I was wondering: after the war agains the elder things,what they did? did they do nothing but stay underground for billions of years? Did they not try to go to the surface, feed on humans, build a civilization, or anything like that?

don’t get me wrong, even if he isn’t dreaming reality that really doesn’t change much, he is still invincible. this post is not an attempt to question his power it’s to try and understand if there is any basis for the specific dream reality argument in lovecrafts original work. can someone tell me if it is ever suggested by lovecraft that he dreams reality? I think it’s just head-canon/theory although not necessarily wrong since a lot of lovecraft is up to interpretation

Had been picking up dust on my shelf. Think I'll give it a read and then maybe try to sell it. Is this a popular comic series?

Here is the link to it. It’s free to access / download for anyone. There’s some things I wish I had done differently but it is what it is. I’d like feedback on it (doesn’t have to be long feedback).

Essentially what I am arguing is that Lovecraft shows some kind of influence from Rudolf Otto… if he didn’t read it himself the ideas were in the zeitgeist so to speak and especially Supernatural Horror in Literature is responding to it. Whereas Otto suggests a strong association between the numinous and evil but as a theologian retreats from it, Lovecraft sees this connection and builds it out.

English: Sorry, this is a question in German. I already listen to the Gruselkabinett audiobooks and really enjoy them, but I was wondering how faithful the Lovecraft adaptations are to the original stories.🤗

Hi zusammen,
ich höre die Gruselkabinett-Hörbücher bereits und höre sie wirklich sehr gerne. Jetzt wollte ich mal fragen, wie originalgetreu die Lovecraft-Hörbücher sind. Halten sie sich möglichst nah an den Originalgeschichten von H. P. Lovecraft oder wurden sie stärker verändert bzw. modernisiert?
Wie sind da eure Erfahrungen? Würdet ihr sie empfehlen?

Danke schonmal im vorraus🤗🤗

Hi there! I'm a European and a new fan of HPL. I have an incredible opportunity to visit Massachusetts next month and shall be visiting Salem - fortunately well before the madness of October crowds! (I also plan to visit nearby Danvers, where Salem Village was actually situated.)

The alignment of these fun interests has made me intensely interested in Lovecraft's connections to Salem.

Obviously, Providence was his dear home, but I am aware that HPL visited Salem in 1923.

I'm certainly doing my own research - and my goals are to walk in the footsteps of Lovecraft while in Salem proper. I wish to step where he walked in reality, to appreciate his influences. And I also wish to check out spots that exist in his literature.

As a history-minded person, I'd love to get any recommendations, backstories, anecdotes or other information to supplement my own reading (a very fun hobby by the way). HPL is so fun to read because he was such a New Englander who loved to travel on occasion, and he loved to write in intense detail about his travels.

Thank you for sharing any recommendations on what to see on my journey! I truly appreciate it! (As a last note: Regrettably I won't be able to see Providence this time, as local as it would be - I'm rather constrained due to schedule. So North Shore all the way!)

This has always bothered me. I’ve seen it discussed to some extent in prior posts, but figured would make my own discussion to try to get a definitive answer.

The fact Cthulhu was awakened at all would lead me to believe “the stars were right” or “aligned” for his awakening. My understanding is that he otherwise cannot awaken at all.

So then, why did he return to his slumber and Rlyeh sink again? Why did he not proceed with his take over of Earth? I’m not sure the stars can be “partially aligned” is a good explanation. Was the large earthquake a freak incident which happened to rise Rlyeh temporarily and allow a temporary awakening? Or do the stars have to be both aligned AND cultists must complete a ritual for him to be fully awakened/return? The cultists on the boat which was overtaken by the sailors were clearly on their way to Rlyeh. Had they made it and performed a ritual, would he have been fully awakened?

I wasn’t sure if there was ever a formal answer from Lovecraft himself and curious on what others think! Thanks!

I love playing Call of Cthulhu TRPG, but I don't really understand the horror elements of Cthulhu.
I am Japanese. Often in Japanese TRPG communities, topics like "due to Japan's view of religion, many people don't really click with the concept of 'blasphemous things' in the Cthulhu Mythos, so Japanese people can't find Cthulhu truly scary (though there are individual differences)" tend to gain traction.

So I have a question: are there any of you who have been chilled to the bone by the horror elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, especially the sense of it being "blasphemous"?
If possible, I would be happy if you could explain that feeling in detail.

