dreams in the witchhouse - howard phillips lovecraft

7/31/2019 Dreams in the WitchHouse - Howard Phillips Lovecraft

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Dreams in the WitchHouse

byH. P. Lovecraft

Written January through Febuary of 1932

Published July in 1933in

Weird Tales

Whether the dreams brought on the fever or the fever brought on the dreamsWalter Gilman did not know. ehind everything !rou!hed the brooding" festeringhorror of the an!ient town" and of the mouldy" unhallowed garret gable where hewrote and studied and wrestled with flgures and formulae when he was nottossing on the meagre iron bed. #is ears were growing sensitive to a$reternatural and intolerable degree" and he had long ago sto$$ed the !hea$mantel !lo!k whose ti!king had !ome to seem like a thunder of artillery. %t nightthe subtle stirring of the bla!k !ity outside" the sinister s!urrying of rats in thewormy $artitions" and the !reaking of hidden timbers in the !enturied house"were enough to give him a sense of strident $andemonium. &he darknessalways teemed with une'$lained sound ( and yet he sometimes shook with fearlest the noises he heard should subside and allow him to hear !ertain otherfainter noises whi!h he sus$e!ted were lurking behind them.

#e was in the !hangeless" legend(haunted !ity of %rkham" with its !lusteringgambrel roofs that sway and sag over atti!s where wit!hes hid from the )ing*smen in the dark" olden years of the Provin!e. +or was any s$ot in that !ity morestee$ed in ma!abre memory than the gable room whi!h harboured him ( for itwas this house and this room whi!h had likewise harboured old )e,iah -ason"whose flight from alem Gaol at the last no one was ever able to e'$lain. &hatwas in 1/92 ( the gaoler had gone mad and babbled of a small white(fangedfurry thing whi!h s!uttled out of )e,iah*s !ell" and not even 0otton -ather !oulde'$lain the !urves and angles smeared on the grey stone walls with some red"

sti!ky fluid.

Possibly Gilman ought not to have studied so hard. +on(u!lidean !al!ulus anduantum $hysi!s are enough to stret!h any brain" and when one mi'es themwith folklore" and tries to tra!e a strange ba!kground of multi(dimensional realitybehind the ghoulish hints of the Gothi! tales and the wild whis$ers of the!himney(!orner" one !an hardly e'$e!t to be wholly free from mental tension.Gilman !ame from #averhill" but it was only after he had entered !ollege in

%rkham that he began to !onne!t his mathemati!s with the fantasti! legends ofelder magi!. omething in the air of the hoary town worked obs!urely on hisimagination. &he $rofessors at -iskatoni! had urged him to sla!ken u$" and hadvoluntarily !ut down his !ourse at several $oints. -oreover" they had sto$$ed


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him from !onsulting the dubious old books on forbidden se!rets that were ke$tunder lo!k and key in a vault at the university library. ut all these $re!autions!ame late in the day" so that Gilman had some terrible hints from the dreadedNecronomiconof %bdul %lha,red" the fragmentary Book of Eibon" and thesu$$ressed Unaussprechlicken Kultenof von Jun,t to !orrelate with his abstra!tformulae on the $ro$erties of s$a!e and the linkage of dimensions known and

unknown.

#e knew his room was in the old Wit!h(#ouse ( that" indeed" was why he hadtaken it. &here was mu!h in the sse' 0ounty re!ords about )e,iah -ason*strial" and what she had admitted under $ressure to the 0ourt of yer and&erminer had fas!inated Gilman beyond all reason. he had told Judge#athorne of lines and !urves that !ould be made to $oint out dire!tions leadingthrough the walls of s$a!e to other s$a!es beyond" and had im$lied that su!hlines and !urves were freuently used at !ertain midnight meetings in the darkvalley of the white stone beyond -eadow #ill and on the un$eo$led island in the

river. he had s$oken also of the la!k -an" of her oath" and of her new se!retname of +ahab. &hen she had drawn those devi!es on the walls of her !ell andvanished.

Gilman believed strange things about )e,iah" and had felt a ueer thrill onlearning that her dwelling was still standing after more than two hundred andthirty(five years. When he heard the hushed %rkham whis$ers about )e,iah*s$ersistent $resen!e in the old house and the narrow streets" about the irregularhuman tooth(marks left on !ertain slee$ers in that and other houses" about the

!hildish !ries heard near -ay(ve" and #allowmass" about the sten!h oftennoted in the old house*s atti! 4ust after those dreaded seasons" and about thesmall" furry" shar$(toothed thing whi!h haunted the mouldering stru!ture and thetown and nu,,led $eo$le !uriously in the bla!k hours before dawn" he resolvedto live in the $la!e at any !ost. % room was easy to se!ure" for the house wasun$o$ular" hard to rent" and long given over to !hea$ lodgings. Gilman !ould nothave told what he e'$e!ted to find there" but he knew he wanted to be in thebuilding where some !ir!umstan!e had more or less suddenly given a medio!reold woman of the eventeenth 0entury an insight into mathemati!al de$ths$erha$s beyond the utmost modern delvings of Plan!k" #eisenberg" instein"

and de itter.

#e studied the timber and $laster walls for tra!es of !ry$ti! designs at everya!!essible s$ot where the $a$er had $eeled" and within a week managed to getthe eastern atti! room where )e,iah was held to have $ra!tised her s$ells. 5thad been va!ant from the first ( for no one had ever been willing to stay therelong ( but the Polish landlord had grown wary about renting it. 6et nothingwhatever ha$$ened to Gilman till about the time of the fever. +o ghostly )e,iahflitted through the sombre halls and !hambers" no small furry thing !re$t into hisdismal eyrie to nu,,le him" and no re!ord of the wit!h*s in!antations rewardedhis !onstant sear!h. ometimes he would take walks through shadowy tanglesof un$aved musty(smelling lanes where eldrit!h brown houses of unknown age


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leaned and tottered and leered mo!kingly through narrow" small($anedwindows. #ere he knew strange things had ha$$ened on!e" and there was afaint suggestion behind the surfa!e that everything of that monstrous $ast mightnot ( at least in the darkest" narrowest" and most intri!ately !rooked alleys ( haveutterly $erished. #e also rowed out twi!e to the ill(regarded island in the river"and made a sket!h of the singular angles des!ribed by the moss(grown rows of

grey standing stones whose origin was so obs!ure and immemorial.

Gilman*s room was of good si,e but ueerly irregular sha$e7 the north wallslating $er!e$tibly inward from the outer to the inner end" while the low !eilingslanted gently downward in the same dire!tion. %side from an obvious rat(holeand the signs of other sto$$ed(u$ ones" there was no a!!ess ( nor anya$$earan!e of a former avenue of a!!ess ( to the s$a!e whi!h must havee'isted between the slanting wall and the straight outer wall on the house*s northside" though a view from the e'terior showed where a window had heen boardedu$ at a very remote date. &he loft above the !eiling ( whi!h must have had a

slanting floor ( was likewise ina!!essible. When Gilman !limbed u$ a ladder tothe !ob(webbed level loft above the rest of the atti! he found vestiges of abygone a$erture tightly and heavily !overed with an!ient $lanking and se!uredby the stout wooden $egs !ommon in 0olonial !ar$entry. +o amount of$ersuasion" however" !ould indu!e the stolid landlord to let him investigate eitherof these two !losed s$a!es.

%s time wore along" his absor$tion in the irregular wall and !eiling of his roomin!reased7 for he began to read into the odd angles a mathemati!al signifi!an!e

whi!h seemed to offer vague !lues regarding their $nr$ose. ld )e,iah" herefle!ted" might have had e'!ellent reasons for living in a room with $e!uliarangles7 for was it not through !ertain angles that she !laimed to have goneoutside the boundaries of the world of s$a!e we know8 #is interest graduallyveered away from the un$lumbed voids beyond the slanting surfa!es" sin!e itnow a$$eared that the $ur$ose of those surfa!es !on!erned the side he was on.

&he tou!h of brain(fever and the dreams began early in February. For sometime" a$$arently" the !urious angles of Gilman*s room had been having astrange" almost hy$noti! effe!t on him7 and as the bleak winter advan!ed he had

found himself staring more and more intently at the !orner where the down(slanting !eiling met the inward(slanting wall. %bout this $eriod his inability to!on!entrate on his formal studies worried him !onsiderably" his a$$rehensionsabout the mid(year e'aminations being very a!ute. ut the e'aggerated senseof bearing was s!ar!ely less annoying. ife had be!ome an insistent and almostunendurable !a!o$hony" and there was that !onstant" terrifying im$ression ofother sounds ( $erha$s from regions beyond life ( trembling on the very brink ofaudibility. o far as !on!rete noises went" the rats in the an!ient $artitions werethe worst. ometimes their s!rat!hing seemed not only furtive but deliberate.When it !ame from beyond the slanting north wall it was mi'ed with a sort of dryrattling7 and when it !ame from the !entury(!losed loft above the slanting !eiling


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Gilman always bra!ed himself as if e'$e!ting some horror whi!h only bided itstime before des!ending to engulf him utterly.

&he dreams were wholly beyond the $ale of sanity" and Gilman fell that theymust be a result" 4ointly" of his studies in mathemati!s and in folklore. #e hadbeen thinking too mu!h about the vague regions whi!h his formulae told him

must lie beyond the three dimensions we know" and about the $ossibility that old)e,iah -ason ( guided by some influen!e $ast all !on4e!ture ( had a!tuallyfound the gate to those regions. &he yellowed !ountry re!ords !ontaining hertestimony and that of her a!!users were so damnably suggestive of thingsbeyond human e'$erien!e ( and the des!ri$tions of the darting little furry ob4e!twhi!h served as her familiar were so $ainfully realisti! des$ite their in!redibledetails.

