{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}
"
The Dunwich Horror" is a
short storyA short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books...
by
H. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft was an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, known then simply as weird fiction....
. Written in
1928The year 1928 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Ford Madox Ford publishes Last Post. It is the final book of a four-volume work titled Parade's End published between 1924 and 1928....
, it was first published in the April
1929The year 1929 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Candide by Voltaire is declared obscene by the United States Customs and seized in 1930....
issue of
Weird TalesWeird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J.C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre. Edwin Baird was the first editor of the monthly, assisted by Farnsworth Wright.-Edwin Baird:Baird...
(pp. 481-508). It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. It is considered one of the core stories of the
Cthulhu MythosThe Cthulhu Mythos is a shared universe created in the 1920s by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term Lovecraft Mythos is preferred by some — most notably the Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi....
.
Geographical
In a letter to
August DerlethAugust William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
, Lovecraft wrote that "The Dunwich Horror" "takes place amongst the wild domed hills of the upper
Miskatonic ValleyThe Miskatonic River is a fictional New England river in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. It is also the name of a river system, the Miskatonic Valley. The equally fictitious Miskatonic University in Arkham is named after this river...
, far northwest of
ArkhamArkham is a fictional city in Massachusetts, part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft and is featured in many of his stories, as well as those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers....
, and is based on several old New England legends--one of which I heard only last month during my sojourn in
WilbrahamWilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is also a suburb of the City of Springfield, Massachusetts and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,473 at the 2000 census....
," a town in south-central Massachusetts. (One such legend is the notion that whippoorwills can capture the departing soul.)
In another letter, Lovecraft wrote that Dunwich is "a vague echo of the decadent Massachusetts countryside around
SpringfieldSpringfield is the largest city on the Connecticut River and the county seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States.In the 2000 census, the city population was 154,082. It is the third largest city in Massachusetts and fourth largest in New England...
--say Wilbraham,
MonsonMonson is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,359 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.The village of Monson Center lies at the center of the town....
and
HampdenHampden is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,171 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area....
." Robert M. Price notes that "much of the physical description of the Dunwich countryside is a faithful sketch of Wilbraham," citing a passage from a letter from Lovecraft to Zealia Bishop that "sounds like a passage from 'The Dunwich Horror' itself":
- When the road dips again there are stretches of marshland that one instinctively dislikes, and indeed almost fears at evening when unseen whippoorwills chatter and the fireflies come out in abnormal profusion to dance to the raucous, creepily insistent rhythms of stridently piping bullfrogs.
The physical model for Dunwich's Sentinel Hill is thought to be Wilbraham Mountain near Wilbraham.
But researchers have pointed out the story's apparent connections to another Massachusetts region: the area around
AtholAthol is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,299 at the 2000 census.Athol is located between the Tully Mountains to the north and the Quabbin Reservoir to the south. The Town of Athol is part of Worcester County, and is located in the North Quabbin...
and points south, in the north-central part of the state (which is where Lovecraft indicates that Dunwich is located). It has been suggested that the name "Dunwich," was inspired by the town of Greenwich, which was deliberately flooded to create the
Quabbin ReservoirThe Quabbin Reservoir is the largest body of water in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and was built between 1930 and 1939. Today along with the Wachusett Reservoir, it is the primary water supply for Boston, some 65 miles to the east, as well as 40 other communities in Greater Boston...
, although Greenwich and the nearby towns of Dana, Enfield and Prescott actually weren't submerged until 1938. Donald R. Burleson points out that several names included in the story--including Bishop, Frye, Sawyer, Rice and Morgan--are either prominent Athol names or have a connection to the town's history.
Athol's Sentinel Elm Farm seems to be the source for the name Sentinel Hill. The Bear's Den mentioned in the story resembles an actual cave of the same name visited by Lovecraft in North New Salem, southwest of Athol. (New Salem, like Dunwich, was founded by settlers from Salem--though in 1737, not 1692.)
The book
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, by Charles M. Skinner, mentions a "
Devil's Hop YardDevil's Hopyard State Park is located in East Haddam, Connecticut at a scenic waterfall on the Eightmile River.-History:In 1919, the former State Park and Forest Commission obtained an parcel located in the Millington section of East Haddam. The principal feature of the park, Chapman Falls, drops...
" near
Haddam, ConnecticutHaddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,157 at the 2000 census. The town was also home to the now decommissioned Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Reactor.-Geography:...
as a gathering place for witches. The book, which Lovecraft seems to have read, also describes noises emanating from the earth near
Moodus, ConnecticutMoodus is a census-designated place in East Haddam, a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,263 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, which are similar to the Dunwich sounds decried by Rev. Abijah Hoadley.
Literary
Lovecraft's main literary sources for "The Dunwich Horror" are the stories of British horror writer
Arthur MachenArthur Machen was a leading Welsh author of the 1890s. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction...
, particularly
The Great God PanThe Great God Pan is a novella written by Arthur Machen. The original story was published in 1890, and Machen revised and extended it in 1894. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual content, although it has since...
(which is mentioned in the text of "The Dunwich Horror") and "The Novel of the Black Seal". Both Machen stories concern individuals whose death throes reveal them to be only half-human in their parentage. According to
Robert M. PriceRobert McNair Price is Professor of Theology and Scriptural Studies at Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, an unaccredited school in Carol City, Florida governed by a New Thought organisation known as the Universal Foundation for Better Living...
, "'The Dunwich Horror' is in every sense an homage to Machen and even a
pasticheA pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre that is a "hodge-podge" or an imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
. There is little in Lovecraft's story that does not come directly out of Machen's fiction."
Another source that has been suggested is The Thing in the Woods, by Harper Williams, which is also about two brothers living in the woods, neither of them quite human, and with one of them less human than the other.
The name
Dunwich itself may come from Machen's
The Terror, where the name refers to an English town where the titular entity is seen hovering as "a black cloud with sparks of fire in it". Lovecraft also takes Wilbur Whateley's occult terms "Aklo" and "Voorish" from Machen's "The White People".
Lovecraft also seems to have found inspiration in Anthony M. Rud's story "Ooze" (published in
Weird Tales, March 1923), which also involved a monster being secretly kept and fed in a house that it subsequently bursts out of and destroys.
The tracks of Wilbur's brother recall those seen in
Algernon BlackwoodAlgernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English writer of fiction dealing with the supernatural, who was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T...
's "The Wendigo", one of Lovecraft's favorite horror stories,
Reaction
Lovecraft took pride in "The Dunwich Horror", calling it "so fiendish that [
Weird Tales] editor
Farnsworth WrightFarnsworth Wright was the editor of the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the magazine's heyday.He was born in California, and educated in the University of Nevada and the University of Washington....
may not dare to print it." Wright, however, snapped it up, sending Lovecraft a check for $240, equal to $2800 in modern dollars, the largest single payment for his fiction he had received up to that point.
Lovecraft biographer
Lin CarterLinwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St Petersburg, Florida...
calls the story "an excellent tale.... A mood of tension and gathering horror permeates the story, which culminates in a shattering climax".
Robert M. PriceRobert McNair Price is Professor of Theology and Scriptural Studies at Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, an unaccredited school in Carol City, Florida governed by a New Thought organisation known as the Universal Foundation for Better Living...
declares that "among the tales of H. P. Lovecraft, 'The Dunwich Horror' remains my favorite."
S. T. JoshiSunand Tryambak Joshi — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction. Besides having written what critics such as Harold Bloom and Joyce Carol Oates...
, on the other hand, regards "Dunwich" as "simply an aesthetic mistake on Lovecraft's part", citing its "stock good-versus-evil scenario".
Brent Sminth regards the tale as a fine example of an American short story about Massachusetts.
