Selección Terror: El castillo de los jorobados

About this issue

"El castillo de los jorobados" (The Castle of the Hunchbacks) by Ada Coretti is a supernatural horror novella. Lord Morggine, hunting with his servant Richard, discovers a hidden basement beneath ruined castle ruins containing numerous skeletal remains—all deformed with curved spines. A disembodied voice curses him: his normal-born children will die violently, while only hunchbacked children will survive. The curse proves accurate. Between 1866 and 1877, Lady Morggine bears six children: three hunchbacked sons survive (Frank, Edward, and a younger Edward), while three normal daughters die in accidents. Seventeen years later, the family is devastated. Edward Morggine, bitter about his deformity, visits the old mill where Florinda, a rough peasant girl, lives. The narrative combines Gothic elements—ancestral curses, supernatural punishment, and family tragedy—with psychological horror as the curse systematically fulfills itself across generations.