What could be more frightening than the crumbling spires of an ancient castle or the echoing halls of a cursed family’s ancestral home? How about the alien landscape of the open sea! With its unknowable depths and mercurial moods, the ocean is rife with mystery and danger. And out in the middle of the ocean, one can experience an isolation far more profound than even the most remote cliffside abbey. In many ways, the ocean is the perfect Gothic landscape. On any given voyage, a sailor might have to battle against the weather and natural environment, against monsters, against the restless dead, against the depravity and superstitious nature of his fellow man, or even against the phantasms of his own mind. Here are just a few examples of Gothic works that take place, in whole or in part, at sea:
