The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!r

When SHIRLEY JACKSON’s (1916-1965) story “The Lottery” was published, The New Yorker was assailed with hate mail — and with more than a few requests for the name of the town in which the annual stoning ritual takes place. People wanted to book snuff-tourism trips to next year’s lottery. Jackson found the hell in other people and trotted it out for viewing; The Haunting of Hill House, which combines the fantastic and the domestic in a way few books have managed, is one of the most important horror novels of the twentieth century. Also, Jackson once ended a biographical sketch with the sentence, “I beat my kids regularly.” P.S.: It’s West Bennington, Vermont. See you next year!