&hat ob4e!t ( no larger than a good(si,ed rat and uaintly !alled by thetowns$eo$le :rown Jenkins ( seemed to have been the fruit of a remarkable

!ase of sym$atheti! herd(delusion" for in 1/92 no less than eleven $ersons hadtestified to glim$sing it. &here were re!ent rumours" too" with a baffling anddis!on!erting amount of agreement. Witnesses said it had long hair and thesha$e of a rat" but that its shar$(toothed" bearded fa!e was evilly human whileits $aws were like tiny human hands. 5t took messages betwi't old )e,iah andthe devil" and was nursed on the wit!h*s blood" whi!h it su!ked like a vam$ire.5ts voi!e was a kind of loathsome titter" and it !ould s$eak all languages. f allthe bi,arre monstrosities in Gilman*s dreams" nothing filled him with greater$ani! and nausea than this blas$hemous and diminutive hybrid" whose image

flitted a!ross his vision in a form a thousandfold more hateful than anything hiswaking mind had dedu!ed from the an!ient re!ords and the modern whis$ers.

Gilman*s dreams !onsisted largely in $lunges through limitless abysses ofine'$li!ably !oloured twilight and baffingly disordered sound7 abysses whosematerial and gravitational $ro$erties" and whose relation to his own entity" he!ould not even begin to e'$lain. #e did not walk or !limb" fly or swim" !rawl orwriggle7 yet always e'$erien!ed a mode of motion $artly voluntary and $artlyinvoluntary. f his own !ondition he !ould not well 4udge" for sight of his arms"legs" and torso seemed always !ut off by some odd disarrangement of

$ers$e!tive7 but he felt that his $hysi!al organi,ation and fa!ulties weresomehow marvellously transmuted and obliuely $ro4e!ted ( though not withouta !ertain grotesue relationshi$ to his normal $ro$ortions and $ro$erties.

&he abysses were by no means va!ant" being !rowded with indes!ribablyangled masses of alien(hued substan!e" some of whi!h a$$eared to be organi!while others seemed inorgani!. % few of the organi! ob4e!ts tended to awakevague memories in the ba!k of his mind" though he !ould form no !ons!iousidea of what they mo!kingly resembled or suggested. 5n the later dreams hebegan to distinguish se$arate !ategories into whi!h the organi! ob4e!ts

a$$eared to be divided" and whi!h seemed to involve in ea!h !ase a radi!allydifferent s$e!ies of !ondu!t($attern and basi! motivation. f these !ategories


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one seemed to him to in!lude ob4e!ts slightly less illogi!al and irrelevant in theirmotions than the members of the other !ategories.

%ll the ob4e!ts ( organi! and inorgani! alike ( were totally beyond des!ri$tion oreven !om$rehension. Gilman sometimes !om$ared the inorgani! matter to$risms" labyrinths" !lusters of !ubes and $lanes" and 0y!lo$ean buildings7 and

the organi! things stru!k him variously as grou$s of bubbles" o!to$i" !enti$edes"living #indoo idols" and intri!ate arabesues roused into a kind of o$hidiananimation. verything he saw was uns$eakably mena!ing and horrible7 andwhenever one of the organi! entities a$$eared by its motions to be noti!ing him"he felt a stark" hideous fright whi!h generally 4olted him awake. f how theorgani! entities moved" he !ould tell no more than of how he moved himself. 5ntime he observed a further mystery ( the tenden!y of !ertain entities to a$$earsuddenly out of em$ty s$a!e" or to disa$$ear totally with eual suddenness. &heshrieking" roaring !onfusion of sound whi!h $ermeated the abysses was $ast allanalysis as to $it!h" timbre or rhythm7 but seemed to be syn!hronous with vague

visual !hanges in all the indefinite ob4e!ts" organi! and inorgani! alike. Gilmanhad a !onstant sense of dread that it might rise to some unbearable degree ofintensity during one or another of its obs!ure" relentlessly inevitable flu!tuations.

ut it was not in these vorti!es of !om$lete alienage that he saw rown Jenkin.&hat sho!king little horror was reserved for !ertain lighter" shar$er dreams whi!hassailed him 4ust before he dro$$ed into the fullest de$ths of slee$. #e would belying in the dark fighting to kee$ awake when a faint lambent glow would seemto shimmer around the !enturied room" showing in a violet mist the !onvergen!e

of angled $lanes whi!h had sei,ed his brain so insidiously. &he horror woulda$$ear to $o$ out of the rat(hole in the !orner and $atter toward him over thesagging" wide($lanked floor with evil e'$e!tan!y in its tiny" bearded human fa!e7but mer!ifully" this dream always melted away before the ob4e!t got !loseenough to nu,,le him. 5t had hellishly long" shar$" !anine teeth7 Gilman tried tosto$ u$ the rat(hole every day" but ea!h night the real tenants of the $artitionswould gnaw away the obstru!tion" whatever it might be. n!e he had thelandlord nail a tin over it" but the ne't night the rats gnawed a fresh hole" inmaking whi!h they $ushed or dragged out into the room a !urious little fragmentof bone.

Gilman did not re$ort his fever to the do!tor" for he knew he !ould not $ass thee'aminations if ordered to the !ollege infirmary when every moment was neededfor !ramming. %s it was" he failed in 0al!ulus ; and %dvan!ed GeneralPsy!hology" though not without ho$e of making u$ lost ground before the end ofthe term.

5t was in -ar!h when the fresh element entered his lighter $reliminary dreaming"and the nightmare sha$e of rown Jenkin began to be !om$anioned by thenebulous blur whi!h grew more and more to resemble a bent old woman. &his

addition disturbed him more than he !ould a!!ount for" but finally he de!idedthat it was like an an!ient !rone whom he had twi!e a!tually en!ountered in thedark tangle of lanes near the abandoned wharves. n those o!!asions the evil"


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sardoni!" and seemingly unmotivated stare of the beldame had set him almostshivering ( es$e!ially the first time when an overgrown rat darting a!ross theshadowed mouth of a neighbouring alley had made him think irrationally ofrown Jenkin. +ow" he refle!ted" those nervous fears were being mirrored in hisdisordered dreams. &hat the influen!e of the old house was unwholesome he!ould not deny" but tra!es of his early morbid interest still held him there. #e

argued that the fever alone was res$onsible for his nightly fantasies" and thatwhen the tou!h abated he would be free from the monstrous visions. &hosevisions" however" were of absorbing vividness and !onvin!ingness" andwhenever he awaked he retained a vague sense of having undergone mu!hmore than he remembered. #e was hideously sure that in unre!alled dreams hehad talked with both rown Jenkin and the old woman" and that they had beenurging him to go somewhere with them and to meet a third being of greater$oten!y.

&oward the end of -ar!h he began to $i!k u$ in his mathemati!s" though the

other stndies bothered him in!reasingly. #e was getting an intuitive kna!k forsolving


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indefinitely multi$lied dimensions ( be they within or outside the given s$a!e(time !ontinuum ( and that the !onverse would be likewise true. &his was amatter for s$e!ulation" though one !ould be fairly !ertain that the ty$e ofmutation involved in a $assage from any given dimensional $lane to the ne'thigher one would not be destru!tive of biologi!al integrity as we understand it.Gilman !ould not be very !lear about his reasons for this last assum$tion" but his

ha,iness here was more than overbalan!ed by his !learness on other !om$le'$oints. Professor =$ham es$e!ially liked his demonstration of the kinshi$ ofhigher mathemati!s to !ertain $hases of magi!al lore transmitted down the agesfrom an ineffable antiuity ( human or $re(human ( whose knowledge of the!osmos and its laws was greater than ours.

%round 1 %$ril Gilman worried !osiderably be!ause his slow fever did not abate.#e was also troubled by what some of his fellow lodgers said about his slee$(walking. 5t seened that he was often absent from his bed and that the !reaking ofhis floor at !ertain hours of the night was remarked by the man in the room

below. &his fellow also s$oke of hearing the tread of shod feet in the night7 butGilman was sure he must have been mistaken in this" sin!e shoes as well asother a$$arel were always $re!isely in $la!e in the morning. ne !ould develo$all sorts of aural delusions in this morbid old house ( for did not Gilman himself"even in daylight" now feel !ertain that noises other than rat(s!rat!hing !amefrom the bla!k voids beyond the slanting wall and above the slanting !eiling8 #is$athologi!ally sensitive ears began to listen for faint footfalls in the immemoriallysealed loft overhead" and sometimes the illusion of su!h things was agoni,inglyrealisti!.

#owever" he knew that he had a!tually be!ome a somnambulist7 for twi!e atnight his room had been found va!ant" though with all his !lothing in $la!e. fthis he had been assured by Frank lwood" the one fellow(student whose$overty for!ed him to room in this sualid and un$o$ular house. lwood hadbeen studying in the small hours and had !ome u$ for hel$ on a differentialeuation" only to find Gilman absent. 5t had been rather $resum$tuous of him too$en the unlo!ked door after kno!king had failed to rouse a res$onse" but hehad needed the hel$ very badly and thought that his host would not mind agentle $rodding awake. n neither o!!asion" though" had Gilman been there7

and when told of the matter he wondered where he !ould have been wandering"barefoot and with only his night !lothes on. #e resolved to investigate the matterif re$orts of his slee$(walking !ontinued" and thought of s$rinkling flour on thefloor of the !orridor to see where his footste$s might lead. &he door was the only!on!eivable egress" for there was no $ossible foothold outside the narrowwindow.

%s %$ril advan!ed" Gilman*s fever(shar$ened ears were disturbed by thewhining $rayers of a su$erstitious loom(fi'er named Joe -a,urewi!, who had aroom on the ground floor. -a,urewi!, had told long" rambling stories about theghost of old )e,iah and the furry shar$(fanged" nu,,ling thing" and had said hewas so badly haunted at times that only his silver !ru!ifi' ( given him for the


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$ur$ose by Father 5wani!ki of t. tanislaus* 0hur!h ( !ould bring him relief.+ow he was $raying be!ause the Wit!hes* abbath was drawing near. -ay vewas Wal$urgis +ight" when hell*s bla!kest evil roamed the earth and all theslaves of atan gathered for nameless rites and deeds. 5t was always a very badlime in %rkham" even though the fine folks u$ in -iskatoni! %venue and #ighand altonstall treets $retended to know nothing about it. &here would be bad

doings" and a !hild or two would $robably be missing. Joe knew about su!hthings" for his grandmother in the old !ountry had heard tales from hergrandmother. 5t was wise to $ray and !ount one*s beads at this season. Forthree months )e,iah and rown Jenkin had not been near Joe*s room" nor nearPaul 0hoynski*s room" nor anywhere else ( and it meant no good when they heldoff like that. &hey must be u$ to something.

