"The Terror from the Depths" is a short story by American writer

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...

, part of the

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an ...

genre of

horror fiction Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J ...

. It was begun in 1937 but not finished until 1975; it was first published in the anthology '' The Disciples of Cthulhu'' in 1976.

Summary

The story begins with a note that this manuscript was found inside a container, which was sold at an auction. The story's narrator is George Reuter Fischer, who was born on April 30, 1912 in Louisville, Kentucky. Fischer's father is a mason and stonecutter, who moves his family to Vulture's Roost, California near

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. There, his father builds a mansion with strange stonecarvings. George, however, is troubled by strange dreams where he's in a tunnel as a blind worm-like being. In one of his nightmares, George realizes he's one of the monsters and, in another dream, he sees himself being eaten by those monsters. George eventually finds a way to prevent these dreams. During a hike with his son one afternoon, Fischer's father is killed after he suddenly falls off a cliff. Years later, when Fischer is attending Miskatonic University, he's forced to leave the college soon after due to a combination of factors including nervousness, homesickness, actual ailment, increased hours of sleep, and sleepwalking. Short stories by Fritz Leiber 1975 short stories Fantasy short stories {{1970s-fantasy-story-stub