Plot summary
In H.P. Lovecraft’s, "The Dunwich Horror", we are told the story of Wilbur Whateley, the son of a deformed albino mother and an unknown father (alluded to in passing by the mad Old Whateley as "Yog-Sothoth"), and the strange events surrounding his birth and precocious development. Wilbur matures at an abnormal rate, reaching manhood within a decade. All the while, his sorcerer grandfather indoctrinates him into certain dark rituals and the study of witchcraft.
The plot revolves around the desire of Wilbur to acquire an unabridged Latin version of the Necronomicon — his imperfect English copy ill-suited for his dark purpose — so that he may open the way for the return of the mysterious (eldritch) "Old Ones", whose forerunner is the
Outer GodThe term Outer God is used to describe a number of deities in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft, although Lovecraft himself did not introduce this exact term . The Outer Gods are vastly more powerful than the Great Old Ones and function on a cosmic scale...
Yog-SothothYog-Sothoth is a cosmic entity of the Cthulhu Mythos and the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft. Yog-Sothoth's name was first mentioned in his novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward...
. Thus, Wilbur and his grandfather have sequestered an unseen presence at their farmhouse; this being is connected somehow to Yog-Sothoth. Year by year, this unseen entity grows to monstrous proportions, requiring Wilbur and his patriarch to make frequent modifications to their residence. People begin to notice a trend of cattle mysteriously disappearing. Eventually, Wilbur's mother also disappears. By the time Wilbur's grandfather passes away, the colossal entity occupies the whole interior of the farmhouse.
Wilbur ventures to
Miskatonic UniversityMiskatonic University is a fictional university located in the equally fictitious Arkham, set in the real-world Essex County, Massachusetts. After first appearing in the H. P. Lovecraft 1922 serial "Herbert West—Reanimator", the school appeared in numerous horror stories in the Cthulhu Mythos...
in Arkham to procure a copy of the dreaded
NecronomiconThe Necronomicon is a fictional book appearing in the stories by horror novelist H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...
– Miskatonic's library is one of only a handful in the world to stock an original print of the frightful tome. The Necronomicon has certain spells that Wilbur can use to summon the Old Ones for dark purposes unfathomable to men. When the librarian, Dr. Henry Armitage, refuses to release the university's copy to him, Wilbur
breaks into the library at night to steal the loathsome book. The guard dog kills Wilbur in the attempt, and attacks him with unusual ferocity. When Dr. Armitage and two other professors arrive on the scene and see Wilbur Whateley's partly non-human corpse, they realize that the youth was not wholly of this earth.
The story culminates with the actual Dunwich horror: With Wilbur Whateley now dead, no one can attend to the mysterious presence growing in the Whateley farmhouse. Early one morning, the Whateley farmhouse explodes as the thing, an invisible monster, rampages across Dunwich, cutting a path through fields, trees, and ravines, leaving huge "prints" the size of tree trunks. The frightened town is terrorized by the invisible creature for several days, until Dr. Armitage, Professor Warren Rice, and Dr. Francis Morgan, all of Miskatonic University, arrive and kill the monster with the knowledge and weapons needed to kill the monster. In the end, its nature is revealed: it is the twin brother of Wilbur Whateley, though it "looked more like the father than Wilbur did."
"The Dunwich Horror" is one of the few tales Lovecraft wrote wherein the heroes successfully defeat the antagonistic entity or monster of the story, although the Horror itself is only the remainder of a far more fiendish plan thwarted by Wilbur's premature death.
Old Whateley
Lavinia Whateley's "aged and half-insane father, about whom the most frightful tales of magic had been whispered in his youth". Dunwich gossips recall that "the hills once shook when he shrieked the dreadful name of
Yog-Sothoth in the midst of a circle of stones with a great book open in his arms before him." He has a large collection of "rotting ancient books and parts of books" which he uses to "instruct[s] and catechise" his grandson Wilbur. He dies of natural causes on August 2, 1924.
He is given no certain first name by Lovecraft, although
Fungi from YuggothFungi from Yuggoth is a sequence of 36 sonnets by cosmic horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Early poems in the sequence concern a person who obtains an ancient book of esoteric knowledge that allows one to travel to other planets and strange parts of the universe...
mentions a John Whateley; he is referred to as "Noah Whateley" in the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.