Gilman dro$$ed in at the do!tor*s offi!e on the si'teenth of the month" and wassur$rised to find his tem$erature was not as high as he had feared. &he$hysi!ian uestioned him shar$ly" and advised him to see a nerve s$e!ialist. n

refle!tion" he was glad he had not !onsulted the still more inuisitive !ollegedo!tor. ld Waldron" who had !urtailed his a!tivities before" would have madehim take a rest ( an im$ossible thing now that he was so !lose to great results inhis euations. #e was !ertainly near the boundary between the known universeand the fourth dimension" and who !ould say how mu!h farther he might go8

ut even as these thoughts !ame to him he wondered at the sour!e of hisstrange !onfiden!e. ;id all of this $erilous sense of immininen!e !ome from theformulae on the sheets he !overed day by day8 &he soft" stealthy" imaginary

footste$s in the sealed loft above were unnerving. %nd now" too" there was agrowing feeling that somebody was !onstantly $ersuading him to do somethingterrible whi!h he !ould not do. #ow about the somnambulism8 Where did he gosometimes in the night8 %nd what was that faint suggestion of sound whi!h on!ein a while seemed to tri!kle through the !onfusion of identifiable sounds even inbroad daylight and full wakefulness8 5ts rhythm did not !orres$ond to anythingon earth" unless $erha$s to the !aden!e of one or two unmentionable abbat(!hants" and sometimes he feared it !orres$onded to !ertain attributes of thevague shrieking or roaring in those wholly alien abysses of dream.

&he dreams were meanwhile getting to be atro!ious. 5n the lighter $reliminary$hase the evil old woman was now of fiendish distin!tness" and Gilman knewshe was the one who had frightened him in the slums. #er bent ba!k" long nose"and shrivelled !hin were unmistakable" and her sha$eless brown garments werelike those he remembered. &he e'$ression on her fa!e was one of hideousmalevolen!e and e'ultation" and when he awaked he !ould re!all a !roakingvoi!e that $ersuaded and threatened. #e must meet the la!k -an and go withthem all to the throne of %,athoth at the !entre of ultimate !haos. &hat was whatshe said. #e must sign the book of %,athoth in his own blood and take a newse!ret name now that his inde$endent delvings had gone so far. What ke$t himfrom going with her and rown Jenkin and the other to the throne of 0haoswhere the thin flutes $i$e mindlessly was the fa!t that he had seen the name


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:%,athoth: in the Necronomicon" and knew it stood for a $rimal evil too horriblefor des!ri$tion.

&he old woman always a$$eared out of thin air near the !orner where thedownward slant met the inward slant. he seemed to !rystalli,e at a $oint !loserto the !eiling than to the floor" and every night she was a little nearer and more

distin!t before the dream shifted. rown Jenkin" too was always a little nearer atthe last" and its yellowish(white fangs glistened sho!kingly in that unearthly violet$hos$hores!en!e. 5ts shrill loathsome tittering stru!k more and more intoGilman*s head" and he !ould remember in the morning how it had $ronoun!edthe words :%,athoth: and :+yarlathote$:.

5n the dee$er dreams everything was likewise more distin!t" and Gilman felt thatthe twilight abysses around him were those of the fourth dimension. &hoseorgani! entities whose motions seemed least flagrantly irrelevant andunmotivated were $robably $ro4e!tions of life(forms from our own $lanet"

in!luding human beings. What the others were in their own dimensional s$hereor s$heres he dared not try to think. &wo of the less irrelevantly moving things (a rather large !ongeries of irides!ent" $rolately s$heroidal bubbles and a verymu!h smaller $olyhedron of unknown !olours and ra$idly shifting surfa!e angles( seemed to take noti!e of him and follow him about or float ahead as he!hanged $osition among the titan $risms" labyrinths" !ube(and($lane !lustersand uasi(buildings7 and all the while the vague shrieking and roaring wa'edlouder and louder" as if a$$roa!hing some monstrous !lima' of utterlyunendurable intensity.

;uring the night of 19(2> %$ril the new develo$ment o!!urred. Gilman was halfinvoluntarily moving about in the twilight abysses with the bubble(mass and thesmall $olyhedron floating ahead when he noti!ed the $e!uliarly regular anglesformed by the edges of some giganti! neighbouring $rism(!lusters. 5n anotherse!ond he was out of the abyss and standing tremulously on a ro!ky hillsidebathed in intense" diffused green light. #e was barefooted and in hisnight!lothes. and when he tried to walk dis!overed that he !ould s!ar!ely lift hisfeet. % swirling va$our hid everything but the immediate slo$ing terrain fromsight" and he shrank from the thought of the sounds" that might surge out of that

va$our.

&hen he saw the two sha$es laboriously !rawling toward him ( the old womanand the little furry thing. &he !rone strained u$ to her knees and managed to!ross her arms in a singular fashion" while rown Jenkin $ointed in a !ertaindire!tion with a horribly anthro$oid fore$aw whi!h it raised with evident diffi!ulty.$urred by an im$ulse he did not originate" Gilman dragged himself forwardalong a !ourse determined by the angle of the old woman*s arms and thedire!tion of the small monstrosity*s $aw" and before he had shuffled three ste$she was ba!k in the twilight abysses. Geometri!al sha$es seethed around him"

and he fell di,,ily and interminably. %t last he woke in his bed in the !ra,ilyangled garret of the eldrit!h old house.


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#e was good for nothing that morning" and stayed away from all his !lasses.ome unknown attra!tion was $ulling his eyes in a seemingly irrelevantdire!tion" for he !ould not hel$ staring at a !ertain va!ant s$ot on the floor. %sthe day advan!ed" the fo!us of his unseeing eyes !hanged $osition" and bynoon he had !onuered the im$ulse to stare at va!an!y. %bout two o*!lo!k hewent out for lun!h and as he threaded the narrow lanes of the !ity he found

himself turning always to the southeast. nly an effort halted him at a !afeteriain 0hur!h treet" and after the meal he felt the unknown $ull still more strongly.

#e would have to !onsult a nerve s$e!ialist after all ( $erha$s there was a!onne!tion with his somnambulism ( but meanwhile he might at least try to breakthe morbid s$ell himself. =ndoubtedly he !ould still manage to walk away fromthe $ull" so with great resolution he headed against it and dragged himselfdeliberately north along Garrison treet. y the time he had rea!hed the bridgeover the -iskatoni! he was in a !old $ers$iration" and he !lut!hed at the ironrailing as he ga,ed u$stream at the ill(regarded island whose regular lines of

an!ient standing stones brooded sullenly in the afternoon sunlight.

&hen he gave a start. For there was a !learly visible living figure on that desolateisland" and a se!ond glan!e told him it was !ertainly the strange old womanwhose sinister as$e!t had worked itself so disastrously into his dreams. &he tallgrass near her was moving" too" as if some other living thing were !rawling !loseto the ground. When the old woman began to turn toward him he fled$re!i$itately off the bridge and into the shelter of the town*s labyrinthinewaterfront alleys. ;istant though the island was" he felt that a monstrous and

invin!ible evil !ould flow from the sardoni! stare of that bent" an!ient figure inbrown.

&he southeastwards $ull still held" and only with tremendous resolution !ouldGilman drag himself into the old house and u$ the ri!kety stairs. For hours hesat silent and aimless" with his eyes shifting gradually westward. %bout si'o*!lo!k his shar$ened ears !aught the whining $rayers of Joe -a,urewi!, twofloors below" and in des$eration he sei,ed his hat and walked out into thesunset(golden streets" letting the now dire!tly southward $ull !arry him where itmight. %n hour later darkness found him in the o$en fields beyond #angman*s

rook" with the glimmering s$ring stars shining ahead. &he urge to walk wasgradually !hanging to an urge to lea$ mysti!ally into s$a!e" and suddenly hereali,ed 4ust where the sour!e of the $ull lay.

5t was in the sky. % definite $oint among the stars had a !laim on him and was!alling him. %$$arently it was a $oint somewhere between #ydra and %rgo+avis" and he knew that he had been urged toward it ever sin!e he had awakedsoon after dawn. 5n the morning it had been underfoot" and now it was roughlysouth but stealing toward the west. What was the meaning of this new thing8Was he going mad8 #ow long would it last8 %gain mustering his resolution"

Gilman turned and dragged himself ba!k to the sinister old house.


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-a,urewi!, was waiting for him at the door" and seemed both an'ious andrelu!tant to whis$er some fresh bit of su$erstition. 5t was about the wit!h(light.Joe had been out !elebrating the night before ( and it was Patriots* ;ay in-assa!husetts ( and had !ome home after midnight. ooking u$ at the housefrom outside" he had thought at first that Gilman*s window was dark" but then hehad seen the faint violet glow within. #e wanted to warn the gentleman about

that glow" for everybody in %rkham knew it was )e,iah*s wit!h(light whi!h $layednear rown Jenkin and the ghost of the old !rone herself. #e had not mentionedthis before" but now he must tell about it be!ause it meant that )e,iah and herlong(toothed familiar were haunting the young gentleman. ometimes he andPaul 0hoynski and andlord ;ombrowski thought they saw that light see$ing outof !ra!ks in the sealed loft above the young gentleman*s room" but they had allagreed not to talk about that. #owever" it would be better for the gentleman totake another room and get a !ru!ifi' from some good $riest like Father 5wani!ki.

%s the man rambled on" Gilman felt a nameless $ani! !lut!h at his throat. #e

knew that Joe must have been half drunk when he !ame home the night before7yet the mention of a violet light in the garret window was of frightful im$ort. 5t wasa lambent glow of this sort whi!h always $layed about the old woman and thesmall furry thing in those lighter" shar$er dreams whi!h $refa!ed his $lunge intounknown abysses" and the thought that a wakeful se!ond $erson !ould see thedream(luminan!e was utterly beyond sane harborage. 6et where had the fellowgot su!h an odd notion8 #ad he himself talked as well as walked around thehouse in his slee$8 +o" Joe said" he had not ( but he must !he!k u$ on this.Perha$s Frank lwood !ould tell him something" though he hated to ask.

