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Miskatonic
Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham, a fictional town in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River (also fictional). After first appearing in H. P. Lovecraft's 1922 story "Herbert West–Reanimator", the school appeared in numerous Cthulhu Mythos stories by Lovecraft and other writers. The story "The Dunwich Horror" implies that Miskatonic University is a highly prestigious university, on par with Harvard University, and that Harvard and Miskatonic are the two most popular schools for the children of the Massachusetts "Old Gentry". The university also appears in role-playing games and board games based on the mythos. Origin Lovecraft concocted the word ''Miskatonic'' from a mixture of root words from the Algonquian languages. Place-names based on the Algonquian languages are common throughout New England. Anthony Pearsall believes that Lovecraft based the name on the Housatonic River which extends from the Long Island Sound ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Characters Of The Cthulhu Mythos
The following characters appear in H. P. Lovecraft's story cycle — the Cthulhu Mythos. Overview: *''Name''. The name of the character appears first. *''Birth/Death''. The date of the character's birth and death (if known) appears in parentheses below the character's name. Ambivalent dates are denoted by a question mark. (Note: ''ca.'' is the abbreviation for "circa".) *''Description''. A brief description of the character follows next. __NOTOC__ A Alhazred, Abdul (655?–738) The infamous "mad Arab" credited as the author of ''Al-Azif'' (the ''Necronomicon''). He is first mentioned in Lovecraft's "The Nameless City". See Abdul Alhazred. Akeley, George Goodenough The son of Henry Wentworth Akeley. See "The Whisperer in Darkness". Akeley, Henry Wentworth (c.1871-??) Vermont folklorist and correspondent of Albert Wilmarth who becomes involved with the Fungi from Yuggoth. See "The Whisperer in Darkness". Allen, Zadok (c. 1831–1926?) One of the few comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dunwich Horror
"The Dunwich Horror" is a horror novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of '' Weird Tales'' (pp. 481–508). It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts. It is considered one of the core stories of the Cthulhu Mythos. Plot In the desolate, decrepit Massachusetts village of Dunwich, Wilbur Whateley is the hideous son of Lavinia Whateley, a deformed and unstable albino, and an unknown father. Strange events surround Wilbur's birth and precocious development; he 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 repellent appearance and an unnatural, inhuman odor emanating from his body. All the while his grandfather, a sorcerer called only Old Whateley, indoctrinates him into certain dark rituals and the study of witchcraft. Various locals grow suspicious after Old Whateley buys more and more cattle, ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arkham
Arkham () is a fictional city situated in Massachusetts. An integral part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft, Arkham is featured in many of his stories and those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers. Arkham House, a publishing company started by two of Lovecraft's correspondents, August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, takes its name from this city as a tribute. Arkham Asylum, a fictional mental hospital in DC Comics' Batman mythos, is also named after Lovecraft's Arkham. In Lovecraft's stories Arkham is the home of Miskatonic University, which features prominently in many of Lovecraft's works. The institution finances the expeditions in the novellas, ''At the Mountains of Madness'' (1936) and ''The Shadow Out of Time'' (1936). Walter Gilman, of "The Dreams in the Witch House" (1933), attends classes at the university. Other notable institutions in Arkham are the Arkham Historical Society and the Arkham Sanitarium. It is said in " Herbert West—Reanimator" th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Cthulhu Mythos Books
Many fictional works of arcane literature appear in H. P. Lovecraft's cycle of interconnected works often known as the Cthulhu Mythos. The main literary purpose of these works is to explain how characters within the tales come by occult or esoterica (knowledge that is unknown to the general populace). However, in some cases the works themselves serve as an important plot device. Thus, in Robert Bloch's tale "The Shambler from the Stars", a weird fiction writer seals his doom by casting a spell from the arcane book ''De Vermis Mysteriis''. Another purpose of these tomes was to give members of the Lovecraft Circle a means to pay homage to one another. Consequently, Clark Ashton Smith used Lovecraft's ''Necronomicon'' (his most prominent creation) in Smith's tale "Ubbo-Sathla". Likewise, Lovecraft used Robert E. Howard's '' Nameless Cults'' in his tale "Out of the Aeons". Thereafter, these texts and others appear in the works of numerous other Mythos authors (some of whom have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert West–Reanimator
"Herbert West–Reanimator" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written between October 1921 and June 1922. It was first serialized in February through July 1922 in the amateur publication ''Home Brew''. The story was the basis of the 1985 horror film ''Re-Animator'' and its sequels, in addition to numerous other adaptations in various media. The story is the first to mention Lovecraft's fictional Miskatonic University. It is also one of the first depictions of zombies as scientifically reanimated corpses, with animalistic and uncontrollable temperaments. Plot Lovecraft originally serialized the story in ''Home Brew'' Vol. 1 #1–6, an amateur magazine published by his friend George Julian Houtain. From the Dark The narrator recounts his history with the title character, who has recently disappeared. He details his time as a medical student at Miskatonic University, which is when the narrator became fascinated by West's theories, which pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arkham Horror
