The black kiss

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

76435

Title

The black kiss

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

In this eerie sea story, artist Graham Dean inherits a haunted San Pedro house and is plagued by vivid dreams of the sea. When his uncle's urgent telegram arrives, a mysterious Japanese doctor reveals the truth behind the local legends of Morella Godolfo. As Dean's nightmares intensify, he faces a terrifying choice: succumb to the ancient evil dwelling beneath the waves or find a way to atone for the black kiss that binds him to the abyss.

Summary up to 500 words

In 'The Black Kiss,' artists Robert Bloch and Henry Kuttner weave a chilling tale of possession and the supernatural lurking beneath the Pacific Ocean. The story centers on Graham Dean, a young artist who inherits an ancient San Pedro home built by his ancestor, Dena, and her mysterious bride, Morella Godolfo. Local legends describe Morella as an immortal sorceress who vanished into the sea, swimming with deformed creatures. Upon moving into the deserted house, Dean begins suffering from persistent, planned nightmares featuring green lights, eyeless beasts, and a looming shadow. His physical health deteriorates, and his sketches become tainted with malignness. Dean's uncle, the eccentric occultist Michael Leigh, sends a frantic telegram demanding he vacate the property immediately. Ignoring the warning, Dean is visited by Doctor Makoto Yamada, a Japanese expert in psychic lore. Yamada reveals the terrifying truth: Morella Godolfo was never fully human but a sea-dweller who possessed a human body. She has been waiting in the deep, slowly possessing Dean's mind and draining his life force to find a new vessel to walk the earth again. As Dean's resistance wanes, his dreams merge with reality. He finds himself swimming in the ocean with monstrous sea-creatures, hunting drowning men from a wrecked zeppelin. Realizing he is being lured into a final possession, he returns to the cave where he was first kissed by the sea-thing. There, he discovers the entity has already taken his body; he is now the sea-creature, while the original Morella Godolfo's consciousness is trapped in his own human form. When his uncle and Doctor Yamada arrive with torches and revolvers, the possessed Dean attacks his own human body. In a final act of atonement, he shoots his human self and bites his own throat, dying peacefully as his soul merges with the sea. The story concludes with the 'third black kiss' of death, leaving the fate of the sea-creature ambiguous but the horror of the possession complete.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

Download URL

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Local file path

data/epubs/pg76435.epub

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Categories

• Short Stories
• Fiction
• Horror