 1969. With her latest marriage gone the way of the others, Judy Garland, drug-addled, alcoholic and lonesome, entertains a late night visitor. Jack, a cultured gent in top hat and cloak, has come to collect more than her autograph.

Richard Chizmar - The Custer Files: A collection of handwritten letters, journal entries and scraps of notes, reveal exactly what perpetuated the massacre of George Custer's "invincible" Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Liked this one up to a disappointing final reveal.

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Michael Paul Gonzalez - Red Moon: The Apollo moon-landing. What really went on up there? At last, the true story of Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Comrade Solokov and a Commie werewolf menace!

Jonathan Maberry - Gorilla My Dreams: New York, December 2-3 1933. With King Kong gunned down from the top of the Empire State Building, Mayor John P. O'Brien faces multiple crises. For one; which idiot gave the order to fire indiscriminately in a hugely populated area? For two; who is going to dispose of the body? And spare a thought for Mr. Delpino and the sanitation boys. Sure wouldn't fancy their job at a time like this.

Jeff Strand - The Great Stone Face vs. the Gargoyles: Silent street star and natural-born stuntman Buster Keaton comes under attack from while filming inside a dilapidated Gothic mansion. Keaton also guest stars to great effect in Gary A. Braunbeck's classy paranoid fantasy, Onlookers in Ellen Datlow's The Cutting Room.

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Mort Castle - Rotoscoping Toodies: Bishop Lettford, gifted animator who worked on several Disney movies from 1934, reveals the secret of Walt's marriage to a reclusive screen starlet following the unprecedented box office success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

John Palisano - The Prince of Darkness and the Showgirl: While honeymooning in Japan in January 1954, Marilyn flies out deep into the Korean jungle, ostentatiously to entertain the troops. Unknown to all save the commanding officer, her important business is with a bitter adversary — the demon Vanek (who?). Went way above my head, as have several stories in this collection.

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Joe R. Lansdale - Bubba Ho-Tep: (Writer of the Purple Rage, 1994). Mud Creek, E. Texas. Sebastian Haff, Elvis impersonator (or, possibly, the real thing) teams with fellow patient John F. Kennedy to rid the Shady Grove Convalescent Home of a reanimated Egyptian mummy in cowboy get-up given to feasting upon the souls of the old and infirm. Scatological horror, interrupts translation of rude hieroglyphics in the gents with regular updates on worsening condition of the King's pus-swollen dick. Nominated for 'Superior Achievement in Long Fiction' Bram Stoker Award in 1994.

Cullen Bunn - La Llorona: On the run from Pancho Villa's assassins, Ambrose Bierce encounters the Weeping Woman drowning her infants in the river ...