According to S. T. Joshi, "It is not certain where Lovecraft got the name Whateley," though there is a small town called
WhatelyWhately is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,573 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
in northwestern Massachusetts near the
Mohawk TrailThe Mohawk Trail began as an Native American trade route which connected Atlantic tribes with tribes in Upstate New York and beyond. It followed the Millers River, Deerfield River and crossed the Hoosac Range....
, which Lovecraft hiked several times, including in the summer of 1928. Robert M. Price's short story "Wilbur Whateley Waiting" emphasizes the obvious pun in the name.
Lavinia Whateley
Born circa 1878, Lavinia Whateley is the daughter of Old Whateley and a mother who met an "unexplained death by violence" when Lavinia was 12. She is described as a
- somewhat deformed, unattractive albino woman...a lone creature given to wandering amidst thunderstorms in the hills and trying to read the great odorous books which her father had inherited through two centuries of Whateleys.... She had never been to school, but was filled with disjointed scraps of ancient lore that Old Whateley had taught her.... Isolated among strange influences, Lavinia was fond of wild and grandiose day-dreams and singular occupations.
Elsewhere, she is called "slatternly [and] crinkly-haired".
In 1913, she gave birth to Wilbur Whately by an unknown father. On
HalloweenHalloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Gaelic pagan festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones...
night in 1926, she disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Wilbur Whateley
Born February 2, 1913 at 5 a.m. to Lavinia Whateley and an unknown father. Described as a "dark, goatish-looking infant"--neighbors refer to him as "Lavinny's black brat"--he shows extreme precocity: "Within three months of his birth, he had attained a size and muscular power not usually found in infants under a full year of age.... At seven months, he began to walk unassisted," and he "commenced to talk...at the age of only eleven months." At three years of age, "he looked like a boy of ten," while at four and a half, he "looked like a lad of fifteen. His lips and cheeks were fuzzy with a coarse dark down, and his voice had begun to break."
"Though he shared his mother's and grandfather's chinlessness, his firm and precociously shaped nose united with the expression of his large, dark, almost Latin eyes to give him an air of..well-nigh preternatural intelligence," Lovecraft writes, though at the same time he is "exceedingly ugly...there being something almost goatish or animalistic about his thick lips, large-pored, yellowish skin, coarse crinkly hair, and oddly elongated ears."
He dies at the age of fifteen after being mauled by a guard dog while breaking in to the Miskatonic library on August 3, 1928. His death scene allows Lovecraft to provide a detailed description of Wilbur's partly nonhuman anatomy:
- The thing that lay half-bent on its side in a foetid pool of greenish-yellow ichor
In Greek mythology, ichor is the ethereal fluid that is the Greek gods' blood, sometimes said to have been present in ambrosia or nectar. When a god was injured and bled, the ichor made his or her blood poisonous to mortals....
and tarry stickiness was almost nine feet tall, and the dog had torn off all the clothing and some of the skin.... It was partly human, beyond a doubt, with very manlike hands and head, and the goatish, chinless face had the stamp of the Whateleys upon it. But the torso and lower parts of the body were teratologically fabulous, so that only generous clothing could ever have enabled it to walk on earth unchallenged or uneradicated.
- Above the waist it was semi-anthropomorphic; though its chest...had the leathery, reticulated hide of a crocodile or alligator. The back was piebald with yellow and black, and dimly suggested the squamous covering of certain snakes. Below the waist, though, it was the worst; for here all human resemblance left off and sheer phantasy began. The skin was thickly covered with coarse black fur, and from the abdomen a score of long greenish-grey tentacles with red sucking mouths protruded limply.
- Their arrangement was odd, and seemed to follow the symmetries of some cosmic geometry unknown to earth or the solar system. On each of the hips, deep set in a kind of pinkish, ciliated orbit, was what seemed to be a rudimentary eye; whilst in lieu of a tail there depended a kind of trunk or feeler with purple annular markings, and with many evidences of being an undeveloped mouth or throat. The limbs, save for their black fur, roughly resembled the hind legs of prehistoric earth's giant saurians
{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...
