A simple theme and quite thought provoking. Not one of those terrifying pieces, but rather one that focusses more on emotion. ( )

Very familiar-feeling... perhaps I've read this before, possibly a different translation? Similar to Edgar Allan Poe in feel - and not just because it's got someone being bricked up and left to die .
I'm not at all sure the multiple 'layers' of the story are necessary: At a social gathering, a man tells a story about a man who is drawn to the grounds of a decrepit and abandoned mansion, who is then told a story about the circumstances of that abandonment, and then seeks out further information on the former inhabitants of that home and the appalling events that occurred there.

However, the story itself is quite effectively horrific, driving home its point about the cruelty and evil that men can do... ( )