The irony of intimacy
Intimacy is shown as an ironic goal. The irony is contained in the fact that intimacy is what these characters crave in an animalistic, primal way, but the methods by which their animal nature links them to one another are sublime and quite intimidating. That's why Miranda prefers talking to her cat than to Julius, because becoming one with Julius is horrifying. That's why Rose is horrified by sexuality and intimacy. When she fails to overcome those fears, she finds that there is an equal and opposite pain: loneliness. She prefers the strange, volatile experience of intimacy to the pain of a lonely life and death.
The irony of personality
For Florence, the problem of life is the ironic opposite of what some might suppose. Instead of struggling to become successful, Florence is a genius of personality whose horror is precisely her success. Because she is so skillful with personality and performance, she struggles to accept the parts of her self that are not contained in her public persona. She is possessed and haunted, but not by a ghost or demon; she is haunted by her very self.
Animals and irony
The use of animals finds two polar opposites on a spectrum of irony. The first irony is that humans assume they are of more worth than animals, and the opposite irony is that people like Miranda Muir can find more to identify in animals than in other humans. In one case, animals are not worth regular attention, and in the other case, humans aren't worth the love Miranda shows to her cat. In both cases, animals are tools for ironic considerations, because they are avatars of life, and life is the primary element of strangeness in the story.
Horror and normality
Horror is seen in these stories not as supernatural and unreal, but as something real and actually quite normal. The sublime strangeness of life is the source of horror, and also human nature which is often juxtaposed with animal nature. The human has mental assumptions about reality that seem obvious and plain, but through horror, these assumptions can be seen for their true color. Normal life is shaped by sublime horror in almost every way, says the stories.
Paranoia and dramatic irony
Throughout the stories, the tone in "The Premonition" of nervousness and paranoia is a defining feature of these Haunted Tales. The stories show that the experiences of paranoia and nervousness are essentially considerations of dramatic irony, because the character knows enough to suspect that something is wrong, but discovering the matter is challenging and perplexing. This use of dramatic irony heightens the tension of the tone.
