Classic books and articles about ghosts, monsters,
aliens, and things that go bump in the night.

GHOSTS. Accounting for the uncommon behavior of ghosts, Heine mentions somebody's ingenious theory to the effect that they are as much afraid of us as we of them. Not quite, if I may judge from such tables of comparative speed as I am able to compile from memories of my own experience.

There is one insuperable obstacle to a belief in ghosts. A ghost never comes naked: he appears either in a winding-sheet or "in his habit as he lived." To believe in him, then, is to believe that not only have the dead the power to make themselves visible after there is nothing left of them, but that the same power inheres in textile fabrics. Supposing the products of the loom to have this ability, what object would they have in exercising it? And why does not the apparition of a suit of clothes sometimes walk abroad without a ghost in it? These be riddles of significance. They reach away down and get a convulsive grip on the very tap-root of this flourishing faith.

-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Edward Kelly raises the dead (Liam's Pictures from Old Books)

ON THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL
Edmund Burke (1756/1757)

"No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. For fear being an apprehension of pain or death, it operates in a manner that resembles actual pain. Whatever therefore is terrible, with regard to sight, is sublime too..."

VAMPIRES
Voltaire (1764)

These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs, after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses grew fat [...] and enjoyed an excellent appetite.

LETTERS ON DEMONOLOGY AND WITCHCRAFT
Sir Walter Scott (1830)

"These attributes, it may be cursorily noticed, themselves intimate the connexion of modern demonology with the mythology of the ancients. The cloven foot is the attribute of Pan—to whose talents for inspiring terror we owe the word panic—the snaky tresses are borrowed from the shield of Minerva..."

APPARENT CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND EVOLUTION
Frederick, Lord Bishop of Exeter (1884)

"...the doctrine of Evolution leaves the argument for an intelligent Creator and Governor of the world stronger than it was before. [...] But whatever may be the relation of the doctrine of Evolution to Revelation, it cannot be said that this doctrine is antagonistic to Religion in its essence."

TRANSYLVANIAN SUPERSTITIONS
Emily Gerard (1885)

"As I am on the subject of thunderstorms, I may as well here mention the Scholomance, or school supposed to exist somewhere in the heart of the mountains, and where all the secrets of nature, the language of animals, and all imaginable magic spells and charms are taught by the devil in person."

THE DREAD OF THE SUPERNATURAL
The Spectator (1897)

"The fear caused by what is supposed to be a supernatural agency seems, then, to have in it some element not found in ordinary fear. If and when the haunting phenomena cause fear they seem to give a shock of quite special keenness."

VAMPIRES
J. R. S. Sterrett (1899)

"The best evidence that death has been caused by a vampire is the mark of a bite on the nape of the neck, though sudden death of any kind is regarded as its work. The fear of sudden death is said to be very great among the peoples with whom the vampire loves to dwell..."

WEREWOLVES AND VAMPIRES AND GHOULS
Elliott O'Donnell (1912)

"The lid of the coffin was off, the corpse was lying huddled up on the floor, and crouching over it was Constance. For God's sake don't ask me to describe more—the sounds we heard explained everything. When she saw us she emitted a series of savage snarls, sprang at one of the maids, scratched her in the face, and before we could stop her, flew downstairs and out into the street."

SCIENTIFIC TRUTHS CONTAINED IN FAIRY STORIES
Hereward Carrington (1921)

"...most of these stories have no basis of fact behind them, but [...] are merely the product of the story-teller's imagination—just as similar stories today are produced in this manner. But, on the other hand, it is quite conceivable that many of the seemingly fabulous accounts are in truth based upon realities..."

Photo credits: Public domain illustrations courtesy Liam's Pictures from Old Books and Wikimedia Commons.