I was sitting here at work, minding my own business, listening to music. Suddenly, while listening to a song I know quite well ("The House", by Gravedigger), it occurred to me that the story sounded familiar. Since last time I've heard this song, I've done a lot of reading of old stories.
The line "Pale and Grey / a Weird Mind / His Sister is Dead" triggered a memory: that sounds like how Edgar Alan Poe describe the main character in The Fall of the House of Usher. So I rewound the song and listened to it fully through, and it turns out I was totally right, Gravedigger is re-telling Poe's most famous short story, The Fall of the House of Usher!
I recommend that you go read that story (it's not too long, and I'm sure it's free online), then listen to that Gravedigger song. I love finding stuff like this!
Oh, and here's the song lyrics, which definitely mirror Poe's story (there is absolutely no doubt in my mind):
I'm riding through the night, a friend has called me
I see the moonless sky, the stars shine bright
The house before me, fog hangs over
I'm standing there alone in the dark
I ring the bell
He opens the door
He looks like death
No shadow on the floor
It seems life's gone out of his body
And madness has now taken control
Pale and grey
A weird mind
His sister is dead
And I'm so blind
Deep in the house
She's lying there
This bird of happiness
With long black hair
[Chorus:]
Silent screams out of the distance
It seems the walls would talk to me
Whispering voices out of the grave
It seems the house can't set me free
Horror running through my veins
As I see my friend going insane
Pale and grey
He's standing there
Scratching and moaning,
Disturbing the air
He knows that he buried his sister alive
But as he sees her he knows that he'll die
[Chorus:]
Silent screams out of the distance
It seems the walls would talk to me
Whispering voices out of the grave
It seems the house can't set me free
And it's burning...
