For the Blood Is the Life

Francis Marion Crawford (1854 – 1909) was an American writer noted for his many novels, especially those set in Italy, and for his classic weird and fantastic stories. Although Francis Marion Crawford is principally remembered as a master of fantastical literature, that portion of his vast output is quite small, limited to a handful of horror and ghost stories, such as his well-known short works “The Upper Birth”, “Man Overboard!” and the above mentioned “For the Blood is the Life.” His writings that depict Italian life and culture, however, are much more numerous. “For the Blood is the Life”, this story tells the classic gothic horror account of a young man in the thral…