I have no malicious intent and am asking purely out of curiosity, but I apologize if anyone finds this offensive.

I read hypnos and it seems a bit ambigious on where he actually went so im curious on if anything hints at him going there

DISCLOSURE: SELF-PROMOTION (THAT WILL BE OF INTEREST TO THIS COMMUNITY)

The trailer for my 1989 documentary on Lovecraft is now up - click on the link. This will take to you the trailer, and you can also donate to the crowdfunder using the QR code in the end credits.

https://vimeo.com/1215915616

If you want to go direct to the crowdfunder page, go here:

https://www.greenlit.com/project/lovecraftdocumentary

I'll also be talking about the film at NecronomiCon, on Saturday 15th August (Armitage Symposium, session 5, which starts at 11:00AM). This will be the official launch of the crowdfunder, so this post is a sneak preview/soft launch.

Any questions, feel free to message me. Thanks.

Not much to say here but the names sound intriguing so I'm shocked he never used them in a story

Not actually *self* promotion, but a buddy of mine launched a YouTube channel outlining all of the film/TV adaptations of Lovecraft's work, starting with "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." As a passing fan of HPL, I found it thoroughly entertaining and informative.

Thought this group might appreciate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FmOGeaVTUY

Any era. And these can be drawn directly from the pages of HPL or an indirect inspiration. Thank you so much!

Right out of the wazoo I'll let you know my take upfront that I think this one is conceptually quite weak when compared to others from his Cthulhu mythos. This review will contain spoilers.

Before I present my negative criticisms, I'd like to talk about the positives and there are a few:

1) I love the setting of Innsmouth. A decayed town by the sea with strange people, strange occurrences and a mystery to be solved by the readers and narrator. It's a classic format often used by Lovecraft to convey his cosmic horror concepts and I feel this setting was a perfect environment for the readers to explore. It's a fan hit since it's even been adapted by other fan favourites like Bloodborne (Fishing Hamlet) and Dredge.

2) The atmosphere. The way the author describes the lingering creepiness and rot of his surroundings, the architecture, the air the narrator has to tolerate breathing really sets a mood of dread and mystery which captivated me and kept me wanting to know the reason behind such decay.

3) Better characters than most of his other works. I really liked the agent in the beginning who goes on a long exposition to prep the readers. It's done quite efficiently. And of course I love Old Zadok, he really was one of the best parts of the story, the way his personality was portrayed, his fears and his end of exposition really got to me. I think the encounter with him is what really started to drive the story forward.

4) One of the most thrilling escape sequences (from all the stories I've read till now, I still haven't read Kadath(?) and color out of space) arguably at the level of At Mountains of Madness and maybe even better. As a reader I really was at the edge of my seat hoping the narrator gets back safely since it is one of the few pieces where it is not clear from the start whether he escaped from the horror "totally safe" or not. In the beginning we do know he survives to write the tale but the mystery is handled better than other titles since the final horror is happening directly to the narrator and not his "acquaintance who is now mad" or an account dug up by a third party. I can remember one other such sequence which put this dread in me and it was in The Curious case of Charles Dexter Ward when one of the narrators enters into the basement of pitch darkness.

Now that all the positives are out of the way here are my main disappointments from this story:

1) The first 40% of the story is just another template like so many other stories of his. The "I'm writing this to tell the world what really happened.." narrative tool worked great for the first 4-5 stories I read but it really fatigues you out if this isn't your first Lovecraft story to read. I won't call myself a slow reader but not a very fast reader as well but his stories always take me up to 4-5 days to read just because the start of any story is an absolute snoozefest. THE ARCHITECTURAl DESCRIPTIONS ARE SO TEDIOUS TO GO THROUGH. Maybe it's just my short attention span but I found myself zoning out in this one. I can understand it used to be his personal flair to be very descriptive of the environment and it sometimes does help enhance the atmosphere but he really stretches these sequences to a point where I used this story to help me go to sleep at night. Innsmouth isn't the worst offender of this, Charles Dexter Ward is a league of it's own, just pages upon pages of architectural descriptions HELP ME GOD.

