Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814 -1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century. In his stories the supernatural explanation is implied, but there is always a remote but possible natural explanation. Le Fanu and Poe were some of the first true short story writers and the first in the short story horror genre. An excerpt from this story reads, "The bloated and gouty old man, in his horror, considered the question of resistance. But his athletic days were long over. This moor was a desert. There was no help to be had. He was in the hands of strange servants, even if his recognition turned out to be delusion, and they were under the command of his captors. There was nothing for it but submission, for the present."