"The Premature Burial" & "The Monkey's Paw"

In the story "The Premature Burial", it shows how paranoid the author is about being buried alive. He tells us that he has catalepsy, which sort of reminds me of lucid dreaming because you're basically paralyzed as well. This story gives me goosebumps because just by reading it, I can picture myself being buried alive and it makes ME claustrophobic. The worst part about having such a horrible fear like his, are the night terrors like he had in the middle of the boat he fell asleep on. I couldn't imagine what it was like for him to feel like he's going to die buried alive and to have such terrible nightmares. Especially during a time where it was common for people to die in such a way.



I feel like "The Monkey's Paw" should be in the book series "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" because it's suspenseful, but not scary. You can basically predict what's going to happen after the Sergeant tries burning it because it's cursed. But there's always that one stubborn person that wants to see what it does and in this case it was Mr. White, and Herbert suffered the consequences. There could be other explanations for the story like.. It was the wind that knocked on the door? Or.. maybe he tripped and fell into the machinery and it killed him instantly.. But then the story wouldn't be interesting.