In The Mysterious Mansion Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) has produced one of the first (if not the first) horror short story where a character is walled up while still alive. The devious tale was published in 1832. This is 14 years before Edgar Allan Poe had his character Fortunato (which was a characterization of one of his literary enemies: Thomas Dunn English) walled up in The Cask of Amontillado, which was first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book.
The Mysterious Mansion is praised for its originality and haunting ending. Unfortunately, a lack of suspense building early in the tale keeps it from moving farther down my list of the Top 40 horror short stories from 1800-1849.