Fever ( wild dreams ( somnambulism ( illusions of sounds ( a $ull toward a $ointin the sky ( and now a sus$i!ion of insane slee$(talking? #e must sto$ studying"see a nerve s$e!ialist" and take himself in hand. When he !limbed to the se!ondstorey he $aused at lwood*s door but saw that the other youth was out.


12/28

wildness ( some of stone and some of metal ( whi!h glittered gorgeously in themi'ed" almost blistering glare from a $oly(!hromati! sky. ooking u$ward he sawthree stu$endous disks of flame" ea!h of a different hue" and at a different heightabove an infinitely distant !urving hori,on of low mountains. ehind him tiers ofhigher terra!es towered aloft as far as he !ould see. &he !ity below stret!hedaway to the limits of vision" and he ho$ed that no sound would well u$ from it.

&he $avement from whi!h he easily raised himself was a veined $olished stonebeyond his $ower to identify" and the tiles were !ut in bi,arre(angled sha$eswhi!h stru!k himm as less asymmetri!al than based on some unearthlysymmetry whose laws he !ould not !om$rehend. &he balustrade was !hest(high" deli!ate" and fantasti!ally wrought" while along the rail were ranged atshort intervals little figures of grotesue design and e'uisite workmanshi$.&hey" like the whole balustrade" seemed to be made of some sort of shiningmetal whose !olour !ould not be guessed in the !haos of mi'ed effulgen!es"and their nature utterly defied !on4e!ture. &hey re$resented some ridged barrel(

sha$ed ob4e!ts with thin hori,ontal arms radiating s$oke(like from a !entral ringand with verti!al knobs or bulbs $ro4e!ting from the head and base of the barrel.a!h of these knobs was the hub of a system of five long" flat" triangularlyta$ering arms arranged around it like the arms of a starfish ( nearly hori,ontal"but !urving slightly away from the !entral barrel. &he base of the bottom knobwas fused to the long railing with so deli!ate a $oint of !onta!t that severalfigures had been broken off and were missing. &he figures were about four anda half in!hes in height" while the s$iky arms gave them a ma'imum diameter ofabout two and a half in!hes.

When Gilman stood u$" the tiles felt hot to his bare feet. #e was wholly alone"and his first a!t was to walk to the balustrade and look di,,ily down at theendless" 0y!lo$ean !ity almost two thousand feet below. %s he listened hethought a rhythmi! !onfusion of faint musi!al $i$ings !overing a wide tonal rangewelled u$ from the narrow streets beneath" and he wished he might dis!ern thedeni,ens of the $la!e. &he sight turned him giddy after a while" so that he wouldhave fallen to the $avement had he not !lut!hed instin!tively at the lustrousbalustrade. #is right hand fell on one of the $ro4e!ting figures" the tou!h seemingto steady him slightly. 5t was too mu!h" however" for the e'oti! deli!a!y of the

metal(work" and the s$iky figure sna$$ed off under his gras$. till half da,ed" he!ontinued to !lut!h it as his other hand sei,ed a va!ant s$a!e on the smoothrailing.

ut now his over(sensitive ears !aught something behind him" and he lookedba!k a!ross the level terra!e. %$$roa!hing him softly though without a$$arentfurtiveness were five figures" two of whi!h were the sinister old woman and thefanged" furry little animal. &he other three were what sent him un!ons!ious7 forthey were living entities about eight feet high" sha$ed $re!isely like the s$ikyimages on the balustrade" and $ro$elling themselves by a s$ider(like wrigglingof their lower set of starfish(arms.


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Gilman awoke in his bed" dren!hed by a !old $ers$iration and with a smartingsensation in his fa!e" hands and feet. $ringing to the floor" he washed anddressed in franti! haste" as if it were ne!essary for him to get out of the house asui!kly as $ossible. #e did not know where he wished to go" but felt that on!emore he would have to sa!rifi!e his !lasses. &he odd $ull toward that s$ot in thesky between #ydra and %rgo had abated" but another of even greater strength

had taken its $la!e. +ow he felt that he must go north ( infinitely north. #edreaded to !ross the bridge that gave a view of the desolate island in the-iskatoni!" so went over the Peabody %venue bridge. @ery often he stumbled"for his eyes and ears were !hained to an e'tremely lofty $oint in the blank bluesky.

%fter about an hour he got himself under better !ontrol" and saw that he was farfrom the !ity. %ll around him stret!hed the bleak em$tiness of salt marshes"while the narrow road ahead led to 5nnsmouth ( that an!ient" half(deserted townwhi!h %rkham $eo$le were so !uriously unwilling to visit. &hough the northward

$ull had not diminished" he resisted it as he had resisted the other $ull" andfinally found that he !ould almost balan!e the one against the other. Ploddingba!k to town and getting some !offee at a soda fountain" he dragged himselfinto the $ubli! library and browsed aimlessly among the lighter maga,ines. n!ehe met some friends who remarked how oddly sunburned he looked" but he didnot tell them of his walk. %t three o*!lo!k he took some lun!h at a restaurant"noting meanwhile that the $ull had either lessened or divided itself. %fter that hekilled the time at a !hea$ !inema show" seeing the inane $erforman!e over andover again without $aying any attention to it.

%bout nine at night he drifted homeward and shuffled into the an!ient house. Joe-a,urewi!, was whining unintelligible $rayers" and Gilman hastened u$ to hisown garret !hamber without $ausing to see if lwood was in. 5t was when heturned on the feeble ele!tri! light that the sho!k !ame. %t on!e he saw there wassomething on the table whi!h did not belong there" and a se!ond look left noroom for doubt. ying on its side ( for it !ould not stand u$ alone ( was the e'oti!s$iky figure whi!h in his monstrous dream he had broken off the fantasti!balustrade. +o detail was missing. &he ridged" barrel(sha$ed !enter" the thinradiating arms" the knobs at ea!h end" and the flat" slightly outward(!urving

starfish(arms s$reading from those knobs ( all were there. 5n the ele!tri! light the!olour seemed to be a kind of irides!ent grey veined with green7 and Gilman!ould see amidst his horror and bewilderment that one of the knobs ended in a

4agged break" !orres$onding to its former $oint of atta!hment to the dream(railing.

nly his tenden!y toward a da,ed stu$or $revented him from s!reaming aloud.&his fusion of dream and reality was too mu!h to bear. till da,ed" he !lut!hedat the s$iky thing and staggered downstairs to andlord ;ombrowski*s uarters.&he whining $rayers of the su$erstitious loom(fi'er were still sounding throughthe mouldy halls" but Gilman did not mind them now. &he landlord was in" andgreeted him $leasantly. +o" he had not seen that thing before and did not know


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anything about it. ut his wife had said she found a funny tin thing in one of thebeds when she fi'ed the rooms at noon" and maybe that was it. ;ombrowski!alled her" and she waddled in. 6es" that was the thing. he had found it in theyoung gentleman*s bed ( on the side ne't the wall. 5t had looked very ueer toher" but of !ourse the young gentleman had lots of ueer things in his room (books and !urios and $i!tures and markings on $a$er. he !ertainly knew

nothing about it.

o Gilman !limbed u$stairs again in mental turmoil" !onvin!ed that he waseither still dreaming or that his somnambulism had run to in!redible e'tremesand led him to de$redations in unknown $la!es. Where had he got this outrthing8 #e did not re!all seeing it in any museum in %rkham. 5t must have beensomewhere" though7 and the sight of it as he snat!hed it in his slee$ must have!aused the odd dream($i!ture of the balustraded terra!e. +e't day he wouldmake some very guarded inuiries ( and $erha$s see the nerve s$e!ialist.

-eanwhile he would try to kee$ tra!k of his somnambulism. %s he went u$stairsand a!ross the garret hall he s$rinkled about some flour whi!h he had borrowed( with a frank admission as to its $ur$ose ( from the landlord. #e had sto$$ed atlwood*s door on the way" but had found all dark within. ntering his room" he$la!ed the s$iky thing on the table" and lay down in !om$lete mental and$hysi!al e'haustion without $ausing to undress. From the !losed loft above theslating !eiling he thought he heard a faint s!rat!hing and $adding" but he wastoo disorgani,ed even to mind it. &hat !ry$ti!al $ull from the north was gettingvery strong again" though it seemed now to !ome from a lower $la!e in the sky.

5n the da,,ling violet light of dream the old woman and the fanged" furry thing!ame again and with a greater distin!tness than on any former o!!asion. &histime they a!tually rea!hed him" and he felt the !rone*s withered !laws !lut!hingat him. #e was $ulled out of bed and into em$ty s$a!e" and for a moment heheard a rhythmi! roaring and saw the twilight amor$housness of the vagueabysses seething around him. ut that moment was very brief" for $resently hewas in a !rude" windowless little s$a!e with rough beams and $lanks rising to a$eak 4ust above his head" and with a !urious slanting floor underfoot. Pro$$edlevel on that floor were low !ases full of books of every degree of antiuity and

disintegration" and in the !entre were a table and ben!h" both a$$arentlyfastened in $la!e. mall ob4e!ts of unknown sha$e and nature were ranged onthe to$s of the !ases" and in the flaming violet light Gilman thought he saw a!ounter$art of the s$iky image whi!h had $u,,led him so horribly. n the left thefloor fell abru$tly away" leaving a bla!k triangular gulf out of whi!h" after ase!ond*s dry rattling" there $resently !limbed the hateful little furry thing with theyellow fangs and bearded human fa!e.

&he evilly(grinning beldame still !lut!hed him" and beyond the table stood afigure he had never seen before ( a tall" lean man of dead bla!k !olouration but

without the slightest sign of negroid featuresA wholly devoid of either hair orbeard" and wearing as his only garment a sha$eless robe of some heavy bla!kfabri!. #is feet were indistinguishable be!ause of the table and ben!h" but he


15/28

must have been shod" sin!e there was a !li!king whenever he !hanged $osition.&he man did not s$eak" and bore no tra!e of e'$ression on his small" regularfeatures. #e merely $ointed to a book of $rodigious si,e whi!h lay o$en on thetable" while the beldame thrust a huge grey uill into Gilman*s right hand. vereverything was a $all of intensely maddening fear" and the !lima' was rea!hedwhen the furry thing ran u$ the dreamer*s !lothing to his shoulders and then

down his left arm" finally biting him shar$ly in the wrist 4ust below his !uff. %s theblood s$urted from this wound Gilman la$sed into a faint.