, and terminated in ridgy-veined pads that were neither hooves nor claws.
This death scene bears a marked resemblance to that of Jervase Cradock, a similarly half-human character in Arthur Machen's "The Novel of the Black Seal": "Something pushed out from the body there on the floor, and stretched forth, a slimy, wavering tentacle," Machen writes. Will Murray notes that the goatish, partly reptilian Wilbur Whateley resembles a
chimeraIn Greek mythology, the Chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that terminated in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her spine...
, a mythological creature referred to in Charles Lamb's epigraph to "The Dunwich Horror".
Robert M. Price points out that Wilbur Whateley is in some respects an autobiographical figure for Lovecraft: "Wilbur's being raised by a grandfather instead of a father, his home education from his grandfather's library, his insane mother, his stigma of ugliness (in Lovecraft's case untrue, but a self-image imposed on him by his mother), and his sense of being an outsider all echo Lovecraft himself."
Henry Armitage
(1855–1939/1946?)
The head librarian at
Miskatonic UniversityMiskatonic University is a fictional university located in the equally fictitious Arkham, set in the real-world Essex County, Massachusetts. After first appearing in the H. P. Lovecraft 1922 serial "Herbert West—Reanimator", the school appeared in numerous horror stories in the Cthulhu Mythos...
. As a young man, he graduated from Miskatonic in 1881 and went on to obtain his
doctorateA doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries represents the highest level of formal study or research in a given field. In some countries it also refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to practice in a specific profession . The best-known example...
from
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
and his Doctor of Letters degree at
Johns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Johns Hopkins also maintains full-time campuses elsewhere in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Italy, China, and Singapore...
.
Lovecraft noted that while writing "The Dunwich Horror", "[I] found myself identifying with one of the characters (an aged scholar who finally combats the menace) toward the end".
S. T. JoshiSunand Tryambak Joshi — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction. Besides having written what critics such as Harold Bloom and Joyce Carol Oates...
writes that Armitage "would make a very good parody of the pompous and valiant 'hero' of hackneyed adventure fiction were it not so obvious that Lovecraft intends us to take him seriously."
Francis Morgan
Professor of
MedicineMedicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and
Comparative AnatomyComparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny .-Description:Two major concepts of comparative anatomy are:...
(or
ArchaeologyArchaeology or archeology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material culture and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, and landscapes...
) at
Miskatonic UniversityMiskatonic University is a fictional university located in the equally fictitious Arkham, set in the real-world Essex County, Massachusetts. After first appearing in the H. P. Lovecraft 1922 serial "Herbert West—Reanimator", the school appeared in numerous horror stories in the Cthulhu Mythos...
. The story refers to him as "youngish".
In
Fritz LeiberFritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also an expert chess player and a champion fencer....
's "To Arkham and the Stars"--written in 1966 and apparently set at about that time--Morgan is described as "the sole living survivor of the brave trio who had slain the Dunwich Horror". According to Leiber, Morgan's "research in
mescalineMescaline or 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class. It is mainly used as an entheogen, and a tool to supplement various practices for transcendence, including in meditation, psychonautics, art projects, and psychedelic...
and
LSDLysergic acid diethylamide, LSD-25, LSD, formerly lysergide, commonly known as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family...
" produced "clever anti-hallucinogens" that were instrumental in curing Danforth's mental illness.
Warren Rice
Professor of
Classical LanguagesA classical language, is a language with a literature that is classical— i.e., it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature. A classical...
at
Miskatonic UniversityMiskatonic University is a fictional university located in the equally fictitious Arkham, set in the real-world Essex County, Massachusetts. After first appearing in the H. P. Lovecraft 1922 serial "Herbert West—Reanimator", the school appeared in numerous horror stories in the Cthulhu Mythos...
. He is called "stocky" and "iron-grey".
