Nightmare Tales

IT was a dark, chilly night in September, 1884. The world knows H.P. Blavatsky chiefly by her encyclopedic knowledge, her occult powers, her unique courage. This little book, composed of stories thrown off by her in her lighter moments, shows her as a vivid, graphic writer, gifted with brilliant imagination. The Nightmare Tales were rewritten during the last few months of the author's pain-stricken life: when tired with the drudgery of the Theosophical Glossary she, who could not be idle, turned to this lighter work and found therein amusement and relaxation. Her friends, all the world over, will welcome this example of gifts used but too rarely amid the strain of weightier work. Contents: The Bewitched Life; The Cave of the Echoes; The Luminous Shield; From the Polar Lands; The Ensouled Violin Table of Contents 2 Nightmare Tales 3 by H. P. Blavatsky 3 CAN THE DOUBLE MURDER? 4 AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY 8 KARMIC VISIONS 13 I 13 II 14 III 15 IV 15 V 16 VI 17 VII 17 VIII 18 IX 19 X 20 XI 21 THE LEGEND OF THE BLUE LOTUS 22 THE BLUE LOTUS 23 A BEWITCHED LIFE 27 INTRODUCTION 27 I -- THE STRANGER'S STORY 29 II -- THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR 33 III -- PSYCHIC MAGIC 36 IV -- A VISION OF HORROR 38 V -- RETURN OF DOUBTS 40 VI -- I DEPART -- BUT NOT ALONE 43 VII -- ETERNITY IN A SHORT DREAM 44 VIII -- A TALE OF WOE 48 THE LUMINOUS SHIELD 51 THE CAVE OF THE ECHOES 56 FROM THE POLAR LANDS 61 THE ENSOULED VIOLIN 63 I 63 II 67 III 68 IV 71 V 74 VI 77