THE DEAD AND THE COUNTESS, a Short Story by Gertrude Atherton

In a forgotten corner of Finisterre, where the dead have long rested undisturbed, an unstoppable force of modernity shatters the sacred silence. When a railway is laid beside the old cemetery, the relentless roar of the train awakens those who have slumbered for centuries. The village priest, desperate to restore their peace, watches in horror as the dead begin to stir-muttering, lamenting, and cursing their unnatural return to awareness. But one voice among them is different-the restless cry of a newly buried countess, whose final wish has turned into an eternal nightmare. As the priest fights against forces beyond his control, the line between the living and the dead blurs, and an eerie reckoning looms. Can the dead ever return to rest? Or has the iron beast condemned them to an endless purgatory?