#e awaked on the morning of the twenty(se!ond with a $ain in his left wrist" andsaw that his !uff was brown with dried blood. #is re!olle!tions were very!onfused" but the s!ene with the bla!k man in the unknown s$a!e stood outvividly. &he rats must have bitten him as he sle$t" giving rise to the !lima' of thatfrightful dream. $ening the door" he saw that the flour on the !orridor floor wasundisturbed e'!e$t for the huge $rints of the loutish fellow who roomed at theother end of the garret. o he had not been slee$(walking this time. ut

something would have to be done about those rats. #e would s$eak to thelandlord about them. %gain he tried to sto$ u$ the hole at the base of theslanting wall" wedging in a !andlesti!k whi!h seemed of about the right si,e. #isears were ringing horribly" as if with the residual e!hoes of some horrible noiseheard in dreams.

%s he bathed and !hanged !lothes he tried to re!all what he had dreamed afterthe s!ene in the violet(litten s$a!e" but nothing definite would !rystalli,e in hismind. &hat s!ene itself must have !orres$onded to the sealed loft overhead"

whi!h had begun to atta!k his imagination so violently" but later im$ressionswere faint and ha,y. &here were suggestions of the vague" twilight abysses" andof still vaster" bla!ker abysses beyond them ( abysses in whi!h all fi'edsuggestions were absent. #e had been taken there by the bubble(!ongeries andthe little $olyhedron whi!h always dogged him7 but they" like himself" had!hanged to wis$s of mist in this farther void of ultimate bla!kness. omethingelse had gone on ahead ( a larger wis$ whi!h now and then !ondensed intonameless a$$ro'imations of form ( and he thought that their $rogress had notbeen in a straight line" but rather along the alien !urves and s$irals of someethereal vorte' whi!h obeyed laws unknown to the $hysi!s and mathemati!s of

any !on!eivable !osmos. ventually there had been a hint of vast" lea$ingshadows" of a monstrous" half(a!ousti! $ulsing" and of the thin" monotonous$i$ing of an unseen flute ( but that was all. Gilman de!ided he had $i!ked u$that last !on!e$tion from what he had read in the Necronomiconabout themindless entity %,athoth" whi!h rules all time and s$a!e from a bla!k throne atthe !entre of 0haos.

When the blood was washed away the wrist wound $roved very slight" andGilman $u,,led over the lo!ation of the two tiny $un!tures. 5t o!!urred to himthat there was no blood on the beds$read where he had lain ( whi!h was very!urious in view of the amount on his skin and !uff. #ad he been slee$(walkingwithin his room" and had the rat bitten him as he sat in some !hair or $aused in


16/28

some less rational $osition8 #e looked in every !orner for brownish dro$s orstains" but did not find any. #e had better" he thought" s$inkle flour within theroom as well as outside the door ( though after all no further $roof of his slee$(walking was needed. #e knew he did walk and the thing to do now was to sto$it. #e must ask Frank lwood for hel$. &his morning the strange $ulls froms$a!e seemed lessened" though they were re$la!ed by another sensation even

more ine'$li!able. 5t was a vague" insistent im$ulse to fly away from his $resentsituation" but held not a hint of the s$e!ifi! dire!tion in whi!h he wished to fly. %she $i!ked u$ the strange s$iky image on the table he thought the oldernorthward $ull grew a trifle stronger7 but even so" it was wholly overruled by thenewer and more bewildering urge.

#e took the s$iky image down to lwood*s room" steeling himself against thewhines of the loom(fi'er whi!h welled u$ from the ground floor. lwood was in"thank heaven" and a$$eared to be stirring about. &here was time for a little!onversation before leaving for breakfast and !ollege" so Gilman hurriedly

$oured forth an a!!ount of his re!ent dreams and fears. #is host was verysym$atheti!" and agreed that something ought to be done. #e was sho!ked byhis guest*s drawn" haggard as$e!t" and noti!ed the ueer" abnormal(lookingsunburn whi!h others had remarked during the $ast week.

&here was not mu!h" though" that he !ould say. #e had not seen Gilman on anyslee$(walking e'$edition" and had no idea what the !urious image !ould be. #ehad" though" heard the Fren!h(0anadian who lodged 4ust under Gilman talkingto -a,urewi!, one evening. &hey were telling ea!h other how badly they

dreaded the !oming of Wal$urgis +ight" now only a few days off7 and weree'!hanging $itying !omments about the $oor" doomed young gentleman.;esro!hers" the fellow under Gilman*s room" had s$oken of no!turnal footste$sshod and unshod" and of the violet light he saw one night when he had stolenfearfully u$ to $eer through Gilman*s keyhole. #e had not dared to $eer" he told-a,urewi!," after he had glim$sed that light through the !ra!ks around the door.&here had been soft talking" too ( and as he began to des!ribe it his voi!e hadsunk to an inaudible whis$er.

lwood !ould not imagine what had set these su$erstitious !reatures gossi$ing"

but su$$osed their imaginations had been roused by Gilman*s late hours andsomnolent walking and talking on the one hand" and by the nearness oftraditionally(feared -ay ve on the other hand. &hat Gilman talked in his slee$was $lain" and it was obviously from ;esro!hers* keyhole listenings that thedelusive notion of the violet dream(light had got abroad. &hese sim$le $eo$lewere ui!k to imagine they had seen any odd thing they had heard about. %s fora $lan of a!tion ( Gilman had better move down to lwood*s room and avoidslee$ing alone. lwood would" if awake" rouse him whenever he began to talk orrise in his slee$. @ery soon" too" he must see the s$e!ialist. -eanwhile theywould take the s$iky image around to the various museums and to !ertain$rofessors7 seeking identifi!ation and slating that it had been found in a $ubli!


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rubbish(!an. %lso" ;ombrowski must attend to the $oisoning of those rats in thewalls.

ra!ed u$ by lwood*s !om$anionshi$" Gilman attended !lasses that day.trange urges still tugged at him" but he !ould sidetra!k them with !onsiderablesu!!ess. ;uring a free $eriod he showed the ueer image to several $rofessors"

all of whom were intensely interested" though none of them !ould shed any lightu$on its nature or origin. &hat night he sle$t on a !ou!h whi!h lwood had hadthe landlord bring to the se!ond(storey room" and for the first time in weeks waswholly free from disuieting dreams. ut the feverishness still hung on" and thewhines of the loom(fi'er were an unnerving influen!e.

;uring the ne't few days Gilman en4oyed an almost $erfe!t immunity frommorbid manifestations. #e had" lwood said" showed no tenden!y to talk or risein his slee$7 and meanwhile the landlord was $utting rat($oison everywhere. &heonly disturbing element was the talk among the su$erstitious foreigners" whose

imaginations had be!ome highly e'!ited. -a,urewi!, was always trying to makehim get a !ru!ifi'" and finally for!ed one u$on him whi!h he said had beenblessed by the good Father 5wani!ki. ;esro!hers" too" had something to say7 infa!t" he insisted that !autious ste$s had sounded in the now va!ant room abovehim on the first and se!ond nights of Gilinan*s absen!e from it. Paul 0hoynskithought he heard sounds in the halls and on the stairs at night" and !laimed thathis door had been softly tried" while -rs. ;ombrowski vowed she had seenrown Jenkin for the first time sin!e %ll(#allows. ut su!h naBve re$orts !ouldmean very little" and Gilman let the !hea$ metal !ru!ifi' hang idly from a knob

on his host*s dresser.

For three days Gilman and lwood !anvassed the lo!al museums in an effort toidentify the strange s$iky image" but always without su!!ess. 5n every uarter"however" interest was intense7 for the utter alienage of the thing was atremendous !hallenge to s!ientifi! !uriosity. ne of the small radiating arms wasbroken off and sub4e!ted to !hemi!al analysis. Professor llery found $latinum"iron and tellurium in the strange alloy7 but mi'ed with these were at least threeother a$$arent elements of high atomi! weight whi!h !hemistry was absolutely$owerless to !lassify. +ot only did they fail to !orres$ond with any known

element" but they did not even fit the va!ant $la!es reserved for $robableelements in the $eriodi! system. &he mystery remains unsolved to this day"though the image is on e'hibition at the museum of -iskatoni! =niversity.

n the morning of %$ril twenty(seventh a fresh rat(bole a$$eared in the roomwhere Gilman was a guest" but ;ombrowski tinned it u$ during the day. &he$oison was not having mu!h effe!t" for s!rat!hings and s!urryings in the wallswere virtually undiminished.

lwood was out late that night" and Gilman waited u$ for him. #e did not wish to

go to slee$ in a room alone ( es$e!ially sin!e he thought he had glim$sed in theevening twilight the re$ellent old woman whose image had be!ome so horriblytransferred to his dreams. #e wondered who she was" and what had been near


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her rattling the tin !an in a rubbish(hea$ at the mouth of a sualid !ourtyard. &he!rone had seemed to noti!e him and leer evilly at him ( though $erha$s this wasmerely his imagination.

&he ne't day both youths felt very tired" and knew they would slee$ like logswhen night !ame. 5n the evening they drowsily dis!ussed the mathemati!al

studies whi!h had so !om$letely and $erha$s harmfully engrossed Gilman" ands$e!ulated about the linkage with an!ient magi! and folklore whi!h seemed sodarkly $robable. &hey s$oke of old )e,iah -ason" and lwood agreed thatGilman had good s!ientifi! grounds for thinking she might have stumbled onstrange and signifi!ant information. &he hidden !ults to whi!h these wit!hesbelonged often guarded and handed down sur$rising se!rets from elder"forgotten eons7 and it was by no means im$ossible that )e,iah had a!tuallymastered the art of $assing through dimensional gates. &radition em$hasi,esthe uselessness of material barriers in halting a wit!h*s notions" and who !ansay what underlies the old tales of broomsti!k rides through the night8

Whether a modern student !ould ever gain similar $owers from mathemati!alresear!h alone" was still to be seen. u!eess" Gilman added" might lead todangerous and unthinkable situations" for who !ould foretell the !onditions$ervading an ad4a!ent but normally ina!!essible dimension8 n the other hand"the $i!turesue $ossibilities were enormous. &ime !ould not e'ist in !ertain beltsof s$a!e" and by entering and remaining in su!h a belt one might $reserve one*slife and age indefinitely7 never suffering organi! metabolism or deterioratione'!e$t for slight amounts in!urred during visits to one*s own or similar $lanes.

ne might" for e'am$le" $ass into a timeless dimension and emerge at someremote $eriod of the earth*s history as young as before.

