What is Southern Gothic Literature?

What is it about the grotesque that pulls us in so much when we read it? It seems that for many many people, if the story does not have a disturbing twist to it, we're simply not interested. If there is a choice between reading about something factual, like a lion, or reading about an insane fictional serial killer, most of us would chose the killer. I am one of those who likes the weird and somewhat "crazy" stories. One of the best ways to find these is to simply make your way to the "Southern Gothic" genre of literature. Many writers in this category tend to focus on finding that true epiphany at some point in the story. The twist is that they normally use a character that keeps you interested because they are odd in some way or another. It could be their appearance, how they think, etc. I would like to talk about a few of my favorite writers and their works, and try to help others see how they fall into the "Southern Gothic" category.