The House of Usher

I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was; but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.

    - Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher

Some fabrics seem to have a story behind them. This novelty quilting fabric is certainly one of them. The morose purple background is the canvas upon which are painted the dilapidated house of Roderick Usher, the family burial plot which contains the remains of many generations of the Usher family, various grotesque creatures of the night and a few dead trees. A mischievous looking jack-'o-lantern and a plaintive moon looking over some distant hills round out the picture.