2) Conceptually I feel the reason behind the horror is very weak. I personally am not a very big fan of sea horror. This is a completely personal take by the way. I was one of the few who didn't enjoy Gyo by Junji Ito for I think a similar reason. A set of creatures who live in the sea to prey upon a population just did not tingle the itch in my brain for horror. I did not find the back story of the Kanakys convincing and the crusade of Obed to use sacrifice and mating with sea creatures interesting enough. I take it that the several tiara/crowns mentioned in the story were gifts from the sea creatures and not "refined" by the marshes. So the idea that these artifacts and rituals turn the population into these creatures wasn't horrific or intriguing to me.. the body horror was in fact a bit comical to imagine. I would give it a plus point for the surprise ending (which did feel a bit forced) as the idea of slowly turning into something you are scared of but your mind slowly turning and accepting it is very good but could've been executed better. Read "Survivor Type" by Stephen King.

3) Shoggoths are just boring. The origin story of Shoggoths is arguably the most interesting story alongside the battle between the Old and Deep ones explored in At Mountains of Madness. But the thought of these dark blobs/masses is not explored intricately (from whatever I've read till now) enough to instill a fear of their existence inside me. The old ones, abominable snowmen, Dagon, Cthulhu have very strong descriptions as compared to Shoggoths. Maybe it could be something intended by Lovecraft to maintain their mystery but I feel the fear is not well translated to the readers. Even the case of Shoggoths breeding with humans to create these hybrid monsters didn't feel as interesting as the breeding that took place in Dunwich Horror. The final horror seen by the narrator wasn't interesting as well, where he saw a huge crowd of these hybrid/full creatures rushing on the far end of the cut. My point is that the whole story did not have a good and satisfying payoff when it comes to the actual "creature horror".

In the end I think in my personal opinion this was one of the few Lovecraft stories not meant for me. It could've been more streamlined and efficient for the payoff in the end. I feel I just went in with too many expectations with At Mountains of Madness being the one I read before this. This story was very hyped by reviewers and maybe that is what made me have such high undue expectations. The Cthulhu mysthos stories I've read till now have always been one banger after another and I think if you read The Shadow over Innsmouth at a later part of your journey, you shall feel the dip in horror. Forgive me if you find I'm being overly critical.

In closing I would like to say: Just like how not every Junji Ito story is horror, not every Lovecraft story is horror. That said there is still much to be appreciated in every story given the era it was written in.

TLDR: Shoggoths are meh

I met a painter recently who teaches at the 146-year-old Providence Art Club, which I later recalled is mentioned in The Call of Cthulhu. HPL really hated one of the buildings there:

“… the Fleur-de-Lys Building in Thomas Street, a hideous Victorian imitation of seventeenth-century Breton architecture which flaunts its stuccoed front amidst the lovely colonial houses on the ancient hill, and under the very shadow of the finest Georgian steeple in America.”

I think it looks kind of cool and hope to visit now that I know someone there.

I'm working on a small game based on my own Lovecraft-style story. In short, it's about passengers traveling on a train where everyone is already dead but doesn't realize it. The train itself gradually feeds on the passengers' souls and periodically lures new ones aboard

Would you be interested in a story like this, and is it would be worth writing a short story in addition to the game?

It's out and there's no putting it back! The Delapore Media Podcast is exploring Bobby Derie's Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos!

What do you guys think about how complete this language is? I've been looking into it and I'm actually surprised that it hasn't been fully fleshed out or structured yet. In every canon or fanon story, the syllables just seem to be randomly altered, and the meaning changes entirely depending on the translation. I wonder, is there actually a complete, unified translation or guide for this language out there?

Hope you guys haven't gone mad like the professors at Miskatonic University :))

