Selección Terror: Necrofagia

About this issue

"Necrofagia" by Curtis Garland (1973) is a Gothic horror novella set in Victorian England. The story centers on Richard Hastings, a London solicitor, and Ana Penrose, a sickly young woman from the small northern village of Gatescastle with whom he has developed a romance entirely through correspondence. Ana's letter reveals her affection for Richard despite their single brief meeting, her illness, and dark premonitions of death. When Richard resolves to visit her in person, he remains unaware that Ana has already died and been buried in Gatescastle cemetery during a harsh winter. The narrative promises that something "monstrous and incredible" will occur at Ana's grave—something worse than death itself—hinting at supernatural horror to come. The work combines epistolary romance with Gothic dread in a northern English setting.