Close Encounters of the Scream Kind Quiz

Answer: H.P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Written in 1926, "The Call of Ctulhu" was published in "Weird Tales" - the pulp magazine to which iconic American author Howard Phillips Lovecraft was a frequent contributor - in February 1928. The story, divided in three chapters and narrated by a man named Francis Wayland Thurston, is based on the notes found after the narrator's great-uncle's rather suspicious death. The titular Cthulhu, an impossibly huge creature with a tentacled head, a harbinger of chaos and madness destined to bring about an apocalyptic age, is awakened from his age-long slumber by a party of innocent sailors. The story is considered one of Lovecraft's masterpieces, on account of the genuine sense of cosmic dread built up through its unusual narrative structure. The alien mythology created by Lovecraft, and further developed by other authors (including Stephen King), is known as Cthulhu Mythos. "The Call of Cthulhu" has inspired films, comics and video games, as well as music: heavy metal band Metallica released two tracks based on the story, "The Call of Ktulu" (1984) and "The Thing That Should Not Be" (1986).

All the authors included in this quiz are mentioned in Lovecraft's essay on "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1927), one of the most important critical sources on this fascinating literary genre.

Answer: Edgar Allan Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher"

First published in 1839 in "Burton's Gentleman's Magazine", Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" is one of the undisputed masterpieces of Gothic literature. As is often the case in this particular literary genre, the story is narrated by an unnamed eyewitness, a friend and guest of Roderick Usher, the owner of the titular house, and twin brother of Madeline.

The story prominently features the theme of premature burial, which recurs in Poe's work; the house is as much a protagonist as the human characters, and the title refers both to the building and the Usher line. An extremely influential work, "The Fall of the House of Usher" has been adapted many times in different media: there are several film versions of the story, as well as musical and theatrical adaptations, one of them by French composer Claude Debussy.

Answer: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, "Carmilla"

A great-nephew of playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was one of the Victorian era's foremost writers of supernatural fiction. One of the most iconic vampire stories, the intriguingly sensual tale of "Carmilla", first published as a serial in 1871-72, is told in the first person by Laura, a girl who lives with her father in a castle in the Austrian region of Styria.

When they rescue a mysterious young woman (the titular Carmilla), injured in a carriage accident, mayhem ensues: young girls in the nearby village begin to sicken and die, and Laura's own health rapidly declines. Frequently adapted in different media, "Carmilla" predates Bram Stoker's "Dracula" by 26 years, and may have influenced Stoker's work.

The story is also notable for its subtle but unmistakable lesbian subtext, deployed in the clear romantic attraction between Carmilla and the narrator.

Answer: Rudyard Kipling, "The Mark of the Beast"

First published in July 1890, "The Mark of the Beast" is part of a group of horror stories set in Rudyard Kipling's native India, later included in his 1891 collection "Life's Handicap". The story, one of Kipling's most genuinely horrifying efforts, relates the dreadful retribution visited upon Fleete, an English gentleman who, while well in his cups, desecrates a statue of the monkey god Hanuman by marking it on the forehead with the ashes of his cigar (the titular "mark of the beast"). Fleete is then bitten on the breast by one of the god's priests, the sinister "Silver Man", who suffers from leprosy.

This very scary story can be also read as criticism of the careless attitude of many English people towards Indian culture when they traveled to the subcontinent in the days of the British Raj.

Answer: Algernon Blackwood, "The Wendigo"

One of H.P. Lovecraft's favourite authors, English writer Algernon Blackwood enjoys cult status among fans of weird fiction. His 1910 novella "The Wendigo" is set in the wilderness of Northwestern Ontario, where two Scotsmen, uncle and nephew, are on a moose-hunting expedition together with two guides, one of them a French-speaking Canadian highly attuned to his natural surroundings. Though the titular Wendigo, a demonic, cannibalistic creature in the mythology of the North Algonquian tribes, is never explicitly shown, its eerie, terrifying presence hovers throughout the story until its sad ending. Over 70 years later, Stephen King would feature the Wendigo in his novel "Pet Sematary" (1983).

