The Great God Pan

A doctor performs a small operation on a young woman's brain so that she can see what the ancients called the great god Pan, the reality behind the world. The experiment succeeds, and destroys her mind. Years later, in London, a series of gentlemen take their own lives after meeting a mysterious, beautiful woman named Helen Vaughan, and two friends set out to discover who she really is.

Arthur Machen (1863–1947), a Welsh writer who loved the old landscapes and legends of his home, published the story in 1894, and it was attacked as decadent. It is now considered one of the finest horror stories ever written and a major influence on H. P. Lovecraft. Its power lies in what it leaves unsaid.