Whether anybody had ever managed to do this" one !ould hardly !on4e!ture withany degree of authority. ld legends are ha,y and ambiguous" and in histori!times all attem$ts at !rossing forbidden ga$s seem !om$li!ated by strange andterrible allian!es with beings and messengers from outside. &here was theimmemorial figure of the de$uty or messenger of hidden and terrible $owers (the :la!k -an: of the wit!h(!ult" and the :+yarlathote$: of the Necronomicon.&here was" too" the baffling $roblem of the lesser messengers or intermediaries

( the uasi(animals and ueer hybrids whi!h legend de$i!ts as wit!hes*familiars. %s Gilman and lwood retired" too slee$y to argue further" they heardJoe -a,urewi!, reel into the house half drunk" and shuddered at the des$eratewildness of his whining $rayers.

&hat night Gilman saw the violet light again. 5n his dream he had heard as!rat!hing and gnawing in the $artitions" and thought that someone fumbled!lumsily at the lat!h. &hen he saw the old woman and the small furry thingadvan!ing toward him over the !ar$eted floor. &he beldame*s fa!e was alightwith inhuman e'ultation" and the little yellow(toothed morbidity tittered mo!kingly

as it $ointed at the heavily(slee$ing form of lwood on the other !ou!h a!rossthe room. % $aralysis of fear stifled all attem$ts to !ry out. %s on!e before" thehideous !rone sei,ed Gilman by the shoulders" yanking him out of bed and into


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em$ty s$a!e. %gain the infinitude of the shrieking abysses flashed $ast him" butin another se!ond he thought he was in a dark" muddy" unknown alley of foetidodors with the rotting walls of an!ient houses towering u$ on every hand.

%head was the robed bla!k man he had seen in the $eaked s$a!e in the otherdream" while from a lesser distan!e the old woman was be!koning and

grima!ing im$eriously. rown Jenkin was rubbing itself with a kind ofaffe!tionate $layfulness around the ankles of the bla!k man" whi!h the dee$mud largely !on!ealed. &here was a dark o$en doorway on the right" to whi!hthe bla!k man silently $ointed. 5nto this the grinning !rone started" draggingGilman after her by his $a4ama sleeves. &here were evil(smelling stair!aseswhi!h !reaked ominously" and on whi!h the old woman seemed to radiate a faintviolet light7 and finally a door leading off a landing. &he !rone fumbled with thelat!h and $ushed the door o$en" motioning to Gilman to wait" and disa$$earinginside the bla!k a$erture.

&he youth*s over(sensitive ears !aught a hideous strangled !ry" and $resentlythe beldame !ame out of the room bearing a small" senseless form whi!h shethrust at the dreamer as if ordering him to !arry it. &he sight of this form" and thee'$ression on its fa!e" broke the s$ell. till too da,ed to !ry out" he $lungedre!klessly down the noisome stair!ase and into the mud outside" halting onlywhen sei,ed and !hoked by the waiting bla!k man. %s !ons!iousness de$artedhe heard the faint" shrill tittering of the fanged" rat(like abnormality.

n the morning of the twenty(ninth Gilman awaked into a maelstrom of horror.&he instant he o$ened his eyes he knew something was terribly wrong" for hewas ba!k in his old garret room with the slanting wall and !eiling" s$rawled onthe now unmade bed. #is throat was a!hing ine'$li!ably" and as he struggled toa sitting $osture he saw with growing fright that his feet and $a4ama bottomswere brown with !aked mud. For the moment his re!olle!tions were ho$elesslyha,y" but he knew at least that he must have been slee$(walking. lwood hadbeen lost too dee$ly in slumber to hear and sto$ him. n the floor were!onfused muddy $rints" but oddly enough they did not e'tend all the way to thedoor. &he more Gilman looked at them" the more $e!uliar they seemed7 for inaddition to those he !ould re!ogni,e as his there were some smaller" almost

round markings ( su!h as the legs of a large !hair or a table might make" e'!e$tthat most of them tended to be divided into halves. &here were also some!urious muddy rat(tra!ks leading out of a fresh hole and ba!k into it again. =tterbewilderment and the fear of madness ra!ked Gilman as he staggered to thedoor and saw that there were no muddy $rints outside. &he more heremembered of his hideous dream the more terrified he felt" and it added to hisdes$eration to hear Joe -a,urewi!, !hanting mournfully two floors below.

;es!ending to lwood*s room he roused his still(slee$ing host and began tellingof how he had found himself" but lwood !ould form no idea of what might really

have ha$$ened. Where Gilman !ould have been" how he got ba!k to his roomwithout making tra!ks in the hall" and how the muddy" furniture(like $rints !ameto be mi'ed with his in the garret !hamber" were wholly beyond !on4e!ture. &hen


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there were those dark" livid marks on his throat" as if he had tried to stranglehimself. #e $ut his hands u$ to them" but found that they did not evena$$ro'imately fit. While they were talking" ;esro!hers dro$$ed in to say that hehad heard a terrifi! !lattering overhead in the dark small hours. +o" there hadbeen no one on the stairs after midnight" though 4ust before midnight he hadheard faint footfalls in the garret" and !autiously des!ending ste$s he did not

like. 5t was" he added" a very bad time of year for %rkham. &he young gentlemanhad better be sure to wear the !ir!ifi' Joe -a,urewi!, had given him. ven thedaytime was not safe" for after dawn there had been strange sounds in thehouse ( es$e!ially a thin" !hildish wail hastily !hoked off.

Gilman me!hani!ally attended !lasses that morning" but was wholly unable to fi'his mind on his studies. % mood of hideous a$$rehension and e'$e!tan!y hadsei,ed him" and he seemed to be awaiting the fall of some annihilating blow. %tnoon he lun!hed at the =niversity s$a" $i!king u$ a $a$er from the ne't seat ashe waited for dessert. ut he never ate that dessert7 for an item on the $a$er*s

first $age left him lim$" wild(eyed" and able only to $ay his !he!k and staggerba!k to lwood*s room.

&here had been a strange kidna$$ing the night before in rne*s Gangway" andthe two(year(old !hild of a !lod(like laundry worker named %nastasia Wole4kohad !om$letely vanished from sight. &he mother" it a$$eared" had feared theevent for some time7 but the reasons she assigned for her fear were sogrotesue that no one took them seriously. he had" she said" seen rownJenkin about the $la!e now and then ever sin!e early in -ar!h" and knew from

its grima!es and titterings that little adislas must be marked for sa!rifi!e at theawful abbat on Wal$urgis +ight. he had asked her neighbour -ary 0,anek toslee$ in the room and try to $rote!t the !hild" but -ary had not dared. he !ouldnot tell the $oli!e" for they never believed su!h things. 0hildren had been takenthat way every year ever sin!e she !ould remember. %nd her friend Petetowa!ki would not hel$ be!ause he wanted the !hild out of the way.

ut what threw Gilman into a !old $ers$iration was the re$ort of a $air ofrevellers who had been walking $ast the mouth of the gangway 4ust aftermidnight. &hey admitted they had been drunk" but both vowed they had seen a

!ra,ily dressed trio furtively entering the dark $assageway. &here had" they said"been a huge robed negro" a little old woman in rags" and a young white man inhis night(!lothes. &he old woman had been dragging the youth" while around thefeet of the negro a tame rat was rubbing and weaving in the brown mud.

Gilman sat in a da,e all the afternoon" and lwood ( who had meanwhile seenthe $a$ers and formed terrible !on4e!tures from them ( found him thus when he!ame home. &his time neither !ould doubt but that something hideously seriouswas !losing in around them. etween the $hantasms of nightmare and therealities of the ob4e!tive world a monstrous and unthinkable relationshi$ was

!rystalli,ing" and only stu$endous vigilan!e !ould avert still more direfuldevelo$ments. Gilman must see a s$e!ialist sooner or later" but not 4ust now"when all the $a$ers were full of this kidna$$ing business.


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Just what had really ha$$ened was maddeningly obs!ure" and for a momentboth Gilman and lwood e'!hanged whis$ered theories of the wildest kind. #adGilman un!ons!iously su!!eeded better than he knew in his studies of s$a!eand its dimensions8 #ad he a!tually sli$$ed outside our s$here to $ointsunguessed and unimaginable8 Where ( if anywhere ( had he been on thosenights of demonia! alienage8 &he roaring twilight abysses ( the green hillside (

the blistering terra!e ( the $ulls from the stars ( the ultimate bla!k vorte' ( thebla!k man ( the muddy alley and the stairs ( the old wit!h and the fanged" furryhorror ( the bubble(!ongeries and the little $olyhedron ( the strange sunburn (the wrist(wound ( the une'$lained image ( the muddy feet ( the throat marks (the tales and fears of the su$erstitious foreigners ( what did all this mean8 &owhat e'tent !ould the laws of sanity a$$ly to su!h a !ase8

&here was no slee$ for either of them that night" but ne't day they both !ut!lasses and drowsed. &his was %$ril thirtieth" and with the dusk would !ome thehellish abbat(time whi!h all the foreigners and the su$erstitious old folk feared.

-a,urewi!, !ame home at si' o*!lo!k and said $eo$le at the mill werewhis$ering that the Wal$urgis revels would be held in the dark ravine beyond-eadow #ill where the old white stone stands in a $la!e ueerly devoid of all$lant(life. ome of them had even told the $oli!e and advised them to look therefor the missing Wole4ko !hild" but they did not believe anything would be done.Joe insisted that the $oor young gentleman wear his ni!kel(!hained !ru!ifi'" andGilman $ut it on and dro$$ed it inside his shirt to humour the fellow.

ate at night the two youths sat drowsing in their !hairs" lulled by the $raying of

the loom(fi'er on the floor below. Gilman listened as he nodded" his$reternaturally shar$ened hearing seeming to strain for some subtle" dreadedmurmur beyond the noises in the an!ient house. =nwholesome re!olle!tions ofthings in the Necronomiconand the la!k ook welled u$" and he found himselfswaying to infandous rhythms said to $ertain to the bla!kest !eremonies of theabbat and to have an origin outside the time and s$a!e we !om$rehend.