Cthulhu Mythos
Although Lovecraft first mentioned "Yog-Sothoth" in the novel
The Case of Charles Dexter WardThe Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a novel by H. P. Lovecraft written in early 1927, set in Lovecraft's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island...
, it was in "The Dunwich Horror" that he introduced the entity as one of his extra-dimensional Old Ones. It is also the tale in which the
NecronomiconThe Necronomicon is a fictional book appearing in the stories by horror novelist H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...
makes the most significant appearance, and the longest direct quote from it appears in the text. Many of the other standards of the Cthulhu Mythos, such as Miskatonic University,
ArkhamArkham is a fictional city in Massachusetts, part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft and is featured in many of his stories, as well as those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers....
and
DunwichDunwich is a small town in Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.Dunwich was the capital of East Anglia 1500 years ago and was a prosperous seaport and centre of the wool trade during the Early Middle Ages, with a natural harbour formed by the mouths of the River Blyth and...
also form integral parts of the tale.
A librarian named Armitage appears in
Don WebbDon WebbB.1960 is an Austin science fiction and mystery writer, and former High Priest of the Temple of Set. He is best known for weird, experimental, and offbeat fiction, as well as works inspired by H. P. Lovecraft...
's short story "
To Mars and Providence"To Mars and Providence" is a short story by Don Webb, published in War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches. It is a conflation of The War of the Worlds, the Cthulhu Mythos, and the biography of H. P. Lovecraft.-Plot summary:...
", an alternate history where a juvenile Lovecraft is influenced by the events of H.G. Wells's
War of the Worlds.
Adaptations
- A movie version of The Dunwich Horror
The Dunwich Horror is a 1970 b-movie from American International Pictures directed by Daniel Haller and produced by Roger Corman. The film was based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft with a script co-written by future Academy Award winning director Curtis Hanson. This was the last film of...
appeared in 1970. It starred Dean StockwellRobert Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, active for over 60 years. He played Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci in the NBC television series Quantum Leap, and most recently appeared in the Sci Fi Channel revival of Battlestar Galactica as Brother Cavil. He also had a role...
as Wilbur Whateley, and also starred Ed BegleyEdward James Begley, Sr. was an American actor.-Biography:Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Begley began his career as radio actor while in his teens. He later acted in roles as Sgt. O'Hara in the radio show The Fat Man. Begley then progressed to Broadway. His radio work included a stint as Charlie...
and Sandra DeeSandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular...
with a soundtrack by Les BaxterLes Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...
. While the script borrowed some elements from Lovecraft, the final film bears little resemblance to the short story. It was also the final film for Begley, who passed away in April of that year.
- A movie version of the tale starring Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Alan Combs is an American actor known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise.-Early life:...
as Wilbur Whately and directed by Leigh ScottLeigh Scott is an American film director, writer, producer, actor and cinematographer. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he is the eldest of three children...
was first broadcast in October 2009 on SyFySyfy is an American cable television channel launched on September 24, 1992, that specializes in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal programming. It is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal...
. Dean StockwellRobert Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, active for over 60 years. He played Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci in the NBC television series Quantum Leap, and most recently appeared in the Sci Fi Channel revival of Battlestar Galactica as Brother Cavil. He also had a role...
stars in this version as well, this time as Dr. Henry Armitage. Early on in production it was titled The Darkest Evil.
- The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has made an audio drama version
Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Dunwich Horror is a 2008 audio drama performed by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and based on the short story "The Dunwich Horror" by H. P. Lovecraft...
of the story, similar to their earlier adaptationDark Adventure Radio Theatre: At the Mountains of Madness is a 2006 audio drama performed by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and based on the novella At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft...
of At the Mountains of MadnessAt the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories. It has been reproduced in numerous collections....
.
- The classic Old Time Radio Show Suspense
Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead up to a big event or dramatic...
adapted "The Dunwich Horror." It stars Academy Award Winner Ronald ColmanRonald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
as Henry Armitage, and aired originally November 1st 1945.