''Arkham Horror'' is a cooperative adventure board game designed by Richard Launius, originally published in 1987 by Chaosium. The game is based on Chaosium's roleplaying game ''Call of Cthulhu'', which is set in the Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft and other horror writers. The game's second edition was released by Fantasy Flight Games in 2005, with a third edition in 2018. Overview The game board is set in Lovecraft's fictional Massachusetts town of Arkham in 1926. Street, building and outdoor locations are featured. Gates to other planes open throughout the town (represented by tokens placed on the board.) Players take on the role of investigators, represented by a character card. Each investigator has several attributes (such as "sanity"), and cards representing items, spells, and other things. The investigators travel through the city, avoiding or fighting the monsters that enter through the gates, visiting city locations to acquire tools, and ultimately entering th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Necronomicon
The ', also referred to as the ''Book of the Dead'', or under a purported original Arabic title of ', is a fictional grimoire (textbook of magic) appearing in stories by the horror writer 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 Lovecraft's "The Nameless City". Among other things, the work contains an account of the Old Ones, their history, and the means for summoning them. Other authors such as August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith also cited the ' in their works. Lovecraft approved of other writers building on his work, believing such common allusions built up "a background of evil verisimilitude." Many readers have believed it to be a real work, with booksellers and librarians receiving many requests for it; pranksters have listed it in rare book catalogues, and a student smuggled a card for it into t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Thing On The Doorstep
"The Thing on the Doorstep" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos universe. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of ''Weird Tales''. Inspiration The idea for the story came to Lovecraft from a dream he had in 1928, which he wrote down in his ''Commonplace Book'' as :"Man has terrible wizard friend who gains influence over him. Kills him in defence of his soul—walls body up in ancient cellar—BUT—the dead wizard (who has said strange things about soul lingering in body) changes bodies with him . . . leaving him a conscious corpse in cellar." Plot Daniel Upton, the story's narrator, explains that he has killed his best friend, Edward Derby, and that he hopes his account will prove that he is not a murderer. He begins by describing Derby's life and career. Derby had been interested in the occult even as a very young boy, which led to him befriending Upton. The two would discuss da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Providence (Avatar Press)
''Providence'' is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Jacen Burrows, published by American company Avatar Press from 2015 to 2017. The story is both a prequel and sequel to Moore's previous stories ''Neonomicon'' and '' The Courtyard'', and continues exploring H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Synopsis The series is set in 1919 and centres on Robert Black, a homosexual Jewish writer, initially working in New York as a reporter for the ''New York Herald''. Black takes a leave of absence from his journalism career, with the intention of writing a Great American Novel using "the “Outsiders”, perhaps “occult Outsiders”—whom he is on the trail of across New England—as a metaphor for social outsiders". Plot I: The Yellow Sign Gay, Jewish ''Herald'' reporter and aspiring novelist Robert Black is sent by his editor, Mr. Posey, to ' scare up' a story about an infamous book called ''Sous Le Monde'', which is rumoured to drive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Whisperer In Darkness (film)
''The Whisperer in Darkness'' is a 2011 independent horror film directed and produced by Sean Branney, Andrew Leman, and David Robertson and distributed by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Based on the H. P. Lovecraft short story of the same name, it was shot using Mythoscope, a blend of vintage and modern filming techniques intended to produce the look of a 1930s-era film. According to the film's website, the filmmakers intended to capture the look of "classic horror films of the 1930s like '' Dracula'', ''Frankenstein'' and ''King Kong''".Official Site Plot For the first two acts, the plot largely follows the short story. The third act consists of entirely new material in which the[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fictional Location
Fictional locations are places that exist only in fiction and not in reality, such as the Negaverse or Planet X. Writers may create and describe such places to serve as backdrop for their fictional works. Fictional locations are also created for use as settings in role-playing games such as ''Dungeons and Dragons''. They may also be used for technical reasons in actual reality for use in the development of specifications, such as the fictional country of Bookland, which is used to allow EAN "country" codes 978 and 979 to be used for ISBN numbers assigned to books, and code 977 to be assigned for use for ISSN numbers on magazines and other periodicals. Fictional locations vary greatly in their size. Very small places like a single room are kept out of the umbrella of fictional locations by convention, as are most single buildings. A fictional location can be the size of a university ( H. P. Lovecraft's Miskatonic University), a town (Stephen King's Salem's Lot), a county ( Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Call Of Cthulhu (role-playing Game)
''Call of Cthulhu'' is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos. The game, often abbreviated as ''CoC'', is published by Chaosium; it was first released in 1981 and is in its seventh edition, with licensed foreign language editions available as well. Its game system is based on Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing (BRP) with additions for the horror genre. These include special rules for sanity and luck. Gameplay Setting ''Call of Cthulhu'' is set in a darker version of our world based on H. P. Lovecraft's observation (from his essay, "Supernatural Horror in Literature") that "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." The original edition, first published in 1981, uses Basic Role-Playing as its basis and is set in the 1920s, the setting of many of Lovecraft's stories. The ''Cthulhu by Gaslight'' supplement blends the occult and Holmesian my ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