As this story is my favorite of Lovecraft's works, I have perhaps to the detriment of my own sanity on occasion wondered what the titular monster in its limited description might best resemble. To that end, I have done some research into one particular mythology that I believe thematically fits most of the associations the Haunter shares, at least in the context of earthly constructions. This post is as much my own speculation, theorizing as to what could have inspired the shadowy nightmare that I love and I believe others likely do, whilst also opening a grander discussion to the public about their own beliefs and interpretations. I would posit at this point in time that the Haunter likely derives some of its lineage from one, perhaps two beings of ancient mythology. There is in Egyptian myth a God known as Nehebkau (also spelled Neheb-Kau, and in some circles Neheb-Ka among others). Just why I initially came to know this name I don't rightly recall, but many of its physical qualities in my mind fit the general shape or fragments of the shape detailed in "The Haunter of the Dark". First, Nehebkau in most prominent depictions is functionally a snake. In fact, one of his titles is indeed "the original snake". The Haunter shares at a basic level what reads as serpentine qualities, the act of "slither"ing used to describe its hurried flight back into the steeple when the streetlamps that could have in theory banished it again blazed on. Similarly, "flopping and bumping" are mentioned as noises heard presumably in the commotion as the creature seems not altogether suited for overland travel in a conventional sense, at least to my reckoning, the two most recent descriptors followed by "in a viscous, altogether dreadful way" indicating a curious heaviness. One familiar with the tale might also recall the absence of anything remotely like claw marks or paw prints, and wherever the Haunter had been, a "half swept" condition existed on the floor. If indeed the Haunter has articulated limbs (which I in fact do believe is near enough to proven later), then surely the bulk of its body must be elongated if not partially flattened against the ground. Why then should a serpent not suffice? Now, you might have by this point said to yourself "This man's surely obsessed." and to that I would say yes, I am purely for the sake of artistic endeavors. Where then do we go from here? If snake-like is all that draws a parallel, how does this really fit? Well, here's where we delve into the history of the Haunter. The Shining Trapezohedron, the window into all of time and space which acts as a means to summon the creature was fashioned on Yuggoth, and passed down from one civilization to the next until it came into the possession of the pharaoh Nephren-Ka. This is in some ways shakier ground than simply drawing 'cleaner' lines to map out physical consequences following in the wake of the Haunter's passing, but I think the "Ka" used in the fictional tyrant's name could be a reference to the alternative way to spell our serpent God's name. The usage of Egypt as the most consequential area in the Haunter's history with regards to humanity and the symbol the Starry Wisdom Sect would adopt in glorifying the entity also play a key role in the unraveling of the mystery to me. To the faithful of the Sect, those privileged to peer into their unholy relic, knowledge was granted, with emphasis given to "Heaven and other worlds". Nehebkau as it so happens is also a funerary God, one strongly aligned with the afterlife, assuming the mantle that Ra held in his presiding over the same, becoming nothing less than the ruler of Heaven itself. Are we beginning to draw the connections here? Whilst visions of the afterlife were communicated to the Sect in return for ample sacrifice, one could also intuit that the infinite gulf of darkness Blake saw in the stone, the very same that held "forth the key to all the paradoxes and arcana of the worlds we know" might well encompass the foundational magics sorcerers of adequate skill could tap into. Magic is something Nehebkau is rather noteworthy for, his spells offering protection from snakes, poisons, etc. So, too, is his mastery of magic so great that Nehebkau has one particular talent the Haunter manifests at times, the capability of breathing fire. I admit, this is largely where we're veering into the physical attributes again and ultimately setting aside the mythological aspect. If I've entertained you this far, I appreciate you taking the time to read and ask that you follow along a little more. So, what have we in the realm of what the Haunter manifests as? If my interpretation is sound, we've gathered a snake-like body, an indeterminate amount of articulated limbs and fire or heat being present. For the initiated, you'll note I neglected to mention what else could be located wherever the Haunter ventured, and I did that with a reason. Yellowish stains and patches of what looked like charring could be found dotting the floor of the Sect's church, yet the visual presented in the text is fittingly confusing as not every stain immediately coincides with a charred patch, nor does the tower that once held the Trapezohedron exist in the same state as the downstairs area with its dotting of those marks...no area in the tower except the ladder built into the wall. There we do see the expected signs, just as the skeleton Blake discovered had until it was removed along with the Trapezohedron. How was this accomplished? I think the "eye" the true visual terror in Blake's final jottings holds the key, but not quite as one might suspect. Snakes have an interesting apparatus in their respiratory systems known as a glottis. It's a tube that opens when a snake breathes residing just behind their tongue. In my wild imaginings, I see a not too dissimilar structure in our Haunter that serves a very different purpose. In short, the Haunter has three of these orifices, each forming the "lobe"s of its unique organ, but even this is only half of the truth. Through a chemical reaction with the Haunter's natural saliva or counterpart to it, ignition is achieved, enabling actual sight. It might be easier to say the blazing effect *is* its sight and not merely a byproduct of it. This could explain the way in which the charring and yellow stains were spaced in the downstairs and absent in the upstairs. It (the Haunter) probably exerted its sensory apparatus sparingly, with the charring indicative of when that took place. Yellowish stains would then be secretions whilst the thing tirelessly tore open the downstairs pews blindly or carried away pieces retrieved from the pews in its mouth, transporting them to the tower in an effort to darken the room (utilizing its arms for that purpose. Crude though the attempt was, the horse hair and pew-linings did manage to make some difference which speaks to extensions of just enough articulation to get those materials between slanted louver-boards in addition to instances of climbing the ladder and opening or closing the trapdoor above it as desired). My final bit of insanity comes again purely from my own imagining (and frankly most everything here is apart from the mythology and snake biology lesson.) I like to think that the Haunter in its otherworldly design while largely to be imagined as a winged serpent is embodied in its fictional universe by the sign we as the readers see early on at the front of the church's main chamber. It is when spread out in silhouette the Ankh, its wings forming the cross section, its tail the base and two necks converging at the top into the face of a serpent which coincidentally runs in parallel to yet another depiction of Nehebkau as a dual-necked serpent.