Presently he reali,ed what he was listening for ( the hellish !hant of the!elebrants in the distant bla!k valley. #ow did he know so mu!h about what theye'$e!ted8 #ow did he know the time when +ahab and her a!olyte were due to

bear the brimming bowl whi!h would follow the bla!k !o!k and the bla!k goat8#e saw that lwood had dro$$ed aslee$" and tried to !all out and waken him.omething" however" !losed his throat. #e was not his own master. #ad hesigned the bla!k man*s book after all8

&hen his fevered" abnormal hearing !aught the distant" windborne notes. vermiles of hill and field and alley they !ame" but he re!ogni,ed them none the less.&he fires must be lit" and the dan!ers must be starting in. #ow !ould he kee$himself from going8 What was it that had enmeshed him8 -athemati!s ( folklore( the house ( old )e,iah ( rown Jenkin ... and now he saw that there was a

fresh rat(hole in the wall near his !ou!h. %bove the distant !hanting and thenearer $raying of Joe -a,urewi!, !ame another sound ( a stealthy" determineds!rat!hing in the $artitions. #e ho$ed the ele!tri! lights would not go out. &hen


22/28

he saw the fanged" bearded little fa!e in the rat(hole ( the a!!ursed little fa!ewhi!h he at last reali,ed bore su!h a sho!king" mo!king resemblan!e to old)e,iah*s ( and heard the faint fumbling at the door.

&he s!reaming twilight abysses flashed before him" and he felt himself hel$lessin the formless gras$ of the irides!ent bubble(!ongeries. %head ra!ed the small"

kaleidos!o$i! $olyhedron and all through the !hurning void there was aheightening and a!!eleration of the vague tonal $attern whi!h seemed toforeshadow some unutterable and unendurable !lima'. #e seemed to knowwhat was !oming ( the monstrons burst of Wal$urgis(rhythm in whose !osmi!timbre would be !on!entrated all the $rimal" ultimate s$a!e(time seethings whi!hlie behind the massed s$heres of matter and sometimes break forth in measuredreverberations that $enetrate faintly to every layer of entity and give hideoussignifi!an!e throughout the worlds to !ertain dreaded $eriods.

ut all this vanished in a se!ond. #e was again in the !ram$ed" violet(litten

$eaked s$a!e with the slanting floor" the low !ases of an!ient books" the ben!hand table" the ueer ob4e!ts" and the triangular gulf at one side. n the table laya small white figure ( an infant boy" un!lothed and un!ons!ious ( while on theother side stood the monstrous" leering old woman with a gleaming" grotesue(hafted knife in her right hand" and a ueerly $ro$ortioned $ale metal bowl!overed with !uriously !hased designs and having deli!ate lateral handles in herleft. he was intoning some !roaking ritual in a language whi!h Gilman !ould notunderstand" but whi!h seemed like something guardedly uoted in theNecronomicon.

%s the s!ene grew !learer he saw the an!ient !rone bend forward and e'tendthe em$ty bowl a!ross the table ( and unable to !ontrol his own emotions" herea!hed far forward and took it in both hands" noti!ing as he did so its!om$arative lightness. %t the same moment the disgusting form of rown Jenkins!rambled u$ over the brink of the triangular bla!k gulf on his left. &he !ronenow motioned him to hold the bowl in a !ertain $osition while she raised thehuge" grotesue knife above the small white vi!tim as high as her right hand!ould rea!h. &he fanged" furry thing began tittering a !ontinuation of theunknown ritual" while the wit!h !roaked loathsome res$onses. Gilman felt a

gnawing $oignant abhorren!e shoot through his mental and emotional $aralysis"and the light metal bowl shook in his gras$. % se!ond later the downward motionof the knife broke the s$ell !on$letely" and he dro$$ed the bowl with aresounding bell(like !langour while his hands darted out franti!ally to sto$ themonstrous deed.

5n an instant he had edged u$ the slanting floor around the end of the table andwren!hed the knife from the old woman*s !laws7 sending it !lattering over thebrink of the narrow triangular gulf. 5n another instant" however" matters werereversed7 for those murderous !laws had lo!ked themselves tightly around his

own throat" while the wrinkled fa!e was twisted with insane fury. #e felt the!hain of the !hea$ !ru!ifi' grinding into his ne!k" and in his $eril wondered howthe sight of the ob4e!t itself would affe!t the evil !reature. #er strength was


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altogether su$erhuman" but as she !ontinued her !hoking he rea!hed feebly inhis shirt and drew out the metal symbol" sna$$ing the !hain and $ulling it free.

%t sight of the devi!e the wit!h seemed stru!k with $ani!" and her gri$ rela'edlong enough to give Gilman a !han!e to break it entirely. #e $ulled the steel(like!laws from his ne!k" and would have dragged the beldame over the edge of the

gulf had not the !laws re!eived a fresh a!!ess of strength and !losed in again.&his time he resolved to re$ly in kind" and his own hands rea!hed out for the!reature*s throat. efore she saw what he was doing he had the !hain of the!ru!ifi' twisted about her ne!k" and a moment later he had tightened it enoughto !ut off her breath. ;uring her last struggle he felt something bite at his ankle"and saw that rown Jenkin had !ome to her aid. With one savage ki!k he sentthe morbidity over the edge of the gulf and heard it whim$er on some level farbelow.

Whether he had killed the an!ient !rone he did not know" but he let her rest on

the floor where she had fallen. &hen" as he turned away" he saw on the table asight whi!h nearly sna$$ed the last thread of his reason. rown Jenkin" tough ofsinew and with four tiny hands of demonia! de'terity" had been busy while thewit!h was throttling him" and his efforts had been in vain. What he had$revented the knife from doing to the vi!tim*s !hest" the yellow fangs of the furryblas$hemy had done to a wrist ( and the bowl so lately on the floor stood fullbeside the small lifeless body.

5n his dream(delirium Gilman heard the hellish alien(rhythmed !hant of theabbat !oming from an infinite distan!e" and knew the bla!k man must be there.0onfused memories mi'ed themselves with his mathemati!s" and he believedhis sub!ons!ious mind held the angleswhi!h he needed to guide him ba!k tothe normal world alone and unaided for the first time. #e felt sure he was in theimmemorially sealed loft above his own room" but whether he !ould ever es!a$ethrough the slanting floor or the long(stoo$ed egress he doubted greatly.esides" would not an es!a$e from a dream(loft bring him merely into a dream(house ( an abnormal $ro4e!tion of the a!tual $la!e he sought8 #e was whollybewildered as to the relation betwi't dream and reality in all his e'$erien!es.

&he $assage through the vague abysses would be frightful" for the Wal$urgis(rhythm would be vibrating" and at last he would have to hear that hitherto(veiled!osmi! $ulsing whi!h he so mortally dreaded. ven now he !ould dete!t a low"monstrous shaking whose tem$o he sus$e!ted all too well. %t abbat(time italways mounted and rea!hed through to the worlds to summon the initiate tonameless rites. #alf the !hants of the abbat were $atterned on this faintlyoverheard $ulsing whi!h no earthly ear !ould endure in its unveiled s$atialfulness. Gilman wondered" too" whether he !ould trust his instin!ts to take himba!k to the right $art of s$a!e. #ow !ould he be sure he would not land on thatgreen(litten hillside of a far $lanet" on the tessellated terra!e above the !ity of

tenta!led monsters somewhere beyond the gala'y or in the s$iral bla!k vorti!esof that ultimate void of 0haos where reigns the mindless demon(sultan

%,athoth8


24/28

Just before he made the $lunge the violet light went out and left him in utterbla!kness. &he wit!h ( old )e,iah ( +ahab ( that must have meant her death.

%nd mi'ed with the distant !hant of the abbat and the whim$ers of rownJenkin in the gulf below he thought he heard another and wilder whine fromunknown de$ths. Joe -a,urewi!, ( the $rayers against the 0rawling 0haos nowturning to an ine'$li!ably trium$hant shriek ( worlds of sardoni! a!tuality

im$inging on vorti!es of febrile dream ( 5C? hub(+iggurath? &he Goat with a&housand 6oung...

&hey found Gilman on the floor of his ueerly(angled old garret room long beforedawn" for the terrible !ry had brought ;esro!hers and 0hoynski and;ombrowski and -a,urewi!, at on!e" and had even wakened the soundlyslee$ing lwood in his !hair. #e was alive" and with o$en" staring eyes" butseemed largely un!ons!ious. n his throat were the marks of murderous hands"and on his left ankle was a distressing rat(bite. #is !lothing was badly rum$ledand Joe*s !ru!ifi' was missing" lwood trembled" afraid even to s$e!ulate what

new form his friend*s slee$(walking had taken. -a,urewi!, seemed half da,edbe!ause of a :sign: he said he had had in res$onse to his $rayers" and he!rossed himself franti!ally when the suealing and whim$ering of a rat soundedfrom beyond the slanting $artition.

When the dreamer was settled on his !ou!h in lwood*s room they sent for;o!tor -alkowski ( a lo!al $ra!titioner who would re$eat no tales where theymight $rove embarrassing ( and he gave Gilman two hy$odermi! in4e!tionswhi!h !aused him to rela' in something like natural drowsiness. ;uring the day

the $atient regained !ons!iousness at times and whis$ered his newest dreamdis4ointedly to lwood. 5t was a $ainful $ro!ess" and at its very start brought outa fresh and dis!on!erting fa!t.

