The Great God Pan

The Great God Pan (1894) is a horror novella by the Welsh author Arthur Machen, who was inspired to write the book by his experiences at the ruins of an ancient temple in Wales.

The tale begins with an experiment to enable a woman named Mary to experience the supernatural realm, which turns her into an idiot. Then follows an account of a series of mysterious occurrences and deaths surrounding a sinister woman named Helen Vaughan. The protagonists eventually confront Helen and forces her to kill herself. Before dying, she undergoes a series of spooky transformations that reveals her to be the daughter of the ill-fated Mary and the god Pan. At the time, the novella was criticized as degenerate due to its implied eroticism. Since the 1920s however, the book has been regarded as a horror classic.

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