- Director Richard Griffin
Richard Griffin may refer to:*Richard Griffin and Company, publishers to the University of Glasgow in the 19th century*Richard Allen Griffin, judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit...
made a modern update on the The Dunwich Horror. Called Beyond the Dunwich Horror, it premiered May 23rd, 2008 at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island..
- The Dunwich Horror (along with The Picture in the House
"The Picture in the House" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft, connected to the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. It was written on December 12, 1920, and first published in the July 1919 issue of The National Amateur--which actually was published in the summer of 1921.-Lovecraft...
and The FestivalThe Festival may mean:* The Festival , by H.P. Lovecraft* The Festival , a television series...
) were adapted into short claymation ga-nime, a portmanteau of and "anime", is a relatively recent trend in Japanese animation to create highly aesthetic short anime films using non-traditional animation techniques, often directed by artists who have limited involvement with the anime industry...
films, and released by Toei Animationis a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
as a DVD compilation called {{nihongo|H. P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror and Other Stories|H・P・ラヴクラフトのダニッチ・ホラー その他の物語|Ecchi Pī Ravukurafuto no Danicchi Horā Sonota no Monogatari}} in August 2007.
- While not an adaptation, the Dunwich Horror is used as a basis in an unmarked quest in the computer role playing game Fallout 3
Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios, and is the third major game in the Fallout series. The game was released in North America on October 28, 2008, in Europe and Australia on October 30, 2008, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 31, 2008 for...
. The player can stumble upon a ruined building that was once the head offices of a company named Dunwich Borers. Audio logs found inside tell the story of a person looking for his father (who was in possession of a thick book that was warm to the touchThe Necronomicon is a fictional book appearing in the stories by horror novelist H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...
). While seemingly just a story about a man who becomes an insane radiation-infected "ghoul", the player experiences odd hallucinations while in the building, and full exploration reveals that underneath the building is a unique skull-lined shrine, completely different than the aesthetic found in the rest of the game.
Short story collection
The Dunwich Horror and Others is the name of a collection of H. P. Lovecraft short stories published by
Arkham HouseArkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham...
, containing what
August DerlethAugust William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
considered to be the best of Lovecraft's shorter fiction. Originally published in 1963, the 6th printing in 1985 included extensive corrections by
S. T. JoshiSunand Tryambak Joshi — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction. Besides having written what critics such as Harold Bloom and Joyce Carol Oates...
in order to produce the definitive edition of Lovecraft's works. The collection has an introduction by
Robert BlochRobert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction.Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction and, perhaps most influentially, horror fiction . He was one of the youngest members of the...
, titled "Heritage of Horror", reprinted from the 1982 Ballantine collection, Blood Curdling Tales of Supernatural Horror: The Best of H.P. Lovecraft
.
The stories included in The Dunwich Horror and Others are:
- "In the Vault
"In the Vault" is a short story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written on September 18, 1925 and first published in the November 1925 issue of the amateur press journal Tryout.-Inspiration:...
"
- "Pickman's Model
"Pickman's Model" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, written in September 1926 and first published in the October 1927 issue of Weird Tales...
"
- "The Rats in the Walls
"The Rats in the Walls" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft. Written August-September 1923, it was first published in Weird Tales, March 1924.-Plot summary:...
"
- "The Outsider
"The Outsider" is a short story by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between March and August 1921, it was first published in Weird Tales, April 1926 . In this work, a mysterious man who has been living alone in a castle for as long as he knows, decides to break free in search of...
"
- "The Colour Out of Space
"The Colour Out of Space" is a short story by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in March 1927 and initially published in Amazing Stories in September 1927, it became one of his most anthologized works.-Plot summary:...
"
- "The Music of Erich Zann
"The Music of Erich Zann" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written December 1921, it was first published in National Amateur, March 1922.-Synopsis:...
"
- "The Haunter of the Dark
"The Haunter of the Dark" is a horror story in the Cthulhu Mythos genre. It was written by H. P. Lovecraft in November 1935, and published in the December 1936 edition of Weird Tales...
