The Dunwich Horror

By: H. P. Lovecraft

The Dunwich Horror is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928. It was first published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales. It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts and is considered one of the core stories of the Cthulhu Mythos.In the isolated, desolate, decrepit village of Dunwich, Wilbur Whateley is the hideous son of Lavinia Whateley, a deformed and unstable albino mother, and an unknown father (alluded to in passing by mad Old Whateley, as "Yog-Sothoth"). Strange events surround his birth and precocious development. Wilbur matures at an abnormal rate, reaching manhood within a decade. Locals shun him and his family, and animals fear and despise him (due to his odor). All the while, his sorcerer grandfather indoctrinates him into certain dark rituals and the study of witchcraft. Various locals grow suspicious after Old Whateley buys more and more cattle, yet the number of his herd never increases, and the cattle in his field become mysteriously afflicted with severe open wounds.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 the two men to make frequent modifications to their residence. People begin to notice a trend of cattle mysteriously disappearing. Wilbur's grandfather dies. His mother disappears soon afterwards. The colossal entity eventually occupies the whole interior of the farmhouse.Wilbur ventures to Miskatonic University in Arkham to procure their copy of the Necronomicon - Miskatonic's library is one of only a handful in the world to stock an original. The Necronomicon has spells that Wilbur can use to summon the Old Ones, but his family's copy is damaged and lacks the page he needs to open the "door". When the librarian, Dr. Henry Armitage, refuses to release the university's copy to him (and has, by sending warnings to other libraries, thwarted Wilbur's efforts to consult their copies), Wilbur breaks into the library at night to steal it. A guard dog, maddened by Wilbur's alien body odor, attacks Wilbur with unusual ferocity, killing him. When Dr. Armitage and two other professors arrive on the scene, they see Wilbur Whateley's semi-human corpse before it melts completely, leaving no evidence.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1539186040
• ISBN13: 9781539186045
• Release Date: October 2016
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

What you cannot see can hurt you.

We are introduced to a Massachusetts backwater community where families are inbred and may have produced wizards. A strange, very ugly young man is trying to obtain a rare unabridged Latin version of the Necronomicon for what appears to be a nefarious project. Something smells off about his place. I never saw the movie. However, I was surprised by how well this book, by the inventor of modern horror, is written. Originally published in the summer of 1926, it is a timeless tale about being your brother's keeper.