The Shadow over Innsmouth – H.P. Lovecraft

"It was the Innsmouth look... staring, unwinking eyes which never seemed to shut."

A young tourist takes a detour to the decaying, isolated seaport of Innsmouth, Massachusetts. He finds a town steeped in rot and secrecy, inhabited by people with strange, amphibious deformities. As he uncovers the town's dark pact with creatures from the deep, his curiosity turns to terror, leading to a desperate escape attempt and a shocking final revelation about his own heritage.

This novella is one of Lovecraft's most gripping and atmospheric tales. It explores themes of degeneration, forbidden knowledge, and the fear of the 'other', building a suffocating sense of dread that culminates in one of the most famous chase sequences in horror literature.