Gilman ( whose ears had so lately $ossessed an abnormal sensitiveness ( wasnow stone(deaf. ;o!tor -alkowski" summoned again in haste" told lwood thatboth ear(drums were ru$tured" as if by the im$a!t of some stu$endous soundintense beyond all human !on!e$tion or enduran!e. #ow su!h a sound !ouldhave been heard in the last few hours without arousing all the -iskatoni! @alleywas more than the honest $hysi!ian !ould say.

lwood wrote his $art of the !ollouy on $a$er" so that a fairly easy!ommuni!ation was maintained. +either knew what to make of the whole !haoti!business" and de!ided it would be better if they thought as little as $ossibleabout it. oth" though" agreed that they must leave this an!ient and a!!ursedhouse as soon as it !ould be arranged. vening $a$ers s$oke of a $oli!e raid onsome !urious revellers in a ravine beyond -eadow #ill 4ust before dawn" andmentioned that the white stone there was an ob4e!t of age(long su$erstitiousregard. +obody had been !aught" but among the s!attering fugitives had beenglim$sed a huge negro. 5n another !olumn it was stated that no tra!e of the

missing !hild adislas Wole4ko had been found.


25/28

&he !rowning horror !ame that very night. lwood will never forget it" and wasfor!ed to stay out of !ollege the rest of the term be!ause of the resulting nervousbreakdown. #e had thought he heard rats in the $artition all the evening" but$aid little attention to them. &hen" long after both he and Gilman had retired" theatro!ious shrieking began. lwood 4um$ed u$" turned on the lights and rushedover to his guest*s !ou!h. &he o!!u$ant was emitting sounds of veritably

inhuman nature" as if ra!ked by some torment beyond des!ri$tion. #e waswrithing under the bed!lothes" and a great stain was beginning to a$$ear on theblankets.

lwood s!ar!ely dared to tou!h him" but gradually the s!reaming and writhingsubsided. y this time ;ombrowski" 0hoynski" ;esro!hers" -a,urewi!," and theto$(floor lodger were all !rowding into the doorway" and the landlord had senthis wife ba!k to tele$hone for ;o!tor -alkowaki. verybody shrieked when alarge rat(like form suddenly 4um$ed out from beneath the ensanguinedbed!lothes and s!uttled a!ross the floor to a fresh" o$en hole !lose by. When

the do!tor arrived and began to $ull down those frightful !overs Walter Gilmanwas dead.

5t would be barbarous to do more than suggest what had killed Gilman. &herehad been virtually a tunnel through his body ( something had eaten his heart out.;ombrowski" franti! at the failure of his rat($oisoning efforts" !ast aside allthought of his lease and within a week had moved with all his older lodgers to adingy but less an!ient house in Walnut treet. &he worst thing for a while waskee$ing Joe -a,urewi!, uiet7 for the brooding loom(fi'er would never stay

sober" and was !onstantly whining and muttering about s$e!tral and terriblethings.

5t seems that on that last hideous night Joe had stoo$ed to look at the !rimsonrat(tra!ks whi!h led from Gilman*s !ou!h to the near(by hole. n the !ar$et theywere very indistin!t" but a $ie!e of o$en flooring intervened between the !ar$et*sedge and the baseboard. &here -a,urewi!, had found something monstrous (or thought he had" for no one else !ould uite agree with him des$ite theundeniable ueerness of the $rints. &he tra!ks on the flooring were !ertainlyvastly unlike the average $rints of a rat but even 0hoynski and ;esro!hers

would not admit that they were like the $rints of four tiny human hands.

&he house was never rented again. %s soon as ;ombrowski left it the $all of itsfinal desolation began to des!end" for $eo$le shunned it both on a!!ount of itsold re$utation and be!ause of the new foetid odour. Perha$s the e'(landlord*srat($oison had worked after all" for not long after his de$arture the $la!e be!amea neighbourhood nuisan!e. #ealth offi!ials tra!ed the smell to the !losed s$a!esabove and beside the eastern garret room" and agreed that the number of deadrats must be enormous. &hey de!ided" however" that it was not worth their whileto hew o$en and disinfe!t the long(sealed s$a!es7 for the foetor would soon be

over" and the lo!ality was not one whi!h en!ouraged fastidious standards.5ndeed" there were always vague lo!al tales of une'$lained sten!hes u$stairs inthe Wit!h(#ouse 4ust after -ay(ve and #allowmass. &he neighbours


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a!uies!ed in the inertia ( but the foetor none the less formed an additional!ount against the $la!e. &oward the last the house was !ondemned as ahabitation by the building ins$e!tor.

Gilman*s dreams and their attendant !ir!umstan!es have never been e'$lained.lwood" whose thoughts on the entire e$isode are sometimes almost

maddening" !ame ba!k to !ollege the ne't autumn and was graduated in thefollowing June. #e found the s$e!tral gossi$ of the town mu!h disminished" andit is indeed a fa!t that ( notwithstanding !ertain re$orts of a ghostly tittering in thedeserted house whi!h lasted almost as long as that edifi!e itself ( no fresha$$earan!es either of ld )e,iah or of rown Jenkin have been muttered ofsin!e Gilman*s death. 5t is rather fortunate that lwood was not in %rkham in thatlater year when !ertain events abru$tly renewed the lo!al whis$ers about elderhorrors. f !ourse he heard about the matter afterward and suffered untoldtorments of bla!k and bewildered s$e!ulation7 but even that was not as bad asa!tual nearness and several $ossible sights would have been.

5n -ar!h" 1931" a gale wre!ked the roof and great !himney of the va!ant Wit!h(#ouse" so that a !haos of !rumbling bri!ks" bla!kened" moss(grown shingles"and rotting $lanks and timbers !rashed down into the loft and broke through thefloor beneath. &he whole atti! storey was !hoked with debris from above" but noone took the trouble to tou!h the mess before the inevitable ra,ing of thede!re$it stru!ture. &hat ultimate ste$ !ame in the following ;e!ember" and itwas when Gilman*s old room was !leared out by relu!tant" a$$rehensiveworkmen that the gossi$ began.

%mong the rubbish whi!h had !rashed through the an!ient slanting !eiling wereseveral things whi!h made the workmen $ause and !all in the $oli!e. ater the$oli!e in turn !alled in the !oroner and several $rofessors from the university.&here were bones ( badly !rushed and s$lintered" but !learly re!ogni,able ashuman ( whose manifestly modern date !onfli!ted $u,,lingly with the remote$eriod at whi!h their only $ossible lurking $la!e" the low" slant(floored loftoverhead" had su$$osedly been sealed from all human a!!ess. &he !oroner*s$hysi!ian de!ided that some belonged to a small !hild" while !ertain others (found mi'ed with shreds of rotten brownish !loth ( belonged to a rather

undersi,ed" bent female of advan!ed years. 0areful sifting of debris alsodis!losed many tiny bones of rats !aught in the !olla$se" as well as older rat(bones gnawed by small fangs in a fashion now and then highly $rodu!tive of!ontroversy and refle!tion.

ther ob4e!ts found in!luded the mangled fragments of many books and $a$ers"together with a yellowish dust left from the total disintegration of still older booksand $a$ers. %ll" without e'!e$tion" a$$eared to deal with bla!k magi! in its mostadvan!ed and horrible forms7 and the evidently re!ent date of !ertain items isstill a mystery as unsolved as that of the modern human bones. %n even greater

mystery is the absolute homogeneity of the !rabbed" ar!hai! writing found on awide range of $a$ers whose !onditions and watermarks suggest age differen!esof at least one hundred and fifty to two hundred years. &o some" though" the


27/28

greatest mystery of all is the variety of utterly ine'$li!able ob4e!ts ( ob4e!tswhose sha$es" materials" ty$es of workmanshi$" and $ur$oses baffle all!on4e!ture ( found s!attered amidst the wre!kage in evidently diverse states ofin4ury. ne of these things ( whi!h e'!ited several -iskatonie $rofessors$rofoundly is a badly damaged monstrosity $lainly resembling the strange imagewhi!h Gilman gave to the !ollege museum" save that it is large" wrought of some

$e!uliar bluish stone instead of metal" and $ossessed of a singularly angled$edestal with unde!i$herable hierogly$hi!s.

%r!haeologists and anthro$ologists are still trying to e'$lain the bi,arre designs!hased on a !rushed bowl of light metal whose inner side bore ominousbrownish stains when found. Foreigners and !redulous grandmothers areeually garrulous about the modern ni!kel !ru!ifi' with broken !hain mi'ed in therubbish and shiveringly identified by Joe -aturewi!, as that whi!h he had given$oor Gilman many years before. ome believe this !ru!ifi' was dragged u$ tothe sealed loft by rats" while others think it must have been on the floor in some

!orner of Gilman*s old room at the time. till others" in!luding Joe himself" havetheories too wild and fantasti! for sober !reden!e.

When the slanting wall of Gilman*s room was torn out" the on!e(sealed triangulars$a!e between that $artition and the house*s north wall was found to !ontainmu!h less stru!tural debris" even in $ro$ortion to its si,e" than the room itself"though it had a ghastly layer of older materials whi!h $araly,ed the wre!kerswith horror. 5n brief" the floor was a veritable ossuary of the bones of small!hildren ( some fairly modern" but others e'tending ba!k in infinite gradations to

a $eriod so remote that !rumbling was almost !om$lete. n this dee$ bony layerrested a knife of great si,e" obvious antiuity" and grotesue" ornate" and e'oti!design ( above whi!h the debris was $iled.

5n the midst of this debris" wedged between a fallen $lank and a !luster of!emented bri!ks from the ruined !himney" was an ob4e!t destined to !ause morebafflement" veiled fright" and o$enly su$erstitious talk in %rkham than anythingelse dis!overed in the haunted and a!!ursed building.

&his ob4e!t was the $artly !rushed skeleton of a huge diseased rat" whose

abnormalities of form are still a to$i! of debate and sour!e of singular reti!en!eamong the members of -iskatoni!*s de$artment of !om$arative anatomy. @erylittle !on!erning this skeleton has leaked out" but the workmen who found itwhis$er in sho!ked tones about the long" brownish hairs with whi!h it wasasso!iated.

&he bones of the tiny $aws" it is rumoured" im$ly $rehensile !hara!teristi!s morety$i!al of a diminutive monkey than of a rat" while the small skull with its savageyellow fangs is of the utmost anomalousness" a$$earing from !ertain angles likea miniature" monstrously degraded $arody of a human skull. &he workmen

!rossed themselves in fright when they !ame u$on this blas$hemy" but laterburned !andles of gratitude in t. tanislaus* 0hur!h be!ause of the shrill"ghostly tittering they felt they would never hear again.


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dreams in the witchhouse - howard phillips lovecraft

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