Can you recommend some best dark short stories?

Saki's 'The Open Window' is another one. A young girl tells a visitor a fabricated and spooky story about her uncles' deaths, making the man believe he's seeing ghosts. The girl's mischievousness and the unexpected twist at the end contribute to its dark comedic nature.

A great book for 'dark dark short stories' is 'Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber'. It reimagines classic fairy tales in a much darker and more adult way. For instance, 'The Company of Wolves' takes the Little Red Riding Hood story and turns it into a tale full of sexual tension and danger. Another book is 'Selected Stories' by H. P. Lovecraft. His stories often deal with cosmic horror, like in 'The Call of Cthulhu' where the existence of ancient and powerful beings that are beyond human comprehension is explored. And 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' in its original short story form is also a very dark and gory tale.

One of the well - known dark short stories is 'The Tell - Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe. It's about a narrator who is driven mad by an old man's vulture - like eye and eventually kills him. Another is 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson. In this story, a small town has an annual lottery where the 'winner' is stoned to death in a disturbing display of blind tradition.

One famous dark short story is 'The Tell - Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe. It's about a narrator who tries to convince the reader of his sanity while he's actually insane and has murdered an old man because of his 'vulture - like' eye.

Roald Dahl's 'Lamb to the Slaughter' is also a great example. A wife kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb and then cooks it and serves it to the police who come to investigate. The contrast between the grisly act and the domestic, almost comical situation that follows is full of dark humor.

One is 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It's about a woman's descent into madness as she is confined to a room with the eponymous wallpaper. The story is dark as it shows the oppression of women's mental health in a patriarchal society.

'The Monkey's Paw' by W. W. Jacobs is also well - known. A family comes into possession of a magic monkey's paw that grants wishes, but with horrible, unforeseen consequences. For example, when they wish for money, they get it in the form of compensation for their son's accidental death.

Sure. 'The Yellow Wallpaper' is a great dark horror short story. It shows the descent into madness of a woman who is confined to a room with hideous wallpaper. Also, 'Carmilla' by Sheridan Le Fanu is an early vampire story that predates Dracula. It has an eerie atmosphere and a complex relationship between the characters. Then there's 'The Masque of the Red Death' by Poe again, with its vivid descriptions of a plague - stricken land and a doomed party.

Rather than focusing on dark erotic short stories, I can recommend some great dark short stories that are non - erotic, like Edgar Allan Poe's works. His stories are full of mystery and a sense of the macabre.

One famous 'dark twisted short story' is 'The Tell - Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe. It's about a narrator who is haunted by the old man's vulture - like eye and eventually kills him. Another is 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson, which has a disturbing ending where a community randomly selects a person for a brutal sacrifice. There's also 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find' by Flannery O'Connor, full of dark and unexpected twists.