Honore de Balzac 
La Grande Breteche 

Predating Edgar Allen Poe’s remarkably similar story "The Cask of Amontillado" by more than a decade, Honore de Balzac’s chilling tale "La Grande Breteche" centers on a mysterious manor that sits abandoned in a town in central France. When a physician becomes curious about the estate and begins to question locals about it, he gradually unfurls a horrifying secret.