I’ve always been fascinated by the dark, subterranean secrets of the Earth: ancient speleological columns and towers, stalactites and stalagmites inching ever closer, corridors glittering with gypsum, delicate filigrees of selenite, ubiquitous lakes and rivers, ice-cream smooth flowstone, and unbelievably fragile structures like soda straws, cave pearls, and chandeliers.

The explorer in me could spend a lifetime enthralled within the womb of the Earth. But it was Octavio Paz who said, “The accidents of terrain become meaningful as soon as they enter history”—and thus each deep grotto, shallow hideaway, and labyrinthine cavern has taken on meaning and history as we humans have discovered them and often used them for our nefarious purposes.

Author Paul Jay Steward has compiled these cavernous tales of murder and mayhem in a fascinatingly unique collection published by Cave Books, an affiliate of the Cave Research Foundation in Ohio. These stories span the globe, documenting murder, atrocity, and the just plain weird and macabre events that have transpired underground.

Steward’s prose is crisp and direct, with a journalistic precision. He knows how to capture a reader’s attention and hold it. If I had one quibble, it would be that I’d like to have seen the book three times its length with much more detail and background into each cave and its story; thus True Tales of Terror could serve as a better source of research for fascinated horror authors like myself. As written, though, Steward’s book is an excellent stepping-off point and incredibly good for horrific inspiration. It’s entertaining and not easily set aside. The individual stories are the perfect length for what I call “snack reading.” Devour one on your coffee break at the office, then entertain your coworkers at the water cooler.

If you enjoy this book and are fascinated by caves, I highly recommend you try other books published by the Cave Research Foundation—my personal favorite is Deep Secrets: The Discovery and Exploration of Lechuguilla Cave. And if you enjoy real life cave drama, don’t miss Murray and Brucker’s Trapped!, which tells the story of Floyd Collins’ entrapment in Sand Cave in Kentucky (University of Kentucky Press). Meanwhile, get out this summer and visit a cave system near you.

[Brian A. Hopkins is the award-winning author of a number of works including El Dia De Los Muertos, Licking Valley Coon Hunters Club, Lipstick, Lies & Lady Luck, as well as hundreds of short stories and essays. He lives in Oklahoma.]