"
- "The Picture in the House
"The Picture in the House" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft, connected to the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. It was written on December 12, 1920, and first published in the July 1919 issue of The National Amateur--which actually was published in the summer of 1921.-Lovecraft...
"
- "The Call of Cthulhu
"The Call of Cthulhu" is one of H. P. Lovecraft's best-known short stories. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in Weird Tales, February 1928...
"
- "The Dunwich Horror"
- "Cool Air
"Cool Air" is a short story by the American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in March 1926 and published in the March 1928 issue of Tales of Magic and Mystery.-Inspiration:
...
"
- "The Whisperer in Darkness
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written February-September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to "The Colour Out of Space" , it is a blend of horror and science fiction...
"
- "The Terrible Old Man
"The Terrible Old Man" is a very short story by H. P. Lovecraft, written on January 28, 1920, and first published in the Tryout, an amateur press publication, in July 1921...
"
- "The Thing on the Doorstep
"The Thing on the Doorstep" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales...
"
- "The Shadow Over Innsmouth
"The Shadow Over Innsmouth" is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
"
- "The Shadow Out of Time
"The Shadow Out of Time" is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Inspiration:S. T...
"
Influence
- Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, audio theatre, and films. His notable works include The Sandman comic series, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
's short story "A Study in Emerald"A Study in Emerald" is a short story written by British fantasy and graphic novel author Neil Gaiman. The story is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche transferred to the Cthulhu Mythos universe of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. It won the 2004 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. The title is a reference to...
" describes an alternate world in which various Lovecraftian deities rule the world from the courts of Europe. The character of the German nephew of the Queen of England is clearly derived from Wilbur Whateley. Another short story by Gaiman "I, Cthulhu"I, Cthulhu" is a short humorous story by fantasy author Neil Gaiman featuring H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu who is dictating an autobiography to a human slave, Whateley. The story reveals much about Cthulhu's 'birth' and early life. "I, Cthulhu" is currently featured on Gaiman's website.-External links:*...
" features a human slave/biographer refered to only as Whateley, possibly in reference to one of the characters in "The Dunwich Horror".
- Stoner/doom metal band Electric Wizard
Electric Wizard are a doom metal band from Dorset, England that formed in 1993. The band have since recorded six albums, two of which are now considered to be landmarks of their genre: Come My Fanatics... and Dopethrone...
released a song on their 2007 album, Witchcult TodayWitchcult Today is the sixth album by the doom metal band Electric Wizard. It was recorded entirely on vintage 1970s equipment at Toe Rag Studios, and was released in November 2007. Witchcult Today was less abrasive than preceding albums and Jus Oborn's vocals are much more prominent...
, entitled "Dunwich", based around the short story. Also, "We Hate You", from their 2000 album, DopethroneDopethrone is the third full-length album by the doom metal band Electric Wizard. It was released in 2000 through Rise Above Records and re-released by the same label in 2004 and 2007 with an extra song....
contains sound clips from the film.
- Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his directorial work on gore films, including Zombi 2 and The Beyond , although he made films in genres as diverse as giallo, western, and comedy...
's 1980 movie "City of the Living DeadCity of the Living Dead is an Italian horror film from director Lucio Fulci. It has numerous alternate titles, such as Gates of Hell. It is the first installment of the unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy which also includes The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery. Fulci makes an uncredited cameo...
" is set in a town named Dunwich.
- A location in World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft, often referred to as WoW, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
is called Sentinel Hill.
- Joseph Bruchac's children's horror novel, "Whisper in the Dark" has an albinistic homocidal serial killer named Wilbur Whatley that decapitated his own parents and was afraid of dogs.
- Under the title of "Dunwich Confidential," on his third album, Medallion Animal Carpet, Bob Drake
Bob Drake may refer to:*Bob Drake , musician and recording engineer*Bob Drake , Formula One driver*Iceman , alias Robert "Bobby" Drake, Marvel Comics character...
and a collaborator retell the story of "The Dunwich Horror."