The Lost Cavern — H.F. Heard

Four chilling novellas blend horror and science fiction in this collection of short stories from one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century.

When a man can't bear the company of others, when he runs not just from society but from something evil within himself, he'll find refuge only in the dark, deep underground, in the horrifying void of an uncharted cave. In the wilds of Mexico, a veteran spelunker hears rumors of a cave that could take him deeper than he's ever gone before. The locals whisper old Toltec legends of the devils that inhabit the darkness, spirits that have blighted the countryside for miles around, but the man doesn't listen. He'll find things within that cave that mankind isn't meant to see. And even if he manages to get out alive, he'll never escape the darkness.
 
Drawing on his unique background as an intellectual and expert in the supernatural, author H. F. Heard echoes the pioneering horror of H. P. Lovecraft and the Victorian science fiction of H. G. Wells. In this weird world, the greatest threat to man is man himself.
 
“The Lost Cavern” is one of Heard's best-known stories, and it remains just as eerie today as when it debuted. Along with the other three stories that make up this volume -- “The Cup,” “The Thaw Plan,” and “The Chapel of Ease” -- it confirms Heard's deserved status as one of the early masters of weird fiction.