Answer: M.R. James, "Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"

Like J.R.R. Tolkien, English author Montague Rhodes James was a scholar and medievalist who is mostly remembered for his works of fiction - namely several collections of ghost stories, considered among the finest examples of the genre. Titled after a poem by Robert Burns, "Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" first appeared in "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary", the first of these collections, published in 1904.

The protagonist, Parkins, a Cambridge professor like the author himself, is spending his holidays in a seaside town in southeast England; there, while visiting the ruins of a Templar church, he finds a strange metal tube inscribed with Latin words.

When he blows into the whistle, alarming occurrences begin to haunt Parkins, whose skeptical attitude towards the supernatural is put to the test.

The story was adapted by the BBC three times, most recently in 2014.

Answer: Prosper Mérimée, "The Venus of Ille"

The only work featured in this quiz originally written in a language other than English, "The Venus of Ille" (La Vénus d'Ille) was written in 1835 by French author Prosper Mérimée (whose best-known work, "Carmen", was adapted into an opera by Georges Bizet), and published in 1837. Set in southwestern France, the novella is narrated by a Parisian archaeologist who during a visit to the town of Ille, is invited to the wedding of Alphonse, the son of a local gentleman with a keen interest in ancient Roman artifacts.

The titular Venus is a magnificent bronze statue with an unusually fierce expression, and mysterious words inscribed on its pedestal. Though the locals believe the statue to be cursed, the drunken Alphonse puts his wedding ring on its finger as a joke - with terrible consequences. Considered one of the classics of 19th-century weird fiction, "The Venus of Ille" was praised in Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature".

Answer: W.W. Jacobs, "The Monkey's Paw"

Published in 1902 in the collection of short stories "The Lady of the Barge", "The Monkey's Paw" opens with the well-known saying "careful what you wish for, you may receive it". Its author, English writer William Wymark Jacobs, a renowned humorist in his lifetime, is now mostly known for this story, frequently included in anthologies of weird and horror fiction.

The titular monkey's paw comes from India, where a fakir put a spell on it, granting three wishes to its owner - but with a catch. The grisly object ends up in the possession of an elderly couple and their only son, who soon learn the dreadful consequences of trying to tamper with fate. "The Monkey's Paw" has been adapted many times in various media, and has inspired quite a few variations based on its central theme.

Answer: Arthur Machen, "The Great God Pan"

Published in 1894, Arthur Machen's novella "The Great God Pan" was inspired by a visit to the ruins of a pagan temple in the author's native Wales. The story opens with an experiment conducted upon a woman named Mary - which allows her to see the supernatural world, but eventually causes her to go insane. Years later, a series of increasingly frightening occurrences are linked to a girl named Helen Vaughan, whose character evidences many of the features of the "femme fatale" so popular in late Romantic and Decadent literature. Machen (who is also known for his short story "The Bowmen", about the legend of the Angels of Mons) was strongly attracted to occultism and mysticism, and was briefly a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. A major influence on several of Lovecraft's best-known works, "The Great God Pan" caused a scandal at the time of publication because of its implied sexual elements, but in more recent times garnered the praise of the likes of Stephen King.

Answer: Henry James, "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes"

Though not as widely known as Henry James' iconic weird masterpiece, "The Turn of the Screw", "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes" (1868) enjoys quite a bit of popularity, and is often included in anthologies of ghost stories. The story, first published in "The Atlantic Monthly", is a fine example of what has come to be called "American Gothic". Set in 18th-century New England, it hinges on the relationship between two sisters, Viola (later renamed Rosalind in the UK edition) and Perdita, and their rivalry for the love of a man. Though the shocking development happens at the very end, James skillfully and subtly builds up a feeling of suspense almost from the beginning of what might superficially look like a Victorian family drama.