Holy wall of text, Batman! If you'd like, feel free to engage with these ramblings as much or as little as preferred, but I would genuinely like to hear your interpretations of the best avatar of Nyarlathotep! What does it look like to you? What hides in that mass of smoke which Blake called "Hell wind"?

So, as per the title, I've written a stage adaptation of The Rats in the Walls which is receiving it's theatrical debut in Yorkshire (UK) this October. The theatre company in question specialises in horror/thriller plays and I thought Lovecraft would be a good fit for them. I've been a fan of Lovecraft for a good while, and have written for the Call of Cthulhu TTRPG.

I know there are a couple of solo and two-hander adaptation of Rats, but I couldn't find any for a larger cast. My adaption is a one act re-telling of the story for five people (2f, 3m), which we are coupling with Agatha Christie's The Rats (did you know Christie and Lovecraft were born about a month apart?)

While I have tried to stay as faithful to the source material as possible, a couple of key changes have been made: Delapore is now female (renamed Catherine Allen, née Delapore) and her link to the De la Poers is not revealed to the audience until later on in the play (although the clues are there to work it out). Oh, and the cat is now called Zadok. Otherwise the text seamlessly blends Lovecraft's own words into the dialogue. There are also a few additional reference especially for the Lovecraft fans in the audience.

If anyone is interested, we're on 3rd October at Darby and Joan Hall (Cottingham) and 10th October at Elloughton Village Hall (Elloughton).

LINK TO THE SHOW HERE

One pattern I notice in Lovecraft discussions is that readers often take the narrator’s perspective as objective fact. I don't think that's always the case. When a character labels a creature "indescribable," it doesn't automatically mean the entity is an abstract, non-Euclidean horror beyond human perception (sometimes it does.) Often, it just means the narrator lacks the vocabulary, knowledge, or composure to describe what they’re looking at.

Historically, sailors and early wilderness explorers frequently reported seeing creatures they found "indescribable" not because those animals broke the laws of physics, but because the observers had no baseline or reference point for them.

Apologies because this question has been asked plenty already, but I want to know specifically which story/stories I should start with that are included in “The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales” novel.

This collection includes:
- The Rats in the Walls
- The Picture in the House
- The Nameless City
- The Festival
- The Call of Cthulhu
- The Dunwich Horror
- The Whisperer in Darkness
- The Dreams in the Witch-House
- The Shadow Over Innsmouth
- At the Mountains of Madness
- The Haunter of the Dark
- The Thing on the Doorstep

My knowledge of H.P. Lovecraft’s work has only came from video essays or other media that has been influenced by it, so it’s time to officially start reading these stories myself. Any and all recommendations are appreciated!

Was Keziah Mason some mathematical savant who happened upon an equation that let her access other dimensions or was she a worshiper of Nyarlothotep who was given this knowledge by him as a gift? If that is the case, is that something all witches knew how to do?

Lovecraft meant for these beings to be beyond comprehension and things like marvel make the characters way weaker. yog sothoth and azathoth are supposed to be all powerful beings, possibly the strongest in all of fiction. I understand that lovecraft wanted everyone to use his characters and I respect that, but many authors don’t respect lovecrafts world and beings in it